IN THE UNITED STATES. 



191 



country at sixty millions of bushels, com at one hun- 

 dred millions, and oats at one hundred and fifty mil- 

 lions of bushels, we should not probably be far from 

 the truth. Barley does not rank high in amount, as a 

 cultivated crop, though the quantity produced is annu- 

 ally increasing. The wheat is principally grown in 

 the country north of the Potomac and Ohio, and south 

 of the great lakes. The corn is produced chiefly in 

 the south, and in the valleys of the Ohio and Missis- 

 sippi. Oats are cultivated in all sections, unless the 

 extreme south, and are every where the principal food 

 of horses, while they are given to cattle, sheep, and 

 swine, to a considerable extent. The average crop of 

 wheat, on the whole, cannot be estimated, per acre, at 

 more than eighteen bushels ; corn, thirty-five bushels ; 

 oats, the same ; and barley, about twenty bushels. 

 This rate will, of course, vary greatly in different sec- 

 tions. In the States north of the Ohio, the average of 

 corn would perhaps equal or exceed fifty bushels to 

 the acre ; while, in the States south of the Potomac, it 

 has been estimated as low as fifteen bushels per acre. 

 The difference in the other crops, in the several sec- 

 tions of our country, would be less ; but still it is con- 

 siderable. 



That these average productions might be greatly 

 increased, does not admit of a question : that the inter- 

 ests of agriculture demand that such should be the 

 case, is equally clear. By attention to the selection of 

 seeds, and the preparation of the soil, an addition of ten 

 per cent, to these averages might be readily made. 

 Experience shows that such is the fact ; and multitudes 

 of individual instances might be adduced, to prove that 

 such has already been done by skilful and intelligent 

 farmers. 



The causes which, in our opinion, have tended more 

 than any others to depress agriculture, and prevent its 

 receiving the attention it demands, as well as to reduce 

 the profits which should reward the laborer, are the 



