Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-02-19

vey, to valuation of as many dollars
per acre. Your committee are Informed
that the results of surveys in Pennsyl-
yanis, Missouri, Michigan, and other
States, have been equally satisfactory
Other advantages to agriculture, more
direct and no less important, may be
expected from an examination of the
capacities and adaptations of the soils
Of different districts, and of the (iistri-
button and application Of our mineral
fertilizers, of which there is great and
increasing need. In spite of all that
has been gained by experience, and of
all the improvements given to agricul-
tural and mechanical skill, our annual
product has not been increased, either
per acre or in the aggregate, but, during
the last two decades, has exhibited
steady md startling decline. This, too,
in the face of a rapidly increasing pop
ulatiOn, requiring every year an addi-
tional amount for consumption, and by
so much diminishing our surplus for
export. The losses in the wheat crop
during the five years immediately pre-
ceding 1857 were nearly twenty million
bushels. In 1850 the Yield was seven
teen bushels to the acre. In 1855 the
yield was less than fifteen bushels per
acre, and 250, 900 acres less were sowu
than in 1850. From 1850 to 1883, both in
elusive, the crop averaged 14.6 bushels
per acre, and the acreage of 1854 should
65l bushels; instead of which the crop
was but IL ,SI9, 1I0 bushels, being a de-
crease from the average aggregate of
g. ,729, al bushels. The crop of 1856 was
less than the average from 1850 to 1858,
bv 6,z47,37 bushels. The losses from
1888 10 1856, both inclusive, were I76I7.-
Z46 bushels, or about IA per cent, OF the
enIlra amount produeed from 1853 to
1890. (See Ag. Rep. for 1851 Between
20 Le,L7 ana 1867 no single crop yielded IA
ousnels per acre, and the average yield
during the years IS64-5-6 was but 3 81
bushels per acre. It is estimated that
during those years there was an actual
deficit of three million bushels annual
ly below the amount required for bread
within the State-a Daring the present
decade the maximum acreage of wheat
was grown In 1862, and the minimum
in 1867, the difference being almost a
million acres. Yet it does not appear
that in 1866 other human food crops
were grown to an extent corresponding
with the diminution since 1862 the total
acreage of those crops in 1867 being
half million less than in 1862. (See
Ag. Rep. 1879
This decrease in the agricultural pro-
duct In Ohio may possibly be attributed
in part to other causes; but there can
be no reasonable dOubt that it is large
ly due to an actual decline in the pro
ductive power of the soil, Other States
in the world, have experienced the
same decline, and it may be observed
wherever the appliances of nature and
OF science have not been sedulousIv
employed to repair the waste of culti-
vation. Many provinces of the Old
World, once noted for their fertility,
are now completely sterile, and to this
exhaustion of the soil, according to Ba-
ron Liebig, may be attributed the
gradual depopulation of the countries
bordering on the Mediterranean. Spain,
for example, was once one of the rich
est countries IN Europe; but now the
Iand IN some of her provinces only
yields crop once in two years, and in
Anda!usIa only once in three years. A
ike phenomenon has been observed in
some sections of our own country,
which, from conditinn of remarka ble
fertility, have relapsed into barren
wilderness.
To ascertain the needfal correctives
for this decline in the productive facul-
| ty, 1t is important that our soils should
| be analyzed, and their substrata exam
| ined, in order that application may be
made of the proper methods OF fertili-
/ cation, culture and drainage. In this
| view alone the direct utility which
would result from a geological survey,
your committee believe, would more
| than compensate for its cost. An ex-
animation of our soils by analysis.
showing what fertiliziDg Ingredients
they lack, as well as what they have,
would be pregnant with suggestions as
to their fitness for particular crops, and
the proper method fer their culture !;
while, on the other hand a knowledge
of the character, stribution and adao-
tatIon of our mineral manures will
point out the sources from which the
deficient ingredients may be supplied.
| Gypsum, marls, phosphates and lime
/ faT IF
potash and soda-are known to exist in
| Ohio, and, if discovered in considera BILE
quantities, would produce the most Inn
portant results, as they have in some
coantrles OF Europe, in repairing the
annual exhaustion by culture.
Ofnot less importance to agriculture
in large sectionssaEstF State would be
the knoWledgG a geological survey
would give OF the underlying strata for
purposes of drainage. An understand
ing OF the materials composing what is
known as the drift formations" ;" and
the order of their qualification, would
be of great value to farmers in this re-
speet. In many low and wet places
wherever bed ofgravel uuderlfes an
1mperVIous stratum of clay, it is only
necessary to pierce through the clay by
well or shaft, and the gravel will abb
sorb, like a sponge, all the surface
water. But to do SO simple thing, it
is necessary that the farmer should
know all about the position of the clay
and gravel.
Ohio's rapid growth in population,
and its sequence, the increasing reduc-
tion in her agricultural export, create
an additional necessity, from year to
year, for the development of her min
ing and manufacturing interests. By
this meant better home market will
be provided for the products of her soil,
while, at the same time, there will
ri rDFv
demands for labor, which would give
employment for our surplus popu-
latiOn. The agricultural resources of
Ohio, great as they are, scarcely equal
those which lie beneath her surface,
and which promise an exhaustless field
to her genius, labor and capital.
Coal, as a source of motive power and
a fuel for the manufacture of iron is
probably Ohio's 'tbest card''-tbe
source whence she will draw millions
Of annual revenue when her broad
acres, from exhaustive culture or sim
ply inadequate production, are incapa-
ble of feeding her mining and manufac-
turing population. Yet our immense
coal field has never had anything like
thorough exploration. For want ofa
knowledge of the local geological struc-
ture, including the number, position
and qualities OF the beds of coal and
their associated ores, millions of dol
lars in these forms are said to lie in
some counties unknown and unsus-
pected. Great Britain owes her wealth
and power mainly to her coal mines,
from which she takes annually a hun
dred million tons, and derives a power
equal to sixty million men and vet,
Great Britain has no more of this
main-spring of power than Ohio. But
If we would bring these vast coal beds
into the line of productive wealth, we
must after the example of the English
Government, provide for their scientific
examination, with reference to their To-
cation, quality, and accessibility, and
their various uses in manufacturing
and for household purposes.
A single example of what may be
gained in this way may be mentioned.
The Briar Hill seam of coal, mined at
Youngstown and vicinity. is a very SUI
perior coal, and is extensively used in
the raw state for the manufacture oil
iron. The exact geological equivalent |
Of this coal is found at jackson, Jack |
son county, where its quality for iron
making is suDerlattve, and where it is !
largely used In the raw state. These |
two points are wide apart. May not |
the seam be found at intermediate !
points, and also at points between
j ackSOn and the Ohio river? No INTEL /