FAKMEES' INSTITUTES. . 173- 



our crops, and could we return them back to the soil without further loss we 

 should be able to start upon another year with ninety jier cent more of this 

 farm capital tlian we could did we trust alone to the unaided efforts of nature. 

 Not only would we be able to economize in the ash constituents of the soil, but 

 could add largely to the stock of organic manure, also, which would constitute 

 a very important item, which would obviate the necessity of growing a crop of 

 clover exclusively for the purpose of obtaining a supply of this class of 

 manure, but could harvest it, gain an income from it by feeding it out with our 

 grain before it is returned back to the soil. 



Should it prove true, as some have claimed, that stock-raising does not pay^ 

 then are we indeed placed between two very unpleasant dilemmas. But we can 

 at least exercise the option of choice between them, and if we are really capable 

 of manifesting some of those great qualities witli which we are wont to invest 

 some of our eminent men, called statesmanship, our choice would be governed 

 more by considerations of future profits and advantages which must surely 

 follow Avhen we make a proper use of the surest means for attaining them, and 

 are willing to work and wait until success rewards our perseverance and toil. 

 But should we be deficient in them, we shall be influenced more by consider- 

 ations of present inducements, and will also be lacking in that spirit of enter- 

 prise which would inspire us to undertake, the ability to plan, and skill 

 to execute successfully any great measure which would hold out inducements of 

 ultimate future rewards. Neither Avould we be willing to invest in any venture 

 unless the gains were large, immediate, and sure. 



In all of our experiments witli neat stock witli the view to test the profitable- 

 ness of stock-raising, we have been restricted in them to our lean, scraggy, bony, 

 native cattle, — very promising specimens, certainly, to hazard an opinion upon 

 as to its profitableness. But we trust that indifferent farming and this class of 

 stock have played their allotted parts in the great drama of Agriculture. When 

 one makes its exit we hope that the other will shortly follow, because when any 

 two objects in Nature which have heretofore sustained, and for so long a time, 

 such intimate relationship, they should not be subjected to tlie cruelty of a pro- 

 tracted separation. 



When we shall come to experiment upon a class of cattle for which we can 

 realize two-fifths more per hundred in price in our leading markets, and which 

 will mature a year earlier, and weigh from a quarter to a third more at a year 

 younger, we shall be able to realize 100 per cent more for them than we could 

 for our native cattle. These are facts which should be sufficient to change our 

 views as to the real profitableness of this branch of husbandry, and should con-, 

 stitute sufficient inducements for us to enter upon the only course that presents 

 the best prospect for reaching a satisfactory solution of the difficulties and dis- 

 advantages under which avc at present labor. For we have discovered that this 

 policy of raising crops of grain for commercial traffic, which leaves us compara- 

 tively nothing to be returned back to the soil to supply the loss that it has sus- 

 tained in producing them is a ruinous one. It is impairing the resources of the 

 country by robbing the soil of its fertility, upon which they depend, and is, in 

 consequence, making farming much more precarious and difficult. 



There is also another view of the consequences of exporting grain, which 

 should command the serious attention and consideration of the farmers of the 

 Northwest. The amount which we export constitutes a very small proportion 

 of our production, but the price realized in Liverpool per bushel controls the 

 price of that retained for the home consumption. It is quite probable that wo 



