The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1892-01-08

Wavefly, Sept. 18th. In tie winter of
1874 it gave to the people of New Jersev
its first annual report. It was a small
volume Of 100 pages, and insignificant in
comparison with the present annual re-
ports, which make a large book of 800
pages, containing reports of county boards
from nearly every county in the Stat 2.
the State Agricultural md Horticultural
Association, the State Poultry Association,
the Cranberry Growers Association, and
the State and county Alliances and
Oranges. II also contains addresses on the
possibilities of Southern New Jersey, plant
diseases and their treatment, the spraying
of fruit trees, the possibilities of American
agriculture, farmers children and our COM
mon schools, contagious diseases of ami
mails, improved roads, aud treats on many
other subjects Of interest 70 the farmers of
our State. Amendment to the first act has
from time to time been added, county
boards have been formed. and in connec.
tion it'll Farmers Institutes are be-
ing held, in which all topics relating to
agriculture are fully and ably discussed.
but" says some. these in the lain are
Only theories, and not the result of practi-
cal experiences" But it would be well to
consider tina all ideas are only theories at
first, until they are well digested, given a
pidCliCdi tSst, cud i 10 . OIlJ lHeu LIdb lucf
become established facts. Let us then &C.
cept these theories, if it suits us better to
call them such. Give them due consider
alton and practical application, and then
We may be better able to Judge of their
| practieability.
These few late years the depression 10
agriculture has caused US to give study to
the subject and devise other means of sue
| cess than to follow in the beaten tracks of
our fathers. The raising of cereal crops
has ceased for the present to be profitable
in this section, SO it becomes us to look
forward to some other source of profit un-
til the time again rolls around when they
can be successfully grown in the Atlantic
States. Such may not occur for some time
to come, but it does not seem probable that
the wheat crop of this country will in a
reasonable number of years be outstripped
by our rapidly increasing population. If
we will carefully examine its history, fro m
1S49 to the present time, we will find that
while the population from that time to
1884 increased 141 per cent, the wheat
crop during that period increased 410 per
cent. In the year 1919 there was grown
Al bushels for each inhabitant, and there
was a regular increase until in the year
1879 there was grown 81 bushels TO each
inhabitant. From 1879 to 1884 there was
no increase, it remaining the same per
capita, but since that time there has bee a
slight decrease each year until the present,
when we rave the most bounteous crop
ever grown, yet from the best information
received ii does not exceed per capita the
crop of 1879.
In examining these figures one will find
that in the year 1919 one-half of the wheat
crop was grown east of the Alleghanies;
Ta+or ~, TIN oap4-a af tto aron up q o in Oh;o
after that it was transferred to Illinois,
while at the present time more than one,
half is grown west of the Mississippi. II
is well known that the lands of the west,
where wheat has been So successfully
grown, fail nov to produce good crops,
and will require different treatment and q
rotation OF agricultural production before
it can again reach its former yield. 1t ii
also a fact that unless there are found new
and different modes of obtaining a supply
of water for irrigation the new wheat fields
yet to be operated are comparatively small.
It may be said that the new agriculture
of the south will be the means of increased
wheat growing in that section, but in
answer to that will say that with increased
cotton mills, the growing Of cotton will
become more extensive than in the past.
Also the increase of population in the
manufacturing towns and villages, making
them the centre of a large population, will
cause farmers of that section 10 turn their
a~tteution to market gardening and the
raising of other kinds of truck to supply
the wants of those communities. The
rearing of stock for producing milk and
butter W i'll claim their attention more than
formerly. Other good wheat lands will
be taken up in the near future for growing
beets and sorghumfor the sugar. and fbrous
plants for the manufacture of cordage.
have dwelt at some length on this SUBJ
ject for the reason that W. oftimes hear
the assertion that profitable wheat grow
ing ia this section has gone never to re-
turn, but it is hardly probable that such
is the case. Therefore, to pass success
fully over the present difficulties we must
by all means possible improve our present
mode of farming, make the cost of produc-
ton per bushel, pound or quart less than
it now is; enter into a more varied cultiva-
ton of crops; pay more strict attention to
fruit growing, keeping ever in mind that
a good a rticle of any kind Of crops find a
ready market.
Peter Peters, Y. S, OF Mullica Hill, fol-
lowed in an instructive address on ''Inspec-
ton of Meat and MILK"
H. S. Perry read the following on the
condition of agriculture in Salem county
for 1891.
In looking oyer the condition of agricul-
ture in Salem county for 1891, we have
some things to encourage and some to dis
courage. TO begin, we in New Jersey are
fayorably located, Salem county, in partic-
lar, being in easy and rapid communication
with New York and Philadelphia, two of
the largest cities in the Union, together
with numerous smaller cities and towns in
our very midst, and with all the extensive
glass and other manufacturing industries
in this section of the State, makes a market
for large quantities of produce. We also
have a soil capable of producing as large
| crops and as great a variety as any in tie
Union. Probably there is not a county in
the United States that can have a greater
variety OF home productions than Salem
county.
The crops in the year just passed have
generally been good with the exception of
hay which was rather light. Corn was
above the average. Wheat was an average
crop. Fruit of all kinds, especially apples
and peaches, have been abundant-largely
above an average crop. The price of corn
and wheat, two OF the leading crops grown
in the county. has been fairly good, and for
this reason agriculture in Salem county
may be said to be in a little more prosper
GUS condition than 10 1890. The main dis
~couragement is the scarcity and ineficiency