New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-01-05
FORECAST on THE FARM.

We give on the sixth page of this issue q
| summary of the beef trade of New-YOrk for
the year Just ended. A study of its columns
| will give farmer who thinks some valuable
ideas as to the general direction his industry
should take. The belt of beef supply is reced-
| ing year by year. In 1866 only Al head OF
| Texas cattle were sent to this market A few
years before n small drove Of them had reached
| New-Y York, the first that ever came from those
distant prairies. They were as much wondered
at as though they had been sacred cattle from
Upper Siam. THE TRIBUNE gave column TO
a minute description of their hO0fs and horns,
and color, and The long, long journey they had
made. To-day Texas stands next to New York
as the source of beef for this city. During the
wear 1870 she has furnished us forty thousand
bullocks. These figures show that tho chief
supplies already come from regions west OF the
Wabash and south of the Ohio. If this is true
in 1870, what may be expected in 1875, OF even
| in 1872 No belt of the country Is so rapidly
melted with roads az the territory stretching
for 400 miles west Of the Mississippi. We shall
soon have through cattle-trains from the west
ern towns of Kansas, Abeline, Austin City, and
San Antonio. Evidently it is of no avail for
the farmer east of the Wabash to contend with
those vast plains, covered with the most nu-
| tritious grasses. The herdsmen there can pro-
| duce O three-year- old steer that will dress at
| $50 as cheapy as the former can fatten o
Spring pig. Practically, the competition of the
Great West has taken away the occupation OF
| the Eastern stall-feeder, and the question Is
brought home to him as he plans for the
coming years, "What can do that the West
cannot beat me i'll doingo
| This question admits of several answers:
i. The farmer east of the Wabash can be sure
| that in milk, and the products of milk, he has
an industry in which the West will not jostle
him. Great plains have never supported great
diaries. The grasses that grow on them are
strong, but fibrous, and better suited for beef
| than for milk. There are few cool springs or
purling streams, no shady woods for the cows
| in sultry noontides. The Western Reserve
cheese is inferior to the make of Herkimer
| County, not on account of lack of skill, but
because the grasses Of those cold clay lands
are deficient in fneness and flavor.
III. The Eastern farmer viii find most profit
in the young of all animals. Let him keep
| Southdown ewes, not for wool so much as for
| Spring lambs, for which, if brought in early,
and fat, and nicely dressed, he may often get
30 cents per pound. The most prosperous
county in the most thrifty seaboard State has
made more money on fatted calves than from
any other single product. In poultry, too, there
is more money in Spring chicken weighing
two pounds dressed in June, than in a five
pound bird marketed in November.
III. The West never will compete with the
East in the variety, flavor, and keeping quail
ties of its fruit. The past year has exploded
all the dismal theories which four or five bad
apple years had started. 1t is now certain that
orchards planted when John Adams was Pres
ident can be depended upon for fine, large,
perfectly ripened fruit.
". With the prairie farmer it is question
of quantity; with his co-worker in the hill
country quality is all important Ono asks,
How large can / make my exportsf" The
other inquiries, "By what arts and skill, by
"what vigilance and thrift in marketing, can
Z" reach the first class of customers who are
willing TO give the highest pricesT
There is nothing disheartening in the situa-
ton, East or West Texas is sure of a good
market for her beeves Monmouth County is
getting dollar a bushel for potatoes Herki-
mer il well paid for her cheese, and Niagara
for h,l Winter APPLES. Thousands are turning