A STATISTICAL VIEW
OF
American Agriculture,
Its Home Resources and Foreign Markets,
WITH
SUGGESTIONS for THE SCHEDULES of THE FEDERAL
CENSUS IN I86O.
AN ADDRESS
Delivered at NEW YORK, before the AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL
and STATISTICAL SOCIETY, on the Organization of
the Agricultural Section.
BY
JOHN -AY, ESQ'
Chairman of the Section, and Foreign Corresponding Secretary
of the Society.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 346 & 348 BROADWAY.
LONODON:  16 LIrrLE BRITAIN.
M.DCCC.LIX.
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w
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NOTE OF THE SOCIETY'S PROCEEDINGS.
At a meeting of the AMIERICAN GEoGRAPIICAL AND STATISTICAL SOCIETY,
held at their Rooms in the City of New-York, on Thursday Evening, March
25tlh, 18So58, Mr. ARCIII tALD RUSSELL presiding, for the organization of "THtE
AGRICULTURAL SECTION " of the Society:
M"r. JAR-, the Chairman of the Section, delivered an Introductory Address
on' THE STATISTICS OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE."
On the conclusion of the Address, the lion. GEORGE FOLs0or moved the
following  Resolutions, which  after discussion  by  Messrs. CONCKLLXN  and
PIERREPONT, and Dr. AD3sON, were unanimously adopted:
RESOL VED, That in the opinion of the Society, the increa.ing magnitude of
the Agricultural interest in the United States, renders it a matter of national
importance that the Agricultural Schedules for the Census of 1860, should be
made as complete as possible, with the view of markinig accurately its progress,
its capabilities, and the profits of Agricultural labor; and with the further
view of discovering where and to what extent, the arable soil of the country is
deteriorating in fertility under existing modes of cultivation.
tPES0LVED, That the Agricultural Section of this body be instructed to
invite suggestions from gentlemen throughout the Union, in regard to the
topics which should be embraced in the new Schedule.
On motion of Mr. BARNEY, it was further
RESOLVaED, That the Governors of the several States be advised by the
Chairman of the Agricultural Section of the foregoing Resolutions, and be
respectfully requested to present to the Society for preservation in their Library,
a copy of the last Census of the State, and any other official documents bearing
upon its Agricultural Statistics.
On motion of Mr. ED31-UD BLL.NT, the thanks of the Society were voted Mr.
JAY for the Address.
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C- , _,-, -I
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I  
A STATISTICAL VIEW
.
OF
A-1ERPt-CA-  AGPt-CULT U BtA.
[MR. PRESIDF.NT AND GIENTLEEIN,:
IX accepting tle honor you hlave conferred upon me in
the Chlairmaniship of " thle A,gricltural Section of the
Amnerican Geog,raphlical and Statistical Society," it be comes my duty in openiing tlhe Section this evening', to say
a few introductory words 1upon this branch of tlhe Soeiety's
labors.
Witli yonr permission, I propose to glance over the field
whichl  the Agricultural Statistics of our countitr are dostinedl to emrl)race, and refer cursorily to some of tlhe
aspects in whichl, looking at the past, and tlte pIresent, and
reiward to tlhe future, thley coimmeni  d tlemselves to all
classes of our reflecting countrymen.   Thle fcets wliicli
they develop concern alike consumiers and producers, fiarmers and planters, manufacturers and all engag,ed in coinmerce, whoose varying' interests are so closely and inseparably allied.  They hlave a common interest for all -who
watchl the marchll of our Repnblic, and record its progress;
and above all they deserve the careful study of the Legislators and Statesmen, whlo are constantly bciing called from 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
private life, to frame its laws, to shape its policy, and to
determine its destiny. For these especially, the tabular
results of American Agriculture, furnished each decade by
the national census, will serve as a primer of practical
knowledge, in which, guided by those principles  that
underlie all just government, they can learn the alphabet
of legislative wisdom, and read easy lessons in political
economy.
3lost of the Governments of Europe have been greatly
in advance of us in their appreciation of the value of statistics.  Eingland, France, Belg,ium, and Austria, have for
some years past applied themselves earnestly to statistical
investigation; and in those countries the truth is becoming,
generally recognized, that the vworld at large has an interest in the statistics of every nation, as tending to develop
natural laws of universal concern to manklind.
In England, the labors of the Statistical Society whose
elaborate and most valuable publications enrich our Library, through the courtesy of the British Government, have
troused the attention of the people and of Parliamnent to
the truth, that the science of politics finds in the statistical
element its most solid foundation.
" STnTISTICS," remIarks AI. Lo  Ray,* " are to politics and
to the art of governing, what Anatomy is to Plysiolog,y in
the study of the human body; the observation of the stars
to astronomy; the study of the species of animals, plante,
and minerals to the natural history of the globe; the
analysis of the body to Chemistry; Experimental Physics
to Natural Physics.   The statesmian whio  pretends to
govern,  without  knowing  the important  facts which
interest society, makes a more firuitless attempt, than the
philosopher who should propose to make a general classi
* The author of a recent valuable work on the occupation of domestic lifo
and moral character of the working classes of Europe.
6 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE
fication of the beings which compose the three kingdoins
of nature, without knowing the essential characteristics of
tllem.
The French Alinister, in his opening  address at the
International Statistical Congress at Paris, in 1S55, thus
touched upon the Philosophy of Statistical Science:
" Whether Statistics prove the develo)pment of poplnlation, its increase or its decrease, its riches or its misery, or
whetlier it registers the elenments of production and of consimnption among nations, it tends alwtays-and that is its
chief mlerit-to discover and develop all the general laws
which may assist to render men better and happier."
This remark, althougli predicated of Statistical Science
generally, is equally applicable to that part of it which
pertains to Agriculture, and which has been hitherto so
singularly neglected.
Commerce and 1Iannfactures, by their "consolidation of
power and concentration of wealth," have commanded to
a far greater extent the attention of government.   But the
Census shows beyond the possibility of error, that even
now, and withont reference to its future developments,
A,ricultnre is the lar,est national interest of this PRepublic;
involving more than any other branch of industry, time
wealth and the welfare of the country, and the labor and
the happiness of the greatest number.
It is natural that such an interest should in every enlightened community establish among its members a common  gronnd of thought and action, howvever otherwise
they may be divided.
Thus we see in England and in the United States, amid
scenes of party excitement, the warmest political opponents
meeting cordially on the same platform at Agricultural
Exhibitions, and in France at the grand -Fxostion of 1855,
the same pleasing spectacle was exhibited.
7 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
Tlle French 3Iinister of Agricultnre, in distributing the
prizes, reniarled that the catalogue, in addiition to its Agricultural v-alue, had a great politieal signifiecance; and lihe
then  added, " I-ave you not reniarlhed, that names the
most separated by civil dissensions, have comle together at
this peaceful tournamenit!  The reason is that Agriculture
has its rewards for every legitimate aml)itioni; that all
parties have an equally powerful interest in it; and that
the beau t-v of the producltions of Agricult re, gives the
measulre, (ii(7,c;i cec,(tit ~.eect8 l e cyre of ctiviizatioo."
Loolkingi at the em)ploymlelit of the fi'ee male population
of the United States over fifteen e- ears of age, wve find that
in 1850 the population engaged in Ag,ricultural plursuiits,
was twenty-four hundred thousand, or forty-four (44.69)
per cent; while the total numiber engaged in commerce,
trade, manufactures, mieclhaniCs, arts, and lining, was only
sixteen liuncdred thousand (1,596,265) or about thirty per
cent (29.72)."'
These lproportions it may be remarked in passing, differ
materially firom, those of Great Br itain, wlhiere the cen1su1s
ini 18171 returnedl the pelrsons eingag'ed  in conmmerce,
trade, and imanufactures, at twenty-foiur kuidred thousand
(2,415,127) or twvent —six per cent (26.294) and those engaged in agricultuLre as onily fourteen hundred' thlousand
(1,410,509) or fifteen per cent (15.33.)
Lookling beyond the nuinber of individuals employed in
* The othler occupations and their proportions were as follows:
Lablor, not,Agricultural...................................18.50
Army....................................................10
Sea and River N\avigation.................................2.17
Law, Mledicilie, and Di-iiiity............................... 1.76
Otlher pursuits requiring education........................... 1.78
Government Civil Serv ice.................................. 46
Domestic Servants.........................................41
Other occupations.......................................... 41
-De Bow's Co7i2opezdium of Census, 1850, ). 128. 7Tblc CL'VIE.
8 
OF A~IERIC~J     AGRICULTURE.
American Agriculture, to thle amount of capital invested
in it, you have been already told that the Sul)erintelldent
of the census estinmated the valne of the capit.  rel)presented
by Ag'ricultare in 1S50 at five billions of dolltrs, and that
rprisenlted by all other brancies of induitry at less than
one billion, givilig to A gricuLlture  mnore tlhia five-sixthis of
the who le' and althoug'h these fignres may be but an u1;1)roximation to the truth, the l)rolportions are purobably corlect.*
Ag:riciltnre, by its prodncts, adds to the wRealtl  of the
coun+tr  some sixteen hlindred millions ler annuin,' k and
in the State of ew  Yorke,  where the assessed value of the
real estate is eleven hundred millions (1,107,2727T15) notwithistaniding the enornions wealth of the mnetropolis, the
Agrticu lturatl initerest pa ysfot-~fitls of tihc taxes.
P'ro i. J. F. W. Jolinston in his Leetnires on Agrienltnral
C~lelil   <. says, that ~iinc-tec),(/~s of the fixed calpital of all
civilized liations is einmbl''ed in Agricnlture.{:
WTithi thiese figures before us of the comipltarative polpulation and wealth devoted to Agricultnre, we cani apl)li'eCiate
without effort the trtlit  of the remarh maade by M3r. WYebster, in his well-kiownl  agricultural address  at loston,
on his retirlin firom Enqland.
" No man in En dland is so high as to be indep)endent
of tlis geret interest, no man  so low as not to be aff'ectel by
its p)ros)perity or its decline.  The same is trle, cnineitlty,
empllitically, true with ls.  Agriculture feeds, to a gTeat
extent it clotlhes us; witlhont it, we shlioldd iot have man1   -
factnres, w  should not have commerce.  T!~iy   all tan(l
togetliei lihe pillars ini a cluster, tie largest in tle centre;
and that largest is AcGPrICUL'riU:."
* Mfr. W aring's paper on the A          ~o.icultural featuircs of the census, Vol. 2 Bulletin of Areeicoan Geographiclo     ad S   tistica l  S coicty, ipage  191
+ Comp-endium of thle Census, pao(~  17.
~: 2d Ed., N*'- York 185o, p. 11l
9 
10
A STATISTICAL VIEW
Apart from the general  rule, that the AgrieulturaI
wealth of a country is undoubtedly tlle filrst test of its
internal resources, and the condition of its people, extraterritorial causes seem to be comibining to give an ilnilsual
and increasing imnportance to the AgricuLltural ])roducts
of America.
The increase of population on the Easternlm Continent,
beyond the capacity of production, is investing the question
of food in this age with a significance that never  belonged
to it before, and the growing demands for bread that colme
to us from Western Europe, give a world-wide interest to
the Statistics of American Ag,lricilture, far beyond that
whichl they could derive simnply from the wants of our own
countrymen.
Consumption  has  there  overtalen  production,  and
henceforth, in England, France, Belgiumn, Iollandl, and
a great part of Germany, the foo(d              westioi will be thte
qlestion that must take precedence of all others, as the
regulator of commerce, and entitled to the first attention
and the wisest treatment on the part of Governieat.
In England, the turning point at which coinsiiuption
overtook- produetion, is said to have been in 1824,-' and
from that time, two causes are held to have been constantly increasing the disproportion.  The first of these,
the increase of the population enlarging the consumption
of breadstuffs, and the second growing out of the first-the
* England imported corn from abroad long before this date, but in great
part for re-exportation.  5[althus, in 1803, speaks of England as hlaving been
an importing nation for twenty or thirty years; and remarked,'-In spite even
of thlo peculiar advantages of England, it seems to me clear that if she continuo
yearly to increase her importations of corn, she cannot ultimately escape the
decline whichl seems to be the natural and necessary consequence of excessive
eoiii.mercial wealth.  I am not now speaking of the next twenty or thirty
years, but of the next two or three hlundred."-Essay on Population, Aa7icricon
Ed., 1809.   Vol. II., 273, note. 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
demands of that population in part, for animal food, calling
for a larg,er sulpply of cattle for the butcher, and consequlently for a larger breadth of grazing and arable land
for the production of green crops to rear and feed them,
thereby diminishingi  by so much  the breadth of land
devoted to bread crops.*
Upon the political importance of the Pread question in
EuLrolpe, it is not necessary to enlarge.  It is a matter
withlin the personal knowledge of the present generation.
Tile  anfime of 18S47, Awhich in Ireland alone was attended
b- the loss of half a million of lives, and the succeeding
re-olution and rebellion throughout Europe in 184S, are
freili in our miemories.t
To the existence a(nd power of the French Government,
as one of their own writers has remarked, the mildew on
an ear of corn, or the oidiuN  on a bunch of grapes, are
of more vital consequence than the splendor of the  inperial jewels, or the marvels of a thousand  handicrafts.
Whatever in our day cuts off the small profits of the industrial classes in Europe, or threatens nmulltitudes with starv\ation. strikes at the stability of the political institutions of
the land, and wields a mighty influence whether for evil
or for good.
The very existence of thrones may be affected-indeed
some think their existence has been determined, by causes
aplparently insignificant as the rot in the potato, or the
Nweevil in a grain of wheat.
* This subject is clearly treated by an anonymous correspondent, "S. C.,"
of the London Farmers' M[agazine for 1857, in a paper headed "The Consumnption and Production of England.'
+ Mr. Coleman, in his work on Continental Agriculture, thus speaks of the
Irish famine of 1547:
' In a single country, by the loss of a single crop, at least five hundred
thousand persons have perished, amidst the horrors of starvation or by the diseases engendered and aggravated by famine."
11 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
This overpluis of population and deficiency of food in
Europe, is of suchli recent origin, and as yet so sliglhtly felt,
that as a nation we have hardly begun to realize that it is
to be of permanent continuance.  Btt ELuropean Econonmists recognize and appreciate the fact, that an inevitable
and increasing demland for food, withl an insufficient and
diminishling lhome-supply, will give lhenlceforthl to the Bread
question, an immense political as well as moneyed si,nnificance; and thlle sufficiency of each successive crop at home
and abroad, to satisfy the wvants of the people, within the
limits of their capacity to ptuirchase, is become a qulestion
of constantly recurring and earnest speculation.*'
* The following interesting remarks on this subject are made by tlhe eminent
political economist, Air. JoliN STUAnRT MIILL, in tlhec second volume of his wellknown work.  (London, 2d Edition, 1848, pagecs 297, 8.) "Suppose, tlhen, that
the population of Great Britain goes on increasing at its presenct rate, and deImands cvelry year a supply of imported food, considerably- beyond that of the year
precedilig.  This annual increa,sC in the food demanded fiom the exporting countries, can only be obtained either by great improvements  in their agriculture,
or by the application of a great capital to the gro  thll of food The former is like
to be a very- slow process firom  the rudeness and ignorance  of the ag'ricultural
classes, inll the food exportinig' countries of lEurope, w hlile the tritishl coloniles and
the United States are already in possession of most of the  improvements 3yet
made so falr as suitable to their circumstances.  There remains as a resource  the
extension of cultivation, and on this it is to be remarked that the capital by
whlicih anv suchl cxtension can take placc is mostly still to be create4. In l'ollnd,
Russia, hIungary, Spain, the increase of capital is extremely slow.  In   nAmerica
it is rapid, lbut not more rapid than tlhe population.  The prizciliai fie,nd at P2.sceit,
aOL i.qbe'for s?.l  i2ii  the coaiiti'y witih a yearly ilnjortafie  (f foo(l, is that portio,n of t,e Oiziect  sctt,iiys of l ei rica   h*ichl hsts  itie)rto beeii ai)p'id to ilcrcac,ig
the  ao il'fo i s   pz est<aliLhmen7ts of thle,'ititd Statecs,. andi which imeay no?,, possibly be iterted fboei  thaCt 1,rpfose to groi'ing food for our gnarlcet.  This limited
source of supply. unless great imnprovements take place in  griculture, cannot
be expected to lkeep pace  -itli the gro-wing demands of so rapidly increasing a
poiulal.tion as that of Great BrIitain-(toid if our ]pol)tl(5tion ald capital cogstissue
to a, esc-e srth their 1),eeseit ra'pflity, the osipy mocle ia wcsiich food can cortinue
to be sss2'tied c7leao'sy to the o,e is by sending the other abroad to produztce it."
lir.'ill seems not to hlave been  awvare-i-ideeod, few of our own people aro
aware, of the large amount of foreig'n capital w-lclic is yearly introduced into
the country by foreign emiiranits, especially by the Germans.   Recent  investigations on this subject by soIme of the Commissioners of Emigration, at New
12 
OF A'MERICAN AGRICULTURE.
France and England are competitors in tihe corn and
cattle marklets of the wNorld. The price of- food is becoming
enhanced by the simultaneous demands of tlleir d:ecllants
at all the sources of foreign supply; andt this acqoitLss for
the singular fact that our agrieultu:al retur- r-.e SouLht
for abroad, with more eagerness thlan amo'ng   ourselves;
and that in the absence of official returns, the mos' (zccurate
statements and approxim'ations are to be found ini " lThe
Ialik Lane Express," and "London Farmers' 3[ gzi:,"
and are tlience transferred to the columns of te Aitieran
newsi)apers for the  information of American farmers.
Thus does indivicfual enterprize seek and partially obltain
those results,  which governments  alone  can ctIaeeurt1y
furnish.  The contemplative statesmen of those cuntris,
especially of Engiland, foresee that \wi.li a limited ara, and
an inrearsing population, the time is at hand lwhetl, despite
every e4ftort to postpone it, by inmproved cultivation, in
whichl Englnd nonow leads the worlld, ltheir own prodslx,~tiins
will be more and miore inadequate to supply tlic neecs of
their people, and the failure of a single lharvest, acroridi?g
to an Eniglish writerl, might be naturally followed by war
faminie and disease.
A b)rief century a,go a vely different state of tinis cxisted.  In 1756, AI. D'Anlqueille, a French poliical econo
llist and statesnian, remarked, that " Engl,aiid could grow
corn ciienough in one yeur to supply herself for four."
low, England is said to imiport food annually to the
York, indi:ato an annual addition to our national wealth from this source,
vastly greater tlhan was generally supposed; and this f1ct helps to eplt iu thlo
marvelous rapidity in the improvement and products of our Western territories
as exhibited in the tables of the Federal Census.   The suggestion in ftivor of a
transfer of the capital now employed in the United States in the manufacturing
of products for American consumption, to the production of food for British
ccnsumption, is not without signlificance, in view of the ability of the writer,
aud his clear-sighted advocacy of British interests.
13 
A STATISTICAL ~EW
amount of some forty-five millions sterling, in corn, wheat,
barley, oats, beans, meal, and flour; besides live animals,
meat, cheese, and butter; and her population is increasing
at the rate of a thousand a day.
The contrast between now, and then, is the more remarkable, when we remember that Englaind is estimated to
have three times as much land under cultivation as when
D)'AnqLeille wrote, and that the ratio of her crops to the
acre is doubled, if not trebled.
In France, despite the efforts of government to secure
for the peol)le sufficiency of food, the scientific researches
of M. Paven, of the French Institute, on the public alimentationI of France,* confirm  the inferences drawn by M. de
Lavertgne from  the condition of the French peasantry.
The nation, it is said, /ave not enotgq/  to eat, even to supply
the natural wants of the human firame.
The official report of the prodlucts of the recent universal
Exposition of France, in dwelling upon the agricultural
* MI. PAYEN\ has calculated that the whole amount of animal food consumed
annually in France, including meat, fowls, fish, cheese, eggs, &c., is 980 millions of kilogrammes, (the kilogramme is two pounds three ounces,) which,
divided among the population of the empire gives twenty-cight kIilogrammes
per annum, or only seventy-six grammes, about one-sixthl of a pound per diem,
less than half of what it ought to be.  It is curious to remark, in this connection, that the conisulmption of meat by the Englislh navvies ecnployed on the
Rouen Railway, was six hundred and sixty grammes, or one pound and a
quarter per diem, whici an English reviewer regards as an enormous allowance, although vwe believe it is the usual daily ration in tlihc3ritisli army,
with one pound of bread, &c.  The usual army ration on the Continent is, one
pound of beef; one and a half pounds of bread, one pint of wiine, &c.  The
daily ration in the United States N\avy, is about fourteen ounces of bread, half
a pound of beef, six ounces of pork, three ounces of rice, three ounces of peas,
one ounce of cheese, with sugar, tea, and molasses.  The common allowance
of food in the prisons of the United States (First Report of the Am. Prison
Discipline Society, page 13,) is equivalent to one pound of meat, one pound of
bread, and one pound of vegetables per day. A statistical inquiry into the
amount of vegetable and animal food consumed by the American people, with
reference to a comparison of their condition with that of other nations, would
not be without interest.
14 
OF AMNERICAN AGRICULTURE.
ability of the empire to support its population-referring
to the fact that France has raised in good years 97,000,000
hectolitres of -wheat, which represents the sustenance of
32,000,000 of individuals, added, "and there are unfortunately imore than 4,000,000 of our compatriots who are not
in the habit of eating bread."  Indeed it has been broached
as an interesting question how far the physical deterioration
of the standard of growth in parts of the French Empire is
the result of an inadequate supply of nutritious food.  Some
plausibility is given to this suggestion, by the statement
that the n   lumber of conscripts who are rejected on account
of deficient health, strength, and stature, is constantly on
the increase.  Forty per cent are said to be turned back
for that cause, and althlou,gh  since 17S9, the standard has
been tlree times reduced, as large a proportion of the conscripts is below the required height (five feet two inches,)
as bef)ore the changes, shiowing, as the late Professor Johnston rem-arkls, how closely the discussion of agriculture is
connected with that of the most profound social evils.*  The
importance and dignity of the entire subject become yet
more strikiiio, in view of the Tgreat truth so forcibly alluded
to )by Lord Stanley in his Address on Public Ilealth, "That
whatever exception may be found in individual instances
w-hen you come to deal with man in the mass, physical aitd
social decay necessarily go together."t
In Spain, whose central table-lands are reckoned among
the finest wheat lgrowing districts in the world, the culture
is most rude and imiperfect, anid some tracts are partly overgrown with broom and daphne.
The governments of Europe are awake to the importance
* On the authority of Rubiekon as quoted by Prof. F. J. Johnston, in one
of his addresses before the New York State Agricultural Society.
t Address, delivered before the National Association for the Promotion of
Social Science.
15 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
of the question.  In France tLe Imperial Interdict is continned to Se)ptemlber 185S, ag,ainist the exportation of grain,
and fo  the encouiragin,, its iiiportation.':
Ill Si-ail, s-Ililar imeasures are saidcl to have been adop-ted.
In EJl,)'and and IrelTaid science is mel.:ing every efiort to
discov-er and arrest the potato-rot, whicll is reported to be
spreoading also in Frlice.
Thlrougl,iont Prussia, Aust ria, Bldgilrumn Itolland, D-ava ria,
and most of the litlor Gerlina    States, tlhe i4ncrease of
poplaltion  is atded not witl cn increase, bunt ratiher w ith
a decrease of thl  bread'Jthof land devoted to cerel 1l prod(uce.
In Fraliice, thlat decrase has been made greatcr by the
absolLtion of lia:d  i the cltivation of the Silesian sulgarbeet, and a siulilcar dLeeease is bfound in WTestcn Elroi)e,
with tie eL cepo.iO   of B-iu   and Ilolland, wich are
grazi.g r', ter than  g'rictural coIIlutries, and are tllmselve,, i,~',r":Crs ei~ i:reig  (rain nAnd e(xc:i -.       g a'Also
Rui,   v _. h C }1    ming  extiC aordi1ary efLTorts, 1i  olvin.
no,.selal to                                                  its
.no.reveolntios, soil  and p o itscaT, to miin its
markets, and to seenre its agricultural sproemaey.t  That
* A  wIiter on European Agriculture, in the Londclon Farmers' fa,gazine,
says: " Flance has made a greater advance in two short years than we havo
done in twenty.  The present Elmperor is doin' much'Il by his personal exertions
and examltli Ic to introduce goodl live stock and to improve the gelncral system
of culti.-aLtion.  See A. do Trcliouiiiiis' patper on  thle "Past and Present of
French Agriculture." receiitly rcadl befoire tlhe So,icty of Airts.
t At a reent lieeting. held at.loscow on  tlheo 9thl of J,anuary 1858, in
honor of the emanlcipation of' thle serfAs l. BAIST, the eminent Prolfesor of Political Fconomiy at the Univ ersity ot iocow,  remarked(l, "Already in 1849,
the Free  Economiical Society proved by facts, the inconvenience of serfage as
regards AGuRICUTLTURE.
Tie dlay of the primitive forms of the economical condition of our people
has now left us forever.
"The wants of a great nation increase daily, and cannot  be satisfied with
the coarse conditions contrary to all progress of primitive economy, founded on
compulsory labor;-a  labor the limits of which are as restricted as its nature
is unproductive.   Our task is,not to double, but to i7crease TEXNFOLD our productive power, our labor, our wealth, urdess we wish to see taken away from us, by
16 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
mighty Empire, with a population of sixty millions of souls,
and embracing in Europe, Asia, and America, one sixteenth
nations more advanced than ourselves, the markets which are ours by tradition,
und by our geographiccd position."
Vaiions speeches recently delivered by Russian statesmen indicate a full
recognition of the truth long since declared by Montesquieu, in his Spirit of the
Laws, as an established fact in political agricultural economy, that it is not
those countries which possess the greatest fertility which are the best cultivated,
but those which have secured the most liberty.
"Les pays ne sont pas cultives en raison de leur fertilite mais en raison do
leur liberte."-ESPRIT DES LOIS, liv. XVIII. ch. III " Quel sent les pays les plus
cultivees?"
The grandeur of the scale on which the proposed reform is predicated may
be gathered from the following statistical returns, recently reported to the Emperor Alexander, relative to landed property and serfs in Russia. The numbers of families who are land-owners amount to 127,000.
Out of these, 2,000 possess from 1,000 to 10,000 serfs; 2,000 from 500 to
1,000; 18,000 from 100 to 500; 30,000 from 21 to 100; and 75,000 have less
than 21. Thie total number of peasant serfs of the nobility amount to 11,760,000,
and those of the crown to 9,000,000.  There are therefore 20,750,000 persons
anxiously waiting for an improvement in their condition.
An interesting paper on the question of Serfage in Russia, may be found in
the "Revue des Deux 1Iondes," for the 15th July 1858, in which the subject
is considered under the following heads: "'I. Necessite de 1'emancipation et
condition actuelle des Serfs. II. Notions Ilistoriques Sur le Servage Russe,remancipation necessitee par le development de la culture.  III. Consequences
Morales du Servage en Russe."
ThIe spirit that now animates the Russian government may be read, not
alone in the determination to abolish Sertfge, but in the preparations that are
being made for developing commercial and industrial resources in the basin of
the Amoor, w-ithl the view of facilitating trade in that immense region for a
distance of 2667 miles from the ocean, the whole of which can be navigated
by steamboats. A company has been inaugurated with millions of capital,
under the special care of the Governor of Eastern Siberia; and an ukase issued
to the effect that the Anmerican language should be taught in all the schools
of the province of Siberia, and the country of the Amoor, with the view of
enabling them to cultivate commercial relations with the Americans on the
Pacific. Among the means adopted for stimulating trade, are colonies, postroads, and railways.  "A  railway of three hundred miles will connect the
navigable waters of the Amoor with the navigable waters ef the Lena-the
great river of the north. A railroad from Chlelah to Ryachlta, will connect
the head waters of the Amoor with that system of Railroads extending from
Moscow, and thence to St. Petersburgh, and a railroad firom Pekin of four
hundred miles, to the navigable waters of the Songahree, will bring the teas
and silks of China directly to the Amoor. These various railroads are not only
17 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
of the whole world, presents many prominent points of
similarity as well as contrast to the United States, which,
without anticipating the rivalry that may hereafter arise
between the two countries invest with a peculiar interest
for our own countrymen, the newly developed features of
its imperial policy, and especially those which relate to the
social elevation of its laborers and the improvement of its
modes of culture.
Agriculture, in the Continental States, is at a low ebb,
and by no means keeps pace with the increasing requirements of the population.
For the supply of their wants, annually becoming
greater, they begin to look in great part to the American
Continent.  "One fact," says the Mark Lane Gazette, "is
clear, that it is to Western America that we must in future
look for the largest amount of cereal produce."
I have permitted myself, gentlemen, to dwell for a few
moments upon the subject of the foreign demand for
breadstuffs, for the reason that although that demand is of
recent origin, and is still limited both in extent and degree,
it would seem that in the natural order of things that
demand must not only increase throughout the whole
of Western and in parts of Eastern Europe, but extend to
other quarters of the globe, and form a necessary feature
of increasing prominence, in every intelligent view of the
agricultural aims and resources of the United States.
While recognizing the truth that lies at the basis of Statistical Science, and that should never be lost sight of in an
association like this, that fancy and theory are inadmissible,
and that Newton's motto, "hfypotheses nonfmgo,"* should
talked of-but the Russian Government has now actually in the field a corps
of Engineers making the surveys for the two first mentioned."-Merchant's Magazine, New York, Aug. 1858, on the Exploration of the Amoor River.
* Quoted by Lord Stanley, in his very able address before the Statistical
Society.
18 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
our guiding rule, we cannot forget, that while England
and France count their ages by centuries, our Republic is
yet in its infancy, and that, in a general glance such as we
are about giving to the agriculture of our young land, the
view would be meagre and incomplete, were we not to
notice the surrounding circumstances, that are beginning to
shape its character and influence its growth. "
With the facts before us to which I have referred, in
regard to the existing demand for bread in Europe, let us
now look at the general capacity of our country for affording a supply.
The number of square miles contained in the area of the
IUnited States of America, in the present year, is within a
fraction of three millions (2.936.165,)* somewhat more than
one third the area of North America, exclusive of the West
Indies, and nearly double the area of all Europe,t excepting Russia.:
Square Miles.
* The area of the United States at the peace of 1783, was... 820.680
Tile purchase of Lonisiana, 1819, added about...........    899.579
Acquisition of Florida, 1819.......................... 66.900
Annexation of Texas................................ 318.000
Oregon Treaty...................................... 308.052
Treaty with Mexico................................. 522.955
2.936.166
— DE Bow's Compendium, p. 32.
Thlle area of North America is as follows:
Square Miles. Sq
United States.........................................
I New Britain.................... 2.598.837
British America  Upper and Lower Canada.......... 346.860
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  1.104.701
Mexico..................................................
Central America...........................................
Russian   "...........................................
Danish    "   (Greenland).................................
Total square miles
3.050,398
1.038.834
203.551
394.000
380.000
8.002.949
-DE Bow's Compendium, p. 31.
t The area of Europe embraces 3.811.594 square miles.  The area of some
of the larger States is as fbllows, in square miles:
19 
A STATISTICAL VIEw
Two countries in either hemisphere approach the United
States in area; the one Russia, containing twenty-one
hundred thousand square miles; the other Brazil, having
twenty-seven hundred thousand square miles.
The aggregate population of the United States has
increased from about four millions (3.929.827,) in 1790, to
twenty-three millions (23.191.876,) in 1850. The estimated
population for the present year, 1858, is a little over twentynine millions, now for the first exceeding the population
of Great Britain, which in 1851 was about twenty-seven
and a half-millions. According to the ratio of increase
from 1840 to 1850, the population in 1890 would be one
hundred and seven millions. The annual increase from
1790 has been four times as great as Russia, six times as
much as Great Britain, nine times as much as Austria, ten
times as much as France.*
In 11850, the density of population for the existing terri
Russia in Europe.......... 2.120.397 Turkey.................. 210.585
Austria.................. 257.368 Sweden and Norway...... 293.313
France................... 207.145  Belgium................. 11.390
Great Britain............. 121.912  Portugal................. 36.510
Prussia.................. 107.921  Holland................. 12.601
Spain.................... 182.270 Denmark................ 22.533
Bavaria.................. 29.637 Naples and Sicily......... 44.401
Hanover................. 14.734  Sardinia and Piedmont..... 29.276
Swiss Confederation.......  14.950  Papal States............. 15.892
Greece................... 17.900  Tuscany................. 8.511
* The population of England in 1851, was 27.475.271; of Austria, 36.514.397;
of France, 35.783.170; of Russia, in 1850, 62.088.000; of Prussia, (1849,)
16.331.187; of Turkey in Europe, (1844,) 15.500; of Spain, (1834,) 12.232.194.
It is stated that Herr Dietrick, of the University of Berlin, estimates the
population of the world as follows:
Europe......................................... 271.000.000
Asia...........................................  730.000.000
America........................................ 200.000.000
Africa......................................... 80.000.000
Australia, &c..................................... 2.000.000
Making a total of 1283 millions; of which, the population of the United
States, estimating it at thirty millions, is about one forty-second part.
20 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
tory of the United States, was about eight (7.90) persons to
the square mile. In the New England States, the density
was forty-two (41.94) to the square mile.  In the middle
States fifty-eight (57.79,) while California and Texas to gether had less than one person to the square mile. When
the increase of our native and foreign population shall
invest with the density of New England the whole terri tory of the United States, its population will amount to one
hundred and twenty-three millions. With the density of
the Middle States, of fifty-eight (57.79) to the square mile,
it would amount to one hundred and seventy millions.
The density of Spain (78.03,) would make it two hundred
millions. That of France (172.74,) five hundred millions.
That of Great Britain (332.00,) six hundred and sixty mil lions, while the density of Belgium (388.60,) were it possible
to support such a population on this continent, would give us
eleven hundred and fifty millions. Such a population, however, or anything approaching to it, is a thing impossible
in the United States, for the reason that a large portion of
its territory is a barren waste, incapable of tillage. Such
is the character of the space between the 98th meridian
and the Rocky Mountains, denominated "The Great American Plain," and the space from the Rocky Mountains to
the Pacific, with the exception of the rich but narrow belt
along the ocean, may also be regarded, in comparison with
other portions of the United States, as a wilderness unfitted
for the use of the husbandman.*
I, therefore, do not mention these figures, with any intent
of digressing from the subject before us, into idle speculations on the future destiny of the Republic, based upon the
extent of its area, but to direct your attention to the fact
so intimately connected with a just view of American
* See a learned paper by Prof. Henry, on Meteorology in its connection with
Agriculture.  Patent Office Reports for 1856, page 481.
21 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
Agriculture, that making ample allowance for the unproductive parts of our territory, looking only to those parts
whose fertility is known, the country is capable of producing a vast excess of food over the quantity required for
home consumption by its present and immediately prospective population, even with all the emigration that a
wisely directed governmental policy may induce; and that
it must be in part the industrial mission of the United
States for long years, it may, perhaps, be for long centuries
to come, to produce food for the consumption of foreign
nations.*
It may be said of America as it has been said of Great
Britain, that she has a relative as well as an absolute
existence, and this truth becomes very striking in this
connection, when we look at her, not alone as the bountiful supplier of her own fast-increasing population, but as
* A careful abstract of this address was published in the New York Tribune
soon after it was delivered, and that journal, in two editorials upon the subject,
assumed that the increased and increasing export of American breadstuffs was
not impelled by the necessities of our position, " but by the deplorable misdirection of our public policy;" and the Editors, in proceeding to enumerate under
distinct heads, as connected with the subject of our national agriculture, some
of the Protectionist doctrines which the Tribune has for so many years maintained with such distinguished ability and consistency, prefaced them with the
remark, "We  only wish, in addition, to hint to Mr. Jay and his readers, a
few important considerations which have failed to find a place in his Essay."
A moment's reflection on the character of the Geographical and Statistical Society, will, I think, show that the question, whether or not the Federal Government should or should not extend any protection to American Agriculture, by
measures tending to create a home market for those surplus productions that
now seek purchasers in distant lands, is one that does not fall within the proper
scope of the Society's investigations; and that it would have been therefore improper to discuss that question in this address.  The maxim already quoted, "hypotheses non fingo," absolutely forbids it. It is for the Society simply to collect and
collate the wide-spread statistics that must henceforth form the basis of every
intelligent argument on free trade or protection-whatever may be the individual views or prepossessions of its members on this vexed question in its
varied phases, and in its large and important bearings on the future of our
country.
22 
OF AMFERICAN AGRICULTURE.
destined to become, in all human probability, above and
beyond their wants, the greatest grain market iii the world;
ready to assist Europe on the one hand and Asia on the
other. It grows more apparent when we consider not
simply the large extent of her area, and the small density
of her population, but the diversity of her climate, the fertility of her western prairies, her Mississippi Valley, her
Atlantic and Pacific slopes, and regard at the same time
the intelligence and energy of her farmers, her public
schools, her agricultural associations, and her free press;
the expanding influences of her institutions, and.her commanding.central position.
I need not, gentlemen, enlarge further upon the preeminent importance of American Agriculture as a national
interest that is destined to furnish the bulk of our exports,
nor of the statistics that pertain to its various branches.
The facts to which I have directed your attention, showing the wants of Europe and the capacity of America, are
sufficiently conclusive on that point.   But  I may  be
allowed for an instant before leaving this branch of our
subject to remind you that its increase of our exports is
but one of the phases in which the subject is connected
with the welfare of the nation.
Our national strength consists far less in the extentof
our area than in the number, the youthfulness, the industrial and moral qualities of our people.
These indicate our productive power, which is to be
guided into the most profitable channels. Whatever assists
us in the development and direction of these characteristics,
under the most advantageous moral conditions, contributes
to our national strength, prosperity, and happiness.
Hlow far American Agriculture, with its millions of acres
yet unbroken, a population of thirty millions to feed, and
a growing demand for breadstufes in foreign markets, is
23 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
calculated to aid that development, is a question to which
I propose simply to allude, as one that will receive new
light from each successive census, and from the increasing
number of intelligent minds that will be engaged in scrutinizing and collating its returns, and in educing from them
natural laws, marked by mathematical accuracy, and possessing almost the certainty of moral truth.
It may well be that those statistics shall assist us to
solve the problem, at this time so momentous to the citizens of this metropolis, how we can most readily transplant
the impqrted pauperism of our cities, to the prairies and
valleys of the west: and enable us to convert a festering
and dangerous mass of municipal corruption, into a healthful element of national prosperity.
It may well be, that by the successive returns of the
census, great natural laws may be practically developed,
that are as yet but partially and theoretically discerned:
and that moral and economic questions which have long
puzzled the philosophers and philanthropists of both hemispheres, and that now perplex and confound our politicians,
shall be resolved into the simplest elements of political
economy, governed by rules, which, although based upon
selfish motives, will be found wide-spread as human intelligence, and permanent as the principle of self-interest.
Statistics to be thus available must be complete, and in
England they are quite conscious of the comparatively
slight value attaching to desultory, fragmentary, isolated
returns, educed for special purposes and deficient in unity.
It is now regarded as an axiom, that comparative statistics cannot content themselves with partial and uncertain
observations, but must always repose on reality, and always
submit to the law of numbers.
Our learned foreign associate, Mr. QUETF.T.Fr, who has
24 
OF AMEFRICAN AGRICULTURE.
introduced into the Science of Statistics, a new spirit of
philosophic analysis, observes, that "All observation tends
to confirm the truth of the proposition, that whatever concerns the human race, considered collectively, is of the
order of physical facts. The greater the number of the
individuals, the more completely does the will of individuals disappear, and allow the series of general facts which
depend upon the causes by which society exists, and is
preserved, to predominate. "We must admit," he remarks,
"that on submitting to careful experiment unorganized
bodies and the social system, we are unable to say on which
side causes act in their effects with the greatest regularity."
Another of our foreign associates, LORD STANLEY, early
prominent among British Statesmen, and who, I may say
in passing, has vindicated his ancestral claim to greatness,
not simply by his wisdom and industry in Parliament, but
by the earnest and philosophic spirit he has exhibited in
scientific and philanthropic efforts, gave, not long since,
an admirable exposition before the London Statistical
Society, of the nature and objects of Statistical Science.
Regarding it as dealing with man in the aggregate, and
developing results that can be calculated with mathematical precision, and thus leading us, step by step, to the
knowledge of the laws that govern the social system, Lbrd
STANLEY remarked, "When, therefore, in discussing social
questions, we apply the statistical test, we are really doing
nothing more than appealing from imagination to fact,
from conjecture to certainty, from an imperfect to a perfect
method of observation."
Bearing in mind the necessity of universality and completeness in all statistical returns, to insure accuracy, and
certainty in our deductions from them, it is clear that
the statistics of Agriculture should comprise as far as possible all the conditions, proceeds, and results of the agri
25 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
cultural industry of the country at a given time, and all
the facts which may assist towards their proper appreciation in all their different aspects. For the performance
of such a work throughout the length and breadth of a
vast empire, it is obvious that the efforts of private associations or even of local governments, are utterly unequal.
This is singularly exemplified by a glance at the disjointed and unequal action of the State Governments on
this subject.
In most of the States, there is a census taken at varying
intervals of two, four, six, seven, eight, and ten years. In
Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, and
Rhode Island, there is no regular State Census.
In 1850, it was ascertained that in New Hampshire the
last Census was ill 1783. In New Jersey, there had been
none in the present century, and in Vermont the last was
in 1771. Massachusetts has taken the lead in the extent,
accuracy, and minuteness of her statistical investigations.
The recent New York Census of 1845, and that of 1855,
prepared under the direction of the JIon. Joel T. Hieadly,
Secretary of State, are probably the most complete of any.
The Legislative appropriations of this State, for geological
and agricultural purposes, have been liberal. In Ohio,
the State Census is taken every four years, with yearly
returns of the acres in wheat and corn, and their yield.*
Statistics are now recognized as the peculiar function of
the State, in a sense in which no other science is so, and
in the United States the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT alone, has
the power and the opportunity to give it the abundance,
universality and accuracy that are essential to enable the
American Statistician to avoid the errors that are constantly occurring in the calculation of mean results from
* Mr. DE Bow's Introductory Remarks.- Compendium of the Census, pp. 23,
et seq.
26 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
an insufficient number of data, and without sufficient
opportunity to eliminate and allow for disturbing causes.
In Europe, there have been recommended by the recent
Statistical Congresses as important accompaniments of an
Agricultural  Census, minute  features, which  however
desirable, will be for us from the inevitable circumstances
of our position, for a long time to come impracticable.
They include a plan of surveys, by which the entire territory is to be surveyed and Inapped in a unform manner,
on a scale of about three inches to a mile, the scale conmmonly adopted in England: with the boundaries of counties
and townships, the triangulation, the details of roads, and
where the lines are permanent, of farmn and fields; fixing
by districts the average value and character of the land,
the higher types and values of the cultivation, the whole
arranged with reference to ease of revision at stated periods.
The scale of maps for villages and crowded districts, it has
been suggested, might be fifty inches to the mile, with
index maps, showing a considerable surface of the country,
when minute detail is not required. I note the suggestion,
to show the thoroughness proposed in Europe, and as one
which may, perhaps, be advantageously adopted for special
purposes, in some parts of our own country; and I will
now call your attention to what has actually been accomplished towards the Statistics of American Agriculture,
by the Federal Government.
A general Census has been taken in the United States
every tenth year, beginning with 1790, in compliance with
the provisions of the Federal Constitution, for the apportionment of representation and taxation among the States,
according to their representative members; but until very
recently, the Census has furnished few national data, upon
the prominent branch of American industry.
27 
A  STATISTICAL VIEW
Our governmental statistics have had reference to popu lation, to revenue, trade, commerce, and navigation. They
have of late touched upon the moral, the social, the physi cal condition, of the people; including religion, education,
crime, and pauperism; while Agriculture received little
attention, until, in 1840, it was partially included in the
Federal schedules
In the Census of 1850, one schedule out of six, more
full in its details, was devoted to agriculture.   These
schedules were prepared by a special committee in the
Senate, and they were assisted by valuable suggestions
from our co-laborer, Mr. ARCHIBALD RUSSELL, whose services in this regard were publicly acknowledged by the
able superintendent of the Census, Mr. DE Bow, and who
thus in advance aided in preparing the way for the labors
of this association, whose infancy he so faithfully nursed,
and whose maturer course by Sections, he has within a few
months so auspiciously inaugurated.
The materials gathered in these Census, especially the
last, despite the errors and imperfections incident to the
inception of so vast an undertaking, afford a most excellent
basis for future comparison; and indicate the respectful
attention which Agricultural Statistics must henceforth
claim at the hands of the Government, stimulated as they
will be by popular pressure firom without, by the demands
of the farmers of the United States, recognizing at last
in Agriculture a branch of industry not inferior to commerce or to manufactures, but one far surpassing them
both in extent and importance; the great overshadowing
interest of the nation, by which all others thrive, and
* The schedules were as follow: 1. Free inhabitants; 2. Slaves; 3. Mortality; 4. Agriculture; 5. Manufacturing industry;  6. Social statistics.   The
superintendent suggests that there be but two schedules hereafter: one of
POPULATION, the other of PRODUCTION, with proper instructions fur compressing all required information in a compact and inexpensive form.
28 
OF AMERICAN AGRICUL,TURE.o
which has the right to demand the constant, chiefest, and
most enlightened regard, at the hands of their Senators
and Representatives in Congress.
The Compendium of the Census of 1850, prepared by
Mr. DE Bow, of which an immense edition has been issued,
embraced a summary of the returns of the former Census,
and some comparative statistics of other countries, and
forms an invaluable text-book for the student of statistics.
The ability with which the work was performed, and
the appreciation it has met, afford good reason for believing that the Agriculture of our broad land, in its more
prominent features, will be henceforth decennially photographed with such minuteness and accuracy, as to allow
of the most thorough investigation and accurate deductions.
The area of our territory, which as I have already remarked, is about three millions of square miles, will soon
be treated of by Mr. Poor, the Chairman of the section on
Topography.* Without proposing to trench upon the
duties of that section, or to do more than refer to the prominent features of our physical geography, I may remark
that the calculations of the Topographical Bureau at Washington, show the existence of an interior valley drained
by the waters of the Mississippi and its tributaries, nearly
as large as the Atlantic and Pacific slopes together, and
one-third larger than the whole domain of the Republic
on the adoption of the Constitution.
The following table shows the area of each slope and its
ratio to the total area of the United States.
* Since the delivery of this address, Mr. Poor has given an admirable exposition of the larger features of the topography of the country, illustrating the
subject by Mr. Sliroeter's Mammoth Map of the United States and adjacent
countries, which he subsequently exhibited to the Royal Geographical Society
at London.
29 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
Territory.             Area in Square  Ratio of Slope of total
Miles.     Area of the U.S.
Pacific Slope............................. 786.002............26.09
Atlantic Slope, proper.....................514.416........... 17.52
Northern Lake Region....................112.649............ 3.83
Gulf Region..............................325.537........... 11.09
Mississippi Valley, drained by the........1.217.562........... 41.47
Mississippi and its tributaries
Total.............................. 2.956.166.......... 100.00
Thus, over two-fifths of the National territory is drained
by the Mississippi and its tributaries, and more than onehalf is embraced in what may be called its middle region.
Onre-fourth of its total area belongs to the Pacific, onesixth to the Atlantic proper, one twenty-sixth to the Lakes,
one-nlinth to the Gulf, or one-third to the Atlantic, including the Lakes and Gulf.
As connected with the facility of water transportation,
it mnay be interesting to add, that a calculation made at
the Office of the Coast Survey, for 1853, gives for the total
main shore line of the United States, exclusive of sounds,
islands, &c., twelve thousand (12.609) statute miles, of
which 54 per cent belongs to the Atlantic coast, 18 to the
Pacific, and 28 to the Gulf coast; and that if all these be
followed, and the rivers entered to the head of tide-water
the total line will be swelled to thirty-three thousand
(33.069) miles.
The general character of the soil between the Mississippi
river and the Atlantic is that of great fertility, as also that
on the western side of the Mississippi, as far as the 98th
meridian, including the States of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas,
Mlissouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, and portions of Kansas and
Nebraska; but from that meridian westward to the Rocky
Mountains, and thence nearly to the Pacific, excepting the
rich and narrow belt already alluded to along the ocean, is
ifound in some parts a waste utterly barren, and generally
the land is unfit for the support of an ordinary civilized com
30 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
munity.* Of the entire area of the United States only about
one-thirteenth part is improved; about one-eighth more is
occupied but not improved. The entire number of acres
occupied is some three hundred millions (293.560.614) or
nearly one-sixth part of the national domain.t
The olden theory in regard to the soil first occupied by
settlers, broached by Ricardo and Malthus, and for a long
time adopted without question, was that the best lands were
first occupied by the pioneers of civilization; but this has
been refuted by Mr. Carey, whose careful array of facts gatlhered from the history of various nations, including our own,
seems to show conclusively that the richest lands are the
last to be cultivated, and hence we may conclude that among
the unoccupied portions of our country, there remains soil
of greater fertility and ultimate value, than is to be found
in the thirteenth portion now under actual cultivation.:
The States and Territories among which these lands are
* Prof. Henry's learned paper on Meteorology, in its connection with
Agriculture.
f In Great Britain, including England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the
British islands, according to a table prepared for the House of Commons, in
1827, in statute, there were of cultivated lands 36,522,970 acres; of uncultivated, 15,000,000; of unprofitable, 15,871,363: making a total of 77,394,333:
of this total, 19,135,990 were in arable lands and gardens; 27,386,980 in
meadows, pastures, and marshes; 15,000,000 wastes, incapable of improvement;
15,871,463 wastes, capable of improvement.
In France, there are 82,790,702 acres improved; 38,238,616 unimproved.
In Austria, 138,808,366-25,812,51? unimproved. In Prussia, 39,478,704,
improved-28,141,156 unimproved.
t "The richest lands of North Carolina, to the extent of many millions ot
acres, remain to this time uncleared and undrained, while men are everywhere
wasting their labor on poor ones, yielding three, four, or five bushels to the
acre. South Carolina has millions of acres of the finest meadow and other
lands, capable of yielding immense returns to labor, and waiting only the growth
of wealth and population; and so it is in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.   So
entirely valueless are the richest lands of the west, south, and south-west, that
Congress has recently granted them to the extent of nearly forty millions of acre
to the States in which they lie, and the latter have accepted thenm."-Pri -
cples of thle Social Systemn, by H. C. Carey.   Pthilad. 1858. Vol. 1,.pp. 116-17.
31 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
divided, are forty in number, besides the District of Columbia, including within their organization, sixteen hundred
(1620) county divisions.
The total number of farms and plantations is about a
million and a half (1.449.075,) the number of improved
acres is one hundred and thirteen millions (113.032.614,) of
unimproved one hundred and eighty millions (180.528.000;)
the farms average two hundred and three acres to each
farm, and average in value twenty-two hundred and fifty
(2.258) dollars. The implements and machinery on each
farm average in value one hundred (105) dollars. The
proportion of improved land in the different sections of
the country is as follows:
In New England 26 acres in one hundred.
In the South, 16              "    "
In the North-West 12 "        "    "
In the South-West  5 "        "    "
In the South, the number of acres to the farm is the
largest, but the value is most in the Middle States, and
the.average value of the Union is eleven dollars (11.04)
per acre, ranging from one dollar and a half ($1.41) in
Texas, a fraction more in California, and five and a half
(5.34) in the Southern States, to eleven dollars and a half
(11.39) in the North-Western States; twenty dollars (20.27)
in New England, and twenty-eight dollars (28.07) in the
Middle States.
The published Census* exhibits very partial returns
of the number of acres held by individuals in the several
States; returns limited, in fact, to certain counties in
particular States. Among them Louisiana and South
Carolina are indicated as having more farms of large size
than the others, Louisiana having among fifteen hundred (1,558) farnms two hundred (206) of from one to ten
* Table CLXXXIX.
32 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
thousand acres, and one of over ten thousand acres; while
South Carolina, among nine thousand (9,400) farms, has
fourteen hundred (1,472) of over five hundred acres, twelve
hundred (1,230) of over one thousand acres, and sixteen of
over ten thousand acres each. Among all, the smallest
average number of acres to a farm is 97 acres in Maine,
ranging upwards to about one hundred (120), in New York
(113), New Jersey (115), New Hampshire (116), Pennsyl vania (117), and Ohio (125), to upwards of two hundred
in Maryland (212), Kentucky (227), Tennessee (261), three
hundred in Virginia (340), North Carolina (369), Missis sippi (309), and Louisiana (372), to four hundred (441) in
Georgia, five hundred (541) in South Carolina, nine hun dred (942) in Texas, and forty-four hundred (4,466) in California; but these two last averages clearly indicate that
the division of the number of farms into the occupied
area of the State territory, a great part of which is still
very sparsely occupied, cannot give the true and actual
average of the number of acres to each proper farm, and
the mean average obtained in this way, of two hundred
acres to each farm in the United States, would seem to be
consequently only an approximation, and larger than it is
in fact.
These farms, with occasional exceptions, as among the
ancient manors of New York, of late conspicuous for antirentism, are owned in fee by the cultivators themselves,
and this rule constitutes an essential element of difference
in comparing American Agriculture with that of England,
where the cultivators of the soil are nearly uniformly
tenants, generally under terms of longer or shorter continuance, and sometimes at will, causing a separation and
occasional clashing of those interests of the landlord and
the farmer which are with us united ill the same person.*
* Mr. John Stuart Mill, in his well known work on "The Principles of Poll
33 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
What influence this difference may exert upon the character and progress of agricultural improvements, and how
far the superior wealth, and to some extent, more liberal
education of the English landlords is counterbalanced by
the individual energy and enterprize fostered in America,
by an undivided interest, are interesting questions that
will be probably elucidated by a careful comparison of the
future returns of the two countries.
Between the United States and France-although the
lands in both are generally held in fee simple, or nearly so,
a difference of similar importance is found in the average
size of the farms.
Here the average is from 150 to 200 acres; there the
average, although not so small as has been frequently represented, is probably but six or eight acres among four
tical Economy, with some of their applications to social Philosophy," in the
chapter on the "Influence of Progress on Profits, Rents," &c., contends that
the assertion of Ricardo, paradoxical as it may at first appear. is nevertheless
sound, that the interest of the landlord is decidedly hostile to the sudden and
general introduction of Agricultural improvements.
Mr. Mill argues that if the irrmprovement were confined to one estate, it
would clearly benefit the proprietors; but if.it extends equally to all it is inju
rious, for the reason that whatever permanently reduces the price of produce,
diminishes rent; and that, if by the increased productiveness of land, less land
were required for cultivation, its value, like that of any other article for which
the demand had diminished, would fall.
Correct as this reasoning may be in the abstract, and upon the premises
assumed, that but a limited demand for arable land exists in England, I think,
with great deference to so distinguished an authority, that it ceases to apply
to the existiug and prospective state of things in that country; since the demand for food in England, if we rightly read her statistics, exceeds the utmost
limits of the supply that her arable lands, with all the assistance to be derived
from modern improvements, are capable of yielding. For in this case it would
seem, that the demand for food being incapable of supply at home, and all
possibility of a failure in the demand for arable land being done away, the
interest of the landlords would be decidedly in favor of the general introduction of Agricultural improvements as tending to increase, not only the productiveness of their estates, but the annual pecuniary returns from every acre,
since they would increase the average number of bushels to the acre, without
diminishing the value of each separate bushel in market.
34 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
millions of the smaller proprietors, or about twelve acres
to each farm throughout the entire empire, and these are
frequently encumbered by ancestral mortgages.*
The census of 1840 did not ascertain the number of
acres of improved land in the United States, so that there
are no data showing the increase during the last decade.
But looking at the produce of American agriculture, we
find in the report of the Secretary of State for 1856, the
following Statement, exhibiting the number of acres employed in the production of the different crops in the
States and Territories, their total product and value, togetlier with the product and value per acre, for the year
1850.
This table shows us that in 1850 the four largest staples
of our country, ranking them according to their annual
Indian Corn,   -       - -    $296,000,000
lIay,     -    -    -    -      138,000,000
Wheat,   -    -    -    -        90,000,000
Cotton,   -    -    -    -       78,000,000
Before proceeding to note some furthler statistics in re
* Some of the alarmist writers of England, in predicting the most unfortunate consequences from the division of landed property in France, assumed
as authority the treaties of Messrs. Mounier and Rubichlon upon the state of
agriculture in France, published in Paris in 1846, and have represented the
average size of the farms in France at a much smaller area than the average
stated  in  the  text.   The  London  Quarterly Review,  also for  December 1846, proclaimed upon the evidence produced by these writers, that
"in a few years the Code Napoleon will be employed in dividing fractions
o' square inches of land, and deciding by logarithms, infinitesimal inheritances," but an elaborate and interesting reply to these several authors upon
this point was published by Mr. J. S. Mill. first in the Morning  Chlronicle,
and subsequently as a note to the first volume of his treatise on Political
Economy, (London, 1849, page 594,.) from lwhichl it would appear that the
actual subdivision or mio'ceilement has been greatly exaggerated, and although
certainly too minute in some parts of France, it is not to be regarded as
a growing evil; since the subdivision has reached its height, and the reunon.s by purchase, marriage and inheritance, now balance the subdivisions.
35
v 
Value of
Product per  Products
Acre.    per Ac-re 
Number of        Product of    Descrip-  Value of Crop.
acres.        each Crop.        tion.                             Ar o            A
INDIAN CORN.....................................
Meadow or pasture lands-that proportion which is
regarded improved and exclusive of hay crop...... 
HAY...........................................
WIIEAT.........................................
OATS............................................
COTTON............................................ 
Rye...........................................
Peas and beans...................................
Irish Potatoes....................................
Sweet Potatoes...................................
Buckwheat......................................
Tobacco.........................................
Sugar...........................................
Barley..........................................
Rice............................................
Hemp...........................................
Flax...........................................
Orchards........................................
Gardens.........................................
Vineyards.......................................
Other Products...................................
Improved, but not in actual cultivation...............
31,000,000
20,000,000
13,000,000
1 1,000,000
7,500,000
5,000,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
1,000,000
750,000
600.000
400,000
400,000
300,000
175,000
110.000
100,000
500,000
500,000
250,000
1,000,000
17,247,614
113,032,614
Another Table, from the Compendium of the Census, page 1T6, giving more fully the values of the Agricultural products of the United States, for 1850, including
the annual products of live stock, &c., makes the total for that year thirteen hundred millions, and Mr. De Bow estimated the total for 1854, at sixteen hundred
millions.
C4
(M
Productg.
592,071,104
..........
13,838,242
100,485,844
146,584,179
978,317,200
14,188,813
9,219,901
65,797,895
38,268,148
8,956,912
199,752,655
237,133,000
5,167,015
215,313,497
34,871
7,809,676
..........
....i.....
21,249
19 1-10busli
..........
1 1-16 tons.
9 I.-8 bush.
19 1-2 bush.
195 1-2 lbs.
11 4-5 bush
9 1-5 bush.
65 3-4 bush
51 bush....
15 bush....
499 3-8 lbs.
592 4-5 lbs.
17 1-5 bush
1, 230 2-5 lbs
634 lbs....
78 lbs.....
..........
..........
3 1-2 quarts
$9 55
.....
10 62
8 21.'
6 82
15 64
8 26
6 90
26 30
25 50
9 00
29 96
23 11
12 99
24 61
38 04
6 25
15 45
10 56
1 77
bush"ls
......
tons
busli'ls
. do..
pounds
busli'ls
do
do
do
. do
pounds
do
busll'ls
pounds
tons
pounds
......
......
gallons
$296,035,552
..........
138, 382,420
90,437,260
51,304,463
78,265,376
9,932,169
6.914,925
26,319,158
19,134,074
5,374,147
11,985,159
9,485.320
3,875,261
4,306,270
4,184,520
624,774
7,723,186
5,280,030
442,498
0
9
tt
0
q)
0
ci
9
(!I
w
ol 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
gard to Indian Corn, or as it is sometimes called, Jaize, let
me briefly mention the doubt expressed at a recent meeting
of the British Association, whether this grain is strictly a
plant of the New World, and allow me to refer to the evidence that proves it, as we think conclusively, to be a
native grain.
Stress was laid in the British Association on the fact of
its occurrence in the floral decorations of Rome in the
time of Rafaelle; but it was said in reply that botanists
had always regarded it as a plant of the New World, and
the evidence on this point adduced by Alfonse De Caudolle
in his great work on the geographical distribution of
plants, was quite complete; and it was sensibly suggested
that if it had been a plant of the Old World they could
scarcely have failed to raise it, and that Rafaelle's painting
it might be accounted for by the interest with which all
the products of the New World were then regarded. It
is referred to by the most ancient Peruvian historians; it
was cultivated by the Aborigines in the time of Columbus,
and it is still found growing in a wild state from our
Rocky Mountains to the forests of Paraguay. The venerable Baron Humboldt, whose eminent authority may be
regarded as settling the question, says: "It is no longer
doubted among botanists that J[aize or Turkish corn is A
true American grain, and that the old continent received
it from the new."*
Indian Corn is pre-eminently the great staple of the
country, surpassing all others in the area of its cultivation,
and in the amount and value of the crop, yielding in 1850,
within a fraction of three hundred millions of dollars, being
* Those persons who may wish to examine the authorities on both sides of
this question, which has been much discussed, will find them arrayed in a
learned essay on Indian Corn, by Charles Louis Flint, of Roxbury, Mass.,
printed in the Transactions of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society, 1849,
page 81.
37 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
all but equal to the united values of the three next staples
in their order, Wheat, Hay and Cotton; and as Indian Corn
is not only the most important, but the most universal
crop, extending from the northern to the southern limit of
the United States; its cultivation would seem to afford a
better test than that offered by any other of the progress
of American tillage.
In the production of Indian Corn no state has retrograded.* The crop in 1840 was nearly four hundred millions
of bushels; in 1850 it was within a fraction of six hundred
millions, being a gain of 56 per cent., while the increase of
the population, during the same time, was only 35 per cent.
The estimated crop for 1855, according to the Secretary of the Treasury, was between seven and eight hundred millions, or nearly double the crop for 1840, and the
crop for 1856 was estimated at fully eight hundred millions of bushels.
One of our distinguished agriculturists, Prof. Mapes, in
an interesting lecture on Indian Corn before the American
Institute,t has remarked that it may be said of our corn
crop, as Mr. Webster said of the turnip crop of England,
that its failure for three successive years would nearly
bankrupt the nation.
It is with ius a staple food of men and of animals. To
it we are indebted in part for our beef and in a very large
proportion for our pork. In the far West it is fed largely
to cattle and pigs for the more convenient exportation of
the produce of the country. The number of hogs fattened
on it nearly equals the number of inhabitants, and their
lard has become a staple article of export.   The sugar
estates in the West Indies are reported to be mainly sup
* The table B, in the Appendix, showing the yield of wheat and Indian corn
in each State, in 1840 and 1850.
f March 28th, 1855.   Vol. VII., Working Farmner, p. 66.
38 
OF A MRICAN AGRIOULT U SE.
ported by American Indian Meal, and its use is extending
in Ireland, England, and throughout the world. In 1850,
somewhat more than eleven millions of bushels were consunmed in the manufacture of malt and spirituous liquors.
While the value of the corn crop has increased so
rapidly, the WHEAT crop, from 1840 to 1850, accordingto
the census, had increased only 15 per cent. It was suggested in the report of the Patent Office for 1852 and
'53,4 that this crop would have shown an equal advance
with that of Indian Corn, had it not been badly damaged,
especially in the North-Western States, before the harvest
from which the census was taken; but the statistics of subsequent harvests in particular States seem to render this
supposition improbable.t
The breadth of land in the United States, suited to the
wheat crop, is comparatively small, and in the older States
would appear to be diminishing.1
In New Ellgland the culture of wheat is rapidly declining; in the Middle States it is nearly stationary, the increase for the ten years previous to 1850 being only about
fifteen per cent. In the North-Western States its culture
has rapidly increased; and it is from this district that the
largest supplies for export are derived.
Chicago, which, twenty years ago, imported flour and
* Paper on the Progress of Agriculture in the United States, by Daniel Lee,
M.D., page 3.
t The number of bushels for 1840, was..................84,823,372
~~"  "         1850,................ 100,485,844
Estimated        "        1855,.................   109,665,678
-Report on the Finances for 1856, page 196.
: The county of Monroe, in the State of New York, of which Rochester is
the centre, with a total area of 720 miles, or nearly five hundred thousand
(460,800) acres, produced in 1850 about a million and a halfofbushels (1,441,653)
while the six New England States, with an area of eleven millions of acres
(.11,147,096) of improved land, only supplied one million of bushels (1,090,845.)
-North Amnerica, its Agriculture and Climate, by Robt. Russell.  Edinburgh,
1857.
39 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
meal for her own consumption, has established brands of
flour, which are now recognised throughout Europe; and
she is shown by recent statistics to be the largest primary
grain depot in the world, rivaling Odessa and Galatz,
Dantzig and St. Petersburg, while she leads all other ports of
the world also in the quantity and quality of her exports.
The population of Chicago, which, in 1850, was 29,000, in
1856 had increased to 101,000.*
The Census of New York for 1855 shows that her wheat
crop, once so famous, is actually decreasing, owing, as is
supposed, in part to the ravages of insects, and in part to
diseases of the plant, assisted, perhaps, by a gradual deterioration of the soil.
The wheat crop in New York was twelve millions
(12,286,418) in 1840, and only nine millions (9,092,402) in
1855, a decrease of twenty-five per cent., while the crop
of INDIAN CORN, in the same State, increased during the
same period from about tenl (10,972,286) to twenty millions
(19,299,691), or nearly one hundred per cent., showing,
when taken together, not a diminution in the bread crop
of the State, for the joint illncrease is five millions of
bushels, but simply a partial substitution of Indian corn for
wheat.
In no country can a bread crop be raised with less labor
than Indian corn generally throughout the United States,
* The shipment of grain in 1855, was 2,200,000 quarters (of 8 bushels each)
being the largest quantity ever shipped from any one port in the world; 7 7, 000
barrels of pork; 56,000 barrels of beef. A direct trade between Chicago and
Liverpool, via the St. Lawrence, without transhipment, was successfully opened
in 1856, by the Dean Richmond, a schooner of 380 tons register, drawing 9 1-2
feet, withi 400 tons of wheat; she was the largest sized vessel that could come
through the canal, but it is said that a moderate outlay would admit ships of
1000 tons.
The freight and charges were less than via New York, or from the Black
Sea. Mark Lane Gazette. Letter of Mr. W. Kernaghan, of Dublin, copied VIII.
Vol. Working Fainer, page 231.
40 
OF AE, RICAN AGRICULTURE
and it has been estimated that the same amount of toil of
a man and horse which will raise a bushel of wheat in
England will raise ten bushels of corn on favorable soil
in this country.
The Patent Office Report for 1855, in an interesting
paper, by Mr. D. J. BRowNE,* shows that a comparison of
the nutritious values of corn and wheat, ranging at from
two to three times the price of a bushel of corn, gives a
decided preference to the corn; and this fact has, doubtless, had its influence in extending its consumption among
our people.
But as yet neither this fact nor the other excellencies of
corn meal are appreciated in Europe; and the exports of
this grain are very much less than those of wheat. In
1854 the proportions were $40,000,000 worth of wheat to
$7,000,000 worth of corn. Experiments in the preparation
of corn are being made by the Government of Prussia, and
elsewhere in Europe, which will probably result in its more
rapid introduction as a staple article of food.
Looking at the aggregate EXPORTS of the country for the
past year, 1857, to learn the proportion due to the culture
of the soil, we find them to be as follows:
The Sea    -  $3,739,644  Cotton         - $131,575,859
.  Forest  -  14,699,711  Raw Produce    2,103,105
Agriculture -  75,722,096  Manufactures   30,805,126
Tobacco      - 20,260,772  Specie & Bull'n 60,078,352
Total value of Exports    -    -    -  $338,785,065
of which there was due to the culture of the soil (agriculture, tobacco and cotton,) two hundred and thirty nillions
(229,661,832), or more than two-thirds of the sum total.
* (See page 456.) The analyses relied upon were those of Sir Humphrey
Davy, assigning 95 per cent. of nutritious matter to wheat, and 77 per cent to
corn, determining the intrinsic value of the two grains to be in this proportion;
so that $1 being the price of corn, wheat would in reality seem to be worth
no more than $1.23.
41 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
Comparing this amount with the exports due to the cul ture of the soil in 1847, we fined that they were in that year
one hundred and thirty-one millions, the increase for the
ten years being more than seventy per cent.
The exports of breadstuffs for the last fifteen years (see
Appendix C.) have singularly fluctuated, and, although
their large inlcrease from twenty-seven millions (27,701,121),
in 1846, to sixty-eight millions (68,701,921), in 1847, and
their fall again, in 1848, to thirty-seven millions (37,472,751)
may be accounted for by the Irish famine of 1847, arising
from the potato rot and short crops generally; it seems less
easy to account for the differences in the exports of the
last five years. They were in
1852, twenty-five millions     -    -    -    (25,857,027)
1853, thirty-two millions      -    -    -    (32,985,322)
Rising, in 1854, to sixty-five millions   -    (65,941,323)
Sinking, in 1855, to thirty-eight millions -    (38,895,348)
And rising, in 1857, to seventy-seven millions (77,187,301)
They must be owing, however, to fluctuations in the
home supply, as well as in the foreign demand, affected as
the latter has recently been by European and Eastern
wars, and the consequent suspension of trade with the
Baltic, as the average export price of flour from tle country, as ascertained by the Treasury Department for the
years in question, throws little light upon it.
That price was as follows:
1852   -    -    -    -    -    -    $4.24
1853   -    -    -    -    -    -        5.60
1854   -    -    -    -    -    -        7.88
1855   -    -    -    -    -    -    10.10
A statement showing the actual average export price of
flour at New York from the year 1800 has been published
by the Department
It is desirable that the causes of such fluctuations should
42 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
be ascertained as nearly as possible, for, while unexplained,
they are calculated to excite doubts in regard to the certainty of agricultural profits, and the element of uncertainty, wherever found, is calculated to discourage and to
deter.*
Passing from the great staples of wheat and Indian corn
to the other agricultural products of the country, a comparison of the Census of 1840 with that of 1850 gives us
these general results,
And,,first, as regards Stock
The number of HORSES, asses and mules, had increased
in number something more than half a million (560,381),
the total in 1850 being about five millions (4,896,650).
The number of horses had not increased as rapidly as
other stock, in consequence of the extension of railroads
lessening their demand for the purposes of travel; but, in
the newly-settled States, where railroads were but commencing, the increase of horses had kept pace with the
population. There is about one horse to every five persons in the IUnited States. The 500,000 asses and mules
returned are almost confined to the Southern States, where
the climate is regarded as better adapted to this animal
than the horse.
The NEAT CATTLE had increased nearly three and a-half
millions, and numbered over eighteen millions (18,378,907),
of which six millions (6,385,094) were milch cows, about
two millions (1,700,744) working oxen, and ten millions
(10,293,069) other cattle.
The rate of increase of neat cattle for the ten years was
about twenty per cent. The amount of butter produced
in 1850 was three hundred and thirteen millions of pounds
* See a paper by J. J. Dawson, Esq., on current price and cost of corn in
Fngland, during the last ten years, as illustrating the value of Agricultural
Statistics.-London Statistical Journal, for March 1855.
43 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
(313,266.962), and of cheese one hundred and five millions
of pounds (105,535,219). The average value of the exports
of these two articles, from 1845 to 1850, was about one
million and a half of dollars.
SWINE had increased four millions, numbering in 1850
over thirty millions (30,354,213).
SHEEP had increased two and a half millions, and numbered nearly twenty-two millions (21,723,220).
In New England there was a remarkable decrease in
their number, from 3,811,307, in 1840, to 2,164,452, in 1850,
a decrease of forty-five per cent. In the five Atlantic or
Middle States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and Maryland, taken together, there was a decrease of twenty-two per cent. The augmentation has
chiefly been in the States south of Maryland, and west of
New York.
The returns of Wool were as follows:
1840   -  35,802,114pounds  - $11,345,318
1850   -  52,516,959,,    - 15,755,088
1855   -  61,560,379,,    - 23,392,944
an increase of about forty-six per cent.   The average
weight of the fleece yielded by each sheep was, in 1840,
1.84 pound, and in 1850, 2.43, indicating a great improvement in the breed.  This improvement is chiefly shown
in the returns relative to Vermont, Massachusetts, and
New York.*
The total value of live stock in the United Stutes in
* The consumption of foreign wool in the United States, it may be remarked,
appears within the last five years to be diminishing slightly in quantity,
although not in value; but the importation of woollen manufactures is increasing. The importation of foreign wool was,
in 1840................ 9.813.312 pounds............$819.830
1850............... 18.669.794   "............ 1.681.690
"1855................. 17.805.511   "............ 1.940.000
The importation of woolen manufactures was,
44 
OF A MERICAN AGRICULTU-RE.
1855 was about five hundred and fifty millions (544,189,516),
and the value of animals slaughtered about one hundred
and twelve millions ($111,703,142).
The grain, root and other crops, from 1840 to 1850:
RYE had decreased from eighteen millions (18,645,567)
of bushels to fourteen millions (14,188,813).
OATS had increased from one hundred and twenty-three
millions (123,071,341) to one hundred and forty-six millions
(146,584,179).
POTATOES (Irish and sweet) had decreased from one hundred and eight millions of bushels (108.298,060) to one
hundred and four millions (104,066,044).
HAY had increased from ten millions of tons (10,248,108)
to thirteen millions (13,838,642).
Hops from one million (1,238,502) of pounds to three
millions (3,497,029) in 1850, and, as estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury, to nearly five millions 4,820,752 in
1855, indicating a rapid increase in the consumption of
Lager-beer.
COrrON had increased from eight hundred millions of
pounds (799,479,275) in 1840 to nine hundred and eighty
millions (978,317,200) in 1850, and to one billion and eightyeight millions (1,089,409,908) in 1855.
RICE from eighty millions of pounds (80,841,422) to two
hundred and fifteen millions (215,313,497), while
TOBACCO has decreased from two hundred and nineteen
in 1840..........................................$9.9070.868
1850...........................................18.614.589
1855...........................................23.603.223
The total consumption of foreign wool in Fngland in 1855, was 66 millions
of pounds. Total production of woolens, $180.000.000, and exports of woollens, $48.000.000.
The total consumption of foreign wool in France, in 1855, was 77.300.000
pounds. Total production of woolens $200.000.000, and exports of woolens
$38.000.000.   The total production of woolens in the United States in 1854
and 5, was $48.000.000.
45 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
millions of pounds (219,163,319) to one hundred and ninety nine millions (199,752,655).
WOOL had increased from thlirty-millions of pounds
(35,802,114) to fifty-two millions (52,516,959).
SILK COCOONS had decreased from sixty-one thousand
pounds (61,652) to ten thousand (10,843).
WINE had increased from one hundred and twenty-four
thousand gallons (124,734) to two hundred and twenty-one
thousand (221,249).
From a table of the actual crops per acre in the different
States,* it would seem that there is a diversity so great as to
confirm the doubts in regard to its correctness frankly intimated by the compiler, who states that nothing better can be
framed from the returns, which, in general, were very carelessly made, or entirely neglected.
LN WHEAT we find the average number of bushels to the
acre to be 5 in Alabama and Georgia, 7 in North Carolina,
Virginia and Tennessee, ranging upwards in the other
States until it reaches 12 in New York, Ohio and Indiana,
13 in Maryland and Vermont, 14 in Iowa and Wisconsin,
15 in Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas, and 16, the highest
average, in Massachusetts, being three times the average
of the lowest.
IL  RYE we find the average of bushels to the acre to be
5 in Virginia, 7 in Georgia and Tennessee, 8 in New Jersey, 17 in New York, and 25 in Ohio, or five times the
lowest average.
IN LITDIAN CORN we find the lowest average to be 11
bushels to the acre in South Carolina, 15 in Alabama, 16 in
Georgia and Louisiana, 17 in North Carolina, 18 in MIississil)pi and Virginia, and so rising upwards until it reaches
27 in New York and Maine, 32 in Vermont and Iowa, 33
in Indiana, Illinois and New Jersey, 34 in Missouri, 36 in
* Given in the Compendium of the Census, page 178.
46 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
Ohio, and 40 in Connecticut, some three and a-half times
the lowest average.
IN OATS we find the lowest average, 10 bushels to the
acre in North Carolina, 12 in Mississippi and South Carolina and Alabama, 13 in Virginia, 18 in Arkansas, Georgia
and Kentucky, 20 in Delaware, Indiana and Maine, 21
in Connecticut, Maryland and Ohio, 22 in Pennsylvania,
25 in New York, 26 in Vermont, New Jersey, Missouri,
Michigan, and Massachusetts, 29 in Illinois, 35 in Wisconsin, and 36 in Iowa.
Of RICE we have returns only from three States, Louisiana giving 1,400 pounds to the acre, South Carolina
1,750, and Florida 1,850 pounds.
SWEET POTATOES vary in quantity from 65 bushels to the
acre in Texas to 175 in Louisiana, 200 in Alabama, and
400 in Georgia.
IlISnI POTATOES yield from 65 bushels to the acre in
North Carolina, 75 in Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio and
Pennsylvania, 100 in Indiana, Iowa, New York and Rhode
Island, 120 in Maine and Tennessee, 100 in Georgia and
Wisconsin, 130 ill Kentucky, 140 in Michigan, 170 in Massachusetts, 175 in Florida,i 178 in Vermont, 230 in New
Hampshire, and 250 in TexLas.
In this table particularly it is difficult to account, except on the supposition of error, for so large a difference
in the average yield per acre between States so alike in
character as Alabama (60) and Georgia (125), or between
Connecticut (85), Vermont (178) and New Hampshire (220).
No question, perhaps, connected with American Agrigricnlture is of more general interest and importance than
the mneasure of profit which may reasonably be expected
froil capital invested in farms, and managed with that degree of skill and industry, vwhichl are the recognised requi
47 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
sites to success, in the various branches of commerce and
of manufactures, in the trades, and learned professions.
It has been truly remarked, that "mankind have  a
habit of graduating the rank of labor by the recompense
it receives;* and it is undoubtedly the conviction that
agricultural labor is less profitable than many other employments pursued in cities and large towns, that induces
so many thousands of our ambitious and enegetic youths,
especially in New England and the Atlantic States, to forsake their rural homes, and the half-cultivated farms of
their fathers, in the hope of more rapidly achieving independence, and perhaps fortune, in communities where
every branch of trade is already over-crowded with anxious
competitors.
The same idea is not unfrequently entertained by capitalists. The common belief seems to be, and it is, doubtless,
founded upon common experience, that the profits of farming operations are very moderate, and that it is idle to expect more than a small per centage from capital thus invested. A contrary belief is usually attributed to an undue
enthusiasm with no basis of fact, and occasional instances
of large profits are regarded as extraordinary exceptions,
that are to be attributed to local and special causes, and
are not, therefore, to be allowed any weight in the support of a general theory.
It is most desirable that accurate statistics in regard to
the fair profits of capital invested in agriculture, after just
allowance for the industry required for its development,
should be gathered from all sections of the country, and it
would be well if some inquiries to this end were embodied
in the Agricultural schedules for the approaching Census.
* See the able address of the Hon. James Dixon, now U. S. Senator from
Connecticut, before the American Institute, at New York, in 1852, on "American Labor, its Necessities and Prospect."
48 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
The fact is as yet but imperfectly aplpreciated among us,
that Agriculture, which, in its origin, was but an art, has
been gradually raised to the dignity of a science; and now,
thanks to the discoveries of the great practical and ana lytic chemists, in Europe and America, of whom Liebig is
the chief, stimulated and aided by the mechanical inven tion, for which our age and country are so remarkable, it
occupies a position of pre-eminence unknown during the
last century.
There is, I believe," says Mr. Everett, "no exaggera tion in stating that as great an amount and variety of
scientific, physical and mechanical knowledge, is required
for the most successful conduct of the various operations of
husbandry, as for any of the arts, trades, or professions."
Assunming this position to be correct, it is clear that no
amount of evidence in regard to tile profits of farms conducted by men wanting in this wide range of scientific,
physical and mechanical knowledge, can determine the
profits that may be reasonably expected from farms of the
like capability, where that varied knowledge institutes and
guides every operation.
But there is reason to believe, that while the limit of
Agricultural profits generally throughout the country is as
much below the line it is capable of reaching, as the present standard of Agricultural education is below that high
standard to which Air. Everett directs the ambition of the
American farmer, there are good grounds for the opinion,
that with the increase of an Agricultural literature, the
diffusion of books and newspapers, of farmers' clubs, of
State, county, and town, Agricultural societies, of national
and local fairs and exhibitions, there is a pereeptible and
rapid improvement in the rural economy of the country,
in the intelligent culture of the soil, and in the profits af
Agricultural capital.
49 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
So long ago as 1795 Mr. Burke placed the proper profits of a proprietor of 1,200 acres at 12 per cent. Sir John
Sinclair, a quarter of a century later, declared the proper
profits at 10 to 15 per cent.  Mr. Rives, of Virginia, by
whlom these fiacts were mentioned in a very interesting
Agricultural address, stated the profit of the model farm
at Gignon, near Versailles, at 14 per cent.   The " Ievuzt
de8s cldeu~ Jodes" for February 15th, 1858, in an article
entitled, "Les Questions Agricoles en 1848," mentions that
the net profits of the farm at Bresles, in the department of
the Oise, rose, in 1856, to 246,000 francs upon a capital of
800,000, being more than 30 per cent.*
Occasional accounts in our Agricultural papers  indicate a rate of interest, which if verified as one that
could be reasonably anticipated with a due share of skill
and industry, would immediately induce the investment
of millions of capital in Agricultural operations, to the
benefit of the country at large, as well as to the individuals making the advances.t
One point that should not be lost sight of in a consideration of the advantages attendant upon Agricultural operations is the safety of the capital invested, compared with the
chances of loss attendant upon commercial or manufac
* Page 897; note 1.
t The question of the profits to be reasonably expected from Agriculture,
is, at this moment, being somewhat discussed both in France and England.
The Highlland Journal of Agriculture for March 1858, touches upon it in a
review of A. Lavergnes recent essay on the Agriculture of the two countries.
That able writer considers the idea that Agriculture is less profitable than
what is usually understood by manufactures, to have arisen from mistaken
views of the subject.  In the first place, lie regards the profits of mnanufictulres
as exaggerated.  We look only to instances of striking success, and forget
the much more numerous cases of signal failure.  Again hlie suggests, capital
iiv(sted in Agriculture is dispersed over a greater extent of territory, and its
res;ilts are less conspicuous; while in the other case it is concentrated in visible
masses, and a small number of establishments which strike the eye and the
imagination.  An article in "The Plough and Anvil," on the profits of Agri
50 
OF AFERICAN AGRICULTURE.
turing  investments.   The I-Ion. Emory  Washburne, of
Massachusetts, in an address before the Worcester Agricultural Society, in 1854, stated some facts bearing upon
the question, which a statistical inquiry, if one could be
accurately made, into the successes or reverses of the
various pursuits in which our countrymen engage, might
probably multiply fo an extent, that, without proof, would
hardly be credited. Of the merchants in.Boston doing
business at a certain wharf during forty years only six
became independent, the remainder failed or died destitute of property.   Of one thousand merchants, having
accounts at a principal Boston bank during the same year,
only six had become independent.
Another investigation led to the startling result, that of
every hundred traders, but seven succeed in acquiring
wealth. From such reverses the farmer is comparatively
free.  Of eleven hundred anti twelve bankrupts who took
the benefit of the bankrupt law in Massachusetts only fourteen were farmers; and of twenty-five hundred and fifty
bankrupts in New  York  only forty-six were farmers.
Less than two per cent. of the bankrupts belonged to
the Ag,ricultural population, although that population so
largely exceeds all the rest of the people however classified.
culture on certain fatms in New York, MIassacliusetts, and Connecticut, makes
mention of prizes awarded by the Agricultural Society of the latter States, for
crops per acre. Among these were tlhe following:
A. WAVadhlams, Goslien, 1344 buslhels of carrots per acre.
A Beechler, Bethllehlem, 1416     s':    "   "
J. T. Andrews, West Cornadl, 1660 bushels of ruta baga.
"'i  2102    "        long turnips.
iPhelps      "                105     "       shelled corn.
Many interesting facts bearing upon the question of crops to the acre, and
Agricultur.l profits, rmay be found in the reports of the Worcester Agricultural
Society, and generally of the Agricultural Societies throughout the United
States. A paper in which these scattered facts should be collated and digested,
would be a valuable addition to every farmer's library.
51 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
At the present moment, when the leading manufacturing interests of the country are in a languishing condition from their recent reverses, and the conviction is
generally felt of the precariousness of their profits for
the future, dependent as those profits are upon the varying policy of opposing parties; the claims of Agriculture
upon the attention of capitalists, as well as statesmen,
are likely to be more fairly scrutinised than when commerce and manufactures were in the full tide of success
Should the schedule for the approaching Census include
the question of Agricultural profit in such a form that
the returns may afford reliable data for prudent calculation, the next decade may perhaps see an investnment of
capital from the Atlantic States, in the cultivation of
wheat and corn in our western valleys, to an extent that
shall materially swell our exports of breadstuffs. and constitute them the chief element in our foreign exchanges.
Much has been said of late years of a gradual deterioration of the soil in the older States, as evidenced in
part by the decreasing ratio of crops to the acre, as compared with the ratio in former years and with the usual
ratio in other countries.
Mr. Morrill, M. C., of Vermont, by whom a bill has been
introduced into the House of Representatives designed to
grant to the several States some ten millions of acres to
be divided amongst them in proportion to the number of
senators and representatives they send to Washington,
with the view of promoting Agricultural education and
Agricultural science, by the establishment of an Agricultural college in each State, has made some startling statements upon this subject. Hie affirms that Agriculture is
rapidly declining in every State of the Union, that the
quantity of food produced bears each year a smaller pro
52 
OF AMERICA AGRICUL'TURE.
53
portion to the number of acres uinder cultivation, and that
over a very wide area some of the most useful crops bid
fair to become extinct.
A writer in the "Year Book of Agriculture for 1855," on
the "Alarming Deterioration of the Soil," referred to vari ous statistics of great significance in connection with this
subject.   Some of them regarded Massachusetts, wilere
the hay crop declined 12 per cent. from 1840 to 1850, not withstanding the addition of 90,000 acres to its mowiong
lands, and the grain crop absolutely depreciated 6,000
bushels, although the tillage lands had been increased by
the addition of 60,000 acres.
In Indiana the river bottoms which used to produce an
average crop of sixty bushels of corn to the acre, now
produce but forty  In Wisconsin, which is younger still,
it is estimated that only one-half the bushels of wheat
are now raised to the acre that were raised twelve years
ago; and the writer declares as the conclusion of the whole
matter " that the soils of New England, after all the admonitions we have received, are annually growing poorer,
and that even the virgin lands of the great TF'est are rapidly
becoming exhausted by their fertility."
IJe refers to the large falling off of the wheat and potato
crops in New England, which have however been replaced
by Indian corn, and also to the falling off of wheat in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and Alabama, to the extent of 60
per cent. from 1840 to 1850, and assumes that the Agricultural statistics of each State tell the same sad story.*
As regards a falling off in the production of the country,
I think it is clear from a comparison, not of wheat and
potatoes alone, but of the total products of the soil, especially of Indian corn, in 1840, with that of the same crops
* I gather this account of Mr. Morrell's statements from an editorial in the
N. Y. Evening Post. 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
in 1850, that Mr. Morrell is mistaken; but as productiveness of crops and destructiveness of soil are said to be the
two most prominent features of American Agriculture,
the large harvests in our young States ought not to blind
us to the fact that the fertility of those parts of the older
States which once yielded as abundantly, seems to have
been steadily diminishing for a long course of years.
This fact is exhibited, not only in the wheat lands of
New England, and other parts of the North, but on the
tobacco fields of Virginia, and the cotton plantations of the
South;* and the subject undoubtedly deserves the most
careful investigation.t
The deterioration of our soil is doubtless owing, in a
great part, to a careless system of cultivation, common to
new countries where land is cheap and labor is dear, and
the soil is naturally productive, and the individual cultivator is intent upon large immediate returns, thoughtless
of th3 permanent fertility of his farmI, careless of the int-c-:ss of his successors, and regardless of the prosperity
of ta  community at large.  It has been suggested that
e-eery agricultural people runs the same race of exhautistir., culture, shallow plowing, a continuous course of impovc'.-:,hing, with neither rest, rotation nor sufficient man:ure; and that necessity alone can convince them that
* Progress of Agriculture in the United States, by Daniel Lee, M. D., Patest Office Reports for 1853, p. 2, and'" Southern Agricultural Exhaustion and
its Remnedy," by Edmund Ruffin, Esq., of Virginia: read before the South Carolina Institute at Charleston, satie volume, page 373.
+ Prot. Liebig mentions the fiact, that the value of tobacco depends upon the
quantity of potash contained in the ashes; and that accurate analyses of the
various sorts of tobacco have been executed by the Administration at Paris,
as furnishling, a mode of distinguishing the different soils on which tobacco was
raised, as well as the peculiar class to which it belonged.  The Professor then
says: "Aniotlier striking fact was disclosed through  these analyses.  Certain
celebrated kinds of American tobacco were found gradually to yield a smaller
quantity of ashes, and their value diminished in proportion."
54 
A STArISTICAL VIEW
duty and interest both demand, that land shall be so tilled
as to increase rather than diminish in fruitfulness. Such
a necessity in the lessening crops of the Atlantic States,
and westward emigration in search of more fertile territories, already presents itself to the intelligent American
agriculturist: and the reasonable belief that the same exhaustive system will soon begin to tell upon the most productive regions of the West, has led to the discussion in
agricultural newspapers, and at farmers' clubs, of the philosophical causes of the exhaustion, and the best means of
renovation.
In some sections of the country efforts to restore exhausted lands have been attended with the most marked
pecuniary success. Mlr. Ruffirn, of Virginia, estimates the
increased value of reclaimed lands in Eastern Virginia,
by marling and liming, from 1838 to 1850, at some thirty
millions of dollars.  in the well known case of a similar
success fromn claying a light soil by the celebrated Coke of
Norfolk, afterwards Earl Leicester, that gentleman doubDled the value of his estates in Norfolkshire: and among
numerous instances of immense improvemnent simply from
drainage and deep plowing, with but little aid from fertilizers, may be mentioned one cited by Prof. Johlinston,t
of the Home farm at Yestees, belonging to the Marquis
of Tw-eedale, where the land, by these means, was raised
* The fact was developed by Lieb,ig, "That the mineral substances found in the
ashes of plants were originally ingredients of the soil,, In the shape of the Agricultural produce of a field, or in the crops. tlhe entire amount of these ingredients
of the soil Awldch have become ingredients of the plants, have been removed.
Thus phosphoric acid and potash are absorbed by the cereal grains, lime by
tobacco. and phosphoric acid and lime by cotton, and elucidated by the experiments of Bonssoingault, Slayen, and other foreign Agricultural chemists, touching the mineral constituents of various crops and the chemical analyses of soils,
to discover what elements were wanting, ani how they may most easily be restored in their due proportion, are becoming gradually known and appreciated
f Jolhnston's Agricultural Chemistry, p. 323, note.
55 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
in value eight times-from 5 shillings to 40 shillings rent
per acre.
There  are no reliable data from which we can now
gather the progress of deterioration in productive lands
in the United States, or the reclamation of exhausted
lands; but the rapid increase in the use of guano, the most
powerful of restoratives, indicates to some extent the in creasing attention paid to fertilizing.
The consumption of gtato for 1855, as stated by Prof.
Mapes, was about 140,000 tons.  The amount sold in England, during the year 1855, was stated by Mr. Nesbitt at
210,000 tons, being an increase of twenty per cent. on the
consumption of 1 S54, which was also an increase of twenty
per cent. over that of 1853; this increase has taken place
in the face of a rise in the price, from forty-five to about
eighty dollars per ton.
It would seem proper that the schedules for the new
Census, should embrace inquiries in regard to the deterioration or improvement of the soil, which may be shown,
not onlly ly the ratio of crops to the acre at successive
periods, but by the market value of the same lands at
stated intervals; and that the schedules should also exhibit generally the quantity and prices of the various fertilizers in use-barn-yard manure firstly and chiefly, then
guano, pouitdrette, limem,gypsum, marl, muck, and so forth,
that are yearly devoted to the enrichment of our soils.
Upon this item of manure, insignificant as it might seem
to the unreflecting mind, depends the continuous prosperity
of our country. This is the secret of England's Agricultural wealth.   Mr. Webster, in his sketch of English
Agriculture, quoted the extraordinary fact stated by
MI'Queen, " that the value of the animal manure annually applied to the crops in England, at current prices,
surpasses in value the whole amount of its foreign com
56 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
merce," and he added, "there is no doubt that it greatly
exceeds it."'
The schedules might also advantageously give us, not
simply the amount of new lands brought into cultivation,
but of the worthless lands that have been reclaimed by
drainage.
In almost all the States extensive tracts of swamp lands
are found, not only unfit for cultivation, but frequently inducive of that fearful scourge of health and happiness,
fever and ague, that year after year prostrates the energies, and shortens the lives of tens of thousands of our
countrymen.
Large grants of these swamp lands have been gratuitously made by the Federal Government to the States, in
the hope of their reclamation through measures to be
adopted by the State Governments.   Since 1849 nearly
sixty millions of acres have been thus granted.t In the
drainage of large tracts of land we have the benefit of the
experience of Europe, especially of Holland, where the
Harlem Lakle, thirty-three miles in circumference, and
thirteen feet deep below the tide, has, since 1839, been converted into a most fertile tract, occupied by some two thousand inhabitants, and exhibiting fields of verdure dotted
with numerous cottages, and enlivened by cattle, horses and
sheep, grazing on the fruitful meadows. The lands thus
reclaimed from the ocean are of extraordinary fertility,
and are estimated as capable of supporting seventy thousand persons.
Of the pecuniary results of drainage in this country Gov.
Wright, of Indiana, quoted an example in a public address
touching the marshy lands of that State embracing three
* Webster's Works, Vol. I., p. 448.
t See an interesting paper on drainage by Hienry F. French, of Exeter, New
Hlampshire, in the Patent Office Reports bfor 1856, page 160.
57 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
thousand acres. He mentioned a farm of 160 acres which
had been sold at five hundred dollars, and, after an expenditure of two hundred dollars iii drainage, was worth upwards of three thousand dollars, or all advance of more
than 500 per cent.
But, apart fiom these large tracts of overflowed lands,
scarcely a farm in the country but would be improved by
thorough drainage, and it would not be difficult to ascertain the number of acres under-drained in each year of
the Census, nor the estimated additional value which they
thereby received.*
Lookling, at the acreage now devoted to Indian Corn, to
say nothing of our other crops, it has been estimated that
by the adoption of an improved system of Agriculture, embracing drainage, deep ploughling and skillful manuring,
the entire crop now yielding 400 millions of dollars, might,
upon the same breadth of land(, be trebled if not quadrupled. At present, with occasional exceptions, our average
crops per acre are even less in our most fertile and almost
virg,iin States than in the soil of Europe, that has been cultivated for centuries.
Take A,heat, for instance.  The average crop per acre in
New York, Ohio and Indiana, is 12 bushels; in Franee it
is 13; in England, 21;t in Flanders, 23; in Scotland, 30
(on the authority of Professor Johnston); and in NewBrunswick, 19.
How  the average milght be increased througlhout this
country by careful culture, we may, in part, learn fiom
the returns of occasional crops in England of seventy
* The committee on drainage, in their report to the State Agricultural Society of New York, in 1848, assert, that': there is not one farm out of every
seventy-five in this State, but needs  draining-much  draining-to  bring it
into highl  cultivation.   May we venture to say that every whleat-field would
produce a larger and finer crop if properly drained."
t Prof. J. F. Jolinston, 1849.
58 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
bushels, in New York of sixty, on the prairies of forty-four,
and at San Jose, as is reported, of eighty-seven.
Yet another topic closely connected with the interests of
Ameiican Agriculture is the recent diminution of the proportion of the  male population engaged in Agricultural
pursuits, as compared with the number engaged in coinmercial and other pursuits. The precise ratio of that
diminution cannot be ascertained from the Census, for the
reason that the tables of ] 850, on the leading occupations
of the people, were based upon the whole number of male
inhabitants over fifteen years of age, including all the free
males, and three-fifths of the male slaves; whereas the
former tables of occupation, made in 1840 and 1830, were
based upon the entire population. The Census of 1840
made the portion engaged in Agriculture 77.4 per cent. for
both sexes, that of 1840 only 4-4.69.
There is, therefore, reason for believing that the proportion of the population devoted to Ag,ricultural pu:suits is
decreasing: and it is important that the scheduiles of the
next Census should be drawn wvithl reference to the determination of this point with entire acclracy, and silould
develop whatever facts may be essential, to enable, us to
discover, and if possible to correct, the causes that may
be diverting an undue proportion of American industry
from the culture of the soil.
The attractiveness of town and city life for the laboring
classes may be lessened by a study of the tables of mnortality, shlowing that the average duration of life is much
larger in the rural districts.
In England the average duration of life is forty-five
years in Surrey, but only twenty-five in Manchester and
Liverpool.*
* John Yates', Esq., Paper on our National Strength, tested by the numbers,
59 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
A paper, by Mr. Edward Jarvis, on vital statistics at
Dorchester, in Massachusetts, read before the British Association in January 1840,* showed that, out of 1,700 persons,
The average life of Farmers was       -  45 years
~"      Merchants        -  33   "
~"      Mechanics         -  29 
";      Laborers             27   "t
Looking from the average years of life to the increase
of the male population, we find it stated that in -Iassachusetts, among the cities and towns it is 6 per cent.,
the age, and the industrial qualities of the people, read before the British Association at Glasgow, September, 1855.
* Vol. IX. Journal of British Statistical Society, page 279.
+ The Registrar General of England, as quoted in the Highlland Journal of
Agriculture, gives the deaths per 1000 per annum, between the ages of 20
and 40.
Agricultural laborers.................................. 6.055
Printers............................................9.090
Police.................................................8.922
A paper on the Mortality and Hygiene of New Orleans, printed in the 11th
volume of De Bow's Review, for 1851, quotes the Registrar's Reports of Massachusetts; Dr. Genin on Vital Force; McCullough's British Empire; Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, March 1, 1851; and gives a table of mortality in cities
and other parts, from which I take the following:
Boston, 39 years from 1811..............................2.4572
Lowell, 13  "    "  1836..........................2.1194
New York, 45    "  1805............................. 2.9622
Philadelphia, 34  "  1807 to 1840.......................2.5510
Baltimore..........1831   1849.......................2.4917
Charleston...........1822 "1848.......................2.5793
Savannah........... 1840 " 1847 (white)................4.1616
New Orleans........1846   1850.......................8.1017
Massachusetts.......1847   1848.......................1.59
12 counties in.England...............................1.93
12 cities      ".................................. 2.72
London... males........................................72
* —..females....................................2.74
Liverpool. }   males....................................53
females.......................................3.15
males........................................3.65
Manchester ffemales.......................................31
females ~~~~~~~~~~3.31
60 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
while among the Agricultural population it is per cent.;
a difference of male births in favor of the rural districts of
33 1-3 per cent.
These facts, if verified by the national statistics, and
brought home to the consciousness of the people, are cer tainly calculated to restrain a preference for the crowded
streets and impure atmosphere of our cities, over the
broad fields and bracing air of the country; and the
feverish anxiety for rapid gains in mercantile pursuits,
may be advantageously checked by statistics showing the
uncertain gains of commercial speculations, and the cer tain profit of enlightened Agricultural toil.
The leading facts at which we have glanced, of an in creasing foreign demand for breadstuffs, the limited
breadth of our arable land, which thousands of our citizens have been taught to regard as inexhaustible, the gradual deterioration of the soil firom a wasteful system by
which the constituents of fertility are removed with each
successive crop, without being restored by appropriate
manures-a system based upon the desire for immediate
gains, without thought of the sacred duty that devolves
upon us to transmit the soil to our posterity,  with undiminished prodluctiveness, that it may sustain in comfort
and happiness the unnumbered millions that are presently
to occupy our land; these and similar considerations connected with the present and future prosperity of our country, appealing at once to the interest and the patriotism of
the nation, may be so elaborated and diversified, and verified by the tables of the Census, that its returns shall
teach us not simply lessons in political economy but lessons
of daily duty, the benefits of which shall be reaped alike
by the present and future generations.
There are various topics connected with American agriculture on which I would like to touch, did time permit
61 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
me. One, the recent and rapid introduction of improved
agricultural machinery soon probably to be followed by
the use of steam ploughs and other machinery worked by
the same motor, overcoming, to a great extent, the chief
difficulty of tlhe American farmer in the  high price of
labor; that feature of our griculture which constitutes
so marked and essential a difference between the practical
agriculture of America and Europe.
Another is the spread of agricultural science, through
the efforts of the patent office distributing their reports
and seeds gathered from Europe; through the multiplication of books and papers devoted to the subject, and by
county, state and national societies and farmers' clubs, in
their frequent meetings, addresses, and exhibitions of agricultural implements and products.
What the country now most requires in reference to its
agriculture, is, that its condition should be faithfully photograplied in the returns to each Federal Census, and it will
be for the Agricultural Section of this body to prepare well
considered suggestions for the new schedule and submit
them to the Federal Government. Such suggestions will
appropriately come firom the American Geographlical and
Statistical Society, in view of its national character and
the scope of its labors; and such suggestions, jud-ing from
the past, the Federal Government will cheerfully receive
and carefully consider.
Among the additional items which might advantageously be included in the schedules, I would suggest the
following:  As regaids per,sons employed in farming.-Thie proportion of the population thus employed of both sexes.
Their averagc life, as compared with that of persons living
in towns, and of other trades.
As regards caital employed ii agriculture.-Not only
62 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
the proportion invested in land, stock and implements, but
the profit thereon received during the year immediately
precedling the Census.
A8s regards the farmns.-Not only the improved and
unimproved lands, and the proportion in meadow, pasture or tillage, but the number of acres of each farm
that have been drained; the number requiring draining;
the number drained during the last year; the cost of
draining, and the value of the land before and after.
In regard to the improvement or deterioration of the soil.
The average of each crop and cost of each per acre; the
average of bushels or tons to the acre, and the cash value
of each on the spot.
Ibt regard to Enanures.-The amount, variety, and cost of
those applied during the last year, and the rate of cost per
acre.
Other suggestions will, doubtless, be made, a collation
of which, by the Bureau of the Census, may afford us in
future years, the means of tracing the progress of American agriculture, and reading its actual condition at each
decade, with the same facility with which a prudent merchlant reads the past and present of his business in the
carefully prepared balance sheet; and if the future of
America shall continue to exhibit the same steadily lrogressive advance that we find in her past, the tabular results of each succeeding Census, diy and uninteresting as
they may seem to those who shall see in them but columns
of figures, will in fact develop the fulfillment of some of
those prophesies of the coming wealth and splendor of the
Western Continent, that when occasionally uttered by our
far-seeing economists, are apt to be regarded as the careless
dreams of visionary enthusiasts.*
* The Northl  American Review for July. 1858, after referring to the settlement of IKainsas and Nebraslka, as ol)lening up tlhe great valley of the Missouri,
63 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN, I cannot close this address, without remarking that the increasing application
of natural science to rural economy, will closely connect
the Agricultural with the other Sections of your body, and
that our Agriculture is the National interest which is to be
chiefly benefited by their learned researches.
The late Prof. Johnston, of Edinboro', whom I was so
happy as to know during his visit to this country, and
whose admirable lectures in the United States have connected his name with American as it was already identified
with British Agriculture, on one occasion dwelt upon the
aid which the art of culture receives from every branch of
science, and this association is I trust destined to verify
the correctness of his remarks.
The Section on TOPOGRAPIiY,*> embracing the physical
geography of the Continent, and the topography of the
several States and Territories in detail, concerns, among
much else that is interesting, the extent and character of
our arable soil; our mountain elevations and depressions;
our table-lands and low plains, and in connection with the
section on HIYDROLOGY,t will exhibit the influence of the
ocean and the gulf, of our lakes and rivers, of tides, gulfstreams, prevailing winds and storms on the capabilities
rich in the cotton-wood, the poplar and willow, the oak, elm, cedar, and blackwalnut, with its bottom lands, and succeeding wheat and corn prairies, and
beyond them the arid plains that stretch to the foot of the Rocky Mountains,
the Mauvais Terres of the French trappers, where vegetation almost disappears, ventures on the following prediction:
"The time will come, when the Western merchant, who leaves California by
the cars, to buy his stock in the East, will find in Topeka, in Nebraska City,
in Lawrence, warehouses which will unite the products of the Atlantic States
and of Europe, with the goods which the abzundance of breadsteffs, the proximity
of the raw material, and the relief from the burthlen of freight, wlhich bears so
heavily on transportation across the Alleghlanies, will enable the factories ot
Kansas and Nebraska to present on the spot, to the exclusion of Eastern competition."
* Mr. H. V. Poor, Chairman.                t Rev. Dr. Hawks, Chairman.
64. 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
of the country, and the practices and profits of its cultivators.
The Sections on GEOLOGY* and Mi TEoRoLoGY,t have an
equally direct bearing upon Agriculture, in explaining the
natuie of the rocks and of the soil, the fall of rain, the
necessity for irrigation and for drainage.
The Section on BOTANY,t may materially aid the farmer,
by teachlling him the nature of the weeds that check his
progress; of the rust, smut, and mildew which attack his
cereals; of the cause yet to be discovered, of the rot in the
potato; of the mutual adaptation of plants to the soil; of
their special habits and natural structure, their increase
and decrease in various localities.
The Section onI ZOOLOGY and ANIMAL PIIYsIOLOGY, embraces by your classification, domestic animals and their
commercial value, their various breeds, the rearing of stock,
and it perhaps properly includes the agency of animal life
in fertilizing the soil.  That on COMMEPCE relates to the
transport and exports of breadstuffs, and their relation to
our foreign exchlanges; that on ]TANUFACTURES to our Agricultural implements, enlarging our production by diminislhing the necessity for human labor; and that on FINANCE,
to our national wealth, of which Agriculture is the most
prominent feature.
We  began, gentlemen, by recognizing  in Agriculture
the largest material interest of our country, constituting
the bulk of her wealth, and indicating, in no small deg,ree,
the physical comfort, the prosperity, and the civilization
of our people.
We next considered its relation to less favored foreign
lands, whose children look to us for food:-a relation that
* Lieut. E. L. Viele, Chairman. + Ilenry E. Pierrepont, Esq., Chairman.
: Rev. Josephl P. Thompson, Chairman.
65 
A STATISTICAL VIEW
invests thie quiet labors of our farmers with an interest
beyond the seas, not simply in shaping commercial speculation, and regulating among merchants the price of bread,
but in gladdening distant homes, in staying the march of
fanline and starvation, in allaying popular discontent, and
even averting national revolutions.
After a survey of the area, the population, the products,
and the statistics of our great American farm, of its home
resources, its foreign markets, and its probable fhture, we
close with the cnought, that for the advancement of this
great interest, which supplies millions with healtlhfll and
profitable elmployment, and other millions with their daily
bread; canals and railroads intersect our continent, extending westward tow-trds the far Pacific; ships whiten the
ocean, and steam labors in a thousand forms.  That to
supply its workmen withli fitting implements, inventive
genius is ever wakeful, and mechanical skill unceasing,ly
active. That in their behalf chemistry, by the crucible and
analysis, is extorting from nature her hidden secrets; and
science, in all her forms, is lending her skillful aid to perlfect,
in this advanced and advancing age, the art that was born
with the creation, in the garden that was given to man to
dress and to keep it.
We close with the thought, suggestive of tl;ankfulness
and good will, that all these agencies are at work for the
benefit of our universal brotherhood, to lighten the primeval curse, and to compel from our common mother, for the
benefit of the children of a common Father, more varied
and abundant harvests, with greater certainty and with
lessened toil.
Let us also reverently remember, gentlemen, in our
study of the laws of Political Economy by the guiding light
of statistics, that the truths which we seek to discover, are a
66 
OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.
part of that universal law whose seat is the bosom of God,
and whose voice the harmonoy of the world.
Nor let us ever forget, in the contemplation of our unparalled blessings, that the happiness and prosperity of a
nation depends infinitely less on their material wealth, than
upon the observance of those great rights and duties which
our fathers solemnly reco,gniized when we took our place in
the family of nations.
67 
APPENiD-I.
APPENDTY A.
AGRICULTURE IN CANADA.
The aim of the foregoing Address forbade any attempt to include in it a
sketch of the Agriculture of Canada, which is now being developed with such
extraordinary success, and in which the practical working of our new relations
with that great colony give us a national and growing interest, the importance
of which may be gathered at a glance from the following Statement, prepared,
as are several of the useful Tables contained in this Appendix,  by Mr. F.
BIcGGER, Register of the Treasury Department at Washington.
Stat eme t eibiting the Fports to and the Irnports from
Catnada and other British Possessions in -orthb America,
froY, the first day of Jluly, 1851, to the 30thl day of June,
1857.
INCR. EACH SUCCESSIVE
YEAR OVER 1852.
EXPORTS.    IMPORTS.
.................
$2,631,626 $1,440,419
14,057,844 2,817,461
17,297,004 9,026,435
18,520,333 15,200,122
13,753,466116,013,997
66,260,273 44,49S,234
XYE  RS              EXPORTS.
EN'DIN'G:
FOREIGN.  DOMESTIC.   TOTAL.
1852 $3,853,919 $6,655,097 $10,509,016
1853  5.736,555  7.404,087  13,140,642
1854  9,362,716 15,204,144  24.566,860
1855111,999,378 15,806,642  27,806,020
4  1856  6,314,652 22,714,697  29,029,349
18571 4,326.369 19,936,113  24,262,482
Total.. 41,593,589 87,720,780 129,314,369
From the last Report of the Minister of Agriculture, presented to the
('anadiain Legislature in May, 1857, it appears that in the articles of Wheat
and Flour, the Exports of 1856 were estimated at......... 9,391,531 bushels.
Against that of 1835...............................6,413,428
Showing an increase of.............................2,978,103
Or nearly 46 1-2 per cent.
I.',IPORTS.
$6,110,299
7,550,781
8,927,560
15,136,73421,310,421
22,124-296
81,160,028 
APPENDIX.
Of Indian Corn, the Export had increased at very rapid rates, as follows:
1853, only 831 bushels; 1854, 57,636 bushels; in 1855, 73,066 bushels; and
in 1856, 164,495 bushels.
In Oats, the increase was still greater. In 1855, there were 370,275 bushels
exported; in 1856, 1,296,677; an increase of 250 per cent. in one year.
In Barley and Rye, Hops, Flax-seed, and Tobacco, the other chief articles
under the head of Agricultural Produce, the increase has been very great.
Barley and Rye increased from 566,534 bushels in 1855, to 989,447 in 1856more than 74 1-2 per cent. in one year. Hops increased from 43,275 lbs. to
177,280 lbs. Flax-seed from 6,072 bushels to 11,879 bushels. Tobacco from
13,730 lbs. to 17,435 lbs.
The money value of the Agricultural Exports of 1856, exceeded that of
1855 by ~485,469, notwithstanding the great reduction in the prices during
1856 below those of 1855.
Agricultural Societies have been formed in nearly every County of Canada,
with branch Societies in nearly every Township, by which Fairs are held in
the Spring and Autumn. and which are aided by very generous grants from
the Government. In 1857, besides a grant of some eighty thousand dollars to
the County Associations in Canada East and Canada WVest, there were additional grants to each Provincial Association, besides others to the Boards of
Arts and Manufacture.
69 
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX B.
CENSUS OF 1840.-POPULATION, WHEAT, AND
INDIAN CORN.
States.     Census 1S40.   Bushels of    Val       ue.
Cnu1S0.Wheat. Vle
Alal)ana..... 590,756            828,052    $838,052
Arkansas...         97,574       105,878       105,878
Colurn., DI)t. of.   43,712        12,147        12,147
Connecticut..    309,978           87,009       108,761
Delaware....        78,085       315,1 5      315, 165             35      1     6
Georgia.......     691,3929   1,801,830   1.801,830
Illinois...... 476,18 33,35,;393   1,667,696
Illdiana......    685,866   4,049,375    2,024.687
Kentucky....    779.828   4,803,15           2 2,401,576
Louisiaina....... 39, 411         60            60
Maine....... 501,793             848,166   1,060,207
Mqaryland....      470,019   3,345, 783    3.345. 7813
MAfssaciusetts      731,699       157,923       197,404
Alichigain... 212,267   2,157,108   1.078,554
MAississippi... 375,651           196,626       196,626
MAissouri..... 383,702 1.037,386                518,693
N. tIIrnpslhire    284,574        4292,1294    527,655
New Jersey..    37.-3306          774,203       774,203
New York...  2,498.921  12.286,4l8  12,286,418
N. Carolina..    753,419    1,9t)0,855   1 960             2,855
Ohlio........ 1,519,467  16,5i 1,661   8,285,8',0
Perlnns-lvsania.   1,724,033  13,21:>077:3,  21 3,077
Rlodle Island.      108,8'0        3,098         1.872
S. Carolina...    594.398       968,)54       968,354
Tennessee....    829,210   4,569.692    3,427,269
Vermont.....    291,948           495.800       619,750
AVirginia.....   1,239,797  10,109,716  10,109,716
Terri'tories.
Florida......      54.477           412           41 2
Iowa........ 4:,112              154.693        77,346
Wisconsin....       30,945       212,116       106,058
Tot,ils.... 17,063,353, 8-4,82'3,272  68,033,934
Bhel Indian Corn.  Value.
Indian Corn.
70
20,947,004
4,846,6'.32
39,485
1,500,441
2,099.!.359
20,905,122
22,634,21.1
28,155,887
39,847,120
5,952,912
950,528
8,21-',2,086
1,809,192
2,27 7, 0 —9
13.161,237
17,332.524
1,162.572
.4,361,975
10,972,286
21-3,893,76 —
33,668,144
14,240,022
450,498
14,722,805
44,986,188
1,119.678
34,577,591
$8,378,802
2,423,316
19,743
900,265
1.259,615
10,452,561
4.526,842
5,631,177
7,969,424
2,976,456
7 12,89G
4,116,543
1,356,894
455,408
5,264,495
3,466,505
796,362
2,617,185
6,857,679
9,557,505
6,73'.3,629
8,544,013
281,561
7,. 61,402
11,246,547
747,385
17,288,795
898.974 449,487
1,406' 241 281,248
37),359 75,872
37 7,531,875'il32;749,61-2
I i 
APPENDIX.
APPENDTX   B.-Continued.
CENSUS OF 1850.-POPULATION, WHEAT, AND
INDIAN CORN.
Bushels of        Value.
wheat.
294,045    $264.640
199,639        179,675
17,228         15,505
17,370         15,633
41, 76i2       37,586
482,511       434,260
1,027           924
1,088,534        979,681
9,414.5 7 5   8,473,117
6.214j458   5,593,012
1,530,581   1,377,523
2,142',822    1,928,540
417            375
296,259       266.663
4,494,(;80   4,045,21]2
31,211        28,090
4;925,889   4,433,300
137,990        124,191
2,981,652    2.683.487
185,658        167,092
1,601,190   1,441,071
1'3,121,498 II,809,348
2,130,10' 2 1,917,092
14.487.351 13,03"8,616
15,367,691   13,830,922
49             44
1,066.27 7      959.649
1,619,386   1,457,448
41,729        37,556
535.955  482,360
11,212,616;10,091,354
4,286,,131   3,857,51.8
Bushels of      Value.
Indian Corn.
States.     Census, lS50.
Alabama......       771.623 2
Arkansas....    209,897
California..... 92,597
Colun., Dt. of.. 51,687
Connecticut... 370,7                                                        9     2
Delaware.....       91,       5    32
Florida.........    87,445
Georgia......... 906,185
Illinois.......                              851,470
Indiana.......... 988,416
Iowa.........                                19   2,214
Kentucky........ 98 2,40 5
Louisiana..... 517,7                        62
M1aine........    583,169
larylhind..... 5.583,034
Miassachlusetts.   994. a514
lichigai.....,97 654               o
Mississippi.... 1  606,326
Mlissouri......    682,044
N. liampsilire.    31 7,97                     6
New Jersey....   489,555
New York....   3.097,394
N. Caroliina..    86           9.039!
Ollio..........           14           31  9    8,.                    29
Peiissvlviania..  2,,11,786
Rllode Island..   1 47.545
S. Caroliina....    66(;8,507
Tennessee..... 1,002,717                                      
Texas.........   212,592
Vermont....... 314,120
Virginia.......  1,421,661
Wisconsin....      305,391
Teriritories.
Minnesota....         6,077
New Mlexico..        61,547
Oregon..........    13,294
Utah..........    11,380
Tota.ls......23.    191,876  100,485,844 190,437,260
I
i
I
I
i
I
II
71
28,754,048
8,893,939
12,236
65,230
1,935,043
3,145,542
1,996,809
30,080,099
57,646,984
52,964,36-1-3
8,656,799
58,672,591
1.0,266,373
1,750,056
10,749,858
2,345,490
5,641,420
22,446,552
36.214,5.',7
1,573,670
8,759,704
17,858,400
27,941,051
59,0-i 8,695
19,81'.35.214
539,201
16,271,454
52.2 76,223
6,028,876
2,0"32,396
35,254,319
1.988.979
14,377,024
4,446,969
6,118
32,615
967,522
1,572,771
998,404
15,040,050
28,823,492
26,482,181
4,328,400
29,3.36,295
5,13-, 187
875,023
5,374,929
1,172,745
2.820,7 10
I], 2 2 3.2 -i 6
18, l07,268
4,379,852
8,929,200
I;'3.970,52(;
29,539,347
9,917,607
269,601
S,l -35,727
26,138,1.1,1
3,014,438
1,016,198
17,627,160
994,489
1,401
1-96,516
211,94-1-3
107,702
1,261
176,864
190.749
96,932
16,725
365,411
2,918
9,899
8,363
182,705
1.459
4,950
592,071,104'296,035,552
i 
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX C.
Staterzeit exlibiting the Agg re gate  Valute of Breadstuff8
and Provis8ios expo)ted Alnually,fion2 1843 to 1857.
Years ending
Nine montlhs ending June 30, 1843....................
Year ending June 30.........  1844..................
1845....................
1.846....................
1847....................
1848....................
1849....................
1850....................
1851....................
1852....................
1853....................
1854....................
1855....................
1.856....................
1857....................
Total................................
APPENDIX D.
Amount.
$11,204,123
17,970,135
16,74:3,421
27,701,121
68,701,921
37,472,751
38,155,507
26,051,373
21,948,6 61
25,857,027
32,985,322
65,941,323
38,895, 148
77,187,301
74,667,852
$872,690,109
Statement showing the Annual Averacge Export Price of
Flour at AYw Yod/, fi,or  1800 till June 30, 1855.
Export
Year.       Price.
1814...  $14  50
1815...        9 25
1816...        7 37
S1817...    14  75
1818...    10 25
1819...        8  00
1820...        5 37
1821...       4  25
1822...        7 00
1823...        7 75
1824...        6 62
1825...        5 37
189 26...      5 25
182 7...2    8 00
.I
I
72
Year.
1842...
1843...
1844...
1845...
1846...
1847...
1848...
1849...
1850...
1851...
1852...
I 8 5'.3...
1854...
1855...
Export
Price
$10 00
13 00
9 00
7 00
7 75
13 00
7 50
8 25
6 00
7 50
8 25
10 50
10 7 5
13 00
Export
Price.
$ 5 50
5 00
7 25
5 62
5 87
5 50
5 50
6 00
7 50
10 25
9 50
6 75
5 37
5 20
Export
Pi-ice.
$ 6 00
4 50
4 75
4 51
5 18
5 95
6 22
5 35
5 00
4 77
4 24
5 60
7 88
10 10
Year.
1800...'
1801....
1802....
1803....
1804....
1805....
1806....
1807....
1808....
1809....
1810....
1811....
1812....
1813....
Year.
1828..
1829..
1830..
1831..
1832..
1833..
1834..
1835..
1836..
18.13-i..
1838..
18.139..
1840..
18-11.. 
APPENDIX E.
Statement ex7iiiting the numb)er of Farms, Plantations. &c., number of Acres of Improved and ttnimproved Land;  Average number of Acre.
to each  Jurist;  Cacsh  T'alse of  J               aulrus;  T oauej jf J"irntiglg  JIi-ijlements  and,ac7hiner?y; Average  T'alue of FJirms; Average Value of
FTursisiog                ans-  J)lIsssesst ~ts lioc/hinieir;  ilvetage  1'a1te (f Jisriis,  Jiqiplc~'ients and,Ilac7tinerg,y to each State and  Territory, and the Average
in all the Sitites and 7eri-ito?ries in 1850, as tiken frosti the Last  Census.
Ave-rage    Avera ge
Vatlue of    Va'ue of
Farl ming Farmlis, InmIhulpleme'ts'plemeints &
& M,lach  ry. Mlachiiner
$122       $1,655
90         950
118      4,561
151       6,63,2
84         3,324
84       3,19 8
153        1,622
114        1,964
84         1, 45
71         1,524
7"9      1,204
69       2,142
863        6,511
49       1,222
113       4,101
94      3,296
85        1,606
170        1,782
73       1.234
7"9     1,969
Value   of Farm-   Averag                e
ing Implements    V'alue of
atnil Machiniery.     Farms.
I            -
$5,125,66-3    $1,5'33
1,601,296           860
103,483        4,44'4
50,220         6.481
1,892,541        3,240
510,279        3,114
658,795         1,469
5,894,150         1,850
6,405,56 1        1,261
6,704,444         1.453
1,1.72,869       1,125
5,169,039        2,073
11,576,938         5,648
2,284,557          1,173
2,463,443        3,988
2,209,584        3,202
2,891,37 1         1,521
5.762,927          1,612
31,981,525       1,161
2,314,125          1, 890
Pianta-                 Acres of Untions,farmns Acres of Im-  improved       A
&c. 0l)roved        Land Land. 
41,916    4,435,614    7,702.067
17,758      781,530       1,816.6841
87 2       32,454    3,861.531
267        16,267         11,187
22,445    1.768,178         615,701
6,063      580,862         375,2 82
4,304     340,049    1,246,240
51,759    6,378,479   16,442,900
76. 208   5,039.545    6,997,          867
93,896   5,046,543    7,746.879
14,805      824,682      1.911,382
74,777   5,968,270   10,981.478
13,4922   1,590,025 3,399,018
46,760    2,039,596    2,515,797
21,860   2,797,905    1,8.-36,445
34,069    2,133,436   ],222.576 
34.089    1,929,110    2,454.780 
3:3,960   3,444.358    7,046.061
54.458  2,938,425         6,794,245
29,229   2,251,488  I 1,140,926
New Hampbire    317.976    29,229   2,251,488   1.740,926          116     55.245.997     2,314,125    1,890        79      1,969
I
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-11
States and
Te-i-itories.                Celisus 1850.
Al.,ib.i,iiia...... 771,62'3
Arkazisa.-,.. 209,897
C,iliforiiia.. 92,597
Coluiiibia, Dist. of 51.687
Connecticut...., 3701,792
Delaware....... 91,5'32
Florida......... 87,445
Geor,ia......... 90C, 185
Illitiols......... 851.
Tiiditina......... 988,416
Iowa........... 192,214
Kentucky....... 981,405
Louisiana...... 517.7 62
583,169
P83,034
Alassacliusel,,ts... 994.514
'Nlicliig,in....... 397.654
Alississippi... 60(,.526
Alissouri..... 682,044
New Hampsliire. 317.'976
Average
nui,ber of
Aci-es to
each Farni.
289
146
4,466
103
106
158
37 1
441
158
136
185
227
37 2
97
212
99
129
309
176
116
Cash Value of
F,tr,is.
