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1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



25 



supply of wood should be hauled up, cut ready for 

 use and put under 'cover. Going after wood in 

 harvest or late in autumn when the roads are mud- 

 dy is very bad economy. 



Corn Cribs.— -These should be made during tht 

 winter ; none but a rich man can afford to put his 

 corn in a rail pen and leave it exposed to the storm, 

 but a rich man has generally too much good sense 

 to do so, and often the farmer who can ill afford it 

 is the one to make a victim of himself Let us have 

 a change of base in this respect throughout the 

 central part of the State, where this abuse stands 

 out the most glaring. If it has taken six full crops 

 to make it so plenty that the price went a hundred 

 per cent, below the cost of production, it has taken 

 but one failure to put it four hunrded per cent, 

 above. These are significant facts that strongly 

 urge the value of good, well covered cribs. 



Report of the Commissioner of Agricultttre. — 

 We are under obligation to James Grinnell, Esq , 

 Chief Clerk, for extra copies of the Report for 

 * 1862. 'rtie more we examine this work, the better 

 we like it, as it contains much valuable infoima- 

 tion, not found in other works. 



The Report for 1863 is also at hand, or rather 

 theiniroduction toil, as the accompanying papers 

 have not been printed. This part of the report con- 

 tains thirteen pages, from which we clip the fol- 

 lowing: 



" Although the year just closed has been a year 

 of war, on the part of the Republic, over a wider 

 field and on a grander scale than any recorded in 

 history, yet, strange as it may appear, the great in- 

 terests of agriculture have not materially suffered 

 in the loyal States. With the exception of some 

 fruitless incursions along the border, and the inva- 

 sion of Pennsylvania and the defeat of the insur- 

 gents on the now historic field of Gettytburg, the 

 loyal people have everywhere enjoyed a " broad 

 and quiet land," with abundant health and pros- 

 perity, while a wider territory has been cultivated 

 and a larger yield realized, except where drought 

 and frost interfered, than during any previous 

 year. Notwithstanding there have been over one 

 million of men employed in the army and navy, 

 withdrawn chiefly from the producing classes, and 

 liberally fed, clothed and paid by the government, 

 yet the yield of the great staples of agriculture for 

 1863, as compared with the previous year, has been 

 as follows, viz : 



1662. 1863. 



Wheat, in bushels 169,993,500 191,068,239 



Gate, in bushels 1'72,520,9»Y 1H,858,16'7 



Gorn, in bushels 586,'704,4'74 449,163,894 



Hay in pounds 20,000,0'^0 18,600,009 



Toba«co, in pounds 208,207,0*73 258,462,413 



Wool, in pounds 63,524,112 '^9,405,215 



The comparison, with the exception of corn and 



hay injured bv drought and frost, is even more 

 favorable for i863, if instituted in regard to the 

 general products of the farm. 



This wonderful fact of history— a young repub- 

 lic carrying on a gigantic war on its own territory 

 and coasts, and at the same time not only feeding 

 itself and foreign nations, but furnishing vast quan- 

 tities of raw materials for commerce and manu- 

 factures, proves that we are essentially an agricul- 

 tural people that three years of war have not, as 

 yet, seriously disturbed, but rather increased in- 

 dustrial pursuits, and that the withdrawal of ag- 

 ricultural labor, and the loss of life by disease and 

 battle have been more than compensated by ma- 

 chinery and maturing youth at home, and by the 

 increased influx of immigration from abroad. In 

 spite of the vast influence of free institutions in 

 Europe, brought to bear on the masses of her peo- 

 ple against our Republic; notwithstanding the 

 flame of civil war still rages within our borders, 

 yet the tide of immigration was never stronger, 

 healthier or more promising. While some, as ad- 

 venturers, seek this western world for military 

 fame, stimulated by our large bounties and the 

 chances of promotion, or to fight sincerely the bat- 

 tles of freedom and equality, the greater part come 

 to labor, to enjoy independence and quiet, and to 

 make happy though humble, homes for themselves 

 and their children. 



According to the report of the New York com- 

 missioners of immigration, the number of immi- 

 grants arriving at that port during the eleven 

 months ending November 30, of the year 1863, was 

 145.519, against 16,306 during 1862. This pro- 

 portional increase holds good' in respect to the 

 other great ports of our country. Independent of 

 the large number of persons from Canada and oth- 

 er portions of America. 



A GREAT FACT. 



Whatever, owiiig to the war and the march of 

 events, may be the future condition of land and la- 

 bor in the rebellious States, or the legal decisions 

 of the courts arising out of confiscation, litigation, 

 or the demands of the military service, yet a 

 change must gradually take place, not only in the 

 tenure of the soil and its modes of culture, but in 

 the people themselves and their institutions. Much 

 of the land will gradually pass out of the hands of 

 its present proprietors, either by purchase, the de- 

 cisions of the courts, or by the force of circumstan- 

 ces. Estates will be divided into smaller farms 

 and occupied by the humbler classes ia the south, 

 whites and freed men, and by industrious and en- 

 terprising settlers from the other States and from 

 Europe. The old fallacy, so long inculcated by 

 politicians and accepted by the people, like many 

 other fallacies respecting the south, that none but 

 negroes can toil there, will be thoroughly exploded 

 during the present generation. Once divide there 

 the yast estates, and elevate labor to its true dig- 

 nity by hiring, instead of owning it, and I venture 

 the prediction that in less than ten years after the 

 close of the war, a million of the industrial classes, 

 native and foreign, will have settled in the sunny 

 south, makmg it teem with new beauty, progress 

 and wealth. The tides of immigration which now 

 flow across the sea, and sweep with such irresistible 

 power, bearing and leaving in their course the rich 

 depoaites of induetry and art, of prosperity and 



