states are concerned, the enormous profits of this alleged wasteful cultivation have in the main been applied, not to personal consumption, but to permanent improvements,—not indeed to improvements of the land, but to what were still more needed in the situation, namely, improvements upon the land. The first-fruits of a virgin soil have been expended in forms which have vastly enhanced the productive power of the country. The land, doubtless, as one factor of that productive power, became temporarily less efficient than it would have been under a conservative European treatment; but the joint product of the three factors—land, labour and capital—was for the time enormously increased. Under this regimen the fertility of the land, of course, in time necessarily declined, sooner or later, according to the nature of the crops grown and to the degree of original strength in the soil. Resort was then had to new fields farther west. The granary of the continent moved first to western New York, thence into the Ohio valley, and then, again, to the banks of the Mississippi. The north and south line dividing the wheat product of the United States into two equal parts was in 1850 drawn along the 82nd meridian (81° 58′ 49″). In 1860 that line was drawn along the 86th (86° 1′ 38″), in 1870 along the 89th (88° 48′ 40″), in 1880 along the 90th (90° 30′ 46″), in 1890 along the 93rd (93° 9′ 18″), and in 1900 along the 95th (94° 59′ 23″). Meanwhile one portion of the inhabitants of the earlier settlements joined in the movement across the face of the continent. As the grain centre passed on to the west they followed it, too restless by character and habit to find pleasure in the work of stable communities. A second portion of the inhabitants became engaged in raising, upon limited areas, small crops, garden vegetables and orchard fruits, and in producing butter, milk, poultry and eggs, for the supply of the cities and manufacturing towns which had been built up out of the abundant profits of the primitive agriculture. Still another portion of the agricultural population gradually became occupied in the more careful and intense culture of the cereal crops upon the better lands, the less eligible fields being allowed to spring up in brush and wood. Deep ploughing and thorough drainage were resorted to; fertilizers were employed to bring up and to keep up the soil; and thus began the serious systematic agriculture of the older states. Something continued to be done in wheat, but not much. New York raised 13 million bushels in 1850; thirty years later she raised 1112 million bushels; and fifty years later 1012 million bushels. Pennsylvania raised 1513 million bushels in 1850; in 1880 she raised 1912 million bushels; and in 1900 2012 million bushels. More is done in Indian corn (maize), that most prolific cereal, the backbone of American agriculture; still more is done relatively in buckwheat, barley and rye. Pennsylvania, though the eleventh state in wheat production in 1905, stood first in rye and second in buckwheat (ninth in oats). New York was only twenty-first in wheat, but first in buckwheat (tenth in barley), fourth in rye. We do not, however, reach the full significance of the situation until we account for the fourth portion of the former agricultural population, in noting how naturally and fortunately commercial and manufacturing cities spring up in the sites which have been prepared for them by the lavish expenditure of the enormous profits of a primitive agriculture upon permanently useful improvements of a constructive character. These towns are the gifts of agriculture.
Besides the extension of cultivated area, very little was accomplished in the way of agricultural improvement before 1850. With some few exceptions the methods of cultivation were substantially the same as those of colonial days, and were marked by crudeness, waste and a general adherence to rule-of-thumb principles. The year 1850 roughly marks the beginning of a period of improvement and development. The Irish famine of 1846 and the German political troubles of 1848 were followed by an unprecedented emigration to America of highly desirable European labourers, for whom there were cheap and abundant lands. The period from 1850 to 1870 was marked by a steady growth, which, in the western states, was highly stimulated by the Civil War. While this conflict withdrew a certain amount of productive energy from agricultural pursuits, it tended at the same time to increase the value of farm labour and of farm products and to extend the use of machinery in order to offset the deficient labour supply. Agricultural machinery had been employed before the War, but only to a very small extent. In 1864, 70,000 reapers and mowers were manufactured, twice as many as in 1862, and manufacturers were unable to supply the demand. Moreover, in the years 1860, 1861 and 1862 the wheat crops of Great Britain and the European continent were failures, while those of the United States, far removed from the theatre of military operations, were unusually large. The wheat exports to Great Britain in 1861 were three times as great as those of any previous year, and the strong demand from abroad was an additional stimulus to higher prices. In 1864 agricultural prices were from 100 to 200% higher than in 1861, while transportation charges had only slightly advanced and in some instances had actually decreased. In the middle of the war the farmers’ profits were normal; toward the end they had increased enormously. This marvellous agricultural prosperity of a nation engaged in one of the world’s most formidable wars has no counterpart in modern history. In the decade from 1860 to 1870 there was a steady increase in cultivated area, in agricultural products and in population. The value of the farm lands in the northern states in 1870 exceeded that of 1860 by five dollars an acre. On the other hand, the farm lands of the southern states had declined in value to an almost equal amount; but after 1870 these states also made substantial progress, and in 1880 they produced more cotton than in 1860, when the greatest crop under the slave system was grown.
Since 1870 the most important factors in this development have been the employment of more scientific methods of production and the more extensive use of machinery. The study of soils with a view of adapting to them the most suitable crops and fertilizers; the increased attention given to diversified farming and crop rotation; the introduction and successful growth of new plants (e.g. the date palm in Arizona and California, and tea in South Carolina); tile drainage; the ensilage of forage; more careful selection. in breeding; the use of inoculation to prevent Texas fever in cattle and cholera in swine, of tuberculin to discover the presence of tuberculosis in cows, of organic ferments to hasten the progress of butter-making, of the “Babcock test” for ascertaining the amount of fat in milk, of fungicides and insecticides to destroy fruit and vegetable pests,—such are but a few manifestations of the spread of scientific knowledge among the farming population of the United States. Nearly every county has some sort of agricultural society; in 1899 there were about 1500 of these organizations, some of which, especially those holding annual fairs, received state aid.
With the improvement in technical processes of production came the conquest of the arid regions of the western states. Irrigation was first employed in the west by the Mormons in 1847; but as late as 1870 only about 20,000 acres had been irrigated. In 1880 the irrigated area was approximately 1,000,000 acres, and in the decade from 1889 to 1899 it increased from 3,631,381 to 7,539,545 acres, a gain of 107·6%. By 1902 there had been a still further increase to 9,478,852 acres, a gain of 25·7% in three years. As many of the streams available for irrigation purposes lie within more than one state, the control of Water supply is a proper matter for federal jurisdiction, and in June 1902 Congress provided for an extensive system of irrigation works in thirteen states and three territories. The cost of the work is defrayed from the proceeds of the sales of government lands within the states and territories affected by the act. The measure is not paternalistic; the settlers on the lands, which are divided into farms of not less than 40 nor more than 160 acres, are required to make annual payments to the government in proportion to the water service they have received, until the original cost of the works has been met. The first of these works, the so-called Truckee-Carson project, of Nevada, was completed in June 1905, and at the end of that year eight projects, in as many different states, were under
