The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1874-06-13
Communicated.
4UI'icULtUPe,


Importance Of agriculture to the wealth and pros
perity Of a country, and there are few but know
that much depends on the manner in which cul-
tivation and cropping may be conducted as to
whether farmers are successful or not. But there
are many of the most intelligent agrcuiturists
who have in reality vague opinion only OF what
genuinely, good, patriotic farmer is or should
be-for 10 begin with man who only makes
himsel rich is not good farmer, if he does this
by making the soil pc rer, for he pockets money
al the expense Of the land, aud is no patriot be-
cause he sel6shy enriches himself at loss to his
country. Look around then and know that if as
has been said "a man deserves well OF his conn
try who makes two blades OF grass grow where
only one grew before" People who manage
so that the produce of their farms becomes less
and less as years go by must merit the severest
censure, and ii is deplorable 10 find from stats-
tics that the fine wheat growing drstricts of Mary
land are only yielding about half the quantity OF
grain they did formerly.
Unfortunately this Stale is not alone ia his
lamentable falling away, for New England, the
abode of the strctest kind industry and severest
economy and sel-denal, has run down much
lower, for wheat cannot DE grown at all on the
greater portion Of the soil, and corn MS well as
grain, has TO come from the West to support the
population. This is no imaginary sta,ement-it
is fact.
Some will say in answer to this the occupers
of the land OF to-day are living too high, have too
much of luxury, and some do not labor enough
with their bodies, sc. But this has nothing 10
do with the grievance III question, for il was the
generations of hard working never resting toll
ers who have gone that commenced and contin
ued to despoil the fertility by their never ceasng
cultivation, and thus those who have been praised
for their patient, persevering working while
a..
tems and by long days short nights and perpetual
labor reducing the Fl 'sh till the gaunt figure Of
the Yankee became proverbial, have been the
men who Mt the same time took all the fat from
the land and reduced il to such stage OF power
ty that it is impossible for those of the present
day without other means who are depending on
their farms for support to do more than exist on
the most scanty fare, and by the closest frugality
make ends meet.
This is a subject Of the most unhounded i'm
portance, in national sense, and ought to be
looked into by every true lover of his country,
and there is positively no patriotism in any hiaa
who will not 60 calmly into calculations 10 show
the effect upon the resources of commonwealth
by system Of agriculture which slowly but sure
ly has and must reduce the plant food TO such
degree that nothing cal he grown in sufficient
quantity to pay for the labor o. cultivation and
harvesting, and in truth many crops essential to
the need the community cannot be grown at all.
This evil has come on so gradually AS to have
escaped notice. and in general way people do
not like to admit the fact ever 10 argue on the
subject But every one who does see how the
first occupied and cultivated farming districts
have been Invested of the original fertility aud
how surely other States follow in the same steps
ough: to represent the consequences which must
result in such way as to draw attention. Civ
iliZation will not be complete ill living genera
tons live and act ia every way Ter the benefit OF
future ones and /; is mean and contemplate,
selfish spirit which prompts the possessors of good,
rich, virgin soil to take all the ingredients out of
it which make it valuable and thus rob poslerity.
This is the light in which the inhabitants Of the
United States of century hence will see and
Judge of their ancestors They will say "our
short sighted pregeni,ors impoverished the earth
and they commenced on the b ,stern Shore con-
tinued falling back to the West taking no warn
ing from the exhausted districts left behind -
The descendants of the Pilgrims labored early
and late stimulating each Other by quoting
proverbs, BY precepts and by examples to greater
exerfion in extracting every atom OF what was
needed to grow the crops they seat to market
The whole Atlantic sidr . the continent evcntu-
ally did the same, and State after State was de-
nuded that the occupants OF the time being could
make money by selling produce and returning no
equivalent. Foreigners miagled with the native
born to go over the Western States in the same
way, and the forests were felled and the praries
powed that corn and grain should flow to the
East and be sold And although the prairie grass
and the blue grass and all the natural varieties
were found to be so valuable for the support of
6ocks and herds, yet they were plowed and utter
ly destroyed for the sake Of using up all the re-
served fertility for presen, gain
The present aspect Of agriculture prospects are
not brig htened in The lrns, nv any legislation
which has occurred, and the colleges for ed
ucating genilemens' sons ridiculous in their
efforts What is wanted above all other consd-
erations is clear understanding Of the value OF
pastures and meadows gu ground that has not
undergone the process o. cultivation for the
growth of corn and grain So tha, every farm in
the great West, which has land suitable for per-
manent grass, may have good deal set apart and
used for grazing and growing hay thus enabling
the farmer to breed and raise stock OF all kinds
selling beef, mutton aud horses, or in short any
animals in any condition he thinks best, aud to
sell wool, butter or cheese if that should prove
more profitable, or to do all ia conjunction
This method of stock raising and dairying, &c.
would. with great proportion Of grass land
keep all the original rich soil from deterioratng
and thus mas could prosper through his own
life and his sons and grandchildren follow him
doing as we'll as be did instead Of having 10 do
as is the case so much now, move out for more