IX CUBASE OF MAIZE Ct y LTUEE. Gl 



CHAPTEK VII. 



FAKMING IN THE WESTERN STATES. 



&quot; Consumption is the crown of production, and the wealth of a nation is only to bo estimated 

 by what it consumes.&quot; John Ruskin. 



THE WOULD s GRANARY KELATIVE VALUE OF CORN AND WHEAT STOCK FARM 

 ING vs. WHEAT FARMING IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS: TRIAL OF AMERICAN MA 

 CHINESMISSOURI, TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY CALIFORNIA AND OREGON 

 AGRICULTURE OF THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS JOHN GILKOY AND HIS NEIGH 

 BORS LARGE WHEAT FIELDS ENORMOUS CROP OF 1872 MARKET FOR CALI 

 FORNIA WHEAT FARMERS NOT ENRICHED BY THIS STREAM OF WEALTH TON 

 NAGE: PRICES CALIFORNIA THE CENTER OF WINE AND WOOL PRODUCTION. 



PASSING the great lakes, the emigrant farmer found a country 

 awaiting him, where Providence, in the abounding conditions of 

 prosperity, to use the language of one of their number, had not 

 only &quot; smiled, but laughed outright.&quot; A sea of verdure richer 

 and more luxuriant than the meadow lands of the Connecticut or 

 Genesee, dotted here and there with park-like, natural planta 

 tions of oaks, indicated lands for the plow, and sites for the 

 homestead. Priceless in prospective value, it came almost with 

 out price into the hands of the settler. A season s labor in break 

 ing the strong sod of the prairie, made it ready for wheat, secured 

 him against want, and in the possessory right to the soil. The 

 winters were not more severe, though a little more open than 

 those of the northern sea-board. The northern belt of States, 

 Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, soon poured a silver stream of 

 wheat into the granaries of the world; Ohio, Illinois, Indiana 

 and Missouri, also wheat growers to a considerable extent, 

 contributed a golden stream of corn, the noblest product of the 

 new world. Up to the year 1800, the export of American corn 

 had only exceeded, by a trifling amount, two million bushels. 

 This crop is first set down in the census of 1840, at three hun 

 dred and seventy-seven million five hundred and thirty-one 

 thousand eight hundred and seventy -five bushels; in 1850, it 

 covered thirty-one million of acres, and yielded six hundred 

 million bushels; in 1860, it amounted to eight hundred and 

 thirty-eight million seven hundred and ninety -two thousand 

 seven hundred and forty-two bushels, the export being worth 

 ten million dollars. 



The ease and certainty with which the farmer may provide 



