Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1881-07-21
AMERICA LEADS IN FARMING.

Another abundant harvest is assured in
the United States and the neighboring Pro
vlnceS, for, with here and there an excep-
ton which can have no effect on the gener-
al result, all reports are exceedingly favora-
Die. With plenty of cheap land, and the
very best, with sparse population, and di-
versity of climate, we are favored above
the nations of the world. The greatest
blessings are seldom appreciated, and we
scarcely think that the people of America,
who have enjoyed such succession of glo-
rious harvests of grain and vegetables and
fruit, have the least idea that they receive
more than they deserve and have right to
expect, and have fairly earned by industry
and skill. The truth is, however, that we
are more indebted to circumstances for sue
cess than to any wisdom of our own. We
truly have more than enough, the soil pro-
dnces more than we can consume, so we
have millions upon millions of dollars worth
OF wheat, corn, meat, cheese, g., to dis
pose OF in the markets Of the world. II,
many countries of Europe, so that the soil
did not produce enough to feed the people,
and we were compelled to purchase Of food
in other countries, the state Of things would
be far different, and what the result would
be time in the future may tell. It is not
well, therefore, to lay ''the iattering unc-
tion to our souls" that we are wiser and
better than people Of other countries, who
have to struggle to keep 1.-THE wolf from
the door,
1t is well, however. that we should enjoy
our prosperity, the evidences Of which we
see all over the land, in city, village, and
country, in improved and tasteful dwellings,
and gardens and lawns and flowers and
school-houses and churches, in neatly dress
ed children and happy parents, excursions
and rides and summer travel and other ev-
idence of abundance, happiness, and good
feeling.
These reflections were caused by the re-
ceipt from an English friend of London
journal containing an article In "Our Ag-
ricultural Future," showingVh hat British
agriculture has entered uponR period of
unparalleled crisis" For wheat, it is stat
ed, England paid America, in 1880, more
than hundred million dollars; while for
food imported into England, nearly six
hundred millions of dollars were paid to
foreign countries. How long the country
can bear this drain, and how it can be pre-
vented, or, at least, lessened, is question
that is engaging the attention of the best
minds of that country. But for the fact
that England has been the workshop of the
world, and is so still to a great extent, the
country would, of course, soon become
bankrupt. This. excessive Importation, it
is claimed, results from two causes. The
high rent farmers have to pay for the use
of the land absorbs all they can make, so
that they become discouraged, throw up
their leases, gather up their household
goods, and emigrate to the United States,
Canada, or Australia. Many farms are
without tenants and the land uncultivated.
Old leases, made at fair prices when times
were different, now prove millstones around
the necks of the cultivators. The journal
remarks that ''it has come to this, that our
farmers are fairly and squarely beaten in
their own markets. 1t is question how
long ii will be possible for the British farm
er to pay rent and subsist. The vast extent
of American land, its cheapness, its fertility
the ease with which it can be worked, the
low cost of carriage, are all stubborn fac
tors in the difficult problem which British
agriculturists have to face.n Rent, it is
suggested, may be reduced, but we scarce
ly think the English farmer could pay three
per cent. ON fair estimate of the value,
with taxes and poor rates. He would still
have to compete with the wheat and meat