The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-02-24
AMERICAN AGRICULTURE
PROF. HARVEY w. WILEY WRITES
CONCERNING ITS POSSIBILITIES.
Preparations for Development Are
Ample, and American Farmers VIII
Meet All Future Demands.

Industries in which its people are engaged
f. essentially a food producer. In this
term, however must be included the pro-
auction OF the raw materials for clothing.
since the production OF food and clothing
are the two great branches Of agricultural
industry. 1t is truc that our country dur
ing the last decade has made wonderful
progress in manufacturing, but this
progress has been maoe possible because
agricultural products are abundant and
cheap While therefore. we pay our Ia
borers more per man per day than is paid
In any other country We get higher re-
turn for the investment 1t is truth uni
versally conceded that the best paid, best
led and best clothed laborer gives the best
work. so that in reality it is doubtful
whether, measured by the amount OK work
produced, American labor is any higher
Iaid than the labor of any other country.
Our rapid growth in population and the
continued demands made upon us from
other countries for agricultural products
have naturally raised the question whether
this country in the future will be able 10
meet the demands made upon it from the
agricultural side. We are feeding now
nearly 100000 Of people within the boun-
diaries Of our own country and sending
almost an equal number. Our foreign mar
kets for agricultural products are the great
source of wealth and preserve for us the
favorable balance of trade which deter
mines whether a nation is growing richer
or poorer. The economic question, there
fore, of preserving these foreign markets
appears TO be one of the highest import.
The statistician locks forward a few years
and sees our population doubled. If during
that time no great advance is made IN agri-
culture 1t is evident that all the products
Of oUr fields will be needed at home and We
will DO longer be receiving the tribute from
foreign countries for these products which
has made us sGch wealthy nation. 1t is
the part of wisdom, therefore, to forecast
the possibilities of American agriculture
ana see what relation il will bear to the
Progress of our country in population and
industries
ABUNDANT PROVISION.
In the first place. attention should be
called to the fact that no country in the
world has so richly endowed agricultural
research as the United STATES. For the
support OF agricultural experiment stations
in the various States and Territories of the
United States and for Hawli and Porto
Rico the Congress OF the United States
appropriated annually $4,000. In addition
10 this Congress has endowed agricultural
colleges in every State and Territory. and
these endowments, together with the build
H. SIS, apparatus, machinery Libraries and
miscellaneous equipment, represent a to-
tai OF S5S, So. $50 % The total income of these
Institutions annually is $6.OOS 379. 20, of which
amount there is given annually, by direct
grant OF Congress, s., los. 610.3S. These col
leges contained at the end OF last year 81
6SS students, of whom 4,1S1 were taking
the special courses in agriculture.
These statistics show that the United
States. so far as agricultural education
and research can go, Is providing for the
future IN the most abundant way.
1t is true that when people speak of
agricultural research and agricultural edu-
cation they are accustomed to refer still to
what Europe has accomplished There is
no denying the fact that in the past Europe
tcck the lead in agricultural education
and research but Europe has already been
overtaken and far outstripped by this coun-
try. The practical effects Of this education
al work are already shown. The establish
ment OF so many centers of experimental
agriculture shows the road to an increased
production by an actual demonstration or
OBJECT lesson pointing out the methods not
orly in a theoretical way, but also in a
practical way.
1t is evident that all the lands practi-
cslly suitable for agriculture IN the United
States have been taken up. Hence the in
crease in agricultural production will no
longer be secured, as heretofore. by ex-
terding the area under cultivation. The
only extension of this kind. of any consld-
cradle magnitude which the future gives
promise OF. Is I'm the reclamation OF the
arid lands of our country. When, by the
best engineering skill, all the available
water of the arid regions is placed under
tribute and conducted over the areas where
IL can be prohtably employed, We may see
many millions OF acres of very fertile
sells added to the areas now available for
agricultural purposes. But even the ut
most possible expansion in this direction
viii not be able to keep pace with our
Eicwth I'm population and our industrial
cffort. Where. then, we may ASK is the
Increased agricultural production to be
found? In answer TO this question it may
be said first. that our system of agricul-
ture will then be radically changed. Here
tcfore we have devoted vast areas to graz
frg and thus our production of domesti-
Gated animals has thus been larger in pro-
portion to our population than that OF any
other country. But 1t is evident that where
two or three acres are necessary for the
grazing of a single animal the number of
farm animals must diminish when the land
Is occupied for other purposes.
WHAT MUST BE DONE.
II has been demonstrated by careful ex-
periments in agricultural stations that a
farm animal be kept in good condition
o. one-tenth OF the area which would be
necessary II open grazing were practiced
II Is plain from this that the days OF large
pastures, cattle ranges and open grazing
have passed and domesticated animals must
b fed by intensive culture OF smaller areas
where immensely greater quantities OF cat
lie food can be produced than is furnished
b. the richest pasture when kept closely
cropped by continual grazing.
Attention should be called also to the
fact that green cattle foods can be pre-
served In state almost as valuable as at
the tine OF production by means Of the
siIo Large quantities OF sugar and other