Newspaper Page Text
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ISMMX rs ikt jl'fluttl
ipiantrv’s Journal,
DEVOTKIiTO AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE
NEWS, MEMORIES OF THE LOST CAUSE,
LITERATURE, SUIENOE »nd ART.
hunky moohe,
A . K. WHIG H T
I’ATUICK WALSH.
TERMS--$3,00 per Annum, in Advance
SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1872.
April-
With April, we have an ancient pro
mise of’ “sunshine and showers.” For
the sunshine, we will he truly grateful,
having had none to speak of for some
months.
The unusual severity of the season,
and the continual rains, have so hin
dered work, that this will be a season of
more than ordinary pressure on farms
and plantations. Corn is still not
planted in many localities, and the first
business will he to get it in, in good
condition. It will prove to be poor
economy to hurry over the preparation
for, and planting of this crop. Half
the after labor may be spared, if the
preparation is thorough, and the grain
goes into deep tine soil. Where the
planting is much delayed, a light appli
cation of guano, even 50 lbs. per acre,
or strong stable manure, will prove
beneficial in giving a prompt and vig
orous start.
Cotton will receive its due share of
attention without any reminding or any
editorial suggestions in its behalf. We
need only repeat, in a wholly disinter
ested spirit, that the hardest labor in
the cultivation maybe saved by plowing
deep, and having the soil in a thorough
state of tilth, before the seed goes in.
If there is not time to do this, and time
to apply fertilizers deep under the bed,
and time to plaint pith ease, tlip» i-m.
oft the field for ItHu plam that in
corto* The profits of the
cotton crop in the country at large, are
no greater on a large crop than a small
one ; for the price is always in inverse
proportion to the production; and on
the small crops the expense and risk
are reduced to reasonable limits. Not
one acre should be in cotton that is not
good, beyond doubt, for a thousand
pounds or more of seed cotton. ' Let
the area be small for this crop, the
preparation and manuring the best, and
nothing short of the best; and put the
bulk of labor on corn and provisions.
This system will insure independence
on the farm ; and its adoption does no|*
involve the chance of losing anything
that might be made by a contrary
policy.
Potato lands should be manured and
bedded, and made fully ready for early
setting ot slips, which may he done the
last of this month. This crop ought to
be liberally planted. It yields so abun
dantly, and affords such acceptable food
for men and beasts, that it should be a
main chance on every farm, instead of
a side issue, as it is usually. .
The early plowing of corn and the
i eplanting come on quickly, and should'
be quickly done when it is time. The
mouths are almost too short now for
the work that offers to the tanner.
Let there, be no dilatoriness, no sloth,
no make shifts, to avoid the heavy,
haul labor that must he done before the
crops ran thrive.
1 lie vegetable garden ought not to
be overlooked. Karly this month, all
the tender vegetables, such as beans,
squashes, okra and tomatoes, must lie
provided for. These are both meat
and bread in the warm season, and
BANNER OF THE SOUTH AND PLANTERS’JOURNAL.
j necessary to the health and comfort of
j men.
Sow also millet, that rich and abun
dant source of green feed. One half j
acre of it will feed ten mules, all they j
can safely eat of it for ten weeks, if only |
the ground is very rich and in good
preparation.
“On Time.”
TJie worst feature that pervades the
whole agriculture of the South now,
and since the war, is the universal dis- >
position of planters to go in debt for j
everything required to run a farm, in
stead of trying faithfully either to pro
duce them at home or do without. The
extent to which the practice is carried
involves really the mortgaging of the
whole crop, and reduces farming to a
mere and strict speculation. Our aver
age seasons include a long drouth in
Summer which renders the provision
crops very precarious on all uplands;
the price to be obtained for cotton is
widely varying every year, and never
within the control of the planter.
Therefore where all the necessary sup
plies of the farm have to he bought,
and bought, too, on credit, with the
unavoidable addition of a large j>er
centage on price to cover interest and
risk, the result of the years crop is al
ways extremely doubtful, whether it
will pay the expenses incurred or not.
This is speculation, pure and simple,
and one in which all the chances are
against the planter. He assumes all
the risk, furnishes the land, the teams,
and the labor; and long, arduous and
unremitting labor it is, from January
till December. He takes the chances
of rain and drouth, and storm and
wind, of rust, smut, blight, mildew,
bud worm, cut worm, boll worm, army
worm, crows, moles and thieves.
TV hatever is )o.\t by all these causes is
his loss, and his only, unless all his as
sets are not enough to cover the debts
he haft contracted. f
The mangy tenffrT'
merchant hold their lieu on his crops
of corn, fodder, cotton, peas and hay,
and their mortgage on all the mules and
| oxen and wagons, plows and hoes and :
axes. And if the crop fails and all i
these are inadequate to pay the advan
ces, they have still equal rights with
other creditors, and may proceed by
common law to absorb all the property
in lands, stock, and other pelf, of
which the unfortunate speculative j
farmer may be possessed, lie can take j
J refuge only in insolvency and the home
stead. This is the actual chance as
sumed by every planter who enters on
the years work by incurring a debt for
provisions and fertilizers equal to a mo
iety of what his farm is capable ot pro
ducing. with the labor and means avail
able ; and this perhaps is the chance I
actually assumed by more than half i
the planters in Georgia and Carolina
to-day.
