The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-27

soon reach its limit. Australia raises a
great deal, and we have some competition
from New Zealand"
!" How about stock farming in the
United States, Mr.. Secretary 2"
"Our stock improves right along" re-
piled Secretary Rusk. land there has been
wonderful advance in the last ten years.
\ ou will now find the finest of breeding
cattle from Maine to California, and the
best of imported stock is used. Farmers
are learning what kind of stock is best for
the dairy and meat markets, and the dairy
interest is one of the biggest farm indus
tries today. There are now between six
teen and twenty million COWS in the
United States and we produce now in the
neighborhood of billion and half
pounds of butter a year. We send away
a large amount of cheese and we turn out
nearly half a billion pounds of this every
year. There are great tracts of land in
the United States which will always be
devoted to dairy farming, and some OF the
unused lands of the United States will in
the future be used for grazing.
How about the South, Mr.. Rusk?
What is its future2'
''The Southern states will eventually
contain as fine farms as any part of the
country. There is great area of land
in the South which is well adapted to
farming and which needs only proper
cultivation to make 1t produce great crops.
AS to the Yorn-out lands, they will, be-
lieve, by study and the use of proper fer
tilizers be reclaimed. The South ought to
diversity its crops and it ought to produce
more of the necessaries of life upon its
own lands. This would reduce the cotton
area and it would keep at home the
money which it now sends to other sec
tiCns of the country for products which
it could just as well produce itself. The
/ Southern states should produce all their
own corn and raise theirsown hogs. Many
sections of the South are admirably
adapted for mutton raising, and l believe
that good horses can be raised in almost
all the Southern states. Dairying and
beef raising would be attended with some
difficulty in some parts of the South, but
even in these lines some of the land
would do very we'll"
'WiIl our farmers ever live in villages as
they do in Europe, General Rusk?' l
asked.
would be as well for our farming if they
did so. The best manure for lands is the
foot of the owner and they would not attend
to their Iieius so closely if they were far
away from them. believe that the aver
/ age size OF our farms will. however. be less
/ III the future than they are now, but We
viii never get down to the insignificant
patches which are common to many sec
| tons of continental Europe. There is no
! reason for the village system with the So
! cial facilities offered by modern invention.
The application of electricity to locomo-
! ton and to all means of communication
! will bring the farmers nearer together.
/ The day will come when every farmer Will
/ have his telephone and when he can DIS
( Cuss matters with his neighbors without
going ont of his parlcr. His advantages
In the way Of keeping pace with the times
( and with the other classes Will increase
. from year 20 year. and our farmers of the
I future will be n sturdy, intelligent and IN
dependent yeomanry ana they VIII never
degenerate into A mere peasautry.
give me a picrure of the ideal farmer
OF the future, General EuSk,' ! asked.
I 'What must he be TO succeed >"
The only hope Of the American farmer
will be in his brains" replied General
RHsk. The sharp competitions between
sections and countries which will be in
Guccd by increased facilities for trans
portation, Will stir the agriculturist up TO
his best efforts, His chances for fortune
making viii be great. but he Will have 70
be prepared 10 hight the battle OF competi-
ton for them. lie must be sufficiently
Well educated in science rs far as il is APP
picahle to agriculture. and he must he
Intelligent enough to study his surround
lngs and 10 apply his knowledge To the
( conditions about him. He will be able u
meet his fellow citizens on an equal foot
ing, aud his brains Will command from
ms class in the industry which he repre-
sehtS the respect and consideration which
ne deserves, and he Will give other
cases and other industries due respect
Az return. FRANK q. CAEPENTER