Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-07-14

crease In price has been owing partly
TO the growing demand for the grain.
This increased demand has not been for
supplying food for man. The amount
OF corn consumed per individual in the
country was probably never so small as
at present. The price of corn-meal ap.
proaches nearer to that of fine wheaton
flour than ever before. The economical
argument in favor of eating it, there
fore, is not as strong as it was. Our
foreign-born population has increased
very rapidly, and most foreigners are
entirely unacquainted with the use of
corn as food. They do not take kindly
to it when they come to this country
Corn-meal was used for bread almost
entirely by the negroes in the south
during slavery times, but at present
wheat flour has generally taken its
place. The Indians as they become
civilized learn to substitute wheat for
corn as an article of food. The skill
of millers has apparently been confined
to the grinding of wheat. We have
much better flour than we had few
years ago, but by common consent the
corn-meal is not as good. The demand
for corn for other purposes, however,
has largely increased. The manufact-
IRE of glucose has called for a vast
amount This is a new industry, but,
like that of the manufacture of alcohol,
it has required vast amount of corn.
The demand for corn for export in
creases every year. Large quantities
of corn are now used for feeding dairy
cows and fattening stock kept in parts
of the country where it is difficult to
raise grain. The quality of beef now
required by the market makes it neces-
sary to feed steers more corn than was
fed few years ago.
The yield of corn has decreased in
many parts of the country where the
soil and climate are the best suited to
its growth. This is partly owing to the
fact that the best ground was selected
for producing corn when the farms were
first improved, and partly to the cir
cumstance that the soil has been inn
poverished by successive groupings.
Many western farmers were at first re-
luctant to believe that successive crops
of corn would essentially impoverish
the soil. They were finally convinced,
however, that such was the case. They
resorted to the use of manure on land
intended for the production of corn
with considerable reluctance. Many
preferred to raise smaller crops than to
be at the trouble of hauling out and APP
plying manure. The growth of clover
for fertilizer has not been general in
the west. When it has been raised for
that purpose it has in most cases been
turned under preparatory to the pro-
duction of wheat For several years
wheat has been the fashionable crop in
most parts of the country. 1t has been
the favorite crop with farmers, largely
for the reason that it could be sown,
cut, bound and thrashed entirely by
machinery. Machines have been largely
employed for planting and cultivating
corn, but as none have been introduced
for harvesting and preparing it for
market most farmers preferred crop
that could be raised and put into con-
dition to sell without resOrting to the
use of hand labor. Possibly.the en-
ployment of machines for planting and
cultivating corn has tended to decrease
the yield of corn per acre, though it
has largely increased the area planted.
The more machines were improved the
more the use of hand tools was dis
carded. The time is not far in the past
when no one expected to raise a crop
of corn without using the hoe to plant
and cultivate it. Now the hand-hoe is
never seen in most corn-felds in the
Western States.
The ease with which corn was raised
when the soil possessed all its virgin
richness caused farmers to fall into
negligent habits concerning every stage
of its cultivation. They were at little
trouble to select and cure seed. They
rarely went to the expense of purchasing
an extra article for planting. They
took their seed corn from the same bin
where they obtained the food for their
pigs and chickens. On this account the
quality of their corn deteriorated. The
application of manure did not COM
mence till the soil showed signs of ex
haustion. Then it was not applied to
the soil in the best way to secure the
best results, but in the manner that was.
easiest. Manuring in the hill or drill,
as is practiced in the east, was thought
to be attended with too much work,
Little or no attention was paid to giving
a top-dressing to hills or drills of corn.
Very few ever used ashes, land plaster,
or any commercial fertilizers on corn
ground. The consequence has been
that farmers in the east have finally
surpassed those in most parts of the
west in the production of large yields
of corn. The report of the National
Department of Agriculture published
last fall showed the heaviest yield of
corn in the New England States and
almost the lightest in some of the west
ern ones where the soil is prairie and
the climate very favorable to the pro-
duction of the crop. 1t seems evident
that Western farmers must adont the