162 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



DECREASE OP YIELD. 



The history of most of the wheat sTowing portions of this country shows a regiUar 

 decrease in yield; counties in the State of New Yorlv in which the average yield 

 at the beginning of this century was 20 to 30 bushels to the acre, now return 5 

 to 7 bushels. In the fertile soil of Ohio the average diminished in 50 years from 

 26 bushels to half that amount. That this decrease is due to the lack of a proper 

 system of agriculture is shown by the fact that in England, where the land has 

 been under cultivation for centuries, the average yield is 3G bushels to the acre. 



Brother farmers, in view of all these facts, is it not time that we were up and 

 doing? Who is to blame for the decrease in yield if it is not the tiller of the soil? 

 Some may say change seed. New varieties are frequently offered as superior to 

 all others; but every good farmer knows that the more productive the wheat 

 the better must be the soil. Tht^re are many varieties, one French experimenter 

 hiving- cultivated 322. Why not raise our land to that high state of cultivation 

 where we will not have to change seed? What shall we do when the large wheat 

 tields of the west give out? AVhere Mill our supply come from df it does not come 

 from the increase in yield? 



May we live to see the daj^ when we can raise 40 to 50 bushels per acre and 

 receive one dollar per bushel, and then we may feel well paid. 



' THE ROMANCE IN FARM LIFE. 



MRS. ADDIE BISHOP, Hillsdale, at HILLSDALE COUNTY Institute, Hillsdale. 



As the romancer sets out with hard facts of history and embellishes and glorifie.s 

 them with fanciful occurrences till we have a vivid picture of what might have 

 been from those facts, so I would set out with the hard facts of farm life and em- 

 bellish and glorify them with some of the practical might-be's of existence till the 

 most of our rural homes would be quite different, and country life would be coveted. 



It is too bad that Ave so often forget the natural advantages of the country— for- 

 get to be cheered by the song of bird, the beauty of the blossom, the comfort of the 

 trees, the glory of the landscape— forget to keep young in the romance of exist- 

 ence—forget that through these things (Jod speaks to the softened heart— speaks 

 often words of intinite comfort and cheer. 



It is too bad that the farmer esteems these things so little; forbidding his imagi- 

 nation to soar above "how many bushels to the acre," and "how much per pound." 



How beautifully the poet Whittier has expressed this need in rural life: 



" 'Twere well, thoug-ht I, if often 

 To rugged farm-life came the gift 



To harmonize and soften; — 

 If more and more we found the troth 



Of fact and fancy plighted. 

 And culture's charm and labor's strength 



In rural homes united." 



How can we become so thoughtless, so Avarped in judgment, so lacking in 

 patriotism, as to let our higher selves degenerate in the struggle to get the most 

 dollar bills out of life? I would not say a Avord against the dollar bill. It is very 

 useful in its place. But if to store these aAvay Ave must smother the sentiment of 

 life, what do we gain? This: 



"Shrill, auerrulous women, sour and sullen men, 

 Untidy, -loveless, old before their time, 

 Ayith scarce a human interest, save their own 

 Monotonous round of small economies 

 Or the poor scandal of the neighborhood." 



Remember that a man is more precious than 'the gold of Ophir. 



I would not be thought to say or think that all farm life has taken on all these 

 dark hues, but we can but think that a pall, sometimes of these colors, sometimes 

 shading to lighter, has settled over nearly our Avhole rural population. We see it 

 in the weak complainings, the lack of interest, the general feeling of self 

 depreciation. 



That there is plenty of work in farm life Ave all knoAV. That it is the whole- 

 some hard fact around Avhich to weave the romance of noble living is quite as true. 



