Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-10-23
lNnE~}ft
49,. -
Hal.



A question widely discussed in
wolves the relative value Of the wheat,
cotton, tea and hay crops Of the world.
Which OF these products employ the
greatest amount of the worlds cap
ital? 1t is said that hay leads the rest,
and the items that enter into the ac-
count j stated are some wh It startling,
and will make a Changers hair stand
on end. Cotton aud tea are local
crops, while hay is produced every.
where the world over and thus the
| hay crop outweighs either Of the 9TH
er two. The aggregate reported value
OF all farm products Tor 1870 was ST.
All ,53S, b5S but as this includes addi-
lions to stocks, "betterments," etc, it
is PROBABLY too high. Now the hay
crop Tor that year that is, the grass
dried and cured tor use or sold--is re-
ported at over u. UU0,U tons. This, at
halt lie selling price in the large cities,
would amount TO S4O5, 00O,0OU, and is
Iar greater than the aggregate hone-
value OF the cotton crop or any other
crop. But the "cured" hay 10 but a
portion OF the grass crop. The other
portion is used on the ground, and it
requires considerable calculation to get
at the value SO used, even in the rough
est way.
In the first place live stock, inclu ding
horned cattle, horses, sheep, swine,
etc, to the value of 81, 525 100000 were
fed from it that year. Averaging the
lives OF these at five years we have
one-fifth of that sum as representing
the grass fed to them in 1870, namely !:
$205, 900, 600; next we find the value of
the animals slaughtered for food in
that year to be $309, 000, 900, and as this
is an annual product, the whole of it
will for the present be credited to the
grass crop; next we find that the but
ter-crop OF 1870 was 514 600, 600 pounds
which, at the low average of twenty
five cents, amounts to $12S, 000, 000, and
this goes to the credit of grass; next
we have 235,000,O00 gallons of milk,
which, averaged at the low estimate of
ten cents per gallon, adds $25, O00, 600
more to the credit of the grass crop;
then we have 100000 pounds of
wool at twenty-five cents pound, adj
ding S25,000,000 more; and, finally,
100000 pounds of cheese at 10 cents,
adding over 100000 to the total of
these credits to tho grass crop of 1870,
which aggregates $685., 100000.
Now let us add the value of the
ebay" crop as given above-viz: $685.
000, 000-and we have have q grand to.
tai for ebay" and the products of the
grass consumed on the ground amour
ting to $1,292, 100000! This is, of
course, subject to the deduction, as the
meat, butter, cheese and wool-produ-
cling animals consume other food be-
sides grass and hay. To make ample
allowance for this, we deduct the en-
tire value of the corn and oat crops Of
1870, estimated at $270,000,O0O, and
this leaves remainder of 81, 0S2, 00O,-
600 to be credited to the hay and grass
crop Of that year, when the reported
aggregate Of all farm products was
$2,447, 63S, sos. If our estimates make
even the toughest approach to accura.
cy. the value of that crop was two
flfths of the aggregate value of all farm
products, and hence we may infer that
two.fifths of the capital then invested
in agricultural pursuits was devoted
to the grass crop, and this in the Uni
ted States equals Gin round numbers)
100000 From these figures the
deduction is palpable that King Cotton
is uncrowned and dethroned, and we
may be forced to admit that ell ''flesh,"
and all else, ia hay, If not "grass."