1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 15 



long enough to admit the benefit science has since conferred 

 upon agriculture. 



In the use of fertilizing materials, the farmers of that 

 period were limited to the use of animal manure, wood 

 ashes, plaster and lime ; and the most of them used manure 

 alone to stimulate the growth of such crops as they pro- 

 duced for home consumption and the distant markets. 

 Their surplus products of hay and grain were fed to stock, 

 and converted into beef, pork, and mutton products for the 

 New York and Boston markets. 



For a period of thirty years, broom corn was the most 

 profitable crop produced in some of the Connecticut River 

 towns ; but the rapid development of the rich virgin soils of 

 the great West transferred its culture to New York State, 

 Ohio, and Illinois, and now it is most largely produced far 

 west of the Mississippi, on the fertile plains of Kansas and Ne- 

 braska. This competition has fairly driven Eastern farmers 

 out of the business, to such an extent that one but rarely 

 sees a field of broom corn east of the Mohawk valley. This 

 competition has been going on, and is being constantly in- 

 creased in the whole list of agricultural products. It was 

 greatly stimulated by the building of new railroads, which 

 are constantly being added to that vast system of Western 

 roads, until now almost every county of the new States and 

 territories have been reached, and their products brought to 

 Eastern markets to supply the increasing demands for grain, 

 flour, fruits and vegetables, as well as beef, mutton and pork 

 products. It has become a serious problem to New England 

 farmers how to meet this competition. 



As bearing on the final solution of this problem, facts are 

 constantly accumulating to prove that the Western farmers, 

 with their improved labor-saving machinery, but otherwise 

 primitive methods of farming, are annually robbing their 

 virgin soils by making large drafts upon the limited amount 

 of plant food they contain. Eventually, these lost elements 

 of fertility will have to be restored by the application of 

 commercial fertilizers. Bearing on this point, we find that 

 during the past ten years manufacturers of fertilizers have 

 found a growing demand for their goods in all the Western 

 States east of the Mississippi River. 



