No. 4.] EASTERN AND WESTERN FARMING. 161 



COMPARISON OF EASTERN AND WESTERN FARMING. 



BY PKOF. J W. SANBORN, LOWER GILMANTON, N. H. 



Tbe west is peopled by the stirring, ambitious sons and 

 daughters of New England and the better sections of Europe. 

 The pioneers and their descendants now occupying the great 

 plains of the west are an energetic, broad-minded and gen- 

 erous class of men and women, altogether worthy of the age 

 in all of its demands. As mind is more potent than matter in 

 surmounting material conditions, the world may expect to 

 find in the farmers of the great plains competitors altogether 

 worthy of their energy and intelligence. The west of to-day 

 is one of the finest fruits of the wondrous development of the 

 applied sciences during the present generation. Had it not 

 been for steam and steel, New England hills, sterile as they 

 are, would have been one of the most densely populated and 

 productive areas of the rural world. But the very forces 

 that have been the source of the wealth and grandeur of the 

 west have been and are the agricultural menace of that 

 section. 



The causes that lie at the root of the splendid growth of 

 the west mark the broad distinction that exists between its 

 agriculture and ours. There it is extensive agriculture, 

 resting upon free fertility, machinery and boldness of opera- 

 tion. Here our agriculture is flattered bv the term intensive, 

 and is grounded to a lar2:er decree in manual labor and 

 timidity of operation. The former is an agriculture of 

 tillage, the latter of grass. The former derives its crops 

 from art more largely, and the latter from nature. Where 

 tillage is involved, capital, labor and machiner}' are brought 

 into play. Where grass is the main crop, these forces are 

 relied upon in the minimum and nature in the maximum. 



