33t 



THE GEXESEE FARMER. 



plant was there located, but upon examination it was 

 the veritable Osage. The deep green of its leaves, 

 which were nearly double the size of plants but a 

 short distance from it, and the length of the shorts, 

 nearly double that of adjoining plants, induced us to 

 examine carefully the reasons therefor. Some years 

 since a privy formerly standing in that place was tilled 

 up, and the plant in question had been planted in the 

 extreme south-eastern corner. The reason now of its 

 luxuriant growth and foliage was obvious enough. 

 By the decomposition of the night-soil underneath 

 the superincumbent mass of earth, all the elements 

 of the growth and nutrition of plants were present, 

 and in a suitable form for immediate use. 



We are satisfied that our farmers and planters 

 need not go to the guano deposits of the Pacific 

 Ocean, and pay millions of dollars yearly for fertilizers 

 for their soil, if they would l)ut carefully save and 

 husband the solid and liquid manures made upon their 

 homesteads. 



In the notice of an Agricultural School at Grignon, 

 in France, and the farm attached thereto, in a recent 

 English journal, it is said "that there is little or no 

 outlay for foreign or portable manures on the farm. 

 Guano has been tried, but poudrette is preferred, 

 having been proved by experiment to be superior. 

 The English visitor who gives the account attempted 

 to persuade the professors, or those in charge of the 

 farm, that there might be larger crops, and more 

 profits secured, by the use of guano; but he was met 

 by the assertion that the English farmer did not 

 ' conserve,^ or economize the manure of the farm, like 

 the French farmer." And in this respect the Conn- 

 try Gentleman pithily observes, " the American copies 

 more after the English than the freuch pattern." 



Let all your manure be kept from the sun and 

 rains, and mixed with the rich black mud which the 

 rains of former years have washed down into your 

 swamps and low land^ or with the turf from your 

 pasture lands. Let this be done perseveringly and 

 systematically, and the drain of money to pay for fer- 

 tilizers from abroad would in a great measure cease. 



The following is the articie referred to above, which 

 ■we take from the Cincinnati Price Current: 



" Commerce, in regard to business, is an exchange 

 of products. Between two distinct nations it is, in 

 respect to each, foreign conmierce ; but as to the 

 parts of one country, it is internal. The government 

 of the United States being constituted almost entirely 

 to regulate and protect its intercourse with otheV 

 countries (in other words, its external relations), takes 

 notice chiefly of its foreign trade. By means of its 

 revenue officers, it gives tables of imports and exports, 

 and the specific articles exchanged with foreio-n coun- 

 tries. This is imi)ortant, and shows the state of our 

 balance with other countries ; but it is obvious that 

 internal commerce must be far the most important, 

 for the foreign products we use are small compared 

 with those of home production. Of late years, this 

 internal trade has attracted a proper share of atten- 

 tion, and long lines of internal communication have 

 been constructed in all parts of the country to carry 

 on her commerce, and carry the products of the ag- 

 ricultural States to the manufacturing regions, and 

 the great cities of the Atlantic. The magnitude of 



their consumption of agricultural products may be 

 known by observing that the communities (almost 

 exclusively manufacturing) coni])rehend nearly five 

 millions of inhabitants, and the cities of the Atlantic 

 contain nearly two millions more. Then, we have a 

 home population of near seven millions to be fed by 

 bread and meat — cari-ied by canals and railways from 

 the grain States to the Atlantic States. 



" The grain States lie almost entirely in the valley 

 of the Ohio and the peninsular of the North-west. 

 This includes Western Pennsylvania, Avith Kentucky 

 and Tennessee. The surplus products of this fertile 

 region constitute the sole basis of trade, carried on 

 through the canals and railways of the West. For 

 it is plain that the imports must correspond with the 

 ability to purchase, furnished by this surplus ; and 

 that passenger transit follows, to a great extent, tlie 

 business of a country, 'i'o illustrate the extent of 

 this internal trade in the West, we propose to give a 

 few general facts. 



"First, we make the general surplus of the grain 

 region. In general terms, it may be stated thus : 



Production. 



Wheat. 



busli. 



Western Pennsylvania, ^.. 6,000,000 



Ohio, 24,000,000 



Indiana, 9,000,000 



Illinois, ...11,000,000 



Kentucky, 6,000,000 



Tennessee, 3,000,000 



Michigan, 6,000,000 



Wisconsin, 5,000,000 



71,500 



Population (now), 7,000,000. 69,000,000 3,100,000 

 Surplus. 



Wheat. Animals. Sundries, 



bush. tons. tona. 



Western Pennsylvania, 3,000,000 27,500 35,000 



Oliio, .14,000,000 112,800 92,500 



Indiana, 4,000,000 76,250 22,000 



Illinois, 6,000,000 75,000 20,000 



Kentucky, 1,500,000 100,000 35,000 



Tennessee, 80,000 22,200 



Michigan, 3,500,000 10,000 20,500 



Wisconsin, 3,500,000 10,000 12,500 



Population (now), 7,000,000. 35,500,000 491,550 259,700 



" The above table is formed by taking for the first 

 column the fair average crops of the several States ; 

 secondly, by reducing cattle, swine and sheep to tons;, 

 at their average weight ; thirdly, placing under the 

 head of ' Sundries,' tobacco, wool, butter, cheese, po- 

 tatoes and whisky. Corn is excluded, because but a 

 small part is exported in Imlk, but mainly in the form 

 of animal food and whisky. The surplus is calcu- 

 lated by deducting the average consumption of the 

 existent population. 



" We have, then, this result after reducing wlicat 

 to tons: 



Wheat exported, 1,065,000 tons. 



Animal food, 49),-550 " 



Tobacco, potatoes, wool, butter and cheese, 259,700 " 



Hay (on river), estimated, 100,000 " 



Iron (on rivers, caniils and railways), 200,000 •• 



Domestic produce transported inland, 2,ll(>,2o0 " 



"This is domestic produce going from the place" of 

 production to the markets ; but, on the other hand, 

 we have quite an eqiial amount in the groceries, dry 

 dry goods, hardware, mamifactures, and numerous 

 small articles, whicli enter into the traflic of the 

 country. Then, we have in seven States and part of 

 another, in the midst of the central West, a tonnage 



