Between the date just given and the end of the century were founded the
"Philadelphia Society for the Improvement of Agriculture" (1785), the
New York Society (incorporated 1793) and the "Massachusetts Society
for Promoting Agriculture" (incorporated 1792), which soon after began
the publication of the Agricultural Repository. In 1796 Mr. Jefferson, in
a letter to Jonathan Williams (July 3), mentions an improvement which
he had made in the shape of the plough, saying : " It is in the form of a
mould-board of least resistance. I had some years ago conceived the prin-
ciples of it, and I explained them to Mr. Rittenhouse. I have since re-
duced them to practice, and have reason to believe the theory fully con-
firmed." Two years later he composed a treatise upon this subject, with
drawings of his invention, and his continued interest in this matter is
shown by the following extract from a letter written in 1808 to M. Syl-
vestre, of the Agricultural Society of the Seine (called forth by the arrival
of a plough from England, addressed to President Jefferson, but without
letter or explanation) : " I presume it is the one sent by the Society of the
Seine, that it has been carried into England under their orders of council
and permitted to .come on from thence. This I shall know within a short
time. I shall with great pleasure attend to the construction and transmis-
sion to the Society of a plough with my mould-board. This is the only
part of that useful instrument to which I have paid any particular atten-
tion." Presidents Madison and Monroe were equally interested in agricul-
ture. Of the former Sir John Sinclair says : " Mr. Madison transmitted
to me a very able communication on agriculture, fully proving both his
knowledge of that art and the ability with which he could explain his sen-
timents regarding it." "The Columbian Agricultural Society for the
Promotion of Rural and Domestic Economy" was, according to Flint,
"the first national society established with this specific object in view. It
was organized at a convention held in Georgetown, D. C, Nov. 28, 1809,
and in the following year (May 10, 1810), this society held the first agri-
cultural exhibition in the United States, at Georgetown, offering large pre-
miums for the encouragement of sheep-raising and for progress in other
important branches. The first county society was the Kennebec Agricul-
â– i6
562 BURLEY'S UNITED STATES
tural Society, incorporated in 1801 within the present limits of Maine,
which then, as "the District of Maine," formed a part of Massachusetts.
American Agriculture In the Nineteenth Century.—
The rapid increase of population in the older States, and the necessity of
croine to a ereater distance to find new land to replace thai which had been
worn oul by had tillage, made improved methods of culture necessary much
earlier than had been anticipated by Mr. Peters. In 1829 it was said that
"men of talents wealth and enterprise have distinguished themselves by
their laborious and liberal efforts for the improvement of American hus-
bandry. .Merino sheep have been imported and are now common in the
United States. The mosl celebrated breeds of British cattle have also been
imported, and there prevails a general disposition among men of intelli-
gence and high standing in the community to promote the prosperity of
American agriculture." It was claimed that modern science had already
introduced the following improvements: "1. A correct knowledge of the
nature and value of manures, mineral, animal and vegetable, and the
method of using the last two species while fresh, before the sun, air, and
rain or other moisture has robbed them of their most valuable properties.
It was formerly the practice to place barn-yard manure in layers and masses
for the purpose of rotting, and to turn it over frequently with a plough or
.-pad'- till the whole had become destitute of almost all its original fertil-
izing substances and deteriorated in quality almost as much as it was re-
duced in quantity. 2. The introduction of root husbandry, or the raising
of potatoes, turnips, mangel-wurzel, etc, extensively by field-husbandry,
lor feeding cattle, by which a given quantity of land may be made to pro-
duce much more nutritive matter than if it were occupied by grain or
-ra" crops, and the health as well as the thriving of the animals in the
winter season is greatly promoted. 3. Laying down lands to grass, either
for pasture or mowing, with a greater variety of grasses and with kinds
adapted to a greater variety of soils. 4. The substitution of fallow crops
"i- Buch crop- as require cultivation and stirring of the ground while the
plant- are growing) in the place of naked fallows, in which the land is
allowed to remain without yielding any profitable product, in order to renew
it- fertility." It i- acknowledged, however, that, while " fields may be so
foul with rni-i]< as to require a fallow," this operation was not so well car-
ried "ut on this side of the Atlantic as in Great Britain. "In England,
when a farmer i- compelled to fallow a field, he let- the weeds grow into
blossom and then turn- them down. In America, a fallow means a field
where the produce is a crop of weeds running to seed instead of a crop of
tin." It must be admitted that the doctrines upon which were based
tic enumerated improvements were by no mean- generally accepted. They
W( )• too "advanced" for the majority of farmers. The patronage of suc-
<•• Bsive IV sidents, the effort- of progrc. - ivc citizens, the emulation excited
CENTENNIAL GAZETTEER AND GUIDE. 563
by agricultural fair?, were very gradual in their workings upon the general
run of American agriculturists. In some places manure was so little val-
ued that it was often sold "at and under" twenty -five cents a ton. An
observer could still say, with truth, "The question which the American
settler always puts to himself is whether it will be more expedient for him,
in point of expense, to remove to a new soil covered with vegetable mould
or to remain on his cleared land and to support its fertility by regular ma-
nuring and a systematic rotation of crops." There had, however, been a
marked improvement in agricultural implemeuts, which were made in this
country as cheaply as in England, " the lower price of wood making up for
the higher price of labor, especially as the carpenters are very expert."
