Omaha daily bee., 1899-08-06
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Tue Illustrated article in The Bee n
week g describing celery culture as
carried on in Nebraska and showing
that Nebraska is next only to Michigan
as a source of supply for the celery mar
ket furnishes another point on the rapid
diversification of agriculture in this and
other western farming states. But a
few years ago when corn was men
toned as the agricultural staple of Ne
braska 1t was meant that corn was to
all intents and purposes the sole prod
uct of the Nebraska farm, excluding a
small acreage of small grain and fod-
der foods. Damage to the growing corn
meant the irreparable loss of the only
valuable crop on which the farmer must
depend for the returns to his labor and
investment.
The time-tested admonition against
putting all the eggs in one basket, how
ever, Is receiving practical application.
While corn is still king in Nebraska, he
has companions that share with him in
greater or lesser degree the dominion of
the fertile fields and prolific prairies.
AS a wheat-producing state Nebraska is
well up near the head of the list and
the proportionate value of the annual
harvest of other grains is much greater
than formerly. The value of the hay
crop marketed every year mounts high
into the hundreds of thousands, while
probably as much, if not more, is con-
Snnn1 Inv thn o,in,n1g ,,tnnn tho fn,.,,,
Equally important are the farm
products that were entirely ignored up
to recent years. The sugar beet is Il
newcomer whose adaptability to Ne
braska soil has been firmly established
and there is no question that sugar
beet culture is to be extended and i'm
proved until it becomes of far greater
agricultural Importance than now. The
same is true of chicory growing, which
furnishes the foundation for a rising
Nebraska industry. Alfalfa, kaffir
corn, vegetable seeds and a number of
other farm products have similar pos
sibilities of development which must
not be left out of account in reckoning
up Nebraska's agricultural resources.
What is true in this respect of Ne
braska is true also of all the great farm
ing regions of the United States. The
process of agricultural Investigation is
everywhere going on, silently revolu-
tionizing old systems and making farm
ing profitable today at prices which
would have meant loss if not utter ruin
two or three decades back. In making
up the blanks for the census, for eX-
ample, it is found that some 1000 diff
ferent marketable. articles are produced
on American farms, ranging all the way
from frogs and terrapin to violets and
onions. Texas has an extensive pecan
nut industry, Virginia raises peanuts,
Michigan grows peppermint, Vermont
produces ginseng root, some of which is
exported to China, Colorado sends the
most delicious cantaloupes to the big
markets, California is in the list with a
varied menu, including fruits, flowers
and ostriches.
Equally noticeable with crop diversif-
cation is the utilization of farm by
products that used to go TO waste. Va
crops are prerequisite to this
development. While there will always
be farms devoted to the exclusive cult
walton of one or two products, in which
every minutest detail is worked out to
the finest and most economical point,
the ordinary man sees economy in
devoting himself to simultaneously OPP
branches that supplement one I
another. He can, for example, feed his
beet leaves and fodder to cattle, selling
the roots to the sugar factory, the milk
the creamery and the matured live
stock to the meat packer. BY finding
use for everything and avoiding waste,
economizing time and power, taking adj
vantage of modern machinery and i'm
proved process, the position of the
American farmer as the most independ-
.nt, most intelligent, most progressive
and most prosperous agriculturist in
the world will be maintained indef.
nitely.