Louis Proyect
2014-10-20 12:10:20 UTC
It appears that Marx first happened to encounter Johnston?s Notes on
North America through two articles in The Economist.18 These articles
sum up Johnston?s book well, and it is likely that they motivated Marx
to study his more theoretical books on agricultural chemistry and
geology. One of the articles starts by mentioning the fact that despite
the constant and growing communication between England and North
America, there was not sufficient information about the agricultural
capacity in the New World. Consequently, as the article continues, a
myth prevailed among English readers that a great improvement of virgin
soils had been achieved, and the soil would be inexhaustible in North
America. For the purpose of disproving this fallacy, the author of The
Economist values Johnston?s Notes on North America (1851) quite highly,
as ?the author?s knowledge of science, and its practical relations with
agriculture, enabled him to obtain very clear and accurate views.?
According to the article, ?one of the most important of these
conclusions? is ?that the wheat-exporting power of North America has not
only been much exaggerated, but is actually, and not slowly,
diminishing? or even ?worn out.?19 However, as the article continues, it
is not in the farmer?s interest to maintain the fertility of the land
through good management?because it is actually cheaper to sell it and
settle upon new land, going further west once the land becomes less
agriculturally profitable. Thus, as the next article maintains, the
diminishment of crops is not at all surprising, once ?we learn that in
many districts the land has been cropped with wheat for fifty years
without any other manure than a ton of gypsum a year applied to the
whole farm.?20 Succinctly summarizing Johnston?s book to rebuff a
widespread illusion about American agriculture, these articles conclude
that it is in reality still trapped ?in a very primitive state,? without
a proper investment or management, which quickly exhausts soils.
full:
http://monthlyreview.org/2014/10/01/the-emergence-of-marxs-critique-of-modern-agriculture/
North America through two articles in The Economist.18 These articles
sum up Johnston?s book well, and it is likely that they motivated Marx
to study his more theoretical books on agricultural chemistry and
geology. One of the articles starts by mentioning the fact that despite
the constant and growing communication between England and North
America, there was not sufficient information about the agricultural
capacity in the New World. Consequently, as the article continues, a
myth prevailed among English readers that a great improvement of virgin
soils had been achieved, and the soil would be inexhaustible in North
America. For the purpose of disproving this fallacy, the author of The
Economist values Johnston?s Notes on North America (1851) quite highly,
as ?the author?s knowledge of science, and its practical relations with
agriculture, enabled him to obtain very clear and accurate views.?
According to the article, ?one of the most important of these
conclusions? is ?that the wheat-exporting power of North America has not
only been much exaggerated, but is actually, and not slowly,
diminishing? or even ?worn out.?19 However, as the article continues, it
is not in the farmer?s interest to maintain the fertility of the land
through good management?because it is actually cheaper to sell it and
settle upon new land, going further west once the land becomes less
agriculturally profitable. Thus, as the next article maintains, the
diminishment of crops is not at all surprising, once ?we learn that in
many districts the land has been cropped with wheat for fifty years
without any other manure than a ton of gypsum a year applied to the
whole farm.?20 Succinctly summarizing Johnston?s book to rebuff a
widespread illusion about American agriculture, these articles conclude
that it is in reality still trapped ?in a very primitive state,? without
a proper investment or management, which quickly exhausts soils.
full:
http://monthlyreview.org/2014/10/01/the-emergence-of-marxs-critique-of-modern-agriculture/