AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
39 
implements, etc. “ The credit system—running 
up large store-hills, half of which could be dis¬ 
pensed with,” H. H. would have you believe, is 
the great drawback upon Illinois farmers. Where 
is (he evidence of this 1 Do you find them clad 
in purple and fine linen 1 Far from it. “ Ken¬ 
tucky jeans ” and “ hickory shirtings,” bottomed 
with coarse but substantial cowhide boots, are 
the more common habiliments of farmers. Tea, 
sugar, coffee, etc., are supposed to be only ne¬ 
cessary for kid-gloved, silk-hatted, patent-leather¬ 
ed, rose-scented gents, and never intended for 
hard-fisted, sun-browned tillers of the soil. 
But enough of this—perhaps too much. I hope 
those better posted, perhaps, than H. H. or my¬ 
self, in Illinois matters generally, will speak out 
on both sides of the subject, and let us have it set 
forth in its proper light. For myself I must say 
that no other State in the Union has, in the same 
length of time, made more rapid strides in agricul¬ 
tural development on a healthy basis, in improv¬ 
ing and beautifying the surface, dotting it with 
convenient buildings ; and in producing according 
to its population, a greater surplus of the staples 
of life. G. D. Smith. 
Newport, Lake Co., III. 
Our Ear-West Territories. 
INTERESTING STATEMENTS IN REGARD TO THEIR 
AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES AND DEFECTS. 
Many enthusiastic writers upon the agricultural 
resources of our country have marshalled forth a 
startling array of figures to show that we have 
available land enough to s-upport a population 
equal, perhaps, to the present entire inhabitants 
of the earth. They have pointed to a territory 
westward, larger than the whole area of the or¬ 
ganized States. Prof. Joseph Henry of the 
Smithsonian Institute at Washington, in a recent 
address, throws a “ wet blanket ” (or rather a dry 
one) upon the agricultural prospects of the vast 
region lying west of Iowa and Nebraska, and ex¬ 
tending to and beyond the Rocky Mountains, in¬ 
cluding the corresponding wide belt in Mexico, 
and strcmhing northward indefinitely towards the 
polar regions. After referring to the extended 
observations made upon the metereology of the 
country, he says : 
“ My experience has already demonstrated 
the correctness of the views previously held by 
scientific men, and based upon the theory of the 
motions of the atmosphere. The wind blowing 
from the shores of the Pacific in an easterly di¬ 
rection were at first laden with moisture, but this 
was deposited on the western slopes of the suc¬ 
cessive ranges of mountains, until, having de¬ 
scended to the plain country to the east of the 
Rocky Mountains, they came almost with the hot 
breath or a simoon to parch vegetation, and ren¬ 
dered a vast extent of country, almost one half 
of the width of the American Continent quite un¬ 
fit for tillage. 
The general character of the soil between the 
Mississippi River and the Atlantic is that of great 
fertility, and as a whole, in its natural condition, 
with some exceptions at the West, is well sup¬ 
plied with timber. That portion also on the 
western side of the Mississippi, as far as the 98th 
meridian, including the States of Texas, Louisi¬ 
ana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, 
and portions of the Territory of Kansas and Ne¬ 
braska, are fertile, though abounding in prairies, 
and subject occasionally to drouths. But the 
whole space to the West, between the meridian 
and the Rocky Mountains, denominated the Great 
American Plains, is a barren waste, over which 
the eye may roam to the extent of the visible ho¬ 
rizon with scarcely an object to break the mo¬ 
notony. 
From the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, with 
the exception of the rich but narrow' belt along 
the ocean, the country may also be considered, 
in comparison with other portions of the United 
States, a wilderness unfitted for the uses of the 
husbandman ; although in some of the mountain 
valleys, as at Salt Lake, by means of irrigation, a 
precarious supply of food may be obtained suffi¬ 
cient to sustain a considerable population, pro¬ 
vided they can be induced to submit to priva¬ 
tions, from which American citizens generally 
would shrink. 
The portions of the mountain system further 
south are equally inhospitable, though they have 
been represented to be of a different character. 
In traversing this region, whole days are fre¬ 
quently passed -without meeting a rivulet or spring 
of water to slake the thirst of the weary traveler. 
Dr. I.etherman, surgeon of the United States ar¬ 
my at Fort Defiance, describes the entire country 
along the parallel of 35° [that is west of Arkan¬ 
sas] as consisting of a series of mountain ridges, 
with a general direction north and south inclin- 
ning to the west, and broken in many places by 
deep cracks, as it w r ere, across the ridge, deno¬ 
minated canons, which afford in some cases the 
only means of traversing the country, except with 
great labor and difficulty. 
