Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1886-09-11
PROTECTION FOR FARMERS.

ing out the strides which are max
ing in other countries in the cult
walton of wheat, shows the compe-
tition which we are to have in this
great cereal ofour country. In 1880
our exports OF wheat and corn
amounted to s2Ss,OOO, 900, and de-
creased from year to year until, in
1885, the shipments had fallen to
Sl62, 100000, a loss OF S126, 700, 900
in five years. During the same per-
iod the increase of exports of wheat
from India has been most remark
able. In 1872 the first experiment
i'll cargo came to Liverpool from In
,lia. In 1875 she sent only 1,50O, 900
bushels; in 1882 $4,000, 900, and last
year India shipped to England over
10000, 900 bushels.
The Mississippi Valley, said Mr..
Plumb, we all know the depth and
richness of its soil, its climate, its
beautiful prairies, where our hardy
pioneers have made themselves
homes, erected churches and school.
houses, with cities and towns al
ready built up and building, a pop
ulation called rowdyish" some
times, but intelligent, industrious,
enterprisins and brave. Labor saw
ing implements have enabled them
to conquer, in part, the drudgery of
farming. The gaug-plow, the seed
or, the harvester and the threshing
machine move through their fields
in obedience to the intelligence that
guides them.
These men, Mr.. Plumb went on to
say, are raising wheat for the Euro
pean market, and who are their
competitors They are the lowest
castles or outcasts of India; men
whose religion dooms them to re-
main the hopeless victims of de-
graded caste. For clothing, strip
of cotton about their loins and an
other about their brows is the one
unchanging costume. The outfit of
one of these competing wheat pro-
ducerS consists of one pair of bull
locks, cost S12; one pillow, forty
cents; one yoke, fifteen cents; one
leveler, thirty cents; one weeder,
six cents; one sickle, SIX cents; one
winnowing scoop, three cents; one
water litter, fifty cents. Total cost
of outfit $3.50.
Thus equipped he pays rental of
$500 per acre for the land TO till.
He manures his field, and with his
rnde pillow scratches u shallow fur
row, process which he repeats not
less than twenty times before the
seed is sown. The village priest is
consulted as to the time the sowing
is to begin. Seeding is done 10y
hand-dropping in the burrows. The
sprOuting crop is often welded by
hand, and is watered again and
again in the same way. When the
harvest is ripe, the reaper with his
six-cent sickle, sitting upon his
launches, cuts gathered handful
at each stroke and lays it in a gavcl
by his side, and in this way the
patient harvester finishes one
twelfth of an acre each working day
The threshing-foor is a spot of hard
ground with center stake, to which
a group of bullocks in line are at
tached by ropes, and around this
stake they tramp until the straw is
tiattened and the threshing is done
Then comes the winnower with hi;
scoop, that costs seven cents, ant
finishes the work.
Is it possible, asked Mr.. Plumb
that while we have soil so rict
that if transported to these fields il
India it would bring high price a.
manure, and with agricultural i'm
plement brought to the highest per
lection of labor saving, it is yet 6
question whether we can maintain
our hold on the wheat markets o
Great Britain He declared that i
was possible, and among other reas
ons therefore gave the following
which should command every Amer
leans serious attention: The Brit
ish government, guided by states
manship worthy of nation that as
pires to lead the world in CONNER
cial greatness, has had the courag,
to act upon the conviction that tn
operatives in her mines and facto
ries must be fed at the lowest pos
sible cost. British craftsmanship
has secured the control of the Sue.
Canal; it has improved the rivers
and harbors of India, and with ;
lavish hand dug canals, which ar
used both for irrigation and trans
pOrtation; and has by substituting
railways and controlling rates, ant
by government building of railways
brought the distant wheat fields O
India within profitable reach of Cal
cutta, Bombay and Kurrachee.