iO 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



THE HAY CROP AND HAY TRADE. 



The fluctuating and high price of hay for 

 years past indicates how little surplus hay 

 "there has been in the old hay-producing sec- 

 tions, and the small amount of surplus there 

 is in any State, even with full crops, clearly 

 shows that a universal short crop would sub- 

 ject us to a severe famine in hay, and that 

 our only salvation hitherto has been the 

 extent of our country, and its varied climate, 

 which has infallibly secured us a surplus in 

 some sections to forward to others short of a 

 supply, as some portions of the country are 

 every year, through failure of the crop. Tliis, 

 together witli the rapid growth of our cities, 

 inci'ease of our commerce, and the develop- 

 ment of our mining, man ijftictu ring and lum- 

 bering interests, and the growing southern 

 trade, occasion an activity and demand 

 for hay tliat is certain to increase. But 

 a certain portion of the land in any sec- 

 tion can be devoted to the production of 

 hay, and as the greater portion thus produced 

 is required for the stock — even with a good 

 crop — hence it follows that this increasing 

 demand must be met by like increase in extent 

 of hay-pr(^ducing territory ; in other words, 

 our meadows must extend further west, where 

 there is more land to spare for them, and a 

 reserve supply of hay must be held to make 

 good deficiency in any State, and to supply 

 such cities as were dependent on such State. 

 In short, the great West and Canada must 

 wheel into line. Their farmers and merchants 

 must hold an ever ready surplus to meet the 

 demands from any section, as thej- now do 

 of grain, and the liay merchant, like the grain 

 merchant, must be at every station throughout 

 the country. 



There is scarcely a location where a press 

 could not be advantageously located. Even 

 in Utah, Colorado and other territories, we 

 frequently find the price of hay beyond its 

 value in eastern markets. Indeed, there is 

 such a steady demand for hay west of the 

 States, that in no part of the country have our 

 patrons proved more successful. Texas, Ai'- 

 kansas, Tennessee and Kentucky have a ready 

 market at the South for all their surplus, at a 

 a much better margin than they can realize on 

 any otlier product; while the A\"estern States 

 have enough to do to supply the lumber and 

 lake trade, and contribute tlieir share to the 

 mining regions of Pennsylvania, and eastern 

 markets. Georgia, North Carolina and South 

 Carolina have more tlian enough to do to take 

 care of themselves, but we are pleasi d to add 

 that they draw much less from abroad than 

 formerly, and are steadily increasing their 

 amount of grass land. Virginia, West Vir- 

 ginia and Maryland must also enlarge their 

 meadows, as the jSIiddle States and Canada 

 have apparently enough to do to take care of 

 themselves and contribute the deficiency in 

 the Eastern States. We might add, that the 

 price hay commands in the mining and lumber 

 countrj' on tlie Pacific coast, makes its move- 

 ment golden when put up with suitable presses 

 for ecouonncal transportation, instead of be- 

 ing bundled with the rmlely constructed ma- 

 chines built liy Californians from recollections 

 of the old fasiiioned pivsses used in the East- 

 tern States (luring their lioyhood days. 