Immediately upon the close of the:
war, when our farms were run down to \
the very point of abandonment and
the country was utterly devoid of
means of recuperation, borrowing was
resorted to as a temporary measure,
only to get a start of food and stock,
until a crop could be matured. For
such a purpose, and at such a time it
was justifiable to anticipate to a small
extent. But the practice has not been
dropped: it has been continued from
year to year and to a greater extent
every year; and the delusion is ever be
fore jis;—one big crop of cotton at a
high price will set us even. Food l
crops are neglected, raising stock, and '
saving manure and all the wise econo
mies of the farm, small though many
of them be, are utterly slighted, and
every effort is concentrated on cotton.
The duly trouble about the cotton is
we never get what we want for it; and
too often it is the case that all the
produce ot the farm would not pay for
j the advances made in the year.
| The planter who Ixirrows, assumes
jto pay back the money with interest,
and make a profit for himself beside,
! out of the years crop. That is. a heavy
i undertaking in any business. There
! are not many things to be done on
borrowed money that will pay interest
on the capital and another living profit
beside. Certainly, of all ventures in
the world, the planter assumes more
risks than almost any other.
“On time” are such common words
in every mouth for five years past,
that the meaning of them is forgotten,
lie who lends money, or advances or
accepts, risks losing his means only in
case the borrower becomes wholly
bankrupt. His liens cover crops and
stocks, and with them together he can
can be repaid to a large extent or
wholly, though nothing is left of the
year’s labor for the planter. ' To buy
“on time” is to spend in advance what
it is only hoped will be made on the
crop,— but when spent, to be repaid
whether made or not. Can any husi
ness prosper or be profitable, that in
volves all the risks of the year on the
farm, besides the large interest or com
mission charged on money loaned!
There are not many, business men to
he found who would assume such risks,
and hope to make profits out of them.
We assert that the worst feature that
pervades the planting interests of the
country is the universal disposition on
the ,pnrt of planters to spend their
crops before they are made. To be
willing to do this, even with a thousand
chances in his favor, would be an im
prudence. How-much worse than im
prudence is it then, when every means
and all source* are resorted to, on or
from which lib borrow money, or buy
something on time. There is longer
atiy abhorrence of debt. It is now
sought after, and and not avoided. No
one is content even to do well on his
own means, if he can imagine a chance
to do better by borrowing.
We now see advertised not only
guano “on time,” but bacon, corn,
mnles and horses, and even shoes on
time “to planters!’’ Traders and mer
chants admit the growing disposition
to do all sorts of business “on time"
“to planters," and so they add on a
price for interest and risk, and adver
tise their goods accordingly. Even
Life Insurance agents have been known
to issue insurance “on time”— to plant
ers —and takn s lien on crops-
There can be no thrift, nor any accu
mulation of means, no bettering one's
condition from year to year while
this practice prevails. Nothing can
ever be saved, while one can spend it
before it is made. Credit must be for
saken by planters, or abolished by deal- 1
ere, so that it shall no .longer be resort
ed to as a means of living. Even
man should lie compelled to live on
his own produce, and every one to build
up his own prosperity before we can
hope to see our farmers on a safe foot
ing, and growing yeaily in means and
resources, as faithful tillers of the soil
in every land and age have done.
Notes on Corn.
Salt and ashes make a good manure
tor corn when guano is not convenient, j
Land plaster alone, is also an excellent
manure. Asa protection against bud j
worm, it is suggested to coat the seed
corn over with tar, —coaltar will prove
the best—by pouring a pint of tar
into a half bushel of seed corn, and
mixing well, so that each grain may be
coated with it.
A writer in the Cultivator, in 1868,
| stated that he had succeeded in saving
: his com from the cut icorm by soaking
his seed a (Lay and night 'in milk of
lime, about as strong as ordinary
whitewash, the lime .ieing first air
slacked. This experiment is easily
tried, and we take it to apply to the
bud icorm, rather than the cut worm,
.from the account given.
These suggestions may be too late
except for com on bottom lands. For
re-plantings, however, they are in good
season.
Literary Notes
lIY PAUL H. lIAYNE.
[The synopsis of “Blackwood'a" article on
the “Life and Genius of General Lee,”
(necessarily omitted in this week, will be
continued, and if possible, finished in the
next number of “The Banner”] Mean
while wc present our readers with the
following:
‘■'■Mabel Lee," By the author of
“ Valerie Aylmer, ’ “ Morton House,"
Ac.. I). Appleton A Cos.. New
York, 1872
The modern novel is a more power
ful agent of moral, social, and in
tellectual improvement, or the reverse,
than most persons imagine. It occu
pies the position, in oiu- age, which
the Drama occupied in the days of
the English Elizabeth, and a vast pro
portion of the creative and artistic
talent of the time has chosen this
medium of fiction to illustrate at once
ts aims and its powers. No longer
therefore, can the the novel be despised
as the light work of Dilettanti, to he
perused by lanquid Beauty in the
boudoir, or dismissed with a contemp
tuous shrug by all genuine scholars
and thinkers. In fact, we cannot
ignore, and we date not despise its in
fluence.
