260 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



it gets so that it will bear clover, fifteen hundred to three 

 thousand pounds to the acre, I think it is better to carry the 

 crop to the barn, feed it judiciously, and return the refuse to 

 the land. I think there is a margin of profit between the two. 



Mr. LiVEEMOEE. I would like to make a correction of 

 one statement that has been made here. I was living in the 

 Genesee Valley in the years 1851-54; and, instead of the 

 wheat-business losing its popularity in that valley in the way 

 which has been stated, I am knowing to the contrar}^, — 

 that it was on account of the weevil. I know that at that 

 time the farmers there turned their attention to other pur- 

 suits than the raising of their valuable wheat, simply because 

 the weevil destroyed the crop, not because of the exhaustion 

 of the soil. They pursued a similar course to restore the fer- 

 tility of the soil to the one which has been recommended here, 

 and that soil will be found a rich and strong soil to-day from 

 the results of such a course as has been here recommended. 



As to the exhaustion of the West, I think if the gentle- 

 man who thought there was danger of that had travelled 

 over the Western States as extensively as I have, he would 

 not feel any anxiety on that account. Those who have gone 

 up and down the Missouri Valle}^ know the depth and rich- 

 ness of the soil there. Those whom I questioned on the 

 subject, who were perfectly familiar with it, agreed with me 

 that there was fertility enough in that single valley of the 

 Missouri River, — if developed economically, like the soils 

 of Germany, or China, or England, — to feed the whole 

 nation for the next hundred years. And that is but a little 

 ribbon on the vast and exhaustless territory of the West. 



In reference to the fertility of Colorado and Utah, I know 

 that to be true which has been stated in regard to the appli- 

 cation of water in that most desolate region to which the 

 great Mormon prophet took his people, supposing that it was 

 so desolate and dreary that civilization would never track 

 them there. Those people brought water from the moun- 

 tains, miles and miles away, down into that most desolate 

 alkali plain ; so that their streets now have water running in 

 the gutters that is as pure and beautiful as you would ask 

 to have in any of your springs at home. I have the most 

 delicious grapes and other fruit grown in that valley, which, 

 before the introduction of water, was perfectly sterile. The 



