AGRICULTURE OF THE UNITED STATES.

Southland Times, Issue 1234, 8 April 1870, Page 3

AGRICULTURE OF THE UNITED STATES.

The report of the Commissioner of Agriculture of the United States describes the weather of the last year as having been peculiar. The effects of the meteorological changes were more or less injurious in proportion to the degree of negligence in culture add crudity in condition of heavy or moist lands. In some instances soils which &re naturally of superior excellence but inferior manurial condition yielded unprofitable returns. Th£ production of the country, he says, m^pt be increased hundreds of millions of dollars by some thorough comminution of soils, by their proper modification and amelioration, and by the draining of the saturated or^ tenacious lands. The loss from want of these agricultural improvements, serious in any season, is exceptionl ally large this present year. He represents that the depression of the wool industry has in the United States been greatly modified and relieved by the operation of the present tariff. A sufficient quantity of carpet wool, not produced in the United States, has been admitted fromabroad at low rates 6f duty ; a sufficiency of most grades of clothing wools has been produced at home and sold at lower prices' than when foreign wools were . admitted at nominal rates, and an impetus has been given to the production of combing wools, which will not only greatly benefit the textile interest, but improve the quality and* quantity of: mutton in the* markets of the land. Dissatisfied with present receipts, and gloomy over future prospects, many farmers have sacrificed a portion' of their flocks during the year. It is estimated that four millions of : bulls were killed for pelts and tallow. American agriculture in all its branches, is pc culiarly subjectto periods of elevation and depression from the impulsive action which stimulates over-production at one time, followed by panic and abandonment of the temporary unprofitable pursuit. The wool interest has often suffered, not merely from ordinary causes of fluctuation, but more disastrously still from tariff, changes, frequent and extreme, as well as unexpected. The ; Commissioner considers it essential to the welfare of the important industry that the present mgderate schedule of duties should be continued without modification. The Commissioner reports as follows on the subject of Southern agriculture :— -" The continued high price of cotton has made its culture more profitable than at any former period, and the crop of 1868 has yielded a' larger amount of money than that of 1859. The yield of the past year exceeded very slightly the estimate of this department, which was 2,380,000 bales. The present season has witnessed great activity in this* culture, an increase of area cultivated, and more general and generous fertilisation ; and has also been characterised by drought in the seaboard States, and other causes of diminishing production, which have modified the expectations of planters; yet the crop will exceed that of last year, and may reach 2,700,000 bales. It is to be regretted that the tendency is to neglect other cropsand concentrate all available labour and capital upon a single product, however profitable. The inevitable result will' be more cotton and smaller net returns in money after the purchase of needed supplies, and, as a further result, a slower improvement of neglected lands. This b:me of Southern agriculture is still operative, and may cease to exist only when low prices, disaster, and despondency shall again arrest the impolitic and irrational course of production. It is gratifying, however, to note the increase of cotton manufactures in the cotton region, their flourishing condition, their large dividends, and the quality of their yarns and fabrics. - Operatives are easily obtained, at reasonable wages, becoming readily inured to habits of systematic industry,, and rapidly acquiring the requisite sakill. At the ■ commencement of the present year there Were 86 cotton mills reported ;from Southern States to the National Association of Cotton Manufacturers and Planters, running 225,063 spindles, consuming 31,415,7501b5. The cotton manufactured in the United States in 1860 was 422,704,975 lbs. ; in 1868, by these returns, 450,000,000 lbs. At the former date the home consumption was 20 per cent, of the crop ; it is now 40 per cent. As the ratio of consumption shall be further increasedj the prosperity of the country and of the cotton section will advance. The sugar interest is rapidly attaining its former proportions. A disposition is indicated to extend its culture beyond the cane plantations of the Mississippi River to Florida. Fruit culture is gaining a prominence which it never, before enjoyed ; vineyards of hundreds of acres in extent have been established, and orchards of thousands of acres, with groves of oranges and other tropical fruits. There is evidence of progress also in the use of improved agricultural implements, the employment of fertilisers, and in* the mental activity and spirit of inquiry which are moving the rural mind of' this section." The wheat culture forms another . important tcjgic' of the 'report. The Commissioner sa iyg"' : l_" The wheat interest is at present suffering from one of the periodical seasons of depression which are the inevitable result of exclusive reliance upon a single crop. A good yield was obtained last year, and a still larger result the present season ; this fact, in combination with: financial causes, has depressed the price, to a lower point than has been reached since iB6O. The continuous planting of the new lands of the west $vith wheat is removing westward, year by •year, the centre of wheat production, and increasing the distance of transportation, while the railroads, by their combination to "secure dividends" are increasing in equal rat^o the cost; :of freights. Thus are wheat-growers reaping the fruits of iheir improvident husbandry, arid suffering extortion and loss from' the accident of location. A diversification of industry, both agricultural and manufacturing,will render them masters of the situation, - and release them from

subservience to the railroads and European wheat markets. The pioneer or ' skinning ' system of culture must be abandoned, at least in- the. settled States, and capital be used in farm improvements. A judicious investment in draining often pays 100 per cent, the first year ; a single horse-hoeing of- growing wheat, as reported to this department, has doubled tbi' yield, and paid 1000 per cent, upon its cost ; and improvement in breeds of farm, stock yields large dividends upon the investment." The report notices, lastly, the prevalence of numerous epidemic and zymotic diseases among the cattle of the United States. The cow and the horse, says the Commissioner, are placed in restraint and unhealthy conditions, in disregard of their natural habits, and the well-known laws of hygiene. Regarding it as a duty of the Q-overnment not only to direct the attention of the agricultural community to the want of care of stock, and to the general ignorance of the appropriate treatment, but also to encourage the establishment of institutions where veterinary medicine arid hygiene in their widest application may be l taught, and a class of practitioners be produced capable of solving the problem how to preserve domestic animals in good, health under conditions not natural Jbo the species, it. is strongly recommended that a division of veterinary surgery in connection with this department be established.— .Brace Standard. " '-■■ ■■■■ i ■■ •'- '■'' '• v ■■■■'■■