The clumsy wooden plough had been superseded by "ploughs of the im-
proved kind with cast-iron mould-boards," and the ploughmen had become
so expert that at the various agricultural fairs a contest of skill in plough-
ing formed one of the most interesting features of the entertainment.
The establishment of agricultural periodicals gave a decided impetus to
the progress of improvement in this branch. The American Farmer, estab-
lished in 1819, the New England Farmer (1822), the Genesee Farmer, the
American Agriculturist and a host of other periodicals of a similar nature
did yeoman service in the dissemination of information, and to their pow-
erful assistance may be ascribed a great portion of the success achieved in
the introduction of better methods of culture and in the invention and
manufacture of improved implements. That influence has been, of course,
more marked in the older States, where it is most needed. In New Eng-
land, for instance, where thirty-five bushels of corn to the acre was once
an unusually large yield, that amount has become the general average, and
"crops of 50 or 60 bushels per acre are not uncommon, while 80 and 100
are sometimes obtained by careful tillage." The importance of improved
methods of culture to the wealth and welfare of the nation made it neces-
sary for the government to take some action to meet the growing demand
for information. On the 3d of March, 1839, the sum of $1000 was appro-
priated from the patent fund for the collection of agricultural statistics.
These statistics were to be included by the Commissioner of Patents in his
annual report, and by 1843 they already occupied more than 200 pages
of this document, of which 15,000 copies were printed and distributed.
In 1847 they filled more than 400 pages of the report, and in 1849 they
began to be published in a separate volume, though still a portion of the
Patent Office Report. A "Department of Agriculture" was established
by act of Congress in 1862 (May 15th), to be under the charge of a
"Commissioner of Agriculture," with power to employ, "as Cougress may
from time to time provide, for such time as their services may be needed,
chemists, botanists, entomologists and other persons skilled in the natural
sciences pertaining to agriculture." It is the duty of the commissioner
564 BURLKY'S UNITED STATES
"to acquire and preserve in his department all information concerning
agriculture which he can obtain by means of books and correspondence
and by practical and scientific experiments 'accurate records of which ex-
periments shall be kept in his office), by the collection of statistics and by
any other appropriate means within his power; to collect, as he may he
able, new and valuable seeds and plants; to test, hy cultivation, the value
of such as may require such tests; to propagate such as may he worthy
of propagation, and to distribute them among agriculturists." Of the first
Report issued by this department (the one for 1*02), 120,000 copies were
ordered to he printed. The first appropriation, made in 1839 ($1000), has
been somewhat exceeded in more recent times. The appropriation for the
expenses of the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year ending June
30, 1873, was $202,440; and for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874, it
was *2o7,730, exclusive of $20,000 for printing, making the whole amount
$277,730. The second item mentioned was employed, of course, in print-
ing the I!' purl for 1873. The first was, doubtless, judiciously expended
for the purposes mentioned in the act creating the department ; but after
a year of untiring efforts on the part of the zealous and faithful head of
the department — efforts ably seconded by his assistants — to carry out the
ii of said act, he is forced to reply to the applicant for the printed
â– rl of these labors as follows :
■• I M:r \ i: i went of Agriculture, Washington, July 22rf, 1875.
"Sir: Congress at its last session made no provision for the printing or
general distribution of the Annual Report of this Department for the
year 1874. The Senate ordered 1200 copies for its own use. The volume
i- therefore in print, hut it will require the action of Congress to authorize
n- distribution by the Department."
