330 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



" Iiiilian corn, cotton, tobacco, cane, &c., which are 

 elsewhere tropical, or natives of tropical regions, have 

 a hir^e range here; and two of these indeed, may be 

 cul'ivated to the fiftieth parallel of latitude, or much 

 beyond our northern boundary. Hemp, the vine, 

 peach, itc, are similar in their requirements, and in 

 their usual range in our climates." 



Oar limits will not permit extended quotations, or 

 we .should copy, in intcnso, whole pages from this 

 elaborated treatise. We are happy to know that it 

 is pul)lished in a public document of which some 

 250,000 copies will soon be distributed over the Uni- 

 ted States. By writing to the representative in Con- 

 gress from the district in which the applicant resides, 

 or to the Commissioner of Patents in Washington, 

 any one may, doubtless, procure a copy. The Re- 

 port (of which we shall speak in another article) con- 

 tains much valuable information beside this essay on 

 Climatology^ 



In our tropical and semi-tropical summer months, 

 so favorable to the growth of corn, cotton and to- 

 bacco, there is usually — the summer of 1854 being 

 an exception— a liberal precipitation of rain. AVith- 

 out this moistening of the earth, a tropical heat is 

 any thing but favorable to agriculture, as recent sad 

 experience has widely demonstrated. Mr. Blodget 

 gives in two tables the mean tenn^eratures of all im- 

 portant climates in the north temperate latitudes of 

 both Europe and North America. At another time 

 we will cojjy these valuable tallies, and point out the 

 climatic superiority of this continent for all agricul- 

 tural purposes, that the readers of the Farmer may 

 have the statistics for future reference. 



At pi'esent, we will call attention to a few agricul- 

 tural facts which could have no existence did not our 

 climates aftbrd peculiar and extraordinary advantages. 

 According to the census of 1840, the corn crop of 

 the previous year in the United States was 377,531,- 

 875 bushels. In ten years it had increased to 592,- 

 071,101: bushels. Since the census of 1850, there 

 has l)aen a large influx of emigrants from Europe, 

 and iniuy railroads constructed, to promote the set- 

 tlennMit of new lands, and the extension of corn-cul- 

 ture; but allowing only the same ratio of increase in 

 the lust, four years that was attained in the preced- 

 ing t'.'ii, and our present annual corn harvest consider- 

 ably exceeds seven hvndred million bushels. The 

 whol-.^ agriculturid world presents nothing like a par- 

 allel to this; and yet, our capacity to grow this cereal 

 is at legist an hundred times larger than what is now 

 deveh>pcd. Other countries have soils as fertile as our 

 own, but they no where have such continental climates. 



We now comiuaDil the cotton markets of the world, 

 and iiimually export one hundred million dollars' 

 woi-th of thi.s important staple. Here arc agricul- 

 tural i'act-^ of nuich import. On what do they rest ? 

 Not iu; ihe fertility of the soils of the cotton-grow- 

 in'^ StJiii's. for they are generally thin and sterile; not 

 on t,he superiority of southern labor, skill or capital. 

 as CdMiparcd with (hose of the British East Iiidias, 

 but on the peculiar climates of the southern Atlantic 

 and * i idf States. In the cheap production of human 

 foo'i • ! 1 raiment, this continent has no successful 

 com ' ion, where its advantages are wi,sely ifn{>rov- 

 ed. '■i' writer has seen a crop of wheat and one of 

 .mai ; •' mted, grown, and harvested in a calendar 



year on the same land, in succession, in the State of 

 Georgia ; and a crop of maize may be planted and 

 fully matured in Canada in about three months^ 

 wdiile no six months in the climate of Great Britain 

 will suffice for that purpose. In 'I'exas, two crops of 

 corn are made in the same field in a season ; and its 

 capacity for the production of sugar is much greater 

 than is generally supposed. Indeed, from the llio 

 Grande to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, back to 

 the Lake of the Woods ; there is a unity in the di- 

 versity of climates which is wonderfully congenial to 

 both tillage and husbandry. Hitherto, tillage has re- 

 ceived far more attention than husbandry, but the 

 needless neglect of the latter cannot last alwaya 

 The native grasses on the plains near the base of the 

 Rocky Mountains, which have for indefinite ages 

 supported such countless herds of buffaloes, will j-ct 

 furnish us with forage plants that will be Uy stock- 

 growing, what our American corn is among cereals. 

 European grasses may be best for Europe ; bat our 

 peculiar climates demand, and have doubtless called 

 into existence, plants adapted to grazing, superior to 

 all others for the use of American husbandmen. It 

 has long been a source of regret, that our numerous 

 Agricultural Societies, and our National and State 

 Legislatures, did so little to test the economic value 

 of the most promising indigenous grasses of this con- 

 tinent. The United States alone have at this time 

 about seven hundred million dollars invested in live 

 stock, which is largely dependent on English grasses, 

 and other foreign herbage, grown in uncongenial cli- 

 mates for their support. Unless something better 

 than these can be found, the day is not distant when 

 our native Indian corn will be regarded as the best 

 Ibrage plant known to American agriculture. — > 

 Skillfully managed, it will yield a prodigious amount 

 of hay, compared with timothy; but -it is a cereal, 

 and not adapted to pasturage, being an annual plant, 

 and not calculated to form a turf like the true forage 

 grasses. Of the latter, this continent supplies nuiuy 

 genera and species, to be met with in all the States 

 and territories that lie between the Atlantic and Pa- 

 cific Oceans. 



In studying the agricultural climatology of this re- 

 public at AYashington, who does not see the wisdom 

 of connecting therewith the collection of all native 

 grasses, with a view to test their value for grazing 

 purposes, and for hay. The fact is not to be con- 

 cealed, nor truthfully denied, that our pastures and 

 meadows demand far more considerotion than they 

 now receive. They are a great national interest, and 

 one that suffers much from almost universal neglect. 

 They need to be stocked with plants better adapted 

 to our climates and soils; while the latter should be 

 investigated in a thorough manner, by the most com- 

 fietent men in the country. In this way, our systems 

 of husbandry and tillage, our domesiic animals and 

 staple crops, may be steadily improved from year to 

 year. Climates and soils are the foundation of all 

 substantial progress in agriculture. Let these be 

 licnerally understood, and every farmer will use the 

 rif^ht means to attain the most profitable n sulfa 

 Climatology and chemistrj-, vegetable and amnud 

 piiysiology, are the true elements of our profes>ioD. 

 Without these, there can be no agricultural science, 

 and very little rural literature. 