The district inhabited by the Navajo Indians 
[northern Central New Mexico] has had the re¬ 
putation of being a good grazing country, and its 
fame has reached the eastern portions of the 
United States ; but, taking the region at large, it 
will be found that, with regard to abundance of 
natural pasturage, it has been vastly overrated, 
and we have no hesitation in stating, says the 
same authority, that were the Hocks and herds 
now belonging to the Indians doubled, they could 
not be sustained. There is required for grazing 
and producing hay for the consumption of ani¬ 
mals at Fort Defiance, garrisoned by two com¬ 
panies, one of which is partly mounted, fifty 
square miles ; and this is barely sufficient for the 
purpose. The barrenness and desolation so in¬ 
separably connected with immense masses of 
rocks and hills scantily supplied with Water, are 
here seen and felt in their fullest extent The 
character of the districts lying across the moun¬ 
tain system, along the 32d parallel, which has 
been still more highly lauded for its productive¬ 
ness, is, from reliable accounts, in strict accord¬ 
ance with the a priori inferences which may be 
drawn in regard to its climate from the influence 
of the mountain ranges, and the direction of the 
prevailing winds. 
Dr. Antisell, geologist to one of the exploring 
expeditions, describes the country along the pa¬ 
rallels of 32° to 3.3° [in the latitude of northern 
Texas] as equally deficient in the essentials of 
support for an ordinary civilized community. On 
the west, within these parallels, occurs the great 
Colorado desert, extending to the river of the 
same name, which empties into the Gulf of Cal¬ 
ifornia. From the Colorado River, which is 
generally regarded as the eastern edge of the Co¬ 
lorado basin, in its southern portion, the land rises 
eastward by a series of easy grades, until the 
summit of the main ridge of the mountain system 
is gained, at a point about 500 miles east of that 
river. For the first 250 miles, the ascent is 
across a series of erupted hills, of comparatively 
recent date, and similar in constitution to the line 
hills and ridges which are dotted over the various 
levels of the basin country. The .entire district is 
bare of soil and vegetation, except a few varie 
ties of cactus. Over the greater portion of the 
northern part of Sonora and the southern part of 
New Mexico sterility reigns supreme. 
At the mountain bases may exist a few springs 
and wells, and in a few depressions of the gene¬ 
ral level of the surface sloping to the Pacific may 
be grassy spots; but such are the exceptions. 
A dry, parched, disintegrated sand and gravel is 
the usual soil, completely destitute of vegetable 
matter, and not capable of retaining moisture. 
The Winter rains which fall on the Pacific coast, 
west of the coast range of mountains, do not 
reach to the region eastward. This is partly sup¬ 
plied with its moisture from the Gulf of Califor¬ 
nia, but chiefly by the southeast wind from the 
Gulf of Mexico, flowing up between the ridges of 
mountains. We hazard nothing in saying that 
the mountains, as a whole, can be of little value 
as the theatre of civilized life in the present state 
of general science and practical agriculture. It 
is true that a considerable portion of the interior 
is comparatively little known from actual explora¬ 
tion; but its general character can be inferred 
from that which has been explored. As has been 
said before, it consists of an elevated swell of 
land, covered with ridges running in a northerly 
direction, inclining to the west. 
The western slopes, or those which face the 
ocean, are better supplied with moisture, and 
contain more vegetation than the eastern slopes ; 
and this increases as we approach the Pacific, 
along the coast of which, throughout the whole 
boundary of the United States to the Gulf of Cal¬ 
ifornia, exists a border of land of delightful cli¬ 
mate and of fertile soil, varying from fifty to two 
hundred miles in width. The transition, how¬ 
ever, from this border to a parallel district in the 
interior, is of the most marked and astonishing 
character. Starting from the sea-coast, and leav¬ 
ing a temperature of 65°, we may, in the course 
of a single day’s journey, in some cases, reach an 
arid valley, in which the thermometer in the shade 
marks a temperature of 110°. 
We have stated that the entire region west of 
the 98th degree of west longitude, with the ex¬ 
ception of a small portion of western Texas, and 
the narrow border along the Pacific, is a country 
of comparatively little value to the agriculturist; 
and, perhaps, it will astonish the reader, if we di¬ 
rect his attention to the fact that this line, which 
passes southward from Lake Winnipeg to the 
Gulf of Mexico, will divide the whole surface of 
the United Stales into two nearly equal parts. 
This statement, when fully appreciated, will serve 
to dissipate some of the dreams which have been 
considered as realities, as to the destiny of the 
western part of the North American Continent. 
Truth, however, transcends even the laudable 
feelings of pride of country; and, in order 
properly to direct the policy of this great confed¬ 
eracy, it is necessary to be well acquainted with 
the theatre on which its future history is to be 
enacted, and by whose character it will mainly be 
shaped. 
A young man called one evening upon a 
wealthy person, to know how he had made his 
money. The rich man having learned his busi¬ 
ness, gave the first exemplification of it by blow¬ 
ing out the lamp, saying they could talk as well 
in the dark. 
Instead of retaliating upon the man who calls 
you a villain, a liar, or a thief, coolly inform him 
that you have not sufficient confidence in his ve¬ 
racity to believe him. 
An untarnished character is of vastly more im 
portance than glossy boots. 
