The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1882-05-31
FARlfEIeS IN EAST TENNESSEE
IND ELSEWHERE.



, showing Tennessee has ever made
is by no means as good a one as the
: opportunities will admit for the fu-
ture.
The Department of Agriculture,
at Washington, in its last special
report upon the estimated produc-
ton of cereals in the year 1881, has
brought to our hands exactly neces-
sary to illustrate the truth of our
assertion. In the matter offarming
1t is shown TO be unfortunately a
fact that other less favored States
are years ahead ofus. States with
scarcely any of the advantages we
possess are growing rich while we
remain poor. Their farm houses
are large and we'll constructed, their
barns close and compactly built,
their stock numerous and in good
condition, out-houses filled with
modern appliances for saving labor,
outhouses and fences strong and
perfect. Take Maine to begin with
"a State by the side of which Ten
nessee is a Garden of Eden in every
natural blessing. Yet with the mis-
cradle resources at their command
the farmers of Maine make larger
crops to the acre than are made in
Tennessee. There they have to
fight long winter. Ours Is short
and kindly. They have a bleak,
rocky country with no soil. We
have a rich soil and rolling valleys. !
They plant field of corn and after
nursing it with hoe incessantly it |
isgathered-a little yellow ear about !
one halfth size ofour average yield. |
We put in seed, run a plow through |
a coIple times and then gather such
corn as Maine farmer rarely sees.
in other words, Maine, for the year
1881, out of 81 800 acres planted,
garnered ,O63, 900 bushels of corn,
which is a yield of 81 bushels to the
acre. This corn sold for average of
81 cents per bushels, and this in a
nOrthernly bleak, barren coast cOun-
try, where the elements above and
below are unfavOrable to the cult
vation of the soil. Tennessee plant
ed 2,915,300 acres of corn from
which were taken 36,222, ,OeO bush
els, and the average of this large /
yield is only u bushels to the acre.
1t brought but - cents a bushel.
That far greater wealth would have
been the result had the same energy
been applied as in Maine, is beyond
dispute. Inthe StateOf New Hamp-
shire, with soil scarcely better than
that of Maine, the yield was also 81
bushels to the acre. In Vermont it
was 30 bushels. Moving westward
the yield begins to decrease in aver
age, and in a tolerable direct ratio
to the increase in quantity. In Ken
lucky, for instance, it is placed at II
bushels. In Michigan, 20; Illinois,
10; Missouri, 16; Kansas, Is, and
so on. Florida, Nevada and Colo
RADIO are the only States receiving an
average price of s1.OO per bushel.
Now take their wheatyield. Maine
planted 44,7O0 acres and gathered
IA bushels to the acre. Tennessee
out of 1865. 300 acres garnered 6
bushels to the acre.
Take oats: In Maine the yield
was 2S bushels to the acre out of
So, 100 acres. In Tennessee we
planted 427, 900 acres and secured
ii bushels an acre-just half Bar
ley yielded % bushels in Maine
against 13 bushels in Tennessee. OF
rye, Maine produce 10 bushels
against in Tennessee, and buck
wheat they show q yield of10 bush
els as against 8 bushels with us. But
we would rather stop than go on
with this unfiattering comparison.
1t has been followed far enough to
point a moral to the farmers of Ten
nessee and give every man whole
some food for reflection. 1t should
be remembered that the size of the
States referred to has nothing to do
with these estimates. They are
based upon the actual number Of
acres cultivated, and are carefully
When it is reflected that
100 bushels of wheat can be raised
10 an acre, that Montgomery county
has actually been shown to be capa-
ble of producing sixty bushels to the ,
acre, the question arises, how is this |,
and what are the reasons for il?
There is only one reason, and it is ,
seen in shat our farmers do not take
he proper care of their crops. The
accomplished, nature her !
self will almost raise the crop, and
hen she asks the farmer TO simply /,
axe care ofwhat she has % gener-
,nsly Iayished upon him and his
amily. THERE'S acarelessslip- -shod !
way of farming in parts Of Tennes- :
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