The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-07-15
Agricultural pecadenee.

For the past five years attention has been
called again and again 10 agricultural deca-
dence in MARYLAND. Its causes hhye been
stated. It's effects deplored and its remedies
canvassed The chief cause is the lack OF
farm labor. the principal effect Is the aband-
onment of the farms. and the remedy most
discussed is the alIuring of immigrants TO The
rich fields OF Maryland and their colonization
ia the counties.
There can be no doubt that few score oil
industrious farmers from the banks OF the
Rhine. from AIsace- Lorraine from the
rugged hills OF Norway and Sweden would be
ofimmense benefit TO the state. The renli.
zation of such "A dream is worth AN effort, ana
II IS not surprising that the attempt has beeh
made several times Ia end only IN failure
Baltimore Herald.
The foregoing extract from our metro
politan contemporary is but Federation OF
opinions advanced from time to time By
those who are uniformed rs 10 the true
status of agriculture and other leading in
terests in Maryland. Let us premise by
saving tina; there is no such thing as ''agrl-
cultural decadencc" in Maryland, as
whole, in the southern part agriculture Is
Ianguishing for want Of labor and capital,
but the general products of the larm are
gradually increasing Stock Of all kinds
has been much improved in the last twenty
five or fifty years. The yield of wheat,
corn, and other cereals, per acre, is now
far in advance of what it was at that period.
Fifteen and twenty bushels of wheat per
acre. used To be considered good crop.
Now, the yield is %, 80, 40, 80, and some
times as high as 62 bushels per acre. This
does not bear out the idea Of agricultural
decadence." On the contrary, it is an
evidence of the advancement OF agrcul-
ture, aud complete refutation of the
parrot ike utterance of decadence. There
is a 'slaek of farm labor, occasioned by
greater demand and more limited pro-
portionate supply, but there are no 'aban-
doned farms" in the state Owners, In
some instances, have removed to the cities,
but the farms are not abandoned. They
are cultivated by tenants. Land has de-
preciated in price, owing in part TO 'bad
legislation, which restricts trade aud has
a tendency to depress prices. This dad
Legislation will ultimately be repealed,
agricultural products will advance in price,
and land will once more be in demand, at
ii - Tban thara will he an
exodus of land proprierors from the cities,
and farm life will be as desirable as 1t was
in the past, when the acme of enjoyment,
the true wine of life, was to be found
only upon the broad acres OF the coun-
try gentleman Foreign immigrants are
no longer desirable, as they were IN
the past The population of this coun-
try is increasing at the rate of about one
million per annum, The natural increase
is sufficient. The cheap land of the west
has been the chief attraction to immigrants,
and railroad and shipping agents have sent
them straight to their western destination.
But land there is no longer as cheap as
formerly. and the billiards and grasshoppers
have made the west an undesirable resi-
dence compared with the middle and south
ern states. A refux of the tide has set
10, and emigration is turning towards the
south, slowly, as yet, but it is turning, and
will shortly flow with increased momentum.
We shall sooa number more than hun
dred millions, and our overcrowded cities
will be compelled to flow out upon the
country or siarye Then, land will be IN
request, and at fabulous prices compared
with what it now sells for, aud the man
with sufficient forecast to buy now, will
thank his stars at the exercise OF his SUI
perior sagacity Let us teach our sOBs To
Hstick to the farm" The time WILSON come
when they will wish they had. Now, they
leave the farm and rush to the cities to
become clerks and subordinates, hewers OF
wood aad drawers of water to others, when
they might have remained upon the farm
and become their own masters and possessed
their own broad acres, breathing the pure
air of Independence and honest living, in
stead of cranping and dwarfng their ex-
istence 10 the atmosphere Of the cities, abb
sorbel IL tie mere struggle for life and
eking ont miserable existence in money
getting.