Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1873-11-20

cultural development. Up to about
the year 1859 the progress of knowl.
edge and invention had scarcely adj
vanced beyond the confines of coun
tries lying upon tue sea or penetrated
by navigable streams. Interior G Ter
many, Austria, and European Russia
and TurkeY-countrie which con
tain over l00,000,000 Of agricultural
peasants-were still cultivated with
roots of trees for plows and wooden
paddles for spades. AT that time two
important events railway
speculation having reached its climax
in England began its career on the
Continent; and the Queen Of Great
Britain opened at London the first eX
hibition of the worlds industrial pro
ducts. The influence exercised by
these events has been world wide
Floods OF capital and mechanical in
vention were let loose from the few
countries which had hitherto engross
ed them TO penetrate, to open up, and
to stimulate into new activity those
vast areas of Christendom which as
yet formed but the background of civ
IIization. In 1850 there were about
over one third of which were in Great
Britain alone; in 1855 there were 30,
OC0; in 1860, 10000; there are now
over 10000, of which less than one
sixth are IN Great Britain In 1850
Russia had but 31I miles of railway :;
IN 1860 but 9S8 miles in 1870 she had
6,973 miles, and now (1873) she has
tully $500 miles. In this country
! Russia) alone the railways have
placed withIp reach of the world an
annual supply of nearly 1000 million
1.-TWO millard) bushels of grain, most
of which was previously inaccessible.
In 1851 American mowers and reapers
were first exhi ioited in Europe; now
| they are to be found on almost every
large farm between the Rhine and Wis
tula, and may be counted by the thous
and. The iron plOw, hoe, and spade,
the horse rake, seed wer, threshing-
machine, gri..t-mill, and many other
improved implements are pushing
their way into the remotest countries
althoug, as yet, they are but little en-
pIoyed along the vast basin of the
Lower Danube or i'll Russia.
Add to these agIeucies of progress
and these are but types of innumera
bic others-the employment Of steam
Gor river and sea boats and the world
wide use Of telegraphs, by which a
| scarcity of corn in one country can
ue made known and almost inmedl
ateIy supplied from the surplus pro
uucts OF another, and rough idea
can be formed of the enormous strides
that have taken place within compare
lively recent years i'll the production
Of breadstufs, and their mobilization
throughout the markets of the world
Nor should the influence ascribable
to the general progress OF knowledge,
and particularly those branches relat
ing to agriculture, as agricultural
chemistry, be- left-eut- view : tbut 1t
is deemed best for present purposes
10 confne illustrations to the best
known and most obvious agencies OF
agricultural progress.
The commercial world, throughout
which, with little or no restriction,
breadstuffs, are now produced and ex
changed, consists substantially of Eu.
rope, Asiatic Russia, the East Indian
and the Chinese ports, Australia,
Northern Africa, North, Central, and
South Americas, and the West India
Islands, and contains a total popula-
tiOn within reach of commercial ia
cilitIes) of 425, 100000. The rest of
The world is either destitute of com.
mercial facilities or closed to inter
course. Without going further into
detail in this place, the information
thus far obtained shows that this pop
ulation now produces annually about
eight millard eight thousand millions
bushels of grain, an average of nearly
nineteen bushels per capita. This
amounts to twice as much as the peo
pie of France or England contrived to
live npOn q century ago, and half
again as much as the commercial world
at large has lived upon within the life
time of the present generation. Meth
er potatoes, nor green or other crops,
nor animal products are included in
these data Twenty years ago the
commercial worlds product of grain
SCARCELY exceeded five millard bushels
per annum--not only this, but large
portion Of it was pent up in interior
countries, and did rot enter into the
! worlds commerce. Now the entire
product is mobilized. italian macca-
roni is manufactured of Russian
Wheat; California breadstuffs are
made into Scotch biscuits; Egyptian
barley is converted into India Pale
Ale; even Japanese ponies are being
fed with New York oats.
The utmost capacity of a pOpula
ton to consume grain in the form Of
food is eight to ten bushels per capita
per annum. What it consumes be
vond this amount must be for seed,
for the food of animals, for the manu-
facture of spirits, fermented liquods,
sugar, or starch, or for fuel. For
some of these purposes-as for food.
seed, and fodder-the use of grain is
necessary for Others-as for starch.
sugar, and beverages-its use is, up to
certain point, economical; be, ond
that, and aiw Iys when used for tnel, ii
dictates >et-prnduction aud loss
England contains one Of the best fed
populations in the worll; neverthe
less, the entire consumption OF grain
in Eng anil. including the enormous
quantities converted into starch and
t beverages or fed to ANIMALS, is less
than two quarters (siXteen bushels
per capita per annum; yet the world
at large produces nearly twenty bush
l els per capita, and the precious staff
If life is thrust into the stoves of oul
/ Wes tern farmers for fuel.
! From the foregoing facts and others
from a comparison between the world;
L present product and consumption, ant
: those of past years; from observa
l ton Of the present consumption il