Why should hay sell for doul)le, even triple, 

 the price in some part of almost every western 

 State-thal it will command in any other section 

 of tlie same State and no more distant from 

 market ? Why should our southern cities 

 want hay at such enormous prices, when sueli 

 States as Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and 

 Tenne.ssee have more than a supply V It is 

 simply the want of facilities and inclination to 

 forward it — in other words, want of presses 

 and energy to take advantage of a market 

 which, altliough permanent and growing, is 

 foolishly supposed to be temporary. If corn 

 or wheat should advance live dollars per ton 

 above the level in any market in the country, 

 thousands of merchants would detect it in an 

 instant, even if a thousand miles distant, and 

 profit by it. Yet here we liave a difference of 

 sometimes twenty dollars in priceof hay but a 



few hundred miles, or less, apart, and no one 

 seems to be aware of it. Tliese are not excep- 

 tional instances, nor exceptional times, but a 

 repetition of what has lieen for years past, and 

 will be for years to come, unless merchants 

 and farmers can be brought to understand 

 that hay has a casli value," and can be trans- 

 ported as easily and cheaply as grain, and 

 tauglit to market their crop, instead of allow- 

 ing hay to be forwarded to their neighVwrs 

 from remote sections and past their very doors, 

 and that a few hundred dollars invested in 

 machinery for handling liay will earn them 

 more money than tlieir §50,000 elevators for 

 handling grain, and with less capital and risk. 

 Tliere are thousands of tons of surplus hay, 

 annually, in every State in the West that 

 would find a ready market, far or near, and 

 at a good round profit, but that will never bo 

 moved in consequence of want of interest and 

 information. Even in the Middle States and 

 Canada, there are sections where there are no 

 presses nor forwarders, and the surplus hay is 

 lost to the market, unless some enterprising 

 hay mercliant may happen through and pick 

 it up. Much of this indillerence to so impor- 

 tant a trade is due to want of hiformation, as 

 the price of hay is not usually quoted with 

 other produce, except in large cities. The 

 merchant may be posted on New York, 

 Boston or Chicago markets, yet he has no 

 prompt means of knowing when hay will 

 bring him a larger margin at Washington and 

 Baltimore, at Indianapolis, Toledo or St. 

 Louis ; nor of keeping posted on the price of 

 hay in the hundreds of markets in the mining 

 districts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and along 

 the lakes and the various Southern markets. 

 In conse(inence of this lack of information, 

 there not only seems to be an indifference to 

 the importance of tlie business, but verymuch 

 hay is forwarded to dull markets, when it 

 would have commanded larger prices, and, 

 may be, at a much nearer market. 



A KIND WORD FOR FARMERS. 



Farmers are charged with being proverbial 

 croakers. It is alleged by those wiiO are un- 

 acquainted with the onerous duties and numer- 

 ous cares attendant upon their pursuit, that 

 the farmer is never satisfied with his surround- 

 ings. The weather is frequently adverted to in 

 a complaining manner. It is either too. hot 

 and dry or too cold and wet. Tlie spring is 

 so backward as to retard the rapid growth of 

 vegetation, or the early warmth accelerates 

 the budding of fruit trees, to be injured, per- 

 haps, by unseasonable frost a;id culil. An ex- 

 cess of rain is a cause of dissatisfaction, be- 

 cause it tends to produce rot among the pota- 

 toes, and loss and inconvenience is complained 

 of owing to repeated rainfalls during the period 

 of gathering hay and iiarvesting crops. On the 

 other hand, a protracted spell of dry weather 

 causes springs to cease their supply, and con- 

 vert tlie verdant jiasturage into parched and 

 arid fiidds. Thus he is supposed to be in a 

 state of clironic discontent, and to have a per- 

 petual grumble upon his lips. 



Of all men it is generally believed that the 

 farmer should be tlie most contented and uu- 

 coraplainiiig. Do not his crops grow while he 

 sleeps, and is not liis grain golden, figuratively 

 speaking, at least V i)oes not each blade of 

 grass glisten in the morning sun with the bril- 

 liancy of the diamond, even if its dewy bur- 

 then be the only cause of such radiance '? And 

 then the luxuriance of that most magnificent 

 of all the products of the soil — Indian corn — 

 how glorious to look upon when tossing its 

 broad blades in apparent exultation, as if re- 

 joicing in the pride of its rapid growth ! 



Who that possesses the slightest degree of 

 poetic sensibilitv can behold the lovely scene 

 which the well tilled fields of the thrifty far- 

 mer presents to the view, wilhout.a thrill of 

 pleasure and feeling of admiration V Tliecity 

 visitor at a country home is apt to regard the 

 farmer as one who is surrounded with every 

 comfort, and all the enjoyments of lite. The 

 after dinner siesta having been indulged in, 



how delightful, while comfortably seated upon 

 the ample and well shaded piazza, to gaze upon 

 the beauties of nature, and to witness the ope- 

 rations of the farmer when performed in view 

 of the guest, who is the recipient of generous 

 and painstaking Iios|)itality. 



