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2 r T * lE r~] * Official Organ of the Patrons of Husbandly. - - 5 . Written for The Georgia Grange.] PRIZE ESSAY. DIVERSIFIED FARMING By Sam’l Barnett, of Wilkes County. This is, perhaps, the most hackneyed and cer tainly the most important subject affecting the material interests of the people of Georgia, and of the whole South. Whatever of interest we have in agriculture—and it is by far the lead ing industry of the State —is really dependent on a wise use of the wide range of production Providence has placed within our power. I desire, therefore, to present a very thorough view of the subject, and in elucidating its prin ciples, to make the exposition as broad, deep or general as possible. COTTON, AT THE SOUTH, THE FOE OF DI VERSITY. The range of possible production being wide, why is it not varied and diversified according ly ? The answer is ready—The special phase assumed in Georgia, by want of diversity, al ways takes the cotton form. If farm labor is limited in its aims, it is because, practically, all farmers become mere cotton-raisers, and thus the great bulk of our population consisting of farmers, the greater portion of our labor be comes unremunerative. It is generally admitted too, that, as a matter of experience, the exclu sive culture of cotton is unprofitable. No re mark is more common than this. “It is as trite as true, and as unpracticed as trite* As all men think all men mortal but themselves, so it seems that ail farmers think all farmers should diversify hut themselves.” One reason of this is, that by calculation, as ordinarily made, cotton ought to be the most profitable crop. And our people incline to follow the figures rather than the facts of the case. To harmonize experience with calculation in this matter, therefore, will be part of our task, by showing, Ist. The compatibility of other crops with the cotton crop as far as this can be really remunerative; 2. Certain elements of cost usually omitted or underestimated in calcu'at ing its profits. Men being governed by their interests, real or supposed, we desire to show clearly, and to their real and honest satisfaction, their prac tical interest in this matter to be on the side of “diversification.” AUTHORITY —ALL ON THIS SIDE. In confirmation of this general view, we might refer to. a’ thousand authoritities, old and new—especially, quite recently, to the Re port of the Executive Committee of the State Agricultural Society, to the message of Gov- Smith, and to an article, with some unpalatable truths, in the Boston Advertiser, comparing the situation of Massachusetts and Georgia. NEW AND INCREASING REASONS. Beside the old argument, however, and the light of experience in favor of diversity, there is an increasing necessity laid on us, Ist. By the expansion of the cotton area ; ‘2d. By the increased power of production on the old urea, by the use of fertilizers. To these two causes is attributed the unexpected size of the present cotton crop —that of 1573. The new area is a formidable competitor, introducing into the competition rich lands, and these necessarily stimulated by fertilizers, to make a shorter season suffice, and so giving a heavy yield per acre. Krom tins new source of rivalry springs j more danger than from India, Egypt or Bra zil. And it is already upon us. We are no alarmists, but simply state and face the truth. NEW DANGERS AND DIFFICULTIES. New dangers of excess in this regard arise also trom the form too often assumed by the ten ant system, the rent being made payable exclu sively in cotton. From the same quarter arise also new difficulties, especially in the failure of superintendence when the rent does not de pend at all upon it. Unless the negro works tor wages or tor part of the crop, or rents for part ot the crop, the white man’s direct interest in giving direction to his industry, ami seeing that he works, is gone. Bad as things have In'en, they threaten to be worse. The growing practice of renting for so much cotton reallv will amount (till the evil works its own cure) to the virtual abandonment of the country to the negro, left to his own indolence, wan, of judgment and ot skill. He cannot lav off his work, nor will he do the work, as a general rule, unless under some supervision; and this will not be given when the motive for it, in the | direct interest of the white man. is gone. These preliminaries lead us to the oppor tunities and corresp Hiding obligations arising from DUR NATURAL RESOURCES. 1 :.e , ‘i'i r.o reasons‘or Diversified Farming are t > l>e foun 1 in < ur climate. > i! and fnciii- ■ its of p.-ednetion, all eminer.tly adapted to I that end. Our opportunities, providentially |p granted, ail mu diversity c! <> Ul . S circumstance* quite as decid dly make it our f interest an 1 duty: and this n.