290 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[August, 
think of the Patrons of Husbandry, that is an¬ 
other question. When it was started, several 
years ago, the chief claim that its advocates 
presented was that it was a co-operative societ}', 
and it would enable its members to procure 
farm implements and supplies from first hands, 
without paying profits to dealers. Being unable 
to see how such an “order” could change the 
ordinary course of trade we had little to say 
about it. Recently, however, the whole matter 
lias taken on a new aspect. The farmers in 
several of the Western States, on account of 
high freights, have been suffering from low 
prices for their produce, and a general desire 
for some unity of action with reference to rail¬ 
roads developed itself. Here was the Patrons 
of Husbandry at hand, with its machinery in 
working order, and capable of indefinite exten¬ 
sion. The necessity for some kind of organiza¬ 
tion through which the farmers could make 
themselves felt led to a wonderful increase of 
the order, and granges multiplied with aston¬ 
ishing rapidity. At the last published account, 
there were, on June 25th, according to the 
Prairie Farmer, which claims to have its in¬ 
formation from official sources, 4,227 granges 
in the United States, distributed as follows: 
Iowa. 
Kansas . 
Indiana 
Ohio. 
Tennessee. 
Michigan.. 
Georgia.... 
Arkansas . 
.1.671 
Alabama. 
. 517 
North Carolina_ 
.11 
Oregon. 
. 874 
Dakota. 
. 7 
348 
Louisiana. 
. 6 
. 343 
New York. 
. 5 
301 
Virginia. 
.3 
159 
New Jersey. 
. 3 
145 
Pennsylvania... . 
.2 
133 
Kentucky. 
. 1 
. 64 
Massachusetts... . 
. 1 
37 
Texas. 
.... 1 
34 
Colorado. 
. 1 
. 28 
Canada. 
. 8 
93 
33 
Tot»l. 
... 4,227 
. 32 
Now here is an organization of immense 
extent and great power for good or evil. It is 
not to be ignored, nor is it to be put down by 
any amount of ridicule or denunciation. What¬ 
ever we may think of the machinery of the 
order, and however we may feel that farmers 
of all people have no need of secrecy in any of 
their proceedings, here is an immense organ¬ 
ization that must be accepted as one of the 
facts of the time. That such a body under 
wise leaders and cautious counsels can effect 
much good, there is little doubt. But will they 
have these ? This is one of the problems of 
the day. If the organization is made use of 
by designing politicians to serve their owu 
selfish ends, better that it had never existed. 
If, however, it should prove as we hope it will, 
the means of awakening farmers to the fact 
that they have a voice in public affairs; if it 
shall influence them to send to the State 
and National legislatures only honest and 
incorruptible men; if it shall cause farmers 
to inquire into the qualifications of the men 
they vote for, it will prove indeed a blessing. 
As to the present conflict between the granges 
and the railroads about which we hear so much, 
we have not space to discuss it. We believe 
the interests of the farmers and the railroads 
to be identical, as neither can succeed without 
the other; and have no doubt that when the 
present excitement has passed away a mutual 
concession and respect of the rights of each 
other will lead to a fair adjustment of the 
points in dispute. A great wrong, assuming 
that there be one iu this case, never can exist 
long in this country. The people are right at 
heart, and when they speak all “ monopoly ” 
and “ oppression” must cease. There was never 
a more hopeless case than 'that of the property 
holders and tax-payers of the city of New York 
two years ago. When the people were con¬ 
vinced of the necessity of doing it, they forgot 
all else and swept aside “ Rings ” and all plun¬ 
dering combinations. If the farmers of the 
Western States are wrongly treated they have 
the power in their own hands to right them¬ 
selves. They have need, however, to beware 
of hasty and ill-considered legislation, for the 
case is one that needs statesmanship rather 
than oratory. Those who talk the loudest are 
rarely the wisest leaders. 
Other letters come to us asking why we 
do not become an organ of the Patrons of 
Husbandry, and promising much if we will do 
so. We are the “organ” of only one thing, 
and that is “ American Agriculture.” What¬ 
ever is to the benefit of this has our hearty ap¬ 
proval. If the organization of granges will 
tend to the benefit of the farmer we say go on 
and organize, and so far as seems proper for us 
we shall report your progress. Just here we 
wish to say a word to those in granges and 
those who contemplate joining them. Mem¬ 
bership of any organization does not alter 
human nature. There will be men who will 
use this membership to advance their own sel¬ 
fish ends. We know some men who are active 
in the order whom we vould not trust with a 
dollar, and we know others whom we are sure 
gold could not buy. The future of the 
granges depends upon which of these classes 
of men are made prominent. So far as the 
granges will bring farmers to know one an¬ 
other better; so far as they make farmers feel 
that they must take a part in “ politics; ” so far 
as they help to give them fair returns for their 
crops; so far as they tend to make farmers 
everywhere better American citizens, we say, 
God speed. 