Yet, in America, it must be con
fessed that we • have no first-class
Novelists. The liest productions in
this department by Northern Authors
fall short of the high standard reached
by Dickens, Reade, Thackerary,
George Elliott, and Mrs. Gaskill in
Great Britain ; and by such writers as
Madatne Dudevant in France, and
Tieck, Freilingarte, Speilhaagen &c,
in ,Germany. As for the South, we
can hardly be said all along, to have
had any definite or organized literature
whatever, the few great literary names
among us, standing like lonely columns
upon an arid stretch of,desert land.
But at last, thank Heaven, the
mental horizon begins to brighten.
There have been signs, since the war,
of an intellectual awakening in our
Section, which cannot be mistaken.
A few writers of admirable natural
ability, and noble artistic instincts, have
arisen, and in their performances, we
behold the promise of a fair literary
future for our people.
Among the youngest of these, and
the ablest, we must rank the author of
“Valerie Alymer," and “Morton
House," and more recently of ‘ Mabel
Lee." just issued by the Appletons.
The latter story was composed, as
we happen to know, before either of
the two others mentioned ; but besides
a general revision, the concluding]
chapters have been carefully re-cast.,
and re-written, and the result is a tale of |
vivid interest, full of natural, striking
characterization, with a plot ingenious-j
lv constructed, and subtly developed,.
the whole surrounded by an atmos-!
phere of delicate art, and brightened
by the graces of a style exceptionally
elegant, facile, and refined, but with
true Anglo-Saxon vim at the bottom of I
every well-modulated, and scholarly 1
paragraph.
VYc cannot pretend to give just ;
now, even an outline of the story, but i
may remark that Southern life under j
J the '‘old reyime has never been more
j truthfully painted. V\ e are introduced
|to the proud, honorable, aristocratic
: planter, who dwelt in a kind of
1 feudal state in the midst of his grate-
I ful vassals; and to that peculiar
1 society of men and women, known
to th e antebellum South, which what
j ever its faults, was tinged with a cer
tain glory of ehivalric romance, and of
a high-toned social idealism. An in
j expressible air of refinement, of cul
ture, oi a social purity, recherche and
I fastidious, hangs over, and harmonizes
i the narrative, like a deep-blue venial
! sky over some varied and vivid land
scape. It is this feature of “Christian
I Reade’s" novels which forms for us one
■of their greatest charms, Even when
she has to deal with unhallowed passion,
! every vulgar element is studiously
eliminated ; a fine reserve of power
pervades the entire portraiture; so that
in none of her works are we offended
by what is spasmodic, harsh, unsytne
trieal, or violently melodramatic. In
“ Mabel Led' 'particularly, the tempta
tion to indulge in technically “fine
writing,” and in “coups de theatre,”
i would have overpowered any author of
uncliastened imagination, but this art
in “Christian Read” acts as an unerring
j esthetic conscience, and a story which
in other hands, would have degenerated
into fierce sensationalism, in here is
j moulded into what we feel bound to
regard not so much as a successful
! novel, (in the ordinary acceptation of
| the term,) as a charming prose-poem.
| In saying thus much, we by no means
| exaggerate. “ Mabel Lee," the heroine,”
and of course, the central personage of
i the narrative, is essentially a poetical
creation. True to life, and nature,
1 and the circumstances of her time and
! country, she is nevertheless a creature
lof romance, and the pathos of her.
trials, at last ending as it were, in the
j emergence of subdued, but fairy sun
shine, affects the reader rhythmically,
like “closes of rare music," rather than
like the ordinary endings, dramatic, < r
j otherwise, of the cleverest novels,
which follow conventional types.
Let us say finally, that in “Christian
Reade," we are disposed to recognize
that long-wished for genius whose
special mission it is, to vindicate—
through artistic fiction, both the dead
I civ ilization, and the present idiosyncra
| cies of the South.
Among the mass of feeble, inefficient,
uncultivated minds whose random ef
forts are now flooding the press with
“characteristic Southern "novels,’' so
called, the works of this young writer
shine serenely, with the bright soft
‘•glamour” of stare in a clouded sky.
Another novel, with the title,
“Salted by Fire," the production of
a Southerner, under the norn de plume
of 11. M. LeGrange, has just appeareef
from the press of E. J. Hale »fc Son,
New York.
It is a work of fair performance, and
still fairer promise. Composed, as we
know, under every conceivable disad
vantage, by a young, inexperieuced
writer, far from libraries, unaided by
advice, during the hours snatched from
hard, exacting labor of a practical and
often most depressing kind, we have
been surprised in reading it, to perceive
how correct and graceful is the general
style, and with what a predominant in
stinct in the right artistic direction,
most otthe “dramatis personae' have
been conceived and depicted. While
the plot is injudicious, and unsatisfac
tory, the character-painting—a more
important matter—seems to us seldom
at fault, or at all events, the errors
committed, are not radical, being slight
blots on the surface, rather than in the
heart of her portraitures 1 T n truth