1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



2S1 



Hhe Corn Crop— Two-Horse Cultiva- 

 tors. 



With the present and prospective price of 



corn we are under the necessity of consider- 

 ing whether we can continue to grow this 

 itaple, to be shipped in its raw state, or to 

 state the case more plain, can we afford to 

 ship corn as at present, or must we be con- 

 aned to the amount that we can put into 

 beef and pork, or use otherwise on the farm. 

 During the year 1860 there was received at 

 Chicago alone fifteen and a half millions of 

 bushels of corn, and since the first of No- 

 vember of the new crop nearly nine millions 

 of bushels ; and this is but a small part of 

 what has gone into Missouri, Kansas, south 

 by the way of Cairo and east by the various 

 railroads. It will therefore be seen that an 

 aggregate of over twenty millions of bushels 

 of the crop of 1860 has gone forward, pro- 

 ducing to the farmer an average price of say 

 :wenty cents a bushel at the depot in the car, 

 jr an amount in round numbers of four mil- 

 lions of dollars* It is true this price, on the 

 average, has not more than paid the cost of 

 production ; and now with the average price 

 reduced one half we may well feel staggered 

 at the prospect. 



Most people charge this condition of things 

 on the present hostile state of the country, 

 but we judge this has less to do with it than 

 many suppose We think ihnre is a more 

 serious difficulty in the way, and one that 

 will remain after the country is again at 

 peace. It is now evident that the South 

 was preparing for this condition of things 

 when they purchased so heavily last winter, 

 and how the stock of corn is so abundant at 

 Memphis and at New Orleans that sixteen 

 cents would be all that could be paid for it 

 here, to make it nett the present rates South. 

 The railroad rates has it is true enhanced the 

 price to the Atlantic seaboard towns, but 

 otherwise the price of corn is not high at 

 the South. Under present circumstances 

 corn will not pay at less than twenty cents 

 the net cost of its production ; it is there- 

 fore evident that at that price it will cease 



to be a favorite crop for shipment. On the 

 four million dollars received for corn, to the 

 demise of " stumptail " there must have 

 been a loss of at least a million of dollars, 

 while at the present rates on that to go for- 

 ward there must be a loss of over two mil- 

 lions more. The two sums will doubtless 

 sink all the profit to the farmer on beef and 

 pork made from the last corn crop. On the 

 whole the immense crop of corn for the year 

 1860 will no more than pay the expense of 

 its production and harvesting, so far as the 

 farmer is concerned. The raHroads have 

 been extensively benefitted as well as the 

 commission men, while the corn merchant 

 and banker have suffered loss. Many of our 

 county banks have gone under, loaded down 

 with c rn, or the notes of corn dealers. — 

 Some of this is a loss direct between the 

 price paid and at which it was sold and a 

 part by withholding the funds by southern 

 correspondents. Another evil that the corn 

 trade begat was the purchase of stocks to ex- 

 tend the banking facilities, under the spe- 

 cious plea that more money was needed to 

 move the crop. This, then, is the true posi- 

 tion of the crop of 1860, to sum up an im- 

 mense crop barely paying its cost to the pro- 

 ducer. Now if this is the case under such 

 favorable circumstances, to which we should 

 have added that the pork market was bare, 

 that the supplies at the South were exhaust- 

 ed, requiring a large extra amount to supply 

 them, and which in a greafc part was obtain- 

 ed before the blockade, we may well enquire 

 what will be the case with the crop of 1861, 

 which though much less, yet promises to be 

 more than an average one. It is certainly 

 no object to grow corn at less than twenty- 

 five cents delivered at the depot, or say forty 

 cents in Chicago, unless by improvement in 

 culture its cost can be reduced. This we 

 think is capable of accomplishment and that 

 five cents may be safely counted upon. This 



will put it at thirty-five cents in Chicago, a 

 price which we venture to say is the lowest 

 that will permit of its profitable production, 

 and one that will bring to market any large 