Now all this is very fine and affords a fruit- 

 ful theme for comment and word-painting. 

 As a friend once remarked, the operations of 

 the busy hay-makers presents a pleasing pic- 

 ture to the eye, especially when contemplated 

 from beneath the wide-spreading branches of 

 an umbrageous tree. But the toil, care and 

 anxiety attending the fanner's eftbrt to pro- 

 vide a livelihood for his family are seldom con- 

 sidered by those who are inexiierienced in his 

 calling, and unacquainted with the laborious 

 duties required in its prosecution. 



The farmer is not a croaker, nor is the allega- 

 tion correct that he refers to liis pursuit in con- 

 versation to a greater extent than is noticable 

 in those who are engaged in other vocations. 

 Dependant largely upon atmospheric changes 

 for his prosperity, it is perfectly natural that 

 the state of the weather should occupy a large 

 .share of his attention, and form a subject of 

 frequent remark. In view of the liability of 

 loss and inconvenience in unpropitious skies, 

 he naturally scans the heavens with an inter- 

 est scarcely surpassed by the mariner upon the 

 ocean. 



We place great confidence in mother earth, 

 and believe that she will ever yield a bounte- 

 ous reward to the skillfully applied lalior of 

 the husbandman. The imrest and most tran- 

 quil enjoyments of life frequently attended the 

 efforts of the judicious and enterprising far- 

 mer, to provide a comfortable maintenance 

 for his family. But it must be confessed, 

 with all his boasted independence, he is sub- 

 jected to the caprices of the weather to a more 

 injurious extent than those who are engaged 

 in many other pursuits. The prolonged ab- 

 sence of rain is a serious disadvantage, and it 

 is not surprising that the fact of it is frequently 

 alluded to iu conversation. 



AGRICULTURAL MISCELLANY. 



REPORT OF THE COMJIISSIOSER OF AGRI- 

 CULTURE. 



The Hon. Frederick Watts, Commissioner 

 of Agriculture, iu his annual report says, 

 there is no incident which so cripples the , 

 operations of this deiiartmeiit as the want I 

 of the punctual publication of its annual report. ' 

 For the last two years it has not been pub- 

 lished. While Congress, at the last session, 

 apparently made the effort to order the [lulili- 

 cation of the annual reports of 1872 and 1S73, 

 for the use of Congress, it failed, in the opinion J 

 of the Public Pnnter, to obtain its object. \ 

 While the Coiuniissioner does not concur in 

 this opinion, it is due to him to say that to 

 print them involved a doubtful construction 

 of the law, a responsibility which he was nn- 

 willing to take, and therefore the reports for 

 the use of the members of Congress have not 

 been iH-inted. But by the separate provision 

 of the act there was an appropriation specially 

 for the printing of Ihe reports of 1872 and 

 1873. These have been printed and delivered 

 to the department for distriliutiou. 



The Commissioner says he cannot be un- 

 mindful of the approaching centennial of the 

 independence of the United States. No such 

 an opportunity has ever occurred for such an 

 exhibition of the progress this ountry has 

 made in its agriculture, horticulture, manu- 

 factures, commerce, arts and sciences, its 

 ad;iptation for war and the benefits of peace, 

 whereby the people of other countries may be 

 impressed with tlie caiiabilities of this nation, 

 and our own made to feel proud that we have 

 achieved so much. Jle recommends that the 

 Government erect a building for it.self, to be 

 exclusively occupied by the several depart- 

 ments, a Board having been designated by the 

 President to suggest what part each may take 

 in the Exposition. 



By action of Congress about four acres of 



