The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-02-12
rUor tho Diepptch.
II, 1911.

| (For the Dispstch.I
| regretted to see in late editorial OF the
Dispdtch the broad statement tnit achsul'
oro,cino had ceased TO be protitdbfe an 'H-
anna. I regret it because | think the re-
! mark conveyed false impression.
That wheat-growng, like every other soI .
If cultivation. has become less prohlaDle
now than before the war, is true not ohty u
| VIRGINIA but Of every State in the Ohion'
indeed I do not see how it could he otne!'
wise. every other interest preys upon asi +
culture A Yankee tariff despoils IL OF IL
Ieast one.third the value of its cxpo5'ap1, ~,
nroducts: railroads have absIracteo
! borers bv the hundred thousand, i"
10 tho nrice at the same time W Ia,
Loss comnpttion; banks receive the pr pr - T.,
~ 1ond in their vaults, and only ltnu ~ -,
o;,;oS r. snpc,1atiop, or to niaplt'set ".
| ~ n,n,mnrco which latter, muZ"nn5 vi. vi
49, ~ t,noGath ont the corn, doles OUT st.al
sn 1n,, ttt crudinrly aud grindlngiy TO tue
tiIIars NJ the soil. though they neeo IL nv,
certainly in degree, possibly not IL I''In
than any of the classes VINO IT, -, ,,,;i, ~
t'ea ~ Excessive competition that prevails IN
| or !hc eAt ;noss because of the very large
thel' a p' ,rho cannot engage in any other
| n ulnUit and because they realize at longer
p,lrvaI, than any other class that pays
| wages.
All this I hold to be demonstrate; as,
also, the fact that Virginia, certainly East
Virginia, agriculture Is weighed down
thro,lch abolition by loss of personal pro-
perty amounting to not less than 30 per
cent. of the value of her land, and has had
no relief in any shape, from her own LeSis-
lature even, except partial and precarious
RI hn laJU Of or
closures, itself nearly or quite counterbal-
anced bv added burdens, aud in daily dan
ger from popular clamor in each district
where it obtains. But il you examine the
facts comparatively / think you will lind
that wheat-growng in Virginia., notwith-
standing our exceptional condition from
such losses as the world never witnessed be-
fore, and from no government at home and
bad government abroad, is to-day more pro-
titabie, or, If you prefer it, less Improbable,
than in any oil the great grain-srowing
States of the Union. II you look to the
agriculture of the taritf-fcd States you will
find that they make less wheat than they
consume and you will further find, think,
that their lands are so high and their labor so
dear that if wheat were cultivated in the
same agreeable proportion as here. the farm
ers would be worse Oft than we are. And
as TO the West, ] am sure that after eXamin-
inc the question YOU will concur with my
opinion that their crops are so little III eX-,
cess OF ours that the inevitable expenses Of
labor and transportation work q COMPARE
tive deficit in their returns. Let me Illus.
trate this by comparison 1 have used be-
fore a comparison OF the value of land and
of INSTRUMENTATION in Virginia and the cen
trail West as affected by transportation.
select Dubuque, in Iowa, as point in the
central West, OH which to base the following
statement:
Suppose a farm there worth twenty-five
dollars per acre 10 produce twelve bushels
of wheat per acre, and farm in Virginia
worth twenty dollars per acre to produce
eight bushels of wheat per acre-these being
the rates Of production stated in the United
States Agricultural Report for 1867. The
cost OF marketing the western wheat is (Sec
speech Of BIZ. Mouroe, Of Dubuque, Iowa,
before the National Board OF Trade at Gin
cinnati, December, 1868, p. 81 seventy
cents per bushel. The average cost in Pied
mont and Tidewater Virginia is not more
than ten cents per bustel. The Iowa crop
is spring wheat, worth in New York one
dollar and twenty-five cents per buShel. The
Virginia crop i winter wheat, worth in
ODc duu SCHtS lCi
bushel The cost Of transportation for the
Iowa wheat is eight dollars and forty cents
per acre for tine Virginia wheat, eighty
cents per acre. But these figures represent,
at six per cent, respective capitals OF one
hundred aud forty dollars and thirteen dol
lars and one-ihird, and accordingly make the
prices of land stand, for
iowa. s25 p,us $40. 90
virginia. $40 plus S13.33................. 1888
Difference (cnOLgl To buy six ard 4 half
acres Virginia land at tic price assumtdl III 81
The return per acre for each would be-for
SIS per hushel. =. ...................... is 90
Less freight zoe. per uuShel) ............ 40
$50
-
Virginia. eight bushels winter wheat at
Sl so per buShel.. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. IL 90
Less freight Toe. per buSheD ............. 80
IL 20
Balance In favor Of Virginia. q 90
being an actual gain of nearly one-fifth, or
twenty per cent, on the cost Of the Iowa
farm, and making that as compared with
tie Virginia farm worth only eleven dollars
and twenty-five cents per acre. This is per-
Ill ..~T~ rNIsf r<