GRAIN-GKOWING EAST AND WEST. 169 



in Iowa ; and I judge that the farmer able to buy, 

 prepare, fertilize, and cultivate 1,200 acres of the 

 Jersey " barrens," could make more than thrice the 

 profit to be realized by the owner of 400 acres. He 

 would plow and seed as well as thrash, shell, cut stalks 

 and straw, and prepare the food of his animals, wholly 

 by steam-power, and would soon learn to cultivate a 

 square mile at no greater expense than is now involved 

 in the as perfect tillage of 200 acres. 



This essay is not intended to prove that Grain is 

 not or may not be profitably cultivated at the West, 

 nor that it is unadvisable for Eastern farmers io 

 migrate thither in order so to cultivate it. What I 

 maintain is, that Wheat, Indian Corn, and nearly all 

 our great food staples, may also be profitably pro- 

 duced on the seaboard, and that thousands of square 

 miles, now nearly or quite unproductive, may be 

 wisely and profitably devoted to such production. Let 

 us regard, therefore, without alarm, the prospect of 

 such a development and diversification of Western 

 Industry as will render necessary a large and perma- 

 nent extension (or rather revival) of Eastern grain- 

 growing. 



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