The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-04-29

20
years 1850 to 1880. And this fearful.
depreciation in the value of ourfarms
occurred during a period of unex.
ampled prosperity and development
in the commercial, financial and man.
ufacturing enterprises of the country.
Acres
Again, increase Of acreage of farms
from w TO IooO, was...'........ ll3,640,OO
f hvgtsze from 1850 to 1880, 20 years. as,88f, , SsS
Average yearly incrsa 6,4H,O9O
That is, the increase in the farm
acreage from 1850 to 1860, was SO
per cent, while, from 1860 to 1880, it
dropped 81 per cent. This heavy
decrease took place during the same
prosperous period to which l have re.
ferred and during which the popula-
ton of the country more than doubled:
Per cent.
From 1880 to 1860, farm W lues increased. 1O1
From 1850 to 1870, farm values increased. 43
From 1870 to 1880, farm values increased. 9
Yet, Notwithstanding this alarming
decline in farm values, the aggregate
wealth of the country increased from
1870 to 1880, As per cent, and the
agricultural population increased over
20 per cent.
AGRICULTURE n MANUFACTURING.
1t may not be undressing or IN
instructive to notice in this connection
the comparative progress between ag-
riculture and manufacturing.
From 1850 to 1860 agriculture led
manufacturing in increased value of
products 10 per cent. From 1870 to
1880 manufacturing led agriculture
81 per cent, showing a difference Of
81 per cent. in favor Of the growth Of
manufacturing.
The exports of American labor
products show equally disparaging
and discouraging exhibits:
Agriculture. Manufacturing.
In In 1885. ..:... o50O,,896,,I85 1885, $685.
An increase during these seven
years in our exports of manufactures
Of 46 per cent, and a decrease in
those years of agricultural products
of 81 per cent.
VALUES OF STABLE CROPS.
In 1866 the wheat, corn, rye, barley,
b~uCkWheat, hay, oats, potatoes,
cotton and tobacco sold for. ..... $2,OO7, 49,, 231
The same crops for the year 1884,
eighteen years later, solo for...... 2,O43, 500, 481
Notwithstanding the cultivated
acreage had nearly doubled, and farm
hands had doubled, and agricultural
implements and machinery had vastly
improved, yet the crops named for the
year 1884 sold for only thirty,six
millions, or less than 2 per cent. more
than they did for the year 1866.
The average price of our cereal
crops in 1887 was very nearly one
dollar per busheI, and in the year
1887 it was less than fifty cents per
bushel. The loss on the crop of 1887,
as compared with that of 1867, was
over thirteen hundred million dol
lars.
For ten years from 1867, the aver
age value of yield per acre of oats was
$l2.lO. For the past six years the
average value has been less than eight
dollars, and is lower o.day than aver
before in our history. For the period
named, the average value per acre in
yield of wheat was $14.39; for the
past six years it has been less than
So. For the period named the aver
age value per acre in yield of corn
was $l4.l6: for the past six years it
has averaged less than So per acre.
The average value per acre in yield of
all u crops in 1867 was $40, in
1887, twenty years later, it was about
nine dollars.
To show that this depression in
prices, this shrinkage in values does
not proceed from local conditions and
is not confined to any section, or crop,
or department of husbandry, let us
examine the statistics of the four
leading staple crops of the country:
WHEAT.
Crop. Bushels. Price. Value.
......... 421, 1885, 100 S1.1O 1853, 1914, 776 |
1880. -. 490, 560,O00 SO today. 421, 881, 600
AS will be seen, the crop of 1889
exceeded the crop Of 1885 by &C.,
.73, $40 bushels, yet the crop of 1885
would have brought, at point of ex-
port, $4l, 1913, 186 more than that of
1889.
The wheat crop of 1880, although
Al, O9O, 595 bushels less than the crop
Of 1889, would have brought, at point
export, $3.50, O36, 55l more money.
1880 to 1870 average price per bush.l........ s1.s9
1873 to 1880 average price per bushel ....... 1.38
1851 TO 1857 average Or. C6 per buEhel. ~ |
Price to-day SO cents at point of exports.
So that the wheat farmer to-day
pays of the products of his labor two
and one-third times as much for a
dollar as he did from 1860 to 1870.
CORN.
Crop. Bushels. Value.
1893. 1887, 100, 900 S677, 561, $50
2,112, 1872, 600 597, $500
So while the crop of 1889 exceeded
mat of 1888 by 125, 1O2, 900 bushels,
yet it would have brought at point of
&C