SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
185 
AGRICUIiTURAL CONDITION OF OUR 
Country. 
A perusal of Mr. John Jay’s Statistical View of Ameri- 
can Agriculture, an address recently delivered before tiie 
American Geographical and Statistical Society, (which, 
by the way, forms probably the most satisfactory general 
compendium of American Agricultural statistics that we 
possess,) gives rather a discouraging impression of the. 
progress of our national agriculture. 
In many staple products the quantity raised has shown 
a marked decrease in 1850. (the date of our last census, 
from which Mr. Jay has obtained most of the purely sta- 
tiscal portions of his work,) from that raised in proceed- 
ing years. Until the census of 18G0 there can be no 
means of obtaining further statistic’s of the kind, and un- 
less there has been a marked improvement during the last 
seven years, the condition of our agriculture is not very 
promising. 
For instance, take the wheat crop : although it has not 
decreased in its actual amount, it has not increased in 
proportion to the increase of population. In New Eng- 
land its culture its rapidly declining, while in the middle 
States it is neatly stationary, and our chief supplies now 
come from the northwestern district. In New Fork the 
crop, in 1840, was over twelve millions of bushels, while 
in 1850 it was but nine millions— a decrease of twenty-five 
per cent. While our State is losing its pre-eminence in 
the production of the great cereal staple, Illinois and the 
Provincial States almost make up for it, and Chicago 
is fast becoming the most extensive granary in the 
world, already rivaling Odessa, Dantzig and St. Peters- 
burg. 
Referring again to the products of the entire country, 
without alludiug to any particular State, we find that rye, 
oats, Irish and sweet potatoes, hay and tobacco have 
steadily decreased, while cotton, rice and wine have in- 
creased. Hops have increased at the rate of five hundred 
per cent , owing to the enormous consumption of lager- 
beer. Rice has increased at the rate of nearly three hun- 
dred per cent. In 1840, the cotton produced amounted 
to eight hundred millions of pounds, in 1850 to nine hun- 
dred and eighty millions, in 1855 to one billion and eigh- 
ty-eight millions. 
But the great staple production of our country — far 
surpassing in amount even our famed wheat, cotton and 
tobacco — is Indian corn. Its cultivation has retrograded 
in no State, and the crop may be roughly estimated at 
four hundred millions of bushels in 1840, six hundred 
millions in 1850, over seven hundred millions in 1855, 
and fully eight hundred millions in 1856. Few people 
are pjobably aware of the value of our “Monda-min,” al- 
though Professor Mapes has said the failure of the corn 
crop for three successive years would bankrupt the na- 
tion. “Entertainment for man and beast” might truly be 
painted on the gate of every cornfield in the country, for 
in the West corn is given largely to cattle and swine — 
the number of pigs fattened on it nearly equaling the 
number of inhabitants. It is exported to the West In- 
dies, England and Ireland, used in sugar factories and 
distilleries, so that we owe our beef and pork, the Eng- 
lishman owes his sugar and the Irishman his “dhrop o’ 
whisky” to the great American “Mon-damin.” 
This is all very well, so far as it goes, but the fact re- 
mains that in other necessary products we are retrograd- 
ing. While wine and lager beer are increasing there is a 
decided decrease in the equally important products of 
wheat and potatoes. Though this is partially the effect 
of diseases incidental to the product itself, it is also, 
in a great measure, owing to the lack of agricultural 
laborers. While every avenue of trade and every me- 
chanical occupation in our large cities is choked up with 
competitors, the great agricultural fields of the West suf- 
fer for the want of cultivation. — N. Y. Post. 
TIIE PHILOSOPHY OF RAIN. 
To understand the philosophy of this beautiful and 
often sublime phenomenon, so often witnessed since 
the creation of the world, and essential to the very exis- 
tence of plants and animals, a few facts derived from ob- 
servation and a long train of experiments must be re- 
membered. 
1. Were the atmosphere everywhere, at all times, at an 
uniform temperature, we should never have rain, or hail, 
or snow. The water absorbed by evaporation from 
the sea and the earth’s surface would descend in an im- 
perceptible vapor, or cease to be absorbed by the air 
when it was fully saturated. 
2. The absorbing power of the atmosphere, and con- 
sequently its capability to retain humidity, is proportion- 
ably greater in warm than in cold air. 
3. The air near the surface of the earth is warmer than 
it is in the region of the clouds. The higher we ascend 
from the earth, the colder do we find the atmosphere. — 
Hence the perpetual snow on very high mountains in the 
hottest climate. Now, when from continued evaporation 
the air is highly saturated with vapor — though it be invi- 
sible and the sky cloudless — if the temperature is sudden- 
ly reduced by cold currents descending from above, or 
rushing from a higher to a . lower latitude, its capacity to 
retain moisture is diminished, clouds are formed, and the 
result is rain. Air condenses as it cools, and, like a sponge 
filled with water and compressed, pours out the water 
which its diminished capacity cannot hold. How singular, 
yet how simple, the philosophy of rain ! What but Om- 
niscience could have devised such an admirable arrange- 
ment for watering the earth 1 
The Sore Road to a Competency. — Not one man in 
five hundred will make a fortune. But a competence and 
an independent position are within the reach of most 
men This is obtained most surely by patient industry 
and economy. If a man has ordinary talents and 
ability in any profession or business, or trade, he can, 
by pursuing an economical, persevering course, be pretty 
sure of finally obtaining an independent position in life. 
Let his expenses fall below his income. Let him live 
cheap, very cheap if necessary ; but let him be sure and 
make his income more than his expenses. It can be 
done in almost all cases, notwithstanding the positive 
denial of ever so many housekeepers. A man may not 
have more than three hundred dollars a year, and have a 
family as large as John Rodgers, and he can find the way 
to live comfortably, and lay up something into the bar- 
gain. There is mufeh, nay ali in knowing how the thing 
is done; and tliat is the very thing people who are going 
to make money, have got to learn. It is wonderful how 
few wants we have, and how little it takes to give us 
genuine happiness. If we could get rid of our artificial, 
senseless and expensive way of living, we should find 
ourselves better off in purse, in prospect and in heart. 
Let any one who has any ambition to go ahead in life, 
try the experiment this year, and see how much virtue 
there is in economy. Make your expenses less than 
your income, and see how much you will have gained, 
not only in money, but in the feeling that you are in the 
condition which the Yankee denominated “fore-handed.” 
Ty it this year. 
“If you marry,” said a Roman consul to his son, 
“let it be a woman who has judgment and industry enough 
to get a meal of victuals, taste enough to dress meat, pride 
enough to wash before breakfast, and sense enough to 
hold her tongue.” 
