Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-10-22
The Greatest Crop Of the World.

A question widely discussed involves the
relative value OF the wheat, cotton. tea and
hay crops of the world. Which of these
crops employs the greatest amount OF the
worlds capital? 1t is said that hay leads
the rest, and the items that enter into tie
account as stated are somewhat startling,
and will make a Grapger's hair stand on end.
Cotton and tea are local crops, while hay Is
produced everywhere the world over, and
thus the hay crop greatly Outweighs either OF
the other two. The aggregate reported val
ne of all far products Or 1870 Was 81 AL
53S 653; but as this includes addition &"
sticks, - betterments,' &c, it is probably
too high. Now the hay crop for that year
that is the grass dried and cured for use or
sold-is reported at over q 600, 600 tons.
This at bali the selling price IN the large
cities. would amount to $405 900 900, aud
Is Tar greater than the az regate home-Valne
OF the cotton crop or any other crop. lhe
otter portion is used on the ground, and 1t
7, quIres considerable calculation to get at
the value 70 used even 10 the toughest way.
In the first place live stock, including
horr ed cattle, horses. sheep, SWINE. &C., to
the value of 81 ,52S 900 600, were led from IL
that'year. Averaging the lives OF these at
five years we have one-ffth of that sum a.
representing the grass fed to them In 1871,
nancy, $305, 00O,000; next We hnd the
| value ut the anIuals slaughtered Tor iood III
that year to be 5000 900, 900, and as this is
an annual product the whole OF it will Tor
| the present be credited to the grass crop
next we find that the butter crop OF 1870
was 5l4 900 900 pounds, which At the low
| average oi 25 cents, amounts to 2S,00U, 0OU
nd hIa Tn tho credit at
nave 235, 600, 900 gallons of mig, which,
averag, at the low estimate of 10 cents per
gallon, adds S25, 900 900 more to the credi'
| al the gross crop; then we have l00 ,O0O .O0C
pounds OF wool at Is cents p6uhd, adding
| S25, 900 900 more; md, finally, 50 900 00t
| our DIS OF cheese ut 10 cents, aiding over
$4,000 900 t. the total oil these credits TO th.
GLASS crop OF 1870, which aggregates $751;
| 700 900.
Now let US add the value OF the GO hay .
crop as given above-vlz. $405 900 600
and we have grand total Tor - hay and
the products OF grass consumed on the ground
mounting to 81 ,292, 900, 900 This is, o
course subject To The deuuct,on, as the meat
butter, mix, cheese, and wool-produclng
nj Imals consume other food besides grass and
hay. To make ample allowance for this, VT
| 1euuct the entire value of the corn and oat.
crops OF 1870. estimated at $270 900 400 auo
this leaves remainder OF j. ,0S2, 900 900 t,
oe credited to the hay and grass crop OF tba
year, when the reported aggregate al
arm products was 81 447 ,538, 658 If ou
| estimates make even the toughest approach
20 accuracy, the value of that crop was two
nfths Of the aggregate value OF all farm
products, and hence We may infer that two
ii tbs ot the capital then invested in agrlcul
ural pursuits was devoted to the grass-crop
and thisin the Uni I'd States equals IN rounC
numbers) $4,575 00O, 600 From these fg
ures tie ueduotIon is palpabie that Kit,
totton Is uncruwned anu dethroned, and We
uay be fore to admit that all &" flesh " ant
else Is hay, if not "grass - nsmphi
| Appeal.