Nebraska advertiser., 1870-03-03
1870 On the Farm.

of 1869. Wheat has suffered more
than a corresponding decline. A year
ago. No. = Spring was worth Sl.l3 at
Chicago now the same sells at 7Sc.
Oats have fallen about five cents a
bushel from last year. In rye, the
decline is from SLIP to &c. Barley,
too, has fallen more than 100 per cent.
HAY has gone down from $50 to Is.
On the other hand, in one important
| crop there has been O rise-cOrn being
| five cents a bushel higher than in
| January, '69. Cheese is quoted two
cents per pound higher at the West
than it was last year, but in New
York it is a cent or two lower.
Cotton is very much higher than it
was O e ago, and the Commissioner
thinks that the crop will amount to
three million bales, 400 pounds each.
Beef, Is on an average, a cent per
pound cheaper. On the whole, the
review, though not eX~hilarating,
gives no cause for depression or anXi-
ETY. in our farm houses. Grain has
ruled very high ever since the war,
and this fall is due to three causes
the steady decline in gold, the entire
absorption Of the disbanded armies in
peaceful industry, and the large num-
4 Der of reapeFs made and sold. Nc
C0rmick has accomplished more for
grain-grOwing than any agricultural
inventor for any crop, and so much
can be done by the horse that On the
level lands Of the West, grain grow
ing has been greatly stimulated.
Chicago received three million
bushels more of wheat in $50 than in
'68, and seventeen million bushels
more than in $50; while of corn she
received six million more bushels in
1862 than last year. Say what the
agricultural writers may, there is no
likelihood that any words will arrest
the westward roll of the wheat crop.
Twenty years ago, the wheat product
of New York and Pennsylvania was
four and five bushels per head to the
population now, it is two and q half.
The value of the grain product of
the New England is $3.50 to each per-
son. In Kansas, 1t is $40. In the
prairie States, IN an average it is $50.
1t is of no use to mutiny against such
figures they indicate a mighty natu-
raj law, a drift that must continue
till migration has equalized in some
measure the value of lands in this
country. Oliver Dalrymple of Min
nesota, although wheat is below a
dollar, proposes to devote 5000 of his
acres to that crop, for his land did not
cost him over $50 an acre. But Geo.
Geddes of Syracuse whose farm is
worth $500 an acre, and is as good a
grain farm as there is in the State, is
looking, in the direction of vegetables
and fruits.
The inference to which the results
of 1869 force US is that: If railroads
and the nearness of cities have given
Eastern lands an enhanced value, it
is not for grain growing. Wheat will
not make them pay six per cent inter-
est. Some crop must be sought which
calls for closer economy of space, freer
use of manures, and a more shrewd
handling in the markets. Another
deduction is sound: That he who pro-
duces meat runs smaller risks, keeps
his land in better heart, and saves
more money than the average grain
farmer. AS luxury increases, people
consume o we'll attened flesh.
Beef in the New York markets is
about the last article to succumb to
the general pressure. In fact, good
AClLEuCh1 anu Oll1O LulCC-1 Gdl-O1AS
sell about as well as they did when
wheat was 81. There was a veay mod
crate down grade in July and August,
when the grass-feds came in but it
has required Is cents to drive a first
class animal out of the yards during
most of the year, and to-day it requires
II cents.
We draw another lesson from these
figures; that he who confines his la
bOrs mainly to articles of prime and
universal necessity suffers less in the
long run than the farmer who runs
his land to such crops as damage rather
than support society. For instance A:
neither the barley that makes ale and
beer, the hop that gives them flavor,
nor tobacco, has been a~pecuniary sue
cess this year. Oats have been a prof.
table crop wheat pays reasonably
we'll; and thousands of fat cattle have
been sold at from 500 to $12O a head.
The farm products that have given
least disappointment are such fruits as
the peach, the pear, the apple, and the
cranberry.
Great advance has been made in the
facilities for dispOsing Of a large crop
of peaches. A few years ago, the ar
rival of ffty-tive carloads made such
a glut that hundreds of baskets were
thrown to the fishes. This year,
trains of IT'S cars In q day did not en-
barass the market. The price Of good
table apples is nearly the same year
after year, whether wheat is up or
down, and the prices of cider and good
cider vinegar steadily advance. With
the exception of the strawberry there
is little danger of loss on any Of. the
small fruits, and all the vegetables of
the market garden are profitable when
rightly handled.
In conclusion, we say to the pro-
ducers of milk, cheese and flesh.
Your house stands strong; the increase
of population, the growth Of foreign
demand, and the more expensive
habits of the opulent class, insure you
a firm and remunerative market.
Grain growers must remember that so
many will sow less and furnish a
scant crop in 1870 that scarcity alone
is likely to prevent a further decline.
For years, we have heard the pToph-
esq that the small fruit business will
be overdone, and the numerous or
chards and vineyards will not pay the
labor of harvesting. Facts do not
warrant the statement. Grapes bring
more per pound than they did when
we had not ten acres Of vineyard in
any State of the Union. Fine large
Strawberries still command nearly fifty
cents a quart, though millions of
small, sandy berries, do not sell for
ten.
When a few thousand bushels of
wild e~ranberries were brought to OBJ