The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-05-03
SOME FIGURES FOR THE FARMERS.

SOME FIGURES FOR THE FARMERS.
Some statistics just issued by the agricultural
section OF the twelfth census indicate that the
farmers have no reason for feeling envious over
the recent substantial increase in the values of
investments IN railway and manufacturing and
commercial enterprises. The farmer has been by
no means left behind in the prosperity race accord
ing to these figures. On the contrary, he is found
to be leading the procession.
In a general way the census statistcians show
that during the past ten years the increase in the
aggregate farm wealth of the country has been
|greater than the entire value of the countrv's
agricultural resources fifty years ago. In other
words, the farmers have more results to show for
their abors during the past decade than all the
agrculturists had accumulated from the time of the
very first settlement of the country until 1850. In
1850 the number of farms was 114o.o7, The
present census will show that there are now atleast
inhabitants While the number of farms has been
increasing in this way the value of farm invest
ments has been growing, the increase for the past
forty years being estimated at the enormous total
of S. 500. 900, 900.
Inc twelve states comprising Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin,
|
South Dakota show the most gratifying results dur
Ing this period OF great agricultural development.
In the past ten years the number of farms in these
states has increased from 1.e23,SS2 in 1900 to
2, o,ooo while the value of the fam wealth rep
resented has been augmented by So, 500, 900, 900
Of successful farmers do not need statistics
to know that they are better off than the farmers
ever were at any previous period in the history of
the country But the increase in agricultural
wealth has not come in such leaps and bounds as
to impress the betterments distinctly on the mind
and it nay be that the figures of the census depart
ment will serve useful purpose in inducing new
realization of the magnitude of the progress which
Il has been made.
1t is scarcely necessary to say that the money
making prospects of the farmers are brighter TODAY
than they ever were before. With the expansion
of the agricultural industry during the past forty
Years has come radical Improvement in farming
methods. Machinery has been invented which
makes the labor of the farm less arduous, and
cheapens production. At the same time have come
systems of drainage, irrigation and fertilization
which greatly increase the productive possibilities
of the soil. The farmers have been learning the
principles Of crop rotation and the variety of crops
best suited to different soils and climates Seeds
have been improved Wastage has almost dis
appeared, and and valuable byproducts are
found in materials which were thrown away few
years ago. In every way farming has become more
of an exact science. While all this Improvement
IN farm methods and economics has been going
on larger possibilities in the way of transportation
have widened the available markets, giving the
farmers easy facilities for disposing of their larger
crops to the best advantage With growing
population in this country and growing DISPOSE
ton IN the foreign markets to come to our granar-
les tor their food supplies, there is no reason why
the period of expansion in American agriculture
shall not continue with even more profit to the
farmers in the future
/ The American farmer need not worry when he
reads about the big dividends of the railways In
large measure it is his own continuous prosperity
which has made these dividends possible, and
while the railways have been making some money
9 out OF him he has been making money out of the
railways and every other department of industrial
life And he is going to keep on doing so-Sioua
City Journal.
PROF. HEBRON is SCORCHED