264 



There is uo good reason why Virginia should not equal Pennsylvania in manufac 

 turiug and mining production, as she ever does in resources of mine and forest. There 

 is no sufficient cause why 25 per cent, of the people of Pennsylvania should produce 

 in agriculture a value of !|52 annually for each inhabitant of the State, while 59 per 

 cent, of the people of Virginia should only divide $42 per head of total population. 

 The influence of home markets on prices, with the reflex influence of prices on fertili- 

 zation and culture, is sufficient to answer for all this difference. I ask, in all sincerity 

 and deference, if it is manly or just to decry others who take advantage of opportuni- 

 ties enjoyed in equal fullness by ourselves, while we utterly refuse to use them. In 

 this connection permit me to repeat what I said years ago, in the sincerest and most 

 friendly spirit, of the unsurpassed facilities for mining and manufacturing enjoyed by 

 the southern portion of the Atlantic slope : 



" This path of pi'ogress has been equally open to all ; laws supposed to favor a diver- 

 sified industry have been applicable to all States alike ; the best water-power and the 

 cheapest coal are in States that make no extensive use of either; milder climates and 

 superior facilities for cheap transportation have furnished advantages that have not 

 been transmuted into net profits; and yet such commuuities, daily inflicting irrepar- 

 able injuries upon themselves by neglecting the gifts of God, and spurning the labor 

 of man, are wont to deem themselves injured by the prosperity flowing from superior 

 industry and a practical political economy." 



THE COLLECTIOX OF STATISTICS. 



Leaving considerations bearing on the value and uses of agricultural statistics, a few 

 thoughts may be essayed upon means and api>liauces for statistical collection. More 

 attention is now drawn to this subject than ever before. It is work that requires 

 great industry and conscientiousness in collecting and arranging, and presupposes in- 

 telligent appreciation and willing co-operation on the part of the people. Hence sta- 

 tistics is a science that did not flourish in the dark ages. There is even now great dif- 

 ficulty in statistical collection, on account of popular ignorance and prejudice, in 

 European countries, and not a little in our own country. There is yet in many minds 

 a suspicion that the census marshal is only a harbinger of the tax-gatherer. As an ex- 

 treme illustration, the State census of Ohio returned 38,000,000 pounds of tobacco as 

 the crop of 1869; the General Government, which levies a tax on tobacco, obtained re- 

 turns of only 18,000,000 for the same crop. Ordinarily, the census makes larger figures 

 than State assessors. For instance, in the same State, the United States reported 

 15,000,000 bushels of wheat in 1860, and the State only 12,000,000. Intelligent people 

 ehonld combat this prejudice among their neighbors, and educate them as to the value 

 to themselves of an accurate knowledge of local resources. 



The means employed and lines of investigation undertaken in the conntries of the 

 globe, which encourage systematic collection of agricultural statistics, are of great 

 variety, and the degree of efficiency attained is equally various. Specific investiga- 

 tions, and independent research, may beconductedirregularly by individuals ; societies 

 often do successful work within their own organization ; but general investigation, in- 

 volving every portion of the territory of a country, can only command success with 

 the aid of the dignity and authority of government. The European governments are 

 very generally committed to some system of obtaining the «ereflflfe cultivated annually 

 in the principal farm crops, though not all of them. In this respect they are in ad- 

 vance of our own, which has never included in census laws a provision for this initial 

 point in statistical inquiry. The agricultural census of Great Britain, which is annual, 

 is almost confined to an enumeration of farm animals, and the establishment of the 

 area of each crop. The quantity becomes a matter of estimate. In this country, wo 

 are left to guess the size of our fields, and the rate of production, and only once in ten 

 years do we venture to obtain a record of gross quantities. These quantities, in the 

 case of cereals, may, and often do, vary 200,000,000 bushels in a single year. The 

 census of 1860 made the corn-crop of the previous year 838,000,000 bushels ; that of 

 1870 credited hut 760,000,000 to the crop of 1869; whereupon short-sighted statisticians 

 proclaim a great decline in the culture of maize. Such an assumption is utterly un- 

 founded. Not only is the aggregate quautity increasing, but the ratio to population- 

 bushels i^er cajrita—is certainly not decreasing in any marked degree. The crop of the 

 year 1869 was considered a failure, when Illinois actually obtained 130,000,000 bushels, 

 though expecting in the previous July fully 230,000,000. So in wheat, the apparent 

 increase from 173,000,000 to 287,000,000 bushels is deceptive in a less degree, and par- 

 tially due to the exceptionally increased yield of 1869. The need is imperative for a 

 census at least every fifth year, and an agricultural census, embracing area and 

 quantity and number of farm animals, should be taken yearly. Agitation should be 

 continued till the people, and the Congress that does their bidding, shall be educated 

 up to the realization of such a necessity. 



The State governments have an important work to do in this direction. Ohio has 



