Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-05-22
AMERICAS ADVANTAGE.
Why Our Wheat Can be Sold in Englan
Cheaper than Wheat Of England's
Growth.
London Economist.

OHtapeT IMAM " Hedl vi EHSianu'S
Growth.
London Economist.
The main advantage of the Ameri-
can farmer seems to be in the cheap o.
ness with which he obtains his crop.
1t is somewhat surprising to find that
wheat grown in the far west still pays as
much freight before it can be placed in
the English market as the rent charge
amounts to at home. The average
yield Of an acre of land in England is
thirty bushels, against thirteen in the
western states. The American farmer
must therefore cultivate two and a half
acres before he can sell as much pre-
duce as grown on single acre in En-
gland. This, however, he does at an
incredibly small outlay. The difference
in tillage is most striking. An English
farmer, accustomed to drive three or
four horses painfully over a stiff clay
can scarcely imagine the ease with
which a light pillow runs through the
rich loan of western state. In north
ern Minnesota the Red river settlement
Is just being opened up. A furrow may
be drawn for fifty miles across the al
luvial prairie without meeting a hill.
a tree, or stone. Various estimates of
the cost of labor and tillage and har-
vesting have lately been published. If
these are correct, an acre of wheat
in America can be cultivated for
about one-half the expense III labor
of cultivating an acre IN England.
We do not, however, place i'm
plicit reliance on such estimates.
The Am erican, farmer, as rule, does
his own work, or the greatest part of it.
The amount Of wages paid III actual
money is comparatively small. If he
cultivates fifty acres OF wheat, and has
growing sons, he may manage without
any help, except at harvest time, when
he hires an extra hand for a month.
If he has no family TO assist him, he
will probably hire a hand for The year
at $12 or $15 month. In all cases
board and wages are included, the hired
men sitting down to meals with the far
mer and his family. We may fairly
estimate, then, the capital of 912 re-
quired by an English farmer to cult
vate properly single acre of land will
not more than suffice to purchase and
cultivate the two and half acres which
will yield the same amount of wheat in
America. Up to this point neither
competitor has decided advantage,
and, if anything. the difference is, in
our opinion, on the side Of the home
agriculturist But the heavy yield in
England is only obtained by the appli-
cation Of costly 1nanures, and this out
lay is spared the American grower. AT
present only the richest lands are cult
waited, and the earth yields her increase
without any assistance at his hands. OF
course this will not last forever. In
twenty years time all the more fertile
lands will be taken up, and even those
Will be exhausted by successive crops.
In California the average has already
fallen from twenty to fourteen bushels.
In the Atlantic states it has long been
necessary to revert to q rotation Of
crops and the application of fertilizers.
But until this state of exhaustion is
reached in the western states, the Eng
fish farmer will require something more
than the set-of of freight against rent
charge. This protection the Americans
| themselves gave him until recently.
The Morrill, tariff imposed an excos-
sive duty on iron, and the construction
and maintenance of railways was
thereby rendered so costly that it was
necessary to mulct the producer in
freight. Also, the cost Of living was
artifcially raised by duties imposed on
every article Of manufacture. Prior to
the war a comparatively free trade
policy existed in the United States,
Had this been continued agriculture in
the Mississippi valley would years ago,
have achieved the prosperous position
it has at length reached by the collapse
of the manufacturing industries in the
eastern states. The prostration Of every
branch of manufactures has been so
great that practically the tariff has been
in allegiance for the last few years.
Should these revive, the cost Of living
will again be raised, and to
that extent the former protection re-
stored to the English producers. But
this contingency is too remote to ar
rest the impending fall in rents. 1t lies
entirely at the option of the landlords
whether this shall be wholly given in
abatement OF rent, or partly take the
form of security of tenure and protec-
ton to the occupier's capital. For the
sake of the country at large, it is to be
hoped they will choose the latter alter
native.