10 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Jan- 



I'roin tlie N. Y. Journal of Commerce. 



The Northwest. 



The census of Illinois, as far as returns liavo been re- 

 ceived, shows a very rapid increase in population since 1840. 

 The increase in that fjtale will exceed iiUfl,OUi) in five years. 

 In fact, tiie increase in population will etjual that of the 

 State of .New York within the same lime. .ludgin;^ from 

 the returns already made, Illinois now contains over 700, OUO 

 inhabitants. J'hc returns from the General Land Ot'llce 

 show that over 300,000 acres of government lands have been 

 sold in Illinois within the last eighteen months : and ilie 

 probability is that a much greater amount has been sold to 

 actual settlers by non-resiiient land holders. 



These facts show tliat a very ])rosperous period is dawn- 

 ing upon the hitherto darkened fortunes of Illinois. Her 

 canal is advant ing rapidly to completion. Immigration, as 

 shown by the returns of the census, is pouring in upon her. 

 The crop lias been an abundant one. Her farmers are get- 

 ting good prices for their produce. The new apportionni^ent 

 to be made this winter, will give to the Northern part of the 

 State — the debt paying part — the entire control of the legis- 

 lature ; and aided by the abundant yield from her very rich 

 •and productive soil, Illinois in a short time will be enabled 

 to pay the last dollar of her public debt. Indeed, if her 

 aflairs are administered with common prudence, she will soon 

 be one of the richest and most prosperous States in tlie 

 Union. The returns of the census of New York show that 

 the Agricultural districts of the old States are decreasing in 

 population, while the returns from Illinois show a very rapid 

 increase. The same change which supervened on the com- 

 pletion of the Erie Canal, between the North River counties 

 and the Genesee Valley, must soon take place between the 

 Atlantic and the Western States. The decrease in popula- 

 tisn, in the last live years, in the counties of Genesee, On- 

 tario, Cayuga, and Oneida, m this State — all grain growing 

 counties — proves that this change is already taking place. 

 JVor is it a matter of wonder, when we compare the prices 

 of land, and the facilities for cultivation offered in the two 

 sections. In this State, land that will grow wheat is worth 

 from $40 to .$(;0 per acre— in Illinois it can be bought for 

 .$1 2-5. In this State the land requires very careful tillage 

 and expensive manuring ; in Illinois the soil is so rich that 

 it is cultivated for many years without the least manuring, 

 and being free from stones and stumps, it is cultivated with 

 tlie greatest ease, one ploughing being sutificient for any crop, 

 while here, in some cases, three plougiiings are required. 

 Connected by the Erie Canal and the great "chain of Wes- 

 tern lakes with the Eastern market, the cost of transporta- 

 tion from Illinois to New York is but trifling ; and with such 

 great odds in their favor, the Western States must soon be- 

 come the great source of supply of grain for the Eastern 

 markets. That miraculous change which characterised the 

 growth of Western N. Y. after 1825, will soon be in pro- 

 gress, with augmented activity, in the North Western States. 

 REMARKS ON THE ABOVE. 



Illinois Is only one of five States, beside two 

 Territories, whose vast surplus of agricultural 

 products, is soon to come down from the pi-olific 

 and almost boundless West, to compete with the 

 farmers of this state, in all their markets. AVhat 

 have we to do whose fortunes are indissolubly 

 linked with the cultivation of the soil of New 

 York, to secure to our labor a fair compensation ? 



When returning plenty shall again shut us out 

 from the markets of Great Britain and the Con- 

 tinent, this question will press itself with much 

 force upon the consideration of the farmers of 

 this state. By what process shall we be able to 

 keep up the price of our farms, and the value of 

 rural industry among us 1 A bushel of wheat 

 can be brought, on an average, from Ohio, Michi- 

 gan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, not to 

 name Western Pennsylvania and Iowa, to Buf- 

 falo, for three cents. It will cost but little more 

 to take a cargo through the Welland Canal ro 

 Rochester and Oswego, than to stop it at the out- 



let of Lake Erie. Other agricultural products 

 will come down upon us with equal facility. 

 With 200,000,000 acres of choice Government 

 Land still in market at 81,25 per acre, while 

 improvements in lake craft, in canals and rail- 

 roads, are constantly diminishing the cost of 

 transportation, what is the remedy by which loe 

 are to escape a ruinous competition ? This ques- 

 tion is more easily asked than answered. 



W^e can discover no reinedy but that which 

 the SCIENCE of Agriculture will confer upon us. 

 We have all confidence in the truth of the remark 

 that science is capable of giving us at least three 

 blades of grass, and three bushels of wheat, with 

 the same land and labor that now yield us but 

 two of either. Tiiis will give a nett gain of fifty 

 per cent. 



According to the late census, there were har- 

 vested in Chautauque County 269,169 bushels of 

 wheat from 23,496 acres. This gives an aver- 

 age of a small fraction over 11 bushels per 

 acre. 12,246 acres planted in Corn gave 458,- 

 320 bushels — a fraction over 37 bushels per acre. 

 These figures are worthy of note ; 1st, because 

 they show that three bushels of corn are grown 

 in that county, on less^land than one of wheat. 

 2dly. Because they indicate the practicability of 

 doubling the average product of both crops. Let 

 us first consider that of Wheat. 



It is obvious that these 23,469 acres had 

 enough of all the ingredients in the soil that form 

 wheat, to make the product of 269,169 bushels 

 harvested, or 11 per acre. The remark is based 

 alike on experience, and the researches of sci- 

 ence that, the plants which bore this grain had 

 within their reach, nine-tenths of all the materi- 

 als necessary to have given an average crop of" 

 22 bushels per acre. To supply the lacking one 

 tenth, will cost less than half of the value of the 

 gain — making the nett gain of 50 per cent, on 

 the present crop. We insist on the correctness 

 of the statement that it is cheaper to add 11 

 bushels to an acre, by 50 per cent., which has 

 already been cultivated and sown, so as to grow 

 11 bushels, than it is to be at the expense of 

 buying or renting, plowing, harrowing and see- 

 ding txoo acres to obtain 22 bushels of this bread 

 forming grain. In the one case the outlay for 

 interest on land, for seed, and tillage, is twice a.s 

 large as in the other. In nine cases out of ten 

 where the farmer can reap 11 bushels from an 

 acre, he has produced straw enough to have yiel- 

 ded him 22 bushels of wheat. In truth, it is 

 only one-tenth of the substances that will form 

 11 bushels of seed, which he lacks. Supply this 

 deficiency, and it will be found that nature is 

 quite as willing to bear 22, as 11 bushels or 44, 

 as either, on an acre. But, what arc the precise 

 things that go to form the seeds of this plant, 

 which the soil of Chautauque, and of many oth- 

 er counties, lacks to a greater or less extent ? 

 This is a very important question ; and one that 



