New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-07-22
WHATIKNOW OF FARMING.
BY HORACE GREELEY.
GRAIN-GROwING-EAST AND WEST.
XVIII.

ing In my boyhood, J bOed Corn diligently Tor |
weeks at a time drawing the earth from between |
the rows up about the stalks to depth of three or
four inches, thus forming hills which the West has
since taught me TO be of usc but rather detri-
ment embarrassing the efforts Of the growing, hun
gry plants to throw out their roots extensively |
in every direction, and subiecting them to need
less injury from drouth. l am thoroughly con !
Sinced that Corn, properly planted, viii, like wheat
and all other grains, root itself Just deep enough IN
the ground, and that TO keep down all weeds and
leave the surface Of the corn-eld open, mellow and
perfectly fat is the best well as the cheapest way
10 cultivate Corn And donot believe that so much
human food with so little labor, is produced else
where on earth rs in the spacious fields of Wheat
and Corn in our grand Mississippi valley
And vet l have seen in that valley many ample
stretches covered with Corn, whereof the ullage
seemed susceptible of improvement. Riding between
these great coTn-helds in October, after everything
standing thereon bed been killed by frost 1t seemed
60 my observation that while the eorn-cl0p was fair,
the veed-crop was far more luxuriant; so that, II
everything had been cut clean from the ground, ana
the corn ana the weeds placed in opposite scales the
latter would have weighed down the former. l can
not doubt that the cultivation or lack of cultivation
which produces OF permits such results is not merely
sloyeuly. hut unthrifty.
The West is for the present, as for a generation
she has been, the granary of the East In my Judg-
mcnt sho will not long be content to remain so.
Fifty years aco the Genesee valley supplied most OF
the wheat and -four imported into New-England;
ten wears later, Northern Ohio was our principal re-
source. fen wears later stil, Michigan, Indiana,
Northern Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin, had been
added 10 orr grazing growing territory Another de-
cadc and our Observation-Disclosures had crossed the
Mississippi laying Iowa and Minnesota under liberal
contributions, while Western New-Iork had
ceased 10 grow even her own brcadstutfs and ONO
to produce one buhel more than shcneeded for home
consumption Can we doubt that this steady recess
sion Of our Egypt our Hungary is destined to con-
tnue. Twcnty-tbree years ago when first rode out
from the then rising village of Chicago to see the
Illinois prairies nearly every wagon met wasloaded
with wheat, going into Chicago to be sold for about
50 cents per bushe and the proceeds loaded back IN
the form Of lumber groceries, and almost everything
else grain excepted needed by pioneers then dot
ting, thinly and iuegulariy that whole region with
their cabins Now, / presume the district
i then traversed produces hardly grain than 1t
consumes; taking Illinois altogether, doubt that
she will grow her own bTeadstufis after 1880; not
that she viii be unable to produce large surplus,
but that her farmers viii have decided that they
can use their lands otherwise TO greater advantage
Iowa and Minnesota viii continue to export grain
for perhaps twenty years longer; but even their
time viii come fOr saying, "NeW-Iork ana NeW-Eh-
land speak OF Otd ELgllluI 700 away
10 furnish profitable markets for such bulky pro
ducts; the cost of transportation absorbs the larger
mart Of the CARGO. We must export instead !
Wool Meat, Lard Butter, Cheese, Hops, and various
Manufactures whereof the freight will range from
2up tonot more than % per cent Of the value lhey
will thus save their soil from the tremendous eXac-
ton made by taking grain cTopafer grain crop per-
sistcntly Which long ago exhausted most OF New In
GLAND and Eastern New-Nork of wheat-toiming ma
terial and has since wrought the same deplorabie
result i'm our rich Genesee valley, while Eastern
PENNSYLVANIA. though settled nearly two centuries
ago having pursued more rational and provident
system of husbandry grows excellent wheat-crops to
this day.
Insist that the states this side Of the Delaware,
tlonrh thew will draw much grain from the Canadas
aferthe political changes that cannot be far distant,
will be compelled to grow very considerable share
of their own hrcadstufs; that the West Will cease
to supply them unless at prices that they viii deem
cxorIitapt; and that gain-growiDg eastward OF a
line diavn from Baltimore due north TO the Lakes
will have 10 be very considerably extended. Let
us see then, whether this might not be
done with profit even now, AID whether the East is
not rrwisc in having so generally abandoned grain
growing.
leave out of the account most Of New-England,
as well rs Of Eastern New-YoTk, and the more rugged
portions Of New-JeIsey and Pennsylvania, where
The rCclv hilly, swampy face of the country seems
TO forbid any hut that pGiChy cultivation, wherein
machinery and mechanical power can scarcely be
made available and which seem, Therefore, peIma-
nentv fated to peTseyere in a sytem OF agriculture
and horticulture not essentially unlike that they
now exhibit I'm the valleys Of the PenObscot the
Kenncbec the Hudson, and of our smaller rivers,
there are considerable tracts absolutely free from
thcss natural impeiiments, wherein a larger and
more efficient husbaDdry is perfectly practicable,
even now: but these intervales are generally the
|. property Of many Owners are cut up by ROADS ana
fences: and are held at high prices: so that will
simply pars them by. and take for illustration the
pine Rarrers" Of Southern New-Jersey, merely OBJ
serving that what l say Of them is equally apph-
cable with SLIGHT notifications to large portions of
Long Island Delaware, Maryland Virginia, and the
CarGinas.
The Pine BarTcns' Of Ncw-Jersey are marine
deposit Of several hundred feet i'll depth, mainly
sand with which more less clay is generally in
teimiopled. while there are beds and even broader
stretches # this material nearly or quite pure the
clay il sometimes underlying the sand at depth OF
50 or 40 inches Vast deposits Of muck or leaf
mold often Of many acres in extent and from
two TO twenty feet in depth, are very common;
SO that hardly any portion Of the dry or sandy land
il two miles distant from one or more OF them,
while some is usually much nearer; and half the
entire region is deraid by ut least one stratum OF
4be famous mari formed of the decOmposed bones OF
gigantic marine monsters long ago extinct which
has already played important and benchcent
mart in the renovation and fertilization of large dis
tricts in Monmouth, Burlington, Salem and other
counties
Let ms suppose now that farmer of ample means
and generous capacity should purchase four hundred