The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-01-28
1870 ON THE FARM.

Among the columns of this issue of
| the Weekly Tribune will be found the
review of the crops of 1869 by the De-
partment of Agriculture. In addition
to this off al source we have before us
the ar aua summaries of the Chicago
and Buffalo papers on the grain move
ments, and our own condensation of
the Live Stock Sales and Market Pro-
ducts for the year. Gold is about fif-
teen per cent. lower now than it was at
the beginning of 1869. Wheat has suf-
fered more than a corresponding de-
cline. A year ago, No. 2 Spring was
worth S1.I3 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. Bar
ley, too, has fallen more than 100 per
cent. Hay has gone down from $50 to
SIS. On the other hand, in one impor-
| tant crop there has been a rise-corn
being five cents bushel higher than iu
January, so. 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 year ago, and
the Commissioner thinks that the crop
will amount to three million bales, of
400 pounds each. Beef is, on an aver
age, a cent per pound cheaper. On the
whole, the review, though not exhila-
rating, gives no cause for depression or
anxiety in our farm-houses. Grain has
ruled very high ever since the war, and
this fall is due to three cause.-the
steady decline in gold, the entire alb
sOrptiOn of the disbanded armies in
peaceful industry, and the large number
of reapers made and sold. Mccormick
has accomplished more for grain-grow-
ing than any agricultural inventor for
any other crop, and so much can now
be done by the horse that, on the level
lands of The West, grain-growing has
been greatly stimulated. Chicago re-
ceiVed three million bushels more of
wheat in SO than in '6S, and seventeen
million bushels more than in '69; while
of corn she received six million more
bushels in 1862 than last year. Say
what the agricultural writers NAV, there
is no likelihood that any words will ar
rest the westward roll of the wheat
crop. Twenty years ago, the wheat
product of New York and Pennsylva-
MIA was four or five bushels per head TO
the population; now, it is two and q
half. The value of the grain product
of the New England States is $3.50 to
each person. In Kansas it is so. In
the prairie States, on an average, it is
$50. 1t is no use to mutiny against such
figures they indicate a mighty natural
law, a drift that must continue till mi
grafton has equalized in some measure
the value of lands in this country. Oh
liver Dalrymple of Minnesota, although
wheat is below-a dollar, proposes to de-
vote 1000 of his acres to that crop, for
his land did not cost him over $50 an
acre. But George. Geddes of Syracuse,
whose land is worth $500 an acre, and
is as good grain farm as there is in the
State, is looking in the direction of veg
etables and fruits.
The inference to which the results of
1869 force US is this: If railroads and
the nearness of cities have given East
ern lands an enhanced value, it is not
for grain-growing. Wheat will not
make them pay six per cent. interest.
Some crop must be sought which calls
for closer economy of space, freer use
of manures, and more shreWd hand
ling in the markets. Another deduc-
ton is sound: That he who produces
meat runs smaller risks, keeps his land
in better heart, and saves more money
than the average grain farmer. As lux
ury increases, people consume more
well-fattened flesh. Beef in the New
7 DIRK markets is about the last article
to succumb to the general pressure. In
yeaP-olds sell about as well to-day as
they did when wheat was 81. There
was q very moderate down grade in
July and August, when the grass-feds
came in; but it has required 10 cents to
drive a irst-ciass animal out of the
yards during most of the past year, and
to-day it requires II cents. We draw
another lesson from these figures: that
he who confines his labors mainly to
articles of prime and universal uecessi-
ty suffers less in the long run than the
farmer who runs his land to such crops
as damage rather than support society.
For instance: neither the barley that
makes ale and beer, the hop that gives
them flavor, nor tobacco, has been a pc
cuniary success this year. Oats have
been profitable crop; wheat pays rea-
sonably well and thousands of fat cat
tie have been sold at from 500 to S120
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 large crop of peaches. A few
years ago, the arrival of 80 carloads
made such a glut that hundreds of bas-
kets were thrown to the fishes. This
year, trains of It's cars in a day did not
embarrass 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 good 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 produ-
GERS of milk, cheese, and flesh: your
house stands strong. The increase of
population, the growth of foreign de-
mand, and the more expensive habits of
the opulent class, insure you firm and
remunerative market. Grain-grow ers
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 prophecy that the small-fruit
business will be overdone and the nu-
merous orchards and vineyards will not
pay the labor of harvesting. Facts do
not warrant the statement. Grapes
bring more per pounS than they did
when we had not ten acres in vineyard
in any State of the Union. Fine, large
Strawberries still command nearly fifty
cents a quart, though millions of quarts
of small, sandy berries do not sell for
ten. When few thousand bushels of
WIN CTaHoeTTIeS were drought 10 90
scure markets, they were slow sale at
dollar. Now, the product of three or
four thousand carefully planted acres
sells in New York and Philadelphia at
four dollars bushef. In short, while
our civilization grows finer and higher,
there is no danger that any delicate flesh
or any savory fruit should go begging
for purchasers. The demand for them
has all along outrun the supply and no
rush that our farmers will make this
year, or within five years, toward plant
ing orchards, is likely to glut the mar
ket.-N. Y. Tribune.
HEAT FROM THE MOON.