-t only is the in v U'tres f the general arn in - c tun . J it e individual farmer and of his family, as well S . as ot the other classes who co-operate bv mantt- K faeturing transpor ation or<therwise in bring ing the producer and consumer together, or who are needful to complete the social structure- The vastly superior certainty and security of a livelihood derived from varied crops taking into consideration the uncertainties of season and of prices—furnish a leading argu ment. Farming is not a speculative business. It requires too hard work to be a mere game of chance. The homely illustration holds especi ally true, with those who depend upon it for a living, that it is best not to carry all their eggs in one basket. We will consider the farmer’s powers of pro duction and also the necessary outlays for pro duction and for living. NEEDFUL COTTON ARRANGEMENTS. At first, we will consider the necessary out lay and needful arrangements for the produc tion of cotton, as if this were the only crop aimed at —unfortunately true in too many’ in stances. For cotton alone, we need to have land, laborers, mules, utensils, and perhaps fertilizers. The laborers on a cotton planta tion must be engaged by the year. In this fact is found one great distinction between cotton production and agricultural work in a grain or grazing country, where work is needed at only two short seasons. The cotton season covers the whole year. Twelve months are required for its production, and arrangements are necessarily made on that basis. But while it thus covers twelve months, it does not exhaust it. This is another very material point in our investigation. Arrange ments are necessarily made for twelve months, but do not consume all the time. COTTON PINCHES. A farm, to make maximum results, must, like any other investment, be worked up to its capacity. Now, there are parts of the year much busier than others, and parts in which the cotton requires no attention; but the land, the hands, and the mules, are neverthe less all on ha .d, and the two latter on expen ses, the hands also drawing wages. In pitching the cotton crop, the limit of possible production is found in the pick g capacity of the hands engaged in its production, and of the extra hands who can be hired. These extra hands consist mainly of the non-workers (women and children) on the farm, of drones about the town, and of some who quit household work and go to cotton-picking to the great discom fort of house-keepers. Certainly the two latter classes are not to be encouraged. Another pinch in cotton making, is in the time of hoeing, when the same classes are brought into requisition. We have here no great reservoir of laborers, usually engaged in other pursuits, from which to draw at these seasons, as they have in other countries. The hoeing season is to some extent embarrased by other crops, but by good management, even with the drawbacks these occasion, a farm can be made to produce as much as the available labor can pick. So much for the limits of the actual power of cotton production. Another limit, and quite a different one, is found in the price, which determines the power of profitable production. Usually, as the crop goes up the price comes down, and so a large crop and a profitable crop do not necessarily mean the same thing. SPARE time. What shall be done during the unoccupied or partially occupied seasons? The farmer has the land, stock and labor on his hands ; these are all capable of the production of other things as well as cotton. The mules ought not to be idle, the hands ought not to be idle Seldom is any other occupation within reach, except work on other crops, while for this work all the means are at hand. The inter vals, also, between the times for working cot ton are too short for outside work ai d the hands not expert. UNAV Oil ABLE EXPENSES. We spoke of the expenses of the farm. These consist largely of food, for man and beast, of fertilizers, and the cost of implements and stock. TRANSPORTATION, NOT ONE OF THEM. Food is ever a heavy article for transporta tion, and the cost of transportation is ill appre ciated. If supplies are not made at home, consider'the usual round between the producer and the consumer: They have first been hauled to the wrong crib —taking corn as an illustration. In the case of corn, it has, then, to be shelled and sacked by the wrong hands and hauled to the depot by the wrong mules in the wrong wagon. A new class ot laborers is then introduced, and the corn transported by rail or water to another depot, some hundreds ot miles off', usually, and then the hands, team anil wagons which might to have been engaged in its production, haul it, not trom the field, but from the depot to the crib. Corn cobs are scarce, