Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1875 — Progress of American Agriculture in One Hundred Years. [ARTICLE]

Progress of American Agriculture in One Hundred Years.

Secretary Fint, of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, has republished in pamphlet form, under the title of “ A Hundred Years’ Progress of American Agriculture,” a portion of his twentyfirst annual report, giving the following interesting facts and statistics: During the Revolution and for some years after farm production was in a state of extreme depression. The first organized effort toward improvement was the formation of the South Carolina Agricultural Society, in 1784, followed by the Philadelphia Society, organized in 1785; the New York, in Society 1791; and the Massachusetts Society, in 1792. These societies were regarded with distrust, and met with considerable opposition, as the farmers were strongly imbued with the spirit of conservatism and exceedingly reluctant to embrace pew ideas. It was not until 1810 that any agricultural exhibition was held. In May of that year the Columbian Agricultural Society had an exhibition at Georgetown, D. C., with liberal premiums for the encouragement of sheepr&ising, etc. In October of the same year Elkanah Watson exhibited three merino sheep in Pittsfield, Mass. —the exibition being the occasion of much ridi-

cule and contempt of the farmers of the day. The next year, however, the Berkshire County Agricultural Society was formed, and its exhibitions have'been held regularly at Pittsfield ever since—being the first county exhibitions ever instituted in this country. Improvements in the plow began toward the close of the last century. A patent for a cast-iron plow gpvas granted in 1797, but farmers were very slow to accept the innovation, many of them clinging to their wooden plows on the ground that cast-iron poisoned the ground and spoiled the crops. During the last half-century great improvements have been made in the manufacture of plows. There are some factories make from ten to twelve hundred different patterns, adapted to every variety of soil and circumstance, and there is one large factory at Pittsburgh which, as early as 1836, was manufacturing as many as 100 plows a day. The recent application of steam to the operation of plowing, and the success of the steam plow where it has been tried, point to a development of the agricultural resources of the West hardly dreamed of as yet In the harrow, and in the smaller farm tools, there have hem very great improvements, but the most important of modern agricultural inventions are the grain-harvesters, the reapers, the mowers, the threshers and the horse-rakes. The number of two-horse reapers in operation in 1861 performed an amount of work equal to about a million of men; and the result of the extended use of farm machinery was that our capacity for farm production was not materially disturbed by the fact that one or two million able-bodied men were withdrawn from the industrial pursuits. The first trial of reapers and mowers was held at Buffalo in 1848. The machines were imperfect and the results of the trial were not considered important among farmers. Every year, however, added to the list of improvements. At the Paris Exposition in 1855 three machines were entered —one American, one English and One Algerian. The first did its work in twenty-two minutes, the second in sixty-six and the third in sev-enty-two. By the year 1864 there were 187 establishments in this country devoted to the manufacture of reapers and mowers, the value of their annual product exceeding $15,000,000, and the number of machines amounting to 100,000. The . horse hay-rake was an earlier invention than the mowing-machine, and is only second to that in . value. It performs the labor of eight or ten men, and from ten to thirty acres a day can be gathered by a single horse and driver without over-exertion. The tedder, corn-sheller, hay-cutter and a multitude of leaser farm implements might be mentioned in which marked improvements have been made. At the Paris Exposition already referred to an Amer-, ican threshing machine carried off the prize, its work being found by actual experiment to be equal to that of 120 men. The total value of farm implements and machinery, as reported by the census of 1870, was $336,878,429, a gain of $185,270,791 in twenty years. As proof that the mechanical genius of the country is still actively at the fact is cited that over 1,000 for improvements in agricultural implements were granted in a single year, 1872; and the annual manufacture of agricultural implements amounts to over $52,000,000. The general diffusion of intelligence; the improvements introduced in implements and methods of farming; and the construction of railroads to afford a market to the inland farmer have had

their natural effect in bringing about a wonderful development ot agriculture and a rapid increase in the volume of crops and the acreage under cultivation. In 1770 the total amount of corn exported from all the colonies was 578,349 bushels. In iB6O the crop amounted to 838,792,742 bushels. The production of wheat has increased from bushels in 1840 to 287,745,626 bushels in 1870. Of the smaller grains, the rye crop in 1870 amounted to about 17,000,000 bushels; barley, 30,000,000; buckwheat, 10,000,000; oats, 282,000,000. The production of potatoes in 1870 was 165,047,297 bushels. In 1860 the aggregate yield of tobacco was 434,200,461 pounds. The cotton crop has grown up entirely within the last 100 years. Very little cotton was raised in the Southern States previous to Whitney’s invention of the cotton-gin in 1793. tJp to that time it had required an entire day for a man to clear a pound of cotton from the seed. Whitney’s invention, with other improvements and the introduction of steam as a motive power, enabled one man to do the work of 2,200 men by the old methods. The quantity produced in 1860 was 2,079,230,800 pounds, of which 1,765,115,735 pounds were exported. The hay crop also has grown up almost entirely in the last 100 years, and the yield has increased from 10,250,000 tons in 1840 to 27,316,048 tons in 1870. The money value of the crop is not less than $300,000,000, to which is to be added an equal amount for the value of grass for summer pasturage, making an aggregate of $600,000,000 for the grass and hay crop of the country. This progress has had an effect on the number and quality of our jcattle. During the last quarter of a century especially, the importations of choice breeds of cattle have been numerous. In this State, for example, there were less than seventy-five Jerseys in 1853; now they number several thousands, and the same is tru!te of the Ayrshires. In 1840 the aggregate number of neat cattle was 14,971,586; while in 1870 the number was 23,820,608, and the total value of live stock reported was $1,525,276,457. As to dairy products, according to the last census, 235,500,599 gallons of milk were sold, while the annual butter product is fully 600,000,000 pounds, and the cheese exceeds 200,000,000 pounds. The value of the annual dairy product is over $400,000,000. The value of animals sold for slaughter amounts to about the same sum, or twice what it was ten years ago. In swine, sheep and horses there have been many improvements in breed, and a large increase in numbers. In 1870, 28,477,951 sheep were reported, and the quantity of wool raised 100,000,000 pounds. The niftnber of horses reported at the same time was 8,690,219, of which 7,142,846 were on farms. Further interesting facts might be given in regard to the use of fertilizers* the diffusion of agricultural literature, and the contributions of science to agriculture, but 4 the limitations of a single article are too contracted to embrace all the statistics of an industry which yields annually the vast income of $2,448,000,000. We have given enough to indicate the wonderful progress which agriculture has made daring the past centary, and to show that it is second to no industry in the extent and rapidity of its development. So far is it from exhibiting any signs of exhaustion that the next Century promises to witness changes even more marvelous than that which is just closing.