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Virginia, “except from grain-raising.” There is no discontent in Jack- 
son, Michigan, ‘“‘as prices are good for wheat and wool, for hay and 
horses,” which are some of the staples of that State. The people of 
Sibley, Minnesota, are encouraged in the belief that “ there is no better 
county to settle in.” Inthe cotton region there are some counties which 
have no complaint to present; yet some (e g., Butler, Alabama) 
express the belief that greater variety, instead of all cotton, would be 
safer and better. In Cambria, Pennsylvania, the seat of extensive iron 
and steel works, no cause of dissatisfaction appears, notwithstanding 
the prosperity of the iron manufacture; but improvements and pro- 
gress are rife. Agriculture “was for many years much neglected in 
this county, and is yet far from what it ought to be, but has recently 
received a great impetus, and is making good progress; good stock 
has been introduced, and fertilizers sought after.” The farmers of 
Jennings, Indiana, acknowledge having too much corn in the past two 
years, overtaxing their cities for shipping and reducing prices; other- 
wise their condition is prosperous. The people of Tooele, Utah, con- 
tentedly declare ‘“‘ water is plentiful and the soil fertile; we average 
the best crops in the United States, and receive the highest prices.” 
A cause of discouragement, unnecessary though practically real, which 
is found in all sections of the country, is thus hinted at by the cor- 
respondent for Macon, Georgia: “‘The universal desire to realize the 
largest possible present income, and willingness to sacrifice permanent 
improvement to that attainment.” Judicious tree-planting, proved to be 
a remunerative investment, is one of the last to be made, because an, 
income cannot be derived from it the first year; and there is even 
neglect of stock-growing, because of returns from a similar reason. 
Cultivation that admits of two or three crops per annum is therefore 
popular. Draining is neglected, because its returns come in annual in- 
stallments, however large these repayments prove. All permanent 
improvement, in the nature of. an investment, is deferred to the distant 
future. Impatience is the bane of American husbandry; and haste and 
superficiality are attendant evils, subversive of production and profit. 
It is to be hoped that this state of things, incident to the settlement 
of a new country, is temporary, induced by the prodigality of our 
natural resources and the paucity of personal resources, and that the 
future will provide a speedy remedy. 
There may be an excuse for reckless depletion of the soil. If not, 
whole communities of pioneers are destitute of common sagacity and 
practical sense. The settler goes to the western prairies without capi- 
tal, other than a fair share of brain and muscle. His bare acres cost 
him the fees of the land-office, and each acre may be worth to him and 
his heirs the annual interest of $100. Having no other resource, he 
takes (in repeated exhaustive crops) a slice for fencing, another for 
farm buildings, and still more for the clothing and education of his 
children. Land to him is capital, and his business a speculation, rather 
than farming; his farm a gold mine, to be had for the finding: shall 
he live in penury lest his digging shall exhaust the vein? Besides, he 
finds little decrease of yield in repeated croppings, and actually deems 
fertility inexhaustible. When prices appreciate, population increases, 
and the ordinary conditions prevail, he must change his course, adopt 
restorative cropping and improved methods, or he will have to con- 
tend with deterioration and loss. The correspondent for Cherokee, 
Kansas, puts the matter in this light: “ Rich prairie is a national bank, 
whence men borrow the funds for the support of themselves and fami- 
