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until I begin to plow in the spring. I believe swine are a positive 

 benefit. 



A very sensible article the other day, entitled " The Business Hen in 

 the Orchard," attracted my attention. There are small possibilities in 

 this direction. I propose to establish several colonies to help me keep 

 down pests and utilize the waste and supplement receipts of the farm. 



With all our boasted prestige as a wheat-growing State, we raised in 

 1893 in value of hay, $3,898,216 more .than of wheat, and on 938,569 

 acres less land. The exact figures are worth stating. 



Hay. 



Wheat. 



Acreage. 



Tons. 



Home Value. 



Acreage. 



Bushels. 



Home Value. 



1,681,921 



2,842,446 



$22,370,050 



2,620,490 



34,852,517 



$18,471,834 



There is an almost insuperable obstruction in this country to anything 

 like a universal change in agriculture. Conditions exist unfavorable to 

 cooperation or general agreement. It would take a long time, if it were 

 possible, to bring the farmers of the East and West— three thousand 

 miles apart — into any common compact. 



It is related of the farmers of Denmark that many years ago they 

 found wheat growing unprofitable, and that gradually they were being 

 involved in debt. Wheat growing had been the main stay, but this had 

 failed, and something had to be done. The Danish farmers turned their 

 attention to dairy products — principally butter for the London market. 

 Cooperative creameries were built, and in a few years these same dis- 

 tressed farmers had money to lend. The farmers of New York and Ohio 

 tried dairying with success, but they were accessible to large markets. 

 To what extent our farmers of California might shift to dairying I will 

 not say. But one thing is sure. We could at. least supply the 4,000,- 



000 pounds of butter that we now import; and that would mean a mill- 

 ion dollars. And we might supply the 3,600,000 pounds of cheese we 

 now import; and that would mean a half million dollars more. 



The dairy interests of the United States are startlingly enormous. The 

 capital invested is twenty-five times that of all the bank capital of this 

 country. The quantity of milk produced would make a creek flowing 

 1,500 miner's inches throughout the year, or 15,000 gallons a minute. 



The value of our dairy products is more than that of all our wheat 

 and nearly as much as our corn. I venture to suggest to our farmers 

 that they examine into the dairy interests, at least as a by-product to 

 help fill out the annual income of the farm. 



This country became very sick in November, 1892. It had alarming 

 symptoms in March, 1893, and has been steadily growing worse ever since. 



1 think the crisis was reached November 6, 1894. But the disease is 

 deep-seated. We shall not come out of it suddenly. Even the conva- 

 lescence, when that happy period comes, will be long. I counsel farmers, 

 fruit growers, and indeed everybody, to maintain the regimen of close 

 economies and most prudent business management. 



The California farmer is proverbially wanting in the elementary prin- 

 ciples that have made the Eastern farmer strong and self-reliant. I 



