The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-05-14

years has ~perceptibly and steadilE'
diminished. Take, as a striking ex4
ample, some of the representative
States. In New York, the cron Of
wheat went down in twenty yea
from l3 bushels per acre to 10
bushels per acre; of corn from %
to %. Going to the South, we fin
that in North Carolinn during the la;
ten years-for there were NO fgurs
during the war-the crop of whea
has declined from s bushels to SIS
bushels per acre; corn from 1914 to
lis; oats from 1873 to 81. In
Georgia the crop of wheat fell from
7.3 to 81; corn from Ill to SIN
oats from 1912 to 8. In Mississippi,
wheat from 90 to 5; corn from 1873
to 1875; oats from l4.5 to lis. In
Texas, wheat fell from 1875 to 8.5:
corn from 10 tolls; oats from PIP
to 22.8. Coming back to the North
and Northwest, we find that in Ken.
lucky from 1864 to 1884, the product
of wheat declined from 1912 to ~
bushels per acre; corn from 2S.5 to
"a; oats from 24.2 to 1863. In In.
diana, wheat from ID to 1914; 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
d1minution, yet the general diminu.
ton is unmistakable. If we take an
average of the three years, l863..'64
and '65, on the one hand, and of the
three years, 1928, and "a, on the
other, we shall find that in all of the
staple crops there has been a very
marked diminution of product per
acre.
These facts are depressing-indeed,
I know not but 1 ought to call them
startling; but they are facts that need
not surprise us. They show US that
we are under the force of that uni
versal law, to which l alluded at the |
beginning of the hour. They tell Us
that there is nc escape for us from it's
universal application. In some way
we must meet it; or, not many wears
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 tend
ency can be arrested and aver turned
in the other direction. In the i'm
proved methods prevailing in other
lands we see what needs to be done.
Agricultural schools and experiment
stations and agricultural journals have
the great work before them of bring
ing these lessons to. the-peoela- and
teaching their true significance. Col.
leges, thanks to the bounty of the
general government, have been estab.
lished in the different States. Many
of them, it is true, have been misman.
aged, in some of them it may be that
there has been a culpable waste Of
funds and of energies. But making
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 con-
dition of their lands, and, as a conse,
quence, the productive 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 re-
ported and must be taken up by the
agricultural journals and carried to
all the farmers of the land. The day
is not far distant when the possibility
will be taken away Of selling old and
impoverished lands and moYinR~tQ
the virgin soils of the Vest: We are
re~lentlessly driven to the conclusion
that there is no permanent help for
the agricultural interests of the coun,
try but the help that comes from a
more thorough knowledge of the way
in which the demands Of nature are
to be met and supplied.
Ibis, then, is my plea Tor sclentlnc
agriculture. Let the agricultural col
leges be supported and reinforced, let
experiment stations be established and
sustained by the several States; let
the wisest men that can be found be
employed to conduct them. Let care
full experiments be made for testing
the soils and the conditions of larger
and more permanent returns. Let the
results of these experiments, carefully
collated and edited, be sown broadcast
throughout our country. In Short
by means of the colleges and the
stations, and the journals, let an IN
terest be created akin to that when
in the countries of Europe has re-