The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-07-09

AvAnk WIN u0tuty AuVAO RAkOAsoDoA As@
than many mechanics at the North earning
three dollars day. !,
But it is but little known that the South
ern system of Agriculture was only more
wasteful of the soil than the Northern IN
the degree that it was further removed
from its markets. Wheat near Albany,
New York, declined from an average yield
of from 20 to 40 bushels per acre in 1775,
to 16 to 20 bushels in 1885, to ~ to Is
bushels in 1915, while, by the State CEN
sus Of s45, Albany County gave bush
els per acre, Dutckes 5, Columbia 6.
and Westchhster Z. Wheat declined in
Ohio in the so years preceding 1860, from
80 to Is bushels per acre, and five years
later, to an average Of Is. Indian corn,
in the same State, in the years from 1850
to 1854 both inclusive, averaged 1881
bushels to the acre, while in the next it
fell to 1926 bushels, and in 1862, to
1886 bushels.
That these are no necessary results of
cultivation, are shown by the facts that,
Massachusetts,, whose soil was originally as
poor as that Of any State, has 50 advanced
in average fertility, that it appears in the
census Of 1860 as producing the largest
average crop Of wheat to the acre-16
bushels-while Georgia produced the small
est average crops bushels. Connecticut,
originally poor, sandy State, but full of
manufactures, must have greatly improved
her soil to appear in the same census as pro-
ducing the largest average crop of corn per
acre-4O bushels-while South Carolina
produced the smallest. The Ohio Agri-
cultural Report of 1862, referring to the
decline in the wheat product in Ohio, and
its advance in other countries, says: "The
lowest average Of wheat in any county in
England, is 343., and from that up to so
bushels per acre 1t is historical fact,
that within the past two hundred years, the
best soils in England did not produce to
exceed six bushels Of wheat per acre" A
like improvement is going on in the soils of
France, Belgium, Holland, Prussia, and
Northern Germany, China, and Japan /; a
waste and decay in the soils of Mexico,
most of the West India Islands, Brazil,
India, since its possession by the English,
ireland, Portugal, and Turkey. All Of
these are engaged in exporting the raw pro-
duct Of their soils for foreign consumption,
while the countries in which soils are ad-
vancing in fertility, are those which export
nothing until it is furnished ready for the
consumer.
The same improvement is occurring, for
the same reason, in the horses, sheep, cat
tie, hogs, poultry, and other domestic ami
mails in the manufacturing States, and the
same deterioration in the breeds in the
Staths purely agricultural.
We, in illinois, 60 to England for i'm
proved breeds Of cattle, horses, and hogs,
and prize our Durhams, DevOns, and Berk-
shires, for their blood, while we pass heavy
penal statutes, and make il crime to even
drive cattle across the State from Texas.
The latter spreads contagion and death in
his dreaded path the former imparts
beauty, growth, weight, and health to all
the focks with which his blood may mingle,
until at last it fades out among the g bas
tard breeds" Of the prairies.
These facts abundantly prove that the
order of agriculture rises in proportion to
its nearness to its market Of consumption
and declines as it is removed tbeiefron
and hence, that soils increase II r.lI 4:
the producer and consume stc their place
side by side and De- thy sle dis-
tant from each OtI r. To- Jason Of
this is not s. tAe wal of the
nrAritive n. Puffy sC-'a.. a the crop ex
ported, II { ae the farmer, who il
iar rarpyed " nls market, cannot sell
a.. 70 crops Which be ought to raise in. n
". 70 practice that fair rotation q crops
which would renovate, manure, and enrici
the soil. Some plants grow principally
from the atmosphere, and these enrich anc
restore soils. Others draw from the sol
peculiar elements, as wheat drains it o
silica and potassium. Those who desir,
may find this subject ably discussed in th,
american Encyclopedia, under the head
=" Agricultural Chemistry
If, therefore, the preservation Of the fer
tility of soils depends an the rotation o
crops, and if farmer distant from a marke
can find sale for only few of the crop
needed in practicing such rotation, here is
source Of decline in fertility analogous to
but not entirely identical with, the deporta
ton Of the constituent elements Of his sol
in the crops he exports. For, if he sen
bis crops but ten miles their elements might
never return directly to his lands. But at
distance of ten miles from an adequat,
market Of consumption, be could rais'
clover on lands exhausted by wheat, ant
sell bis hay, unbaled, for more than b
could have sold the product of the SAM
land in wheat. But the farmer, fifty mile
from his consumer Of hay, must bale it be
fore be can send it, and if 100 miles dis
tant, be can only send it by water, baled
while if $50 miles distant, be cannot sen(
it at all, the freights consuming the whole
value. The grasses which lipen slowly
through long periods, are the best renova
tors. But if no return can be got fol
them, they are merely pastured, !. e., trod
den underfoot and wasted. Besides these
a farmer whose market is near, may raist
root crops-the beet, turnip, and carrot
which derive nearly their whole growth
from the air, and hence, restore ten-fold
more to the soil in their tops than they ex
tract from it for their tubers. By the fact
that be can utilize bis entire land, and need
let none lie fallow, or waste, such farmer
economies his manures, and makes it a
part Of bis system to restore to the soil in
his manures, every part of its produce
which is not sent to market in the form Of
butter, cheese, poultry, pork, and the like.
The farmer Of New Jersey, with Philadel-
phia on bis right, and New York on bis
left, takes bis choice of thousand crops.
The herder Of the South American pampas
cannot sell any grain, corn, or potatoes, and
rarely even the flesh Of bis herds. lie kills
them, therefore, for their pelts and tallow.