AMERICAS' AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
76 
Between the West and Europe. 
If one could rise to a point where he could take 
in at a view the vast farming region of our West, 
and the western coast of Europe, with all the ex¬ 
panse between, no feature would be more interest¬ 
ing than the interchange of farm products aud hu¬ 
man freight. He would see starting from Chicago, 
or the Mississippi, or beyond, great lines of freight 
cars, loaded to the full with wheat, flour, corn, and 
meats, on their long journey to the Atlantic sea- 
hoard. At the same time immense steamers would 
Forty years ago, not a single steamship crossed 
the Atlantic, and a leading English scientist 
claimed that no one could ever cross, because coal 
enough could not be carried to drive it. Now not 
less than twenty-five different lines are each running 
from four to forty of these leviathans. Each of the 
above thousand steamers traversed an average of 
full seven thousand miles in coming and going—a 
total distauce equal to nearly three hundred trips 
around the world. 
The half million people who came over in these 
thousand steamship trips saved an average of at 
least twenty days each over the sailing conveyance 
While in these high latitudes the thermometer 
shows, at times, very low temperature, the cold is 
much less felt, due in part to the dryness of the 
air. A cool, damp day Is much more felt than 
a colder dry one. Third —Prior to middle age, 
the human system soon adapts itself to localities. 
Probably the natives around Hudson Bay, aud fur¬ 
ther north, do not feel the cold, or suffer more 
from it, than those living twenty degrees further 
south. Statistics show that, in the colder climate of 
Norway, out of 100 children born, over 70 leach 
the age of 20 years, while in France not 50 live so 
long; that in Norway more than 1 out of 3 reach 
be seen leaving Liverpool, Hamburg, Stettin, and 
other foreign ports, each loaded down with people 
enough to make up a large village, or to take pos¬ 
session of the farms of half a county. At the sea¬ 
board these trains and steamers meet and exchange 
their loads, and then return to repeat the process. 
During last year the arrivals of these steam¬ 
ships at New York alone, were over a thousand 
(1,021), or about three a day, week days and Sun¬ 
days ! Has the reader any idea of the carrying ca¬ 
pacity of these ocean “ferry-boats,” which are do¬ 
ing so much both to market our Western products 
and to people our territories ? Some single steam¬ 
ers are rated at four, five, and six thousand tons ; 
few below two thousand. But three thousand tons 
would fill 250 freight ears, carrying 24,000 lbs. each 
of wheat, or corn, or provisions; and, at forty feet 
to the ear, nearly two miles of cars could dump 
their loads into a single steamship ! 
On the other hand, all of these thousand steamers 
brought an average of a little short of half a thou¬ 
sand people each, nine-tenths of whom came to 
make their future homes with us in the new world. 
Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
of forty years ago—an aggregate saving of over ten 
million days, or thirty-three thousand years of work¬ 
ing time. These are certainly marvellous figures. 
The Northwest— Is it too Cold. 
the age of 70; in France, less than l out of 8; in J 
England, 1 out of 4; in Ireland, 1 out of 11; in the 
whole United States, not quite 1 out of 4. Of ’ 
course, habits of life, and poverty or insufficient 
food, have some influence, as in Ireland, but the 
people of Norway are not specially favored in this, j 
The rapid opening to settlement of our more 
northerly-western territory — Dakota, Montana, 
Idaho, and Washington—brings up the question of 
climate and health; and we are very frequently 
asked by intending settlers at the West, both na¬ 
tive and foreign, if the northern regions are not 
too cold either for health or comfort. First —It 
is to be said, that the “ isothermal line ”— 
that line indicating the same average annual 
temperature—takes a north-westerly direction 
from the southern end of Lake Michigan, 
or Chicago. With some waving southward in the 
mountain regions, it strikes the Pacific far up in 
Washington Territory. Latitude 48° on the Pacific 
Coast corresponds with 41° on the Atlantic, in av¬ 
erage heat and cold the year round. Second— 
The Australian Frozen Meat Company, shipped 
to England during the last half of the year 1882, 
21,642 sheep, on which there was a net loss of about 
$15,000. The loss resulted from a rise of two to 
three cents per pound in mutton in Australia, before 
the purchase was made, also an advance in the 
price of freight thence to England. Although mut¬ 
ton is very dear now in Eugland, worth the price of 
wool, one shilling (24 cents) per pound, still it 
will probably be some time before Australians can 
compete successfully with Americans, in supplying 
either the British or Continental markets with beef 
and mutton. No country in the world can rival 
America in the exportation of pork. This is owing 
I to the recognized superiority of our corn crops. 
