Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-03-18
Agricultural.


I'm spite of all that is said in many
quarters, there seems to be no doubt
that there is decline in the agriculture
of some of the Eastern States. Build
ing on this fact. writer's have attributed
it to wrong methods of culture, and
argued for change in the system en-
ployed. But the fact is that it is the
acreage ia proportion to population
which has declined. The land culti-
waited really produces more instead OF
less and the average yield of wheat
per acre is really higher in many in
stances, than in some of the best wheat
regions of the West.
The american AgricultlriSt has re-
Gently been ventilating this subject,
and shows that it is not that the land
is worn out, but that the people can
make more out of their water power
than out of their land power, and it is
reasonable that people should always
turn their attention to that which pays
them best. The AgricuLturist article
is SO iwell to the point, that we quote
the following from it:
A single firm in the Mystic Valley,
Connecticut, imported and sold 10000
bushels of corn in the year 1872, and
this probably was not half the Western
corn consumed In a population of IL, 600,
Of which nearly one-half are farmers.
This corn went to the supply of families
in the villages, ,livery-stables, ,cart-horses
and good deal of it to the horses
and cattle upon farms as a substitute
for hay, there being but little differ
ence between the price of hay and corn
per pound. This fact indicates the
great change that has come over the
large part of Massachusetts,, Connecti-
cut, and Rhode Island in the last thirty
years. They do not raise their own
breadstuffs or provender. Wheat ceased
to be remuneratiye crop long ago, and
the sight of a wheat field is exceedingly
rare. Even rye is so scarce that the
straw sells from $40 to S25 per ton, and
is worth more per acre than the gram
in ordinary crops Oats are raised but
in diminished quantities, and, as a rule,
are consumed upon the farms. Almost
everywhere in the section indicated, the
manufacturing interest thrives. Smart
towns have sprung up in the valleys of
all the streams, and there is compare
lively little water power that is not
utilized. The streams are all damned,
and enormous reservoirs are built near
their sources, or natural ponds are
raised to supply water in the summer
drouths. Factories built In the most
substantial manner of stone and brick
have been put up near these dams, and
large population has gathered around
them. The capital and skill of the
people to large extent have been in
vested in these villages, and almost
everything that meets human wants and
can be sold, from a penny toy to
steamer costing half million dollars or
more, is made here.
Every year sees a large increase IN
the variety and quantity of these manu-
factures. New machines are patented,
and forthwith a new factory springs up
to meet the new demand. 1t would take
a large volume to give the names OF
these manufactured goods. Many of
them are monopolies for a time, and
the profits are large. The companies
that own the patents can afford to give
higher price for capital and labor than
farmers, and of course they secure
both; more than this, they secure the
farmers themselves, or their sons, be-
cause they get better pay than they
could in working the soil. The old
homestead is frequently sold to the
next neighbor, at a sacrifice, because
the farming interest is depressed, and
the demand for farmers is small. Many
farms are sold every year at prices that
would not much more than pay for the
original cost of the buildings.
IL draining piece of wet ground on
q hillside or on falling ground, the
drains should run directly up the line
of greatest fall, not only because in this
direction they will keep open best and
give the best outlet to the water, but
also because they will do their work
better. 1t generally pays best to drain
the ground regularly all over. We have
no faith In running drain here and
another there, under the impression
that we are cutting off the supply of
water and the remainder of the land
will dry up without. In some few cases
it will, but nine times out of ten the
job done In this way is only half done,
and little more expense would have
quadrupled the profits. In some cases
it may be best to run catch-water drains,
to prevent the percolation of water from
higher land, but the distance asunder
of the main drains should not be in
creased one inch on this account. Re
member that the job should be a per-
manent one, and hence should be well
done. Half the ground well drained
will yield double the profit on the same
cost as all of it half done. The drains
may be from twenty-five TO forty feet
apart, according to their depth and the
nature of the sub-soil; but if there
should be any doubt as to the proper
distance, give the shorter distance the
preference rather than err one inch on
the other side. Many acres are only
partially drained because the drains are
too far apart, and hence do not do their
work well.
How TO BUILD A HoUsE.-A writer
says: I'VE will suppose a frame en-
closen with clapboards or siding ready
for the mason. Have strips of an inch,
or inch and quarter wide, sawed from
any common boards and nailed in the
centre, up and down, of the studding,
upon which nail a cOurse of lathinp