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112 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.