Such is the announcement which, printed upon a postal-card, brings to
the notice of the thousands who anxiously look for this report an instance
"f legislative economy and retrenchment whereby a saving (?) was effected
,.)• $20,000, the amount of the aggregate increase of the pay of eighl Con-
•iiH-n by the "Salary Grab Act."
A statement of the crops of wheat, rye, barley, oats anil maize, or "corn"
mi which in Europe comprehends all the cereal grains, except in Scot-
land, where it i- restricted to oats, while in this country it is confined to
Indian com), in various years, will he found elsewhere [see A imm:ni>ix.
Table V.]. The greal crop of the doted States is maize. The Statis-
tician of the Departmenl of Agriculture gives some remarkable proofs of
tin- assertion in hi- Report for 1*7.">. He says: "The supplies for man
and beasl air principally found in corn, hay. wheat, oats, potatoes, barley,
rye and buckwheat, named in tin- order of their aggregate money value.
Should grass !"â– include. 1 with hay. it would, of course, occupy the first
CENTENNIAL GAZETTEER AND GUIDE. 565
place. Of these, corn, hay and oats are mainly used in feeding domestic
animals ; wheat, potatoes, rye, barley and buckwheat are mainly consumed
by man. Yet taking only corn and hay, in comparison with these six other '
food-products, the values for the past five years [1869-1873, inclusive]
may be thus expressed in the original estimates of value made by this De-
partment: Corn, $2,620,979,940 [annual average, $524,195,988]; hay,
$1,714,213,880 [annual average, $342,842,775] ; six food-products [oats,
wheat, potatoes, rye, barley and buckwheat], $2,553,007,440 [annual aver-'
age, $510,601,488]. The value of corn has therefore been $13,594,500 per
annum more than the combined values of the six other crops named, and that
of the cured grass more than two-thirds as much as the aggregate of the six
crops. In response to the inquiry as to the comparative value per acre, it is
easy to show the superiority of corn, notwithstanding the reduction in price,
by the immense quantity produced. The assumed aggregate of the corn acre-
age of five years is 184,565,343 acres [average annual acreage, 36,911,068],
yielding in corn alone $14.21 per acre; the aggregate for the [hay and the]
six crops, 345,166,063 acres [average annual acreage, 69,030,212], yielding
$13.99 per acre.* In 1869 the value of the yield per acre was $17.74 for
corn against $12.76 for wheat, when the latter crop was the largest ever
known." Another and somewhat peculiar test of the value of this crop
was recently applied by the Statistician. Eleven counties were taken in
Illinois in which nearly three times as much wheat was produced as in
eleven other counties, which in turn produced more than three times as
much corn as was raised in the eleven counties first taken. The first eleven
can therefore be designated as the " wheat counties," while with equal pro-
priety the term "corn counties" can be applied to the second eleven. The
assessed valuations of lauds (including all improvements) in these respect-
ive groups were then consulted, and it was discovered that the average
value per acre in the wheat counties was $6.43, while that iu the corn
.counties was $7.89, or 22 per cent, greater. The Statistician says : " It is
* We have given these last figures just as they stand, though, as there is an obvious
error, they require a word of explanation. The portions enclosed in brackets are, of
course, our own. In the first place, the return for the "six crops" ($2,553,007,440)
will certainly not give an average yield of $13.99 per acre. If the return for the hay
crop be added, the condition will be improved (the combined value being $4,267, 221,-
320), but the yield per acre is still only $12.71, and not $13.99. The proper aggre-
gate acreage to afford this average yield, with the value of the hay crop and the six
crops combined, is 305,010,088. The proper aggregate acreage to yield an average
of $13.99 with the value of the six food-products ($2,553,007,440) taken alone is
183,228,194. It is impossible to say, without tracing out each separate item through
the whole five years, where the difficulty lies. It is probably one of those typograph-
ical errors or editorial oversights which are likely to occur in the best-regulated offices,
or even in the work (usually remarkably accurate) of the Statistician of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture.— En. U. S. Gazetteeb and Guide.
