THE WEST SHORE.
229
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commerce will never be realized Nothing is more cer
tain, however, than that there will soon be some radical
Chungs in the routes of TiiciSo ooiuweioe.
Whether it is that "The wish is fathor to the
thought," or because their mentnl vision is bounded by
the narrow horizon of local prejudice and self-interest, or
whatever other cauise may, in charity, be assigned to it,
the fnot remains undeniable that it is impossible for the
citizens of one section of the West to recognize the pal
pable advantages and future prospects of a rival, or to
admit the existence of facts and conditions which soem
dear and indisputable to a stranger who has no local
interest to warp his judgment Daily we hear the remark
made that when certain events happen they will " lay out"
this or that place "cold." The party making these asser
tions is certain those events will happen, for no Iwttor
reason than that he desires them, and that they will have
the predioted effect because his supposed interests lead
him to feel antagonistic to the place doomed in his imag
ination to be blottod out On the contrary, through the
same process of reasoning, a oitizen of the place roforred
to is equally positive no such events will occur, or, if thoy
do, will not have the disastrous effects ascribed to thorn.
He even goes further and sees in his mind another train
of events that will bring inevitable ruin to the home of
the individual first spoken of. To one not influenoe by
local pride or personal interest it is plainly apparent that
both partios are doceiving themselves. Whoever believes
that the completion of the Cascados branch, the opening
of the Upper Columbia River, the construction of a line
across the mountains from Yaquhia Bay, or any or all of
a dozen mooted projects, will be a death-blow to Tort
land; that the lease of the 0. R. & N. Co. will prevent
the completion of the Casoadns branch; that a failure to
build that branch will be a mortal stroke to Taooma; that
its completion to Taooma will kill Seattlo, or will prevent
any other road from seeking a Puget Sound outlet; or
that by the happening of any of a numier of possible
events their town will be placed in the lead in the race
for metropolitan honors and their rivals " squolohod," is
a sadly mistaken individual His judgment is warped
by prejudice; he is reasoning from false promises to a
wrong conclusion; he has not given the subject dispas
sionate investigation; he has not sufficiently informed
himself of the great resources of this region, nor of the
commercial hihtory of older communities. If he had he
would know that each section has its elements of strength ;
that none are dependent solely upon the Impelling of
any future event or series of events; that all are estab
lished and will grow as the onuntry becomes belter devel
oped, and that in no case will either the lugubrious pre
dictions of the croaker nor the rose-tinted visions of the
enthusiast be realized. We are all here to stay, to grow
and thrive, and it would be more seemly, as well as of
more profit to us all, to view this subject in the light of
common sense, friendliness and that community of inter
est which, whether we realize it or not, our position
gives us.
SCIENCE APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE.
AGRICULTURE involves all physioal soionoo. Earth,
air, light, heat ami moisture are evor factors in
vegotablo germination and growth. Natural laws direct
and control the operations of the husbandman, however
ignorant, and his practice, if wise and judicious, Is an
unconscious formula of the results of science applied to
agriculture. ThuB we find in every rural community,
howevor primitive anil unlettered, peculiar methods and
traditionary practices, whiuh are crystalled oommon
sense and uuwritten science.
Statistical research shows that a crude agriculture is
not abundant in product, that it is defloiont in working
capital, and that it is compelled to pay high interest on
borrowed money. A low grado of farming is cursed with
mortgages and mildews, with insects and ignorance. Un
certainty broods over its harvests and famine decimates
its people. Famine is unknown in a country of advanced
agriculture, though a fourth of its people only may be
engaged in rural production. On the oontrary, millions
famish in India, whilo most of its people are in agricul
ture. It is said that in . 1270, in England, " parents ate
thoir ohildron whon wheat rose to 8.10 shillings a quarter
at the present value of money." Fivo hundred yean ago,
when nearly every Englishman lived by agriculture, the
product only sufficod for a home supply; now, with a
population of 4 1(1 to tho square milo, of which only ono
in eight is an agricultural worker, six-tenths of all the
food required for consumption is produced at home,
though half the island is oooupiod for residences, pleas
ure grounds and hunting preserves.
The lint in races of Southern Euroe, slower than the
Anglo-Saxon in utilizing in rural practice tho discoveries
of modern soionoo, are still mnking sure progress toward
a higher and more profitable agriculture. In Italy lands
are more productive, buildings more numerous and eon
vonient, and the peasant is bettor paid and better lodged
and clothed. An official commission has recognized the
improvement as a measure of progress in scientific agri.
culture, and made the futuro prosperity of Italy depend
ent upon schools and scientific experiment
Spain is mainly agricultural, yet its entire value of
rural production oould bo purchased with the valuo of the
oorn crop of the United States. It is because the yield
is small and the price low. Russia, with labor employed
principally In agriculture, yields hut nineteen bushels of
cereals per head, while Great Britain, with sovon-elghths
of her jmoplo employed outside of agriculture, last yusr
produced ten bushels of ceroids for every inhabitant of
the country. In Great Dritain the yield per acre of
wheat is twenty-eight bushels; in Russia scarcely more
than a third as much. This high yield has been attained
by science applied to agriculture. A single Individual
has given his fortune to experimental agriculture, and
endowed his farm with the iueome from $.7)0,000.
In seasons unfavorable to production the money value
of skill and scieuco in sgriculture is immensely en
hanoed. It is often remarked thnt farmers receive ss
much for a very small crop ss for a very huge one. In