Wool and the New York Exposition 
and Salesroom. 
BY A FARMER. 
The movement of Mr. Goodale to establish an 
“exposition and salesroom” in New York is 
worthy of encouragement and commendation. 
It is one more attempt to bring the producer 
and consumer face to face. Wool is to be ex¬ 
hibited by sample, and to be sold by sample. 
He who exhibits the best sample in his class for 
any year is to have a premium (awarded by 
manufacturers acting as judges). This is all 
very well, and can not fail to do good. 
It seems to me that there will be two sources 
of difficulty. (1.) Knowledge, skill, and judg¬ 
ment are needed to sample wool properly, and 
these can be gained only by experience which 
many farmers lack; and (2) too many farmers 
will lack the honesty to do it fairly. A sample 
of wool should be a sample of the whole clip 
which is to be sold by it—not a sample of the 
best part of an average fleece, nor of an average 
of the best fleece. It should represent not only 
a fair specimen of tlie wool, but also a fair pro¬ 
portion of the shorts, dirt, and burrs of the 
whole lot of fleeces. 
Of course, not many would be stupid enough 
to show a sample very much better than the 
whole clip, but it is important iu matters of this 
kind that, the sample should not be at all better 
than the stock, and it is just here that many 
farmers are apt to fail—not in glaring dishon¬ 
esty, but in a small attempt, in a small way, to 
get a little the better of the buyer. This ten¬ 
dency always redounds to the benefit of the 
buyer; for as soon as it is understood to be pos- 
sible it is assumed to be probable, and allow¬ 
ances are made which shall surely be enough 
to cover the chances, and more too. The bad 
men suffer more than they ought, and the good 
men suffer still more. The best service Mr. 
Goodale can render in connection with his en¬ 
terprise will be in devising some plan by which 
buyers will be assured that each sample he 
offers them shows as nearly as possible the 
exact character of the lots it represents. 
Western Farming. 
“A Western Farmer” writes: “The Agricul¬ 
turist is of great use to me. I get a great many 
valuable ideas from its pages; but your remarks 
about manure and manuring, and some other 
practices common on Eastern farms, are not 
suitable for us in this Western country, where 
our soil is of inexhaustible fertility without it. 
Our trouble is how to get rid of the stuff.” 
While we are glad to know that our efforts to 
diffuse information are successful, and that the 
broad aims of the American Agriculturist reach 
the objects to which they are directed, we must 
point out to our friend wherein he labors under 
a very serious mistake. The American Agri- 
cultu'rist is not a local paper, but, as its name 
and title signifies, endeavors to adapt itself to 
all classes and all localities, and become really 
American in its teachings. Amongst its editors 
are at least two who have spent some years in 
the West, one of whom has for 17 years been 
more or less closely connected with agricultural 
pursuits there, along with other occupations 
which have a close connection with agriculture. 
Western farming, therefore, with all its peculi¬ 
arities and prejudices, is well understood by us; 
and its history, from the time when the prairies 
of Illinois were as yet unfurrowed by the plow, 
and in the condition now presented by those of 
Kansas and Nebraska, is perfectly familiar. It 
is many years since we first heard of the inex¬ 
haustible fertility of Western lands; and on the 
very same fields where near a score of years 
ago this phrase was in continual use, we have 
within a year past seen manure as carefully 
preserved and as laboriously spread as upon 
any Eastern farm. Gradually this inexhaustible 
fertility decreases, and the soil must be helped 
or it can not maintain itself. Western farmers, 
too, have already arrived at that point when 
they are figuring whether 30 or 40 bushels of 
corn or 12 bushels of wheat per acre without 
manure arc not less profitable with their present 
careless cultivation than double those crops 
with more careful methods; whether it is not 
better, easier, and more profitable to raise the 
same quantity of produce on 50 acres well 
tilled than on 100 acres not so well tilled; and 
many are discovering that the larger crop on 
the smaller field pays better than the smaller 
crop on the larger field. Many farmers, too, 
have discovered that even on the richest corn 
lands of the West it is an unprofitable business 
to raise corn wholly for shipment to Eastern 
markets, and that the more they can concen¬ 
trate their product, and turn their corn into 
pork, beef, cheese, and wool, the better it is for 
themselves. The greater the concentration the 
less freight there is to be paid, and the more 
money there is in a small bulk. This is pre¬ 
cisely what Eastern farmers have learned and 
are now practicing, and Western farmers are 
.seriously interested to learn and do likewise very 
soon, if not at once. To point this out is a part 
of the business of the American Agriculturist, 
and if our friend thinks we are somewhat ahead 
