Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-05-15
THE WAY oUT.


From the 81. Louis Democrat.
Although the fiat and productive
prairies of Illinois, Iowa and Wiseon-
sin, and the broad and rich bottom
| lands Of Missouri produce large re-
turns of corn per acre, yet its growers
have come to the conclusion that with
hogs at3 to 3lls per pound net, and
corn at 10 to 15c per bushel net, the
production of corn does not pay
neither to sell as crop nor to convert
into pork. In Wisconsin, hops, hemp
| and tobacco, have been tried by quite
a number OF farmers, and the result
has been very satisfactory. The de-
mand for hemp is comprehensive, but
of course it can be over-produced Just
as easily rs corn can, for any land that
will grow corn successfully viii pro-
duce good hemp. The same may be
said Of tobacco. The demand is an
nually increasing, and although pro-
duction is annually increasing, yet
over-production is not likely just now.
A very large amount of coarse, strong
tobacco can annually be sold for ex-
port to Europe, and this quality can
be successfully cultivated on the deep
prairie loans of Iowa and Illinois as
well as upon the rich allnyials OF the
Missouri bottom lands. True, ii every
corn-grower of Illinois, Iowa and Mis-
souri, were to cut down his corn pro-
duction to tie limits of his own re-
Quirements, and devote all his time to
the cultivation of hemp and tobacco,
the production of both these articles
would be so great as to completely
choke the market and destroy the price.
It could not half be sold, and disap-
pointment and disgust would ensue.--
Butlet our farmers learn to pursue q
greater diversity in farming, and then
they will never over-produce anything
or should they, a succeeding year
will correct the supply. Flax, hemp,
tobacco, hay, hops, corn, wheat, oats,
rye, barley, sweet potatoes, broom
corn, sorghum, castor beans, white
beans, clover seed, timothy seed, Hun
qarian seed, tomatoes, sweet corn,peas,
plums, grapes, cherries, currants, black
berries, raspberries, strawberries and
gOose-berries, may all be profltabiy
grown in small way by every farm
er. Instead of which, hundreds of
them lounge about shiftless all winter,
and until late in the spring, and then
they gear up their "plow beasts and
devote all their energies to putting in
corn until nearly the LIST of June, and
sometimes later. There are hundreds
of farmers in Missouri who never make
a garden at all. They never saw
bunch of asparagus, and couldn't tell
cauliflower from q ''skunk cabbage. =
They know nothing of the mysteries OF
sshot-beds" and winter gardening. But
better and brighter times are dawning
upon the west. The great oyergrowh
farms-like the huge southern planta-
tions-will be divided, and the smaller
farms which succeed will be more like
gardens than farms. No farmer ever
ought to take less than 90 cents per
bushel for his corn on the farm, or less
than 81 for his wheat; and, were farm
ing more diversified, we believe this
range of prices would most often pre-
vail. The popular belief that hemp is
an unusually exhausting crop is dis
appearing. In Kentucky there are
hemp fields which have been in con-
tinuous cultivation for forty years,
without any manure save the waste
crops of the field, and they yield to-
day fully as large crops as ever. We
do do not expect the farmers of the
West will at once attempt the cultiva-
ton of the numerous products we have
named, but it is reasonable to suppose
that they will plant less corn this year
than common, aud more hemp and
tobacco.