190 STATE OF AGRICULTURE 



How often have we seen a cart, half loaded, stand, 

 and with its wide spread load catch so much of the 

 shower that portions of it would run in streams through 

 the cart, and wet the tenants beneath ! 



[From the Genesee Farmer.] 



STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



That the agriculture of the United States does not, 

 to use a commercial phrase, rank with that of the most 

 favored nations, is perhaps generally admitted : that it 

 might with proper care be made to do so, does not ad- 

 mit of controversy ; and it may be Avell to inquire into 

 some of the causes that lead to this state of things. 

 With one of the most fertile countries, by nature, on 

 the globe, we do not in the amount of products equal 

 that of some countries much less favored, but which, 

 by superior skill in cultivation, have attained a fertility 

 unknown among us. As examples of this, we may 

 name England, Belgium, and part of Germany ; in 

 which the average per acre of the crops is much great- 

 er than in the United States, if we except, perhaps, 

 some few of the best cultivated districts. 



In order to determine what should be, it is sometimes 

 useful to ascertain what actually is. Estimates have 

 been made, at different times, of the total of agricultu- 

 ral products in this country. Such estimates have no 

 pretensions to exactness: they are only approximations 

 to the precise quantity. Still, as similar estimates are 

 made in other countries, they may afford the means of 

 comparison, as showing the proportion of production to 

 the population. The year 1838 was, on the whole, a 

 favorable one for the farmer ; and the crops undoubt- 

 edly, in the aggregate, exceeded those of any previous 

 year. If we should estimate the wheat grown in the 



