Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-03-12

above those to be obtained on the gen
eral market. The objection is the in
creased cost of the stock; and this is a
serious one where it is contemplated to
purchase considerable number. But
now that good animals of almost any
breed can be obtained at unusually low
prices, it is we'll to remember the rap
idlty with which a large flock c. herd
can be grown from very small COM
mencement. The wonderful produc-
tiveness of the hog needs no ilustra-
ton. Two or three ewes as a starting
point will enable one to build up very
large flock in ten years; and so the
progeny of COW, in dozen years, un-
less she should prove a persistent bull
breeder, might form a herd of forty or
fifty females Of various ages. Looking
forward ten, twenty, or twenty five
years seem long time to young far
mer; but he expects to live and farm
that long, and to keep stock Of some
kind and, by little additional expense
and little additional care and skill in
selection and management, he can, III
either of the ways named, be steadily
Improving his stock, and securing those
which will not only better please the
eye, but which will also sell for money,
and give a better profit. In this, as in
many other things, the two most i'm
portant elements of success are to start
right and then stick to it.-Natonal
Lire Stock Journal.
THE DECLINE OF AGRICULTURE.-By
English experts it is announced that
the farmers of England can not afford
to raise wheat on their lands if its ruling
price is to be no higher in future years
than it has been of late. The question.
is one of the gravest importance to
Great Britain ana one worthy Of the
most careful study in this country, and
particularly so in Baltimore. which
seems destined to be one of the greatest
markets for the sale of wheat in the
world. Messrs. Thomas C. Scott and
Arthur II. Savory, authorities upon the
subject in England, have recently made
careful inquiries into the condition of
the wheat-raising industry,a and are COM
PEELED to admit that at present figures
England must abandon this branch Of
agriculture and give place to America.
the English farmer for his outlay in
seed labor, manure, carriage, ETC., the
wheat must be sold at 60 IS per quar-
ter (eight bushels) at least. The average
price in the past four months has been
but e. per quarter, clear loss of Is a
bushel America raises wheat 1000
miles from her ports of export, conveys
it by rail to the points of shipment,
transports it over 5000 miles of ocean
to Great Britain, and sells it at Is a
bushel less than it costs the English to
that this should be so, but il is indubit
ably proven, not alone by the fsures of
the English economists. but by the feat
ures of our trade last year That it
should cause alarm in England is no
wonder. Already is the state of affairs
throughout the country simply terri ole.
Failures and strikes, breaches of trust
and destruction of confidence, declines
Of income among the rich and paupel-
ism and starvation among the poor, are
heard of day after day from one part or
another of England, Scotland, Ireland
and Wales. One branch of manufac
turers after another that was before
peculiarly England's own, has been
wrested from her by the United States
and other countries; protectionist ideas
have been revived in Italy and Spain;
the expiration of the commercial treaty
between France and Austria has
brought again into operation the old
tariff of exorbitant import duties in Aus
tria, Bismark has declared himself
protectionist, and after all these blows
at her manufacturing trade, England
finds herself confronted by probable
ity of the destruction of her produc-
ton of wheat. The threatened blow,
it has been truly said, would be the Sc
verest that English industry has receiv-
ed in modern times. The fall in rents
of arabic land throughout the country
would be gigantic. The extent of the
acreage devoted to wheat solely, or to a
rotation of crops, amounts to some a.
100000 acres. and the wheat crop of the
United Kingdom is worth (including the
increased rents due to it) at least $780,
100000 per annum. If America can
land wheat in England for SO quar-
ter, while her farmers cannot afford to
sell their own crops at less than SD
quarter, it is. Of course, an absolute GER
tainty that wheat raising will cease to
be an English industry. In this con-
nection the enormous progress made by
the United States in this branch of ag-
riculture is an interesting and import
ant study In 1868 the country planted
is, AGO. 1872 acres in wheat, and produced