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FARMING NOT PLANTING.
Editors Southern Cultivator : — B been a Ion"
while since l have written an article for an agricultural
journal. But having now, (after having made a large for
tune by planting, and lost it by the war,) to go to wmh
again from the stump, I shall endeavor to do my best on
the farm, and at what leisure; I may have, use my pen for
the great work which has fallen to the Southern people in
repairing their fortunes, by anew system of agriculture,
which at once must be adopted, to suit our circumstances.
I was, before the war, a large cotton planter, but since the
emancipation of our negroes, and one year’s trial with the
freedmen, I am fully convinced that cotton planting on a
large scale, (unless it is done as a speculation, which the
present system is nothing giore or less,) is too precarious
to attempt as a permanent pursuit. All who are acquaint
ed with cotton planting, know it is a long and laborious
crop to make, tedious and monotonous to the laborer —
one in which only the highest wages, and the most flatter
ing persuasions can induce them to engage in cultivating.
Hence, 1 have abandoned its culture, sold my plantation
and purchased a valley farm in the mountain regions oi
Georgia, where I shall turn my whole attention to faim
ing. What I mean by farming is, to cultivate on a small
scale, a variety of crops —attend also to fruit culture, rais
ing of stock, and even try the dairy. By this system, but
a few dollars are necessary, and by rotating, manuring and
seeding down land to grass, a farm may easily be enrich
ed, increased in its productiveness and made more valua
ble yearly. lam fully convinced of this fact, sooner or
later, large plantations under the old system of culture
must be abandoned, and farming adopted in its stead.
Why ? Because with hired labor, poor lands cannot be af
forded to be cultivated. The lands we tend must be en
riched, and labor must be economized, and it is impossi
ble to keep up and enrich a large plantation, so as to make
it remunerative, with our present laborers. The policy is
to make one acre produce what three now do, and by la
bor-saving machines, to make two hands do what five are
now doing. This must be the system adopted to make
Southern farming profitable, and if not adopted, we w ill
become bankrupt. In upper Georgia, there is a soil un
surpassed in productiveness, and adapted to corn, wheat,
rye, oats, barley, cotton, clover, the grasses, and tobacco,
and every variety of fruit—the climate is fine, and its wa
ter power unsurpassed for any kind of machinery. This
section of country, in the hands of enterprising and prac
tieal farmers, may be made the garden spot of the South.
Living is cheap and abundant, and a ready market can be
had for any surplus, Railroad facilities being at hand. Let
us, for example, quote merely the fruits that have been sent
to market from this section of country the past season :
“By the following statement, by the President, of the
exports over the Rome Rail Road, it will be seen that
there have been shipped from here this season, 15,602
bushels of fruit. Now, allowing two-thirds of tins to be
peaches, at $3 per bushel, and the balance apples, at $1 25,
it would amount to $37,022. Just suppose that ten times
that amount of fruit had been dried, which could have
been, if proper attention had been given it, and an income
from fruit alone, would have been realized, amounting to
$379 ,220.” In addition to this, the demand for wheat, corn
SOUTI IE UN CULTIVATOR.
and meats are enormous. Large amounts of hay can also
be made here, as a market crop. W e have no reason to
despond, and nothing to fear, if we will only set to wo k
right, and deveiope the vast resources of our country.
Again, in these fertile valleys of North Georgia, we arc
not dependent on free laborers, for the climate is so fine,
the white man can labor with vigor and health, and there
is a population of hardy mountaineers at hand, ready and
willing to take hold and make the soil produce abundant
ly. >1 v remarks are in relation to Vann’s Valley, in I lord
county, Georgia, which, for agricultural purposes, as well
as manufacturing, is unsurpassed anywhere. 1 rue, its for
mer and present population are rough farmers, so far as
their Management of the soil is concerned; but so soon
as the work of improvement has commenced, their ener
gies are not wanting to do as others will do. The begin
ning of improvement is what is needed. Scientific farm
ing must be adopted, and when undertaken,,the fruits of
our labors will be abundant, and prosperity visible on
every hand.
Very respectfully vours,
' JOHN H. DENT.
Cave Spring, Ca.
ngfr * «4u» — -
Tka. —We make the following extract from a letter
received from our esteemed frieud, Mr. Howard :
I observe one of your correspondents making enquiries
about the Tea Plant. Before the war, 200 plants were
sent me from the Patent Office. They were doing well
until both armies passed over them. I have saved only
eight; these blossom and bear seed ; in fact, seedlings
have sprung up, where the seed has been dropped. I fear
that labor is too scarce and high to make them remunera
tive with us. C. W. HOWARD.
TRIAL OF THE STEAM PLOW.
Public curiosity has been largely excited within a few
days by an appearance on our thoroughfares of a cumbrous
machine, a steam engine drawing a train of plows. This
steam plow, as it is technically known, is an invention
which is the property of Messrs. John Fowler & Cos., of
Leeds, England. It has been in use in the valley of the
Nile for some time, and there, we are assured, is an estab
lished improvement. Messrs. Longstreet, Owen & Cos.,
have given the large influence of their name, as agents, in
presenting the novelty to the consideration of planters in
the South.
Mr. Max Eigth, formerly chief engineer on the staff of
Pasha Hahn, when that pasha held the vice-royalty in
Egypt, comes with the machine to superintend experi
ments made with it. Having witnessed in Egypt the ope
rations of the plow, he is convinced that it will be as suc
cessful here as it was on the Nile, and yesterday his favo
rite implement was tested on the fair grounds. A larn-e
company witnessed the trial, among whom were several
gentlemen whose occupation from boyhood had been that
1 of planters.
About two acres were plowed in the presence of the
party. The ground was matted with an old growth of
grass. It had been tramped, and besides, the soil was
naturally heavy and, by late rains, was unusually wet.
The sod was turned beautifully to a plowman’s eye, at an
average depth of ten or twelve inches. An obstruction
was put on the field, and the plow was put on the field,
and the plow was guided to avoid the obstruction with
quite as much facility as if the motive power were cattle
or mules, and the stilts were held by an exacting plow
man. A stump in the way was torn up remorselessly. In
such matters as this, theories amount to little, but the
unanimous opinion of the planters on the ground, all of
whom watched the operations of the plow with the deepest
interest, was that it was a decided success. After the
Plowing, experiments were made with the locomotive,
passing over plowed ground, and crossing a bridge, with
the view of showing its adaptability to plantation uses,
and the spectators were astonished at the versatility of the
machinery.—A 7 . O. Crescent.