$64,323,221
15,265,245
3,874,041
1,7"30,460
72,726,422
6,323,109
95,753,445
96,13'.',290
I 'i 6,3 8 5,1 7 3
16,657,5f,-7
155.021.262
7 5 814 398
54,861,748
87.178.545
109,07 6,'.347
51,872,44(;
54,7.'.38.6.'14
63,225,54' 55,245,99',
t
t
t —l
x
ti
m 
APPENDIX  E.-Continued.
Average
Planta-               Acres of Utn- nunl,l)er of
States and                   tions,farms Acres of Irm-  im5piroved   Acres to
Territories.    Census 1850.    &c.   iproved Lan(. Lni. ea clh Flarm.
New Jersey........ 489,555    2:13.905    1,767,991          984.955      11 5
New York......  3,097,394   170,621   12,408,964   6,710,120             113
Northl Carolilia..  869,039   56,963    5,453,975  15,5413,008           369
Ollio........... 1,980,329   143.807    9,851,493 8,1463,000             125
Penlsylvania.... 2,311,786   127,577    8,623,619   6,294,728             117
Rhlode Islaind...   147,545      5,385       356,487       197,451      103
Southi Caroliiia.     668,507    29,697    4,072,551  12,145.059          5411
Tenlnessee....... 1,002,717    72,735    5,175,173  13,808,849           261
Texas..........    212,592    12,198           643,976  10,852,363        942
Verinont........   314,120    29,763    2,601,409   1,524,413            139
Virg,inia........  1.421.661    77, 013   1 10,360,1:35  15,792.176       340
Wisconsin......    305,391    20,177    1,045,499    1,931,159           148
Territories.
Mfinnesota......        6.077        157        23,846       23,846      184
New Mlexico.            547 3, 750  1             2 12      4.1:370     77
Oregoni......         13..294      1.161      132,857       299,951      372
Utahl...........      11,380        926         16.333        0,516       51
23,191,8;'76  1,449,075 113,032,614 180,528,0001  203
Value of FarmCash Value of  in,  Inmplements
Farms,       alttiad MIachinery.
8$120,237,511    $4,425,503
554,546,642        22,084,926
67,8941,766        3,9:11,5:32
358,758, 603    12,750,585
407,87 6,099    14,722,541
17,079,802          497,201
82,431,684        4,136,354
97,851,212        5,360,210
16,550,008        2,151,704
6.:1,367,227      2,739,282
216,401,543         7,021,772
28,528,563         1,641,568
Aver.ige  Average
i Value of Vn'ue of
Average   Fasrming  Farms, ImValue of IIpleme'ts plements &
Farms.  & Mach'ry.  Mlachinery
$5,030      $185    $5,215
3,250       129     3,379
1,4.92       69      1,261
2,495        88      2,583
3,197       115     3,312
3,170       92      3,262
2,751      138      2,889
1,345        74      1,419
1,357      176       1,533
2,129       92      2,221
2,810       91      2,901
1,414        81      1,495
161.9418        15,981      1,031
1. 653,922        77,960       441
2.849.170       183,423      2,448
311,799         84,288        337
,271,575,426   151,587,638    2,258
f
s
I
I
It
It
t-11
t4
. ti
H
102
21
157
91
105
1,133
462
2,605
428
2,362 
APPENDIX F.
Stat ement exhibiting a Summary View of  the Aqt~ual Exports of  Domestgic Produce, &c., of the
Unzited States,fromn June, 1847, to 1857.
I
RAW
PRODUCE.
COTTON.   | AIANUFACT'rS.
$53,315,848       $10,351,364   $2,102,838
61,998,294       12,774,480    1,058,320
66,396,963        11,249,877        935,178
71,984,616        15,196,451        953,664
112,315,317        20,136,967      1,437,893
87,965,732        18,862,931      1,545,767
109,456,404        22,599.930       1 835,264
93,596,220       26.849,411    2,764,781
88,143.844       28.833.299       2,373,317
128,382,351       30,970.992       3,125,429
131,575,859       30,805,126       2,103,105
SPECIE AND
BULLION.   TOTAL VALUE
$2,620, $150,637,464
2,700,412    132,904,121
956,874    ]32,666,955
2,045,67.9  136,946,912
18,069,580    196,489,718
37,437,837   192,368,984
23,548,535    213,417,697
38,234,566    253,390,870
53,957,418    246,708,553
44,148,279   310,586,330
60,078,352    338,985,065
TIIE SEA.  TIlE FOREST. IAGRICULTURE.
$3,468,043    $5,996,073    $ 68,450,38'3
1,980,963         7,059,084         37,781,446
2,547,654         5,917,994         38,858.204
2,824,818         7,442,503         26,547,1.58
3,294,691         7,847,022         24,369,210
2,282,342         7,864,220         26,378,872
3,279,413         7,915,259         33,463,573
3,064,069    11,761,185             67,104,592
3,516,894    12,603,837             42,567,476
3,356,797    10,694,184             77,686.455
3,739,644    14,699,711              75,722,096
i
PRODLTCT OF
Id
It
t-I
t4
Toi3.icco.
$7,242,086
7.551,122
5,804,207
9,951,023
9,219,251
1 0,031,283
11.31.9 319
10' 016,046
14,712,468
12,221,843
20,260,772
1847..
1848..
1849..
1850..
1851..
1852..
1853..
1854..
1855..
1856..
1857..
oqlI 
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX G.
AVERAGE WAGES OF LABOR IN THIE SEVERAL
STATES.
The Census of 1850 does not give the average of wages of Agricultural
laborers: a table, from w-hich an approximate idea may be formed, is thle following, from the Census of that year, showing the wages paid in the Cotton
Manufacturing Establishmruents.
STATES, &C.
AVERAGE WAGES PER MONTII.
Male.      Female
Alabama................................
Arkansas...............................
Columnhia, District of......................
Connecticut.............................
Delaware...............................
Florida.................................
Georgia.................................
Indiana..................................
Kentucky...............................
Louisiana...............................
Maine...................................
Mlaryland...............................
M]assachusetts...........................
Mississippi..............................
Missouri................................
New Hampshire.........................
New Jersey.............................
New York.............................
North Carolina...........................
Ohio...................................
Pennsylvania............................
Rhode Island...........................
South Carolina...........................
Tennessee..............................
Vermont...............................
Virginia................................
A similar table of wages paid in the W,oolen Manufactories, shows labor in
the last to be somewhat higher priced.  in New York, for instance, the wages
of men are set down at $19.97 per month, and of women at $11.76
Mr. COLEMIAXN, in his letters from Europe, remarked, that " -itli us the
laborer is vastly better paid than in England," where men's wages are said to
average about eight dollars and a half per month.
I
I
76
$11 71
14 61
14 02
19 08
15 31
32 14
14 57
13 02
14 95
29!5
15 2
22 90
14 21
10 93
26 00
17 98
18 32
11 65
16 59
17 85
18 60
13 94
1 094
15 53
10 18
$7 98
5 88
8 00
11 so
11 58
5 00
7 39
6 7 7
9 36
12 15
9 48
13 60
1) 91
11) 00
13 47
9 56
. 9 68
6 13
9 42
9 91
12 95
8 30
6 42
12 65
6 98 
CONTENTS.
PAON
INTRODUCTION................................................... 5
Appreciation of Statistics by European Governments.................... 6
Statistics, their value defined by M. Le Ray.......................... 6
Do.      do.      do.   the French Minister...............   7
Agriculture, the largest National Interest............................ 
Its development measures the Degree of Civilization.................... 8
Proportion of Persons engaged in, in the United States and Great Britain. 8
The Capital invested in Agriculture................................ 9
Mr. Webster on the prominence of Agriculture....................... 9
Recent increase of Population over production in Europe............... 10
Causes that tend to increase the disproportion......................... 10
Recognition of the Political importance of the Bread Question..........11, 12
Mr. Mill, quoted on the foreign supplies of Bread for Englandote....... 12
American Agricultural Returns eagerly sought for abroad..............  13
Comparative Products of England in 1756 and at present.............13, 14
The Insufficiency of Food in France................................ 14
M. Payen on Public Alimentation in France, and Comparison with the 
United States and England-Note.............................. 14
Repeated reduction of standard height in the French Army............. 15
Insufficient cereal produce in Western Europe........................ 16
Advance of French Agriculture under the present Emperor-Note....... 16
Russian emancipation and enterprize, as regards Agriculture, Railways,
and Commerces.Tote.................................. 16, 17, 18
Russia, in population and area, and new Imperial policy............... 17
E.NGLAND LOOKS CHIEFLY TO WESTERN AMERICA FOR FOREIGN GRAIN.... 18
FACTS SHIOWING ITS CAPACITY TO AFFORD A SUPPLY.................... 19
Area of the United States......................................... 19
When acquired, and Area of other parts of North America-Note........ 19
Area of Russia and Brazil......................................... 20
"    other countries in Europe-Note...........................20, 21
Aggregate Population of the United States............................. 20 
CONTENTS.
Now for the first time exceeds that of Great Britain...................
Population in 1890, at present ratio of Increase.......................
The annual increase as compared with that of Russia, England, Austria,
and France.................................................
Population of the various Quarters of the World-Note................
Density of the population in the United States, in 1850................
What the population would be with the density of New England, Spain,
France, Great Britain, and Belgium.............................
Barren character of "the great American Plain," and other parts of the
PAGE.
20
20
20
20
21
21
West...................................................... 21
It must be the Industrial mission of the United States, in part, to produce
Food for foreign consumption.................................. 22
Note. in reply to the comments of the New York Tribune on this assertion  22
Reasons awhy America seems destined to be the greatest Grain market in
the World.................................................. 23
Agriculture, as connected with our national strength, prosperity, and
happiness................................................. 23, 24
The light to be thrown upon it by each successi ve Census, solving moral
and economic questions....................................... 24
STATISTICS, to be available, must be complete........................ 24
Quetelet on the Science of Statistics................................ 25
Lord Stanley on the certainty of their result......................... 25
What the Statistics of Agriculture should comprise.................. 25, 26
The efforts of private associations or local governments unequal to the
work.......................................................
Irregularity and incompleteness of the Census in several of the States....
The exception of New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts.................
The Statistics of the United States, the peculiar province of thle Federal
Government................................................
Minute features recommended in Europe for Agricultural schedules......
The early Census in the United States..............................
The Agricultural Schedules in 1840 and 1850........................
Mr. Rlussell's Services to the Census Bureau.........................
Mr. De Bow's suggestions for but two Sclledules —Note................
The materials already gathered, afford a basis for future comparison.....
Compendium of the Census for 1850................................
TIlE PIIYSICAL GEOGRAPIIY OF TIlE UNITED STATES...................
Mr. Poor's Exposition of the Topography of the Country-N_ote.........
Table showing the area of the slopes................................
Water transportation and shore line of the United States...............
The soil, to the east and west of the Mississippi......................
Proportion of the area improved...................................
Total number of acres occupied.....................................
Theories of Ricardo and Malthus as to land first occupied.............
Opposing theory of Mr. Carey, and facts cited by him-Note............
78
26
26
26
26
27
27
28
28
28
28
29
29
29
30
30
30
31
31
31
31 
CONTENTS.
PAGEL
State. Territorial, and County divisions.............................. 32
Nulimler of Farms, plant. tions, and improved acres-their value, and Value
of Farm implements, &c....................................... 32
Proportion of Improved land in the different sections of the United States.  32
Numiber of acres to the farms, and their value in the different sections... 32, 33
The tenure in fee by  hluichl they are held, an essential element of differ      ence in comparing American with Englishl Agriculture........... 33, 34
Notice of ~Mr. Mtills' argument that the interest of the landlord is hostile
to the sudden and general introduction of Agricultural improvements
-_vote....................................................... 33
Difference between the United States in size of the farms.............. 34
Note of Mr. Mfill respecting-.ote.................................. 35
TIIE CExSUS OF 1850............................................. 35
The Four Staples of the Country-Indian Corn, IIiy, AWheat, and Cotton.  35
TABLE, showing Number of acres-Product of each crop-Value of pro     duct per Acre, &c............................................ 36
IL-DIAN CORN, reference to the doubt expressed in the British Association
Awhether it was an American grain............................. 37
Constitution our most important and most universal Crop............... 38
Its inc,c.c from 1840 to 1850-56 per cent......................... 38
Professor Alapes' remarks respecting its failure....................... 38
A stapl)le Food for men and aninmals................................. 38
The consumption in the West Indies, and its use extending throughout
the WAorld.................................................. 39
TIIE WAIIEAT CIoP, Increase of but 15 per cent., breadth of land suited
for Wheat, small, and in older States decreasing................... 39
Increase of its culture in the North WAestern States-Facts touching its
decline in New York, stated by Mr. Robert Russell —Vote...........39
Chlicago. the largest primary grain port in the World —ote............ 40
Increase o f its population from  850 to 1856.......................... 40
The Decline of W'leat in N,ew York 25 per cent., while increase of Indian 
Corn about 100 per cent...................................... 40
Indian Corn raised in the U nited States withl less labor than any bread
Crop elsewhere.............................................. 41
Comparison by Mr. Browne of the nutritious value of Indian Corn and
lWhecat..................................................... 41
Comparison of the amount of each exported.........................    41
Distribution of the Exports of the Country, and their total value......... 41
Increase from 1837 to 1847, 70 per cent............................. 41
Singular Fluctuation  in Exports of Breadstufls for the last fifteen
years...................................................... 42
Variation in the Export price of Flour for successive years............... 42
Statistics as regards S-OCK-IHorses and Neat Cattle, Swine, Sheep, and
Woolen Manufactures, Rye, Oats, Potatoes, IIay, Cotton, Rice, and
Tobacco, Wool, Wine, Silk Cocoons...................... 43, 44, 45, 46
79 
CONTENTS.
Average of Bushels to the Acre, of Wheat, Rye, and Indian Corn in the
several States...............................................
Average to the acre of Oats, Rice, and Potatoes......................
TIlE QUESTION OF AGRICULTURAL PROFIT............................
Mr. Dixon's remarks on the rank of labor being determined by its re    compense...................................................
Accurate Statistics on this point most desirable.......................
Mr. Everett on the successful conduct of hlusbandry...................
Perceptible and rapid improvement in our rural economy..............
Agricultural Profits, as stated by Burke, Mr. Rives, and the Revue des Deux
PAGE
46
47
47
48
48
49
49
Mondes...................................................... 50
The Highland Journal of Agriculture, in reviewing Lavergnlc-ANote...... 50
Large crops in New York and Massachusetts........................ 51
Mr. Washburne on the Reverses of trading pursuits................... 51
But two per cent of all the Bankrupts in New York were Farmers...... 51
Proper returns in the Census, of Agricultural Profits, may induce the in    vestment of Atlantic Capital in the West........................52
ALLEGED DETERIORATION OF TIIE SOIL IN THE OLDER STATES........... 52
Statement of Mr. MAlorrill, M. C., of Vermont........................  52
Decline of the'lay Crop in Massacllusetts, and of tile average Crops ill
the Southern States.......................................... 53
Causes of the deterioration of the soil...............................  54
Diminished Value from this cause of American Tobacco, as mentioned by
Liebig —Vote................................................  54
Efforts to restore exhausted Lands.................................. 55
Increasing consumption of Guano.................................. 56
Inquiries in regard to manure proper for the Schedules................ 56
Reclamation of swamp lands granted by Government.................. 57
Effect to be produced by improved methods of Agriculture.............. 58
Comparison of average crops of Wheat in the United States and Foreign
Countries.................................................... 58
THE DECREASING PROPORTION OF PERSONS ENGAGED IN AGRICULTURAL
PURSUITS................................................... 59
Importance of discovering the causes of this diversion.................. 59
The duration of Life far greater in the Rural districts than in Cities...... 59
Various Statistics on this point —?ote............................... 60
The facts verified by the Census, tend to restrain a preference for city
life........................................................ 61
The Returns of the Census may teach lessons not only of economy but
of duty...................................................... 61
()ur improved Agricultural machinery, andl spread of Agricultural science. 62
What the Country now requires is faithful returns..................... 62
Items that may be included in the Schledules......................... 62
As to Persons and Capital employed in Farming...................... 62
80 
CONTENTS.
PAGE
As regards the Farms, the Improvement or the Deterioration of the Soil,
and Manures................................................ 63
The tabular results of the Census will develop the comning wealth of the
western continent..........................................  63
Predictions of the North Ameican Review-_ Sote..................... 63
CONcCLUSION.
The Connection between the Agricultural and the other Sections of the
Society.................................................... 64
Reference 15, the late Professor Johnson of EdiLiloro', and to the Sections
on Topography and Hydrography............................. 64
The Sections on Geology and Meteorolo,gy, Botany, Zoology, Commerce,
Manufactures, and Finance.................................... 65
Brief review of the heads of the Address........................... 66, 67
Closing thoughts................................................ 65, 67
APPENDIX A.
Agriculture in Canada..........................................68, 69
APPENDIX B.
Census of 1840-Population, wheat, and Indian corn..................
APPENDIX B.- Continued.
(1ensus of 1850-Population, wheat, and Indian corn..................
APPENDIX C.
Statement exhibiting the aggregate value of BreadstufiYs and Provisions
exported annually, from 1843 to 1857..........................
APPENDIX D.
StatemenIt showing the annual average Export Price of Flour at New
York, from 1800 till June 30, 1855.............................
72
APPENDIX E.
Statement exhibitirng the number of farms, plantations, tic., number of
acres of improvedand unimproved land; average number of acres to
each farm; cash value of farms; value of fiarming implements and
machinery; average value of farms; average value of farming imple    ments and machinery; average value of ftarms, implements, and ma    chinery to each State and Territory, and the average in all the States
end Territories in 1850, as taken from the last Census............. 73
APPENDIX F.
Statement exhilitiling a summary view of the annual exports of Domestic
Prodluce, c., of the United States, from June 1847, to 1857........ 75
APPENDIX G.
Avemg;1 e wages of labor in the several States........................
81
70
71
72
76