supplemented with a great variety of other products of agriculture and 

 horticulture : 



In 1866. 

 In 1869. 



The effect of diversion to other industries, whether mining or manu- 

 facturing, in providing markets for agricultural produce, is shown in the 

 high wages paid in Kansas and Nebraska, and the Pacific States and 

 Eocky Mountain Territories. Overlaud transportation, military occu- 

 pancy, expeditions of hunters, ex])lorations of science, railroad build- 

 ing, as well as mining itself, all coPispire to render ])rosperous the busi- 

 ness of agriculture, with such effect that the gold digger and silver 

 miner remain poor, wliile tlie farmer and gardener acquire wealth. In 

 Nebraska, in ISGG, labor obtained thirty-five per cent, more than average 

 wages, and in Kansas, an older State, with more agricultural competition, 

 ten per cent., while California paid about sixty per cent, above the aver- 

 age rates. 



Three years of settlement and rural activity have done much toward 

 making exclusively agricultural States of Kansas and Nebraska, with a 

 rapid reduction of the rate of labor. The same causes continuing to 

 operate, and the more distant West becoming self-sustaining, prices 

 must still further recede, even below the average rate for the country, 

 unless some portion of the population shall cease to be producers and 

 become consumers only. The idea of exportation of the raw products 

 of agriculture to the Old World from the heart of the American conti- 

 nent, as a source of wealth for an entire State, should have its origin in 

 an insane asylum, and if carried into iiractice would make the county 

 infirmary the principal local institution. The reduction alluded to is 

 as follows : 



New England has a thin, hard soil, requiring for cultivation more than 

 double the labor that is needed in the West. Yet the growing of vege- 

 tables and fruits for local markets in manufacturing villages is profit- 

 able, and enterprising Cultivators make a living and even a competency 

 from very small areas. The following is the average for New England, 

 compared with that for the Ohio Valley, including Ohio, Indiana, and 

 Illinois : 



* Question 1. Average wages per month (without board) of larm laborers hired for the year. Ques- 

 tion 2. Average wages per month (with Vioard) of faim laliorers hired for the year. Question 3. Average 

 ■wages per month (without board) of farm laborers hired for the season or a portion of the year. Ques- 

 tion 4. Avcr.age wagis per month (with board) of farm laborers hired for the season or a portion of the 

 year. 