566 BURLEY'S UNITED STATES
true that these values are not the cash values, the assessment being lower
for purposes of taxation, yet the true proportion /» tween the two is not neces-
sarily altered by this fact." Still, "to silence cavil as well as to accumu-
late evidence," the census returns of the farm lands were appealed to, and
it was ascertained thai the average value of farm land in the wheat coun-
ties wa- s:;.">.i;:;, while in the corn counties it was $41.70, a difference of 17
per cent in favor of the com district. The proportion is nearly the same
and the results are much more conclusive, for the State valuation first used
included all taxable lands, whether in farms or not, thus introducing into
the calculation a disturbing element, while the census return included only
farm lands. The Statistician defends his position with great vigor. "An
Dlinoisan whose views are entitled to respect" suggested to him that per-
haps the corn area had the larger proportion of timber, a circumstance
which would render the valuation higher. The attorney for the plaintiff
in the case of Corn vs. Wheat consulted the record, and triumphantly
established the fact that the corn counties ''have only 391,037 acres in
woodland of the 4,546,365 acres in farms, or 8.6 per cent., while the wood-
land of the wheat counties amounts to 908,756 acres in a total of 3,185,769,
or 28.8 percent. So this advantage enures to the benefit of wheat, and
requires additional profits of corn-growing to offset it in the valuation
tallies." The special point upon which his argument rests is worthy of
consideration — viz., that corn, "being fed largely on the farm, is in a mea-
sure restorative, while wheat, being carried away from the farm, without
any return worth considering [in the shape of fertilizers], is an exhaustive
crop. These two diametrically opposite practices must produce opposite
results upon the soils, one making the rich richer, the other rendering the
poor poorer. As might be expected, the complaint is constant that the
wheat average grows less and less; and the fact is that it is only kept from
heavy depreciation by a gradual removal of wheat culture westward and
fn-hlandward. as the wheat farmers 'fold their tents' after the manner of
the Arab and as 'silently steal away' to green prairies undisturbed by the
plough." His final deduction is, "not that wheat culture is unprofitable,
and Bhould be everywhere abandoned, but that feeding crop- upon the
farms, which cannot he done in exclusive wheat culture, is the only safe
and ultimately profitable system to pursue, and a golden rule of agricul-
ture." Sir Morton Peto was much impressed with the quantity and the
value of the maize crop of this country. In his Resources and Prospects
of America he Bays : " I confess to some surprise that this product does not
enter more largely into consumption in Great Britain and [reland. Much
of the comparatively .-mall quantity imported is worked up by parties who
sell it as farinaceous food for children, for pastry-making, etc. In this form
Indian corn i- a comparatively costly article. It is in the cheaper forms
in which it i- used throughout America that it seems to me it might be
CENTENNIAL GAZETTEER AND GUIDE. 567
much more generall} r introduced iuto consumption here." As he is writing
in Great Britain, he gives some information which is more specific : " There
are various ways of dressing Indian corn. Boiled, in its green state, it is
a most delicious vegetable. There is no reason why it should not be intro-
duced into this country. It is cheap enough in America, and it bears the
voyage here. I have it frequently at my own table, where it is much ap-
proved." He elsewhere expresses great regret at the use of corn as fuel
in Iowa, where, the corn crop of a certain year being very large, so that
ears of corn sold for ten cents per bushel, "a cord of corn," containing
seventy bushels, cost only seven dollars, yet furnished more heat than a
cord of wood, which cost, after sawing, nine dollars and fifty cents. The
leading States in the production of maize in 1873 (total crop, 932,274,000
bushels) were Illinois (15.40 per cent, or 143,634,000 bushels), Iowa
ril.28 per cent., or 105,200,000 bushels) and Ohio (9.48 per cent., or
88,422,000 bushels), making for these three States 36.36 per cent., or
more than one-third of the entire crop. We give some figures compiled
from the Reports on Commerce and Navigation for various years, to show
the increase in the exports of maize. In the year ending June 30,* 1866,
the total exports of maize were 13,516,615 bushels; to Great Britain,
9,889,232 bushels (England, 7,292,411; Scotland, 708,813; Ireland,
1,888,008). In 1866-7, total exports of maize, 14,889,823 bushels; to
Great Britain, 12,197,064 bushels (Englaud, 8,161,346; Scotland, 1,014,-
064; Ireland, 3,021,654). In 1867-8, total exports of maize, 11,147,490
bushels; to Great Britain, 8,707,998 bushels (England, 5,391,053; Scot-
land, 1,243,639; Ireland, 2,073,296). Passing over a few years, we come
to 1872-3, for which the figures are as follows : Total exports of maize,
38,541,930 bushels; to Great Britain, 29,334,759 bushels (England,
11,666,867; Scotland, 1,457,501 ; Ireland, 16,210,391). In 1873-4, total
exports of maize, 34,434,606 bushels ; to Great Britain, 26,299,320 bush-
els (England, 10,299,483; Scotland, 2,335,026; Ireland, 13,764,813).
