The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1879-11-08
The following is an extract from re-
cent speech delivered by Past Master
Aiken, of South Carolina:

The following is an extract from re-
cent speech delivered by Past Master
Aiken, of South Carolina:
PROGRESSIVE AGRICULTURE.
When | was a school boy, the great
American desert was but sea of arid and
sterile land, to-day it lies within the States
of Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, and
comprises some of the most productive and
remunerative farming lands in the United
States. Where the red man twenty years
ago chased the buffalo and the elk for his
morning meal, comfortable farm houses
are dotted all over the magnificent prai
ries. Cattle are there upon a thousand
hills, awaiting the butcher, who by the
progress of the age is enabled to supply
British and European consumers fresh
roasts from our Western beeves.
What blessing should be heaped upon
those Northwestern farmers! Pouring in
to our Eastern ports from foreign land i'm
bling the American energy by asSocia-
ton, they have emigrated westward at
from 100, 900 to 10000 per annum, and
pushing their frontier huts entirely across
the continent they have beautified the
prairie, irrigated the desert, scaled the ST.
erras, and Christainized the Pacific slope,
| frugal farmers are away Wonder where the
through the waving grain in the sunset re-
! gions of TIE country.
Many of US remember when Minnesota
and Iowa were wild uncultivated terrific
res. To- day they are States and will this
wheat Minnesota flour is unsurpassed
/ th0 Init tot
awarded several premiums at the Centen
NAL exhibition for her superior cattle
Ofcourse the development of that coun-
| try did not result from an increased immi-
grafton alone, new and progressive ideas
must have accompanied those people. Had
the farmer carried with HIM only his one
horse pillow and the hoe, and the reaper
been dependent upon his cradle at harvest
time, many millions of those cultivated
j acres would to day be unproductive. In.
venton was kept abreast with the West
ward tide of emigration, so that the centre
of mechanical manufacturers, which nest
led for half century among the bleak
hills of New England has long since NOV
ed west of the city of Pittsbure. The
three great States of Ohio, Indiana and II,
linois are rapidly monopolizing the man.
ufacturing of agricultural i'm Elements. and
besides supplying the Northwest the
Southwest, and large portions of the
South, they are actually shipping their
manufactures Eastward
The Northwestern farmer no lonoe,
measures his cultivated area BY the mum.
Der OF hands he can employ, but he calcu-
lates everything by his horse power. Nei
Their the area, nor the number of hands are
the important factors in estimating the re.
; suit OF his years labor, but it is simply
HOW MANY HORSES
has he emplyed. One man and hoy with
two good horses will plant and cultivate
sixty acres of corn and sow and harvest
forty acres of small grain. Fifty bushels
OF corn, and twenty bushels of wheat. OF
Atty OF oats are fair crops Oftener than
otherwise the corn is sold to cattle and
stock feeders as it stands in the field. net
ting perhaps but ten dollars per acre no
great income truly, but when we remenl-
Der blowing begins in April, the seedsare
planted in May and June, and the crop is