The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1888-07-10

pete with the grain fields of the West.
The poorer lands, therefore, have been
abandoned, and crops are raised only
in those favored localities along the
rivers and in the valleys of New Eng
land that are now most easy of culti-
walton. So, too, in some of the Middle
States, in the South, and in the West,
there have been manifest disturbances
of the general tendency. An espec-
tally bad winter has, perhaps, dimin-
ished the crops of wheat; and, in some
instances, other causes have interfered
to disturb the regularity of the mani
fest tendency. But making all deduc.
tions for these Incidental effects we
find that the Iate of product per acre
during the last twenty years has per-
ceptibly and steadily diminished
Take, as striking example, some Of
the representative States. In New
York the crop of wheat went down in
twenty years from l3 bushels per acre
to 1913 bushels per acre; of corn from
293 to %. Going to the South, we
find that in North Carolina during the
last ten years,-for there were no
figures during the war,-the crop of
wheat has declined from 8 bushels to
SO bushels per acre; corn from 1874
to lis; oats from 1919 to ST. In
Georgia the crop of wheat fell from
7.3 to ST. corn from Ill to 81; oats
from 1912 to 9. In Mississippi, wheat
from 92 to 5; corn from 1873 to 1875;
oats from AS to 1l5 In Texas
wheat fell from 1875 to 85 corn from
l9 to l7.5; oats from 27.2 to 22.8.
Coming back to the North and North
west, we find that in Kentucky from
1864 to 1884, the product of wheat
declined from 1912 to II bushels per
acre; corn from 28.5 to "a; oats from
24.2 to 1853. In Indiana, wheat from
ID to lO4; corn from 20 to 27. In
Illinois, wheat went down from l4.3
to 10; and corn from 33 to 25.
And so, not to weary you with
these depressing figures, it is enough
to say that although, as already said,
there is not an absolute uniformity of
diminution, yet the general diminu-
tion is unmistakable If we take an
average of the three years, 1868, ga,
and '65, on the one hand, and of the
three years, 1882, '83, and '84, on the
other, we shall find that in all the
staple crops there has been very
marked diminution of product per
acre.
These facts are depressing, indeed [
know not but [ ought to call them
startling; but they are facts that need
not surprise u.s. They show us that
we are under the force Of that univer-
sal law, to which [ alluded at the be-
ginning of the hour. They tell US
that there is no escape for us from it's
universal application. In some way,
we must meet it; or, not many years
hence, all over this fair country, lands
will have to be abandoned, as already
lands have been abandoned in New
England, in Virginia, in all of the
Eastern States, because they refuse to
yield a remunerative return.
But while this depressing fact con-
fronts us it is gratifying to know that
there are means by which the tendency
can be arrested and even turned in
the other direction. In the improved
methods prevailing in other lands we
see what needs to be done. Agricul-
tural schools and experiment stations
and agricultural journals have the
great work before them of bringing
these lessons to the people and teach
ing their true significance. Colleges,
thanks to the bounty of the general
government, have been established in
the different States. Many of them,
it is true, have been mismanaged, in
some of them it may be that there has
been a culpable waste of funds and Of
energies. But making all allowance,
the great fact still remains that they
must be relied upon as the principal
means by which, directly or indirectly,
the farmers are to be taught how they
are to better the condition of their
lands, and, as consequence, the pro-
ductive industries Of the country. The
lessons which are wrought out in the
class rooms and in the laboratories of
the colleges and at the stations must
be more fully reported and must be
taken up by the agricultural journals
and carried to all the farmers of the
land. The day is not far distant