The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-02-10
New England VS. The South and West.
in m .4# -
IFor the PRoGREssIvE FARMER.1

IL Is well HIloNH llut Nature HAS
.showered her choicest favors. and with a
lavish hand, upon the South and West.
In wealth of climate and soil the South
surpasses all other sections. Her agri-
cultural advantages are simply magniti-
cent and u%nequaled. North Carolina is
behind no other State in natural adapta-
ton to agriculture and horticulture, but
the prevalent opinion in the South is
that New England is too bleak and sterile
for farming, for people regard the soil,
in far-of Yankee land, as SO rocky and
poor and the climate so cold as. to be cum
productive for cereals or other desirable
crops. This is the view generally enter
tanned in the South and West. /,
Now let us see how this is: The Com,
missioner of Agriculture at Washington,
the highest authority we have, gives
some commanding and remarkable facts
and figures along this line. While my
thing but creditable to Southern and
Western farming they are highly so to
the agriculture Of cold, bleak and rocky
New England. According to this official
report, endorsed and sent out by the
Government, Wheat was produced there
last year at d greater profit to the farmer
than in any other section of the Uni.ed
States. The figures show, that the six
New England States produced an aver
age of fifteen'bushels of wheat per acre.
or a money value of $20.35-lOO to the
acre. Illinois gave a money value of this
cereal of $l5.2210; Kansas, $l3.O4-100;
California, $500; and Minnesota, $1O.66-
100. This advantage in favor of New
England, over the richer and more IA
vored lands of the South and West, is
.-nt1 naIo,,lotnl 70 ~, >,,, ,Aao,1a -
pause and think. Then again as To corn
Observation-Disclosures and w q largedlxlz
leads New England in the amount raised,
but the latter makes the greater profit
per acre. In Illinois the average yield
was tWenty-three bushels per acre, of the
value of $l0.Sl-l00, while in New Eng
land the average yield was twenty-seven
bushels per acre, of the value of $500.
Read the report of the tobacco crop,
now stirring the energies of an increas-
ing the number of tobacco farmers of our
State. Take hat crop in New England.
In 1882 New Hampshire yielded an aver
age of lap pounds to the acre, and
worth $4,000; Vermont, l,4l7 pounds,
worth $500; Massachusetts,, l,430
l2S pounds, worth STA. On the other
Il Sl1iA ~ Ill q vi DiS
six hundred and twenty-one pounds to
the acre, worth $44.OO, and Kentucky
eight hundred and twenty-one pounds,
worth $66.00.i The last report of the
Census bureau shows that the net profit,
per acre, of tobacco culture in New Eng
land is from $69.9O-lOO to $222.3O-1OO.
In other agricultural and horticultural
products statistics, show a similar pro-
portion of profitin New England, as also
i'll stock-raising. 49, ass I '4if fu
Such an exhibit of official and reliable
facts and figures in favor of New Eng
land and against the greatly superior re-
sources and advantages of the South and |
West in agriculture, may well cause our
plodding and lagging-behind people of
North Carolina to make a halt and con- |
slider the cause of this state of things. |
1t may be said that the proximity of
New England farmers to numerous large
where ready and remunerative
abound, without the expense of
freights, is a natural cause of
Striking and almost startling dis
proportion of profits. But the rapidly
increasing and generally abundant means
of transportation, by water and railraad,
at prices decreasing by competition, and
the potency of the laws of trade and car
naturally lessons the strength of
such a view. The true solution exists in
the fact, which ought to arouse and re-
form our people, that the poor and rocky
fields of New England, canopied by a
bleak and wintry sky, could not have
been made to bloom and blossom as, thew
do, and to excel those of the South in
productions and profit, as, they, do, with
out constant industry, pursued Nth inteH;-
geaee, skill aid economy, Under Me BEST
and ianproced plans. Old things
must pass away and new things must
take their place. He who is so anti
1uated as to cling to the idea that we
have reached all that is needed in meth
practices and results. does an in
Jury to Society and stands as an obstacle
@ his own progress. AT the North and
East people work, and idIeaess is not
tolerated, but ii treated las 3 vide and
iisgrace Here it's notItIus regarded
md treated, 80 much are the masses nm
lsI fhe thla sk!o If pFsejpdice against in
! me ereatsst ptbits III the aefic11tnfe
II New EAgland oter the South and
West illustfates thestfutlls IF the; old say
ng that k5]ere IS more III ksas lnsaa khan.i Is