Smyrna times., 1894-07-25
For the Smyrna Times.
Then and Now.
Mr.. EDITOR :

Tedu6TS ESPECIALLY bu0 Q
younger who are at this time, may be, '
representing a departed ancestry and {
are engaged in agricultural pursuits to
read of the prices for wheat, corn and
oats way back during the years of 1864, !
1866 and 1866, at the close of the re- {
bellion and Immediately thereafter.
Looking over some accounts of sales {
which have preserved of grain sold to ]
H.C.Douglass, and delivered at Clayton,
Dec. 1864, I find revealed to the naked | ,
eye wheat $3.50 bushel, rye Sl.62 and
oats SO cents. During the year 1864,
month of April, delivered to the same
grain buyer $3.50 bushels of yellow corn,
the average weight of which was 60
pounds to the measured bushel, the
price received being $1.20 and $1.25
per bushel of 56 pounds. The extra
ordinary weight of this crop of corn
may be attributed to an experiment
that the writer made by hybridization,
by mixing three distinct varieties Of
corn together at their planting. The
varieties mixed was good variety of
fiat corn that had been grown on the
farm that weighed 81 and So pounds
and variety known at that time as
"Sheep Tooth" that weighed 60 pounds |
and a variety grown in the State of |
| New York, known as Round Corn" |
that weighed IS to 81 pounds to the |
measured busheI. The three varieties |
were thoroughly mixed together about
One-third of each and planted on ground
that had been manured with well rot
ted manure, twelve twO-borse wagon
loads to the acre, ground plowed fully
eight inches deep and planted three
and threefourths feet apart each way.
August %, 1867, sold ]. G. s. A. II.
StOckly wheat for $2.55 and oats for
so cents and 1866 to H. G. Douglass,
wheat for 1902 and the year 1867,
ITO bushels of yellow corn for 500
per bushel of 56 pounds. These extra
ordinary high prices were caused by
the Shareholders rebellion which con-
tinued four years, requiring millions of
men to subdue, taken from all the Varl-
Gus occupations in life but perhaps the
larger number from agricultural per-
suits, and the vast amount required for
army supplies for both men and beasts,
beside the vast amount wasted and de-
stroyed in various ways. Those per-
sons now engaged in farming need
d never look for high prices for their
grain products for the reason there are
four trunk railroads, stretching from
u the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, with
u side lines and branches connecting all
= of the forty-five States that form this
| I Union, making the greatest country on
l. the globe, with all the various kinds of
- soil, climate and conditions capable OF
u growing almost all products except
/ coffee and tea, and in such quantities
e as to supply not only the needs and
u u wants of our own people but an enOr
u nous surplus for export to feed the
p paupers of all Europe.
The thousands of acres of fertile sol
u q, east of the Mississippi River and the
~ millions of acres lying west of tha
IL division which has been put under cul-
j. tiVation during the last twenty years
=. plowed with steam gang plOws, cult
et waited with horse cultivatOrs, whea
ST harvested with the latest improved
v machinery, known as header whicl
c simply takes the heads from the straw
passed to the threshing machine, wit
u steam power makes comparatively bu
q short operation in putting wheat i
III condition to send to market. Then tn
rs low charge for handling and low freigh
charges by boats on the lakes, and raj
roads to the markets of the wOrlC
ay With freight on wheat and corn fror
he Chicago, the great wheat centre of tn
Us West, northwest and southwest
1s, Lake Erie, in schoOners that carry thirt
'as and forty thousand bushels for Il to
of cents to Buffalo, N. Y, and to Phil,
ng delphia and New York, by railroad fo
ar II and ii cents per 100 pounds equt
ere to about 81 cents a bushel for corn an
ere y cents for wheat, while from Clayto
ng station to Philadelphia, the freight
net not less than Al to cents; while fro
from Clayton to Philadelphia is abol
20 miles. the distance from Chicago
ps, near 1000 miles. The advantages al
by all in favor of the Western corn al
ur- wheat growers. The town of SmyrI
ips is supplied with fresh beef, smoke
a ham slaughtered in Chicago, tomato
wv, grown in Florida, fruits grown in Ca
all fornia aud baled hay sent by all re-
sly from the State of Michigan, and so
goes.
lex But farmers of the Peninsula of Del
OF ware and Maryland need not be d
lire couraged : they have the advantage,
ng, soil, climate and nearness to the gre
OF markets of Baltimore, Philadelph
New York and Boston, and thereto
instead of continuing to grew whe
and corn, cut the tillages down wi
these crops and exercise greater int
NJ ligence better judgment and turn yo
attention to growing and raising tho
cen things which are absolutely necessa
all to feed the large population that
was habit the cities named and ship dire
Ter by the great facilities at comma
the either railroad or steamboat, Smi
ana fruits of all kinds, early app
tate asparagus, potatoes, peas, spri
chicken, eggs, butter, milk, hop gro
I. ing can be made profitable and ma
the other things when especially attend
ton, to aud conducted on a larger sc;
alti' would undoubtedly be found mC
the profitable than growing wheat a
ary- corn. Take the article of milk for {
tern ample. A farmer who will procI
lard eight or ten good cows, feed tn,
'een properly, take good care of them, a
as have them MIXED regularly night a
tern morning, aud send his milk regula
his the year around to the creamery
best Philadelphia ought to make at lie
and one dollar weekly from each cow a
esa- calculating ffty-twO weeks for Y,
acti- would be $500 for each COW,
ped $4,000, to which maybe added the p
y to ceeds of the sales of ten calves at
lcll- each would make the sum total of Sc
a sum far greater than the wheat vi
ring on so acres of ground or the same
tax corn and the same results may be
the tanned with some of the other artic
ANY enumerated. When the writer ,
VIII personally engaged in agriculture
nese felt as though he was richly paid wi
liza; he would get $40 for calves, all
ana milk needed for butter making 8
',OO0 household use together with the mi
gold ure.
tho Hog breeding and raising NAV
netU taken as another example. What
Heeg1 more profitable when properly
tba tended tOoF Hop growing is pro
llin0 able industry in New York State an
tics becoming largely so in California ,
ority can be made so in Delaware, but to
bay successful in any industry, requires
100 telligence, close application and un
ontb ing industry as well as frugality 1
good judgment, disqualification and att
ofyar ments that but few persons engaged
near agriculture possess and hence ii
aaoa failure. The writer might contii
q 20 this communication much longer
for the present enough. He may
will like pursuing these thoughts m
and specifically at some future time.