Though there is a decrease in this last year, it is not proportionately so
great as the decrease in the crop of 1873, which was the one out of which
the exports of the fiscal year 1873-4 came. The reader will see, by con-
sulting the table [see Table V. in Appendix], that the year 1872 was an
exceptionally good year for corn, the crop almost equalling the maximum
crop (that of 1870). The next crop in value among the breadstuff's is
* As the fiscal year ends with June 30, in mentioning the exports or imports of any
year since 1843 it is generally understood that the fiscal year ending on June 30 of that
year is meant. The Report on Commerce and Navigation for 1874, for instance, gives
statistics up to June 30, 1874, and the exports for 1874 are generally understood to
mean those of the year which began July 1, 1873. To avoid all ambiguity, however
we shall term such a year 1873-4, as it contains just one half of each year indicated
by this form.
568 nri: i.i:v s UNITED STATES
wheat The rate of Increase in the crop may be gathered from the table
to which we have just referred. The exports for several year.- of wheat
and flour are as follows: In L865 6, total exports of wheat, 5,579,103
bushels (value, $7,842,749 ; wheat Hour. 2,183,050 barrels .value,
$18,396,686 ; total value, $26,239,435; to Great Britain, wheat, 1,970,-
716 bushels (England, L,700,902; Scotland, 157,758; Ireland, 112,056);
wheat flour, 136,020 barrels (England, 120,347; Scotland, 10,495; Ire-
land, 5178). In 1866-7, total exports of wheat, 6,146,411 bushels value,
$7,822,555 ; wheat flour, 1,300,306 barrels (value, $12,803,775); total
value, $20,626,330; to Great Britain, wheat, 4,685,615 bushels (England,
4,652,389; Scotland, 33,226); wheat flour, 110,299 barrels (England,
109,037; Scotland, 6873; Inland, 389). In 1867-8, total exports of
wheat, 15,940,899 bushels (value, 630,247,632,; wheat flour, 2,076,423
barrels (value, $20,887,798) ; total value, $51,135,130; to Great Britain,
wheat. 12,368,446 bushels (England, 10,747,798; Scotland, 894,110 ; Ire-
land. 726,538 ; wheat flour, 484,706 barrels (England, 416,483 ; Scotland,
55,711 : Ireland, 12,512). Passing over a few years, we have for 1*72-3
the following figures, which show a marked increase: Total exports of
wheat. 39,204,285 bushels 'value, $51,452,254); wheat flour, 2,56 2,086
barrels (value, $19,381,664); total value, $69,833,918; to Great Britain,
wh,at, 30,790,876 bushels (England, 25,872,665; Scotland, 2.1:13,341;
Ireland, 3,78 t,870 ; wheal flour, 531,801 barrels (England, 390,227 : Scot-
land. 131,321; Ireland, 10,253). The figures for 1873-4 are still more
encouraging, being a< follows: Total exports of wheat. 71,039,928 bushels
(value, $101,421,459); wheat flour, 4,094,094 barrels (value, $29,258,094);
total value, $130,679,153; to Great Britain, wheat, 50,833,278 bushels
(England, 30,319,711; Scotland, 3,903,630; Ireland, 17,609,937 i : wheat
flour, 1,703,984 barrels (England, 1,307,286; Scotland, 353,495; Ireland,
43,203). An examination of these figures will show that Ireland, which
at first took but a Bmall proportion of the Indian corn, came to the front
in 1872-3, taking nearly half of the whole amount exported, more than
half of the portion which went to Great Britain, and a larger quantity
than the whole amount exported in any fiscal year between June 30, 1865,
and June 30, 1868, and we might add. more than double the whole quan-
tity of maize exported from the United State- during the year 1868-9,
when the amount was unusually small (7,047,197 bushels), [n wheat also
[reland make- a remarkable hap, taking in 1865 6 but little more than
live p. r a nt. of the quantity going to Great Britain; in 1866-7 none at
all. according to the official report, while in 1872-3 more than 11 per cent
of the exports of wheal to Great Britain went to Inland; and in 1*73-4
-In- took more than •". 1 p. r cent, of the large amount which went to ( rreat
Britain, more than three time- the total export of wheat from the Tinted
State- in 1865 6, more than 2J time- the same export in 186<;-7, nearly