Daily globe., 1879-05-15
THE AMERICANS ADVANTAGE.
Why oar Wheat Can BE Sold In En0lunt
Cheaper Than English Gro,vth.

Why oar Wheat Can BE Sold In ENGLAND
Cheaper Than English Gro,vth.
London Economist.
The main advantage of tho American
farmer seems to lie in the cheapness with
which he obtains his crop. 1t is somewhat
surprising to find that tho wheat grown in
the far West still pays as much freight be-
fore it can be placed in the English market
as tho 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, cul ltivate two and a half acres be-
fore he can sell as much produce as is grown
on single acre in England. This, how
ever, 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
the ease with which light plow
runs through tho rich loan of Western
State. In northern Minnesota the Red
River settlement is just being opened up. A
furrow may be drawn for fifty miles across
this alluvial prairie without meeting hill, a
tree, Or stone. Various estimates of the
cost OF labor for tillage and harvesting have
lately been published. If these are correct,
an acre of wheat IN America can be cult
waited for about one-haif the expense and
labor OF cultivating an acre in England We
do not, however, place implicit reliance on
such estimates. The American farmer, as q
rule, does his own work, or the greater part
of it. The amount of wages paid in actual
money is comparatively small. If he cult
Yates fifty acres of wheat, and has grown
sons, he may manage without any help
except at harvest time, when he
hires an extra hand for month. i
he has no family to assist him, he will proba
bly, hire hand for year at $12 or $15 {
month. In ali cases board and wages are
included, the hired men sitting down tx
meals with the farmer and his family. W.
may fairly estimate, then, the capital of $1:
required by an English farmer to cultivat
properly single acre of land will not NOR
than suffice to purchase and cultivate th
two and half acres which will yield tn
same amount of wheat in America. Up tt
this point neither competitor has decide'
, advantage, and, if anything, the differenc
0 is, in our opinion, on the side of the hom
agriculturist. But the heavy yield in Eng
t land is only obtained by the application
q of costly manures, and the outlay j
SAAO
+ only the richest lands are cultivated, and tn
: earth yields her increase without any assist
8 ance at his hands. OF course this will nc
d last forever. In twenty years. time all th
( more fertile land will be taken up, and eve
Il these will be exhausted by successive cop!
o In California the average has already falle
: from twenty to fourteen bushels. In th
Atlantic States it has long been necessary
revert to a rotation Of crops and tho az
J. plication of fertilizers. But until tn
o stage Of exhaustion is reached in IL
Y Western States, the English farmer wi
"a require something moro than Il
n set-of of freight against rent charge. Th
), protection the Americans themselves ga,
him until recently. The Morrill, tariff in
: posed an excessive duty on iron, and Il
W construction and maintenance of railwa,
@, was thereby rendered so costly that it W;
20 necessary TO mulct the producer in freigh
Also, the cost of living was artifically raise
by duties imposed on every article
manufacture. Prior to the war compa1
Il lively free trade policy exieted in the Unite
c. States. Had this been continued, agricr
IN ture in the Mississippi Valley would yea
a, ago have achieved the prosperous position
in has at length reached by the collap
10 of the manufacturing industries
nj the Eastern States The prostrati
~ of every branch of manufactul
has been SO great that practically the tai
no has been in abeyance for the last few yea
q. Should these revive, the cost of living "
he again be raised, and to that extent the fe
ts NOR protection restored to tho English pl
Il. ducer. But this contingency is too RENE
of to arrest tho impending fall in rents.
ID. lies entirely at the option of the landlo,
- whether this shall be wholly given in aba
ment of rent or partly take the form of
TO curity of tenure and protection to the oc'
by piers capital. For the sake of the coun
ed at large it is to be hoped they will cho,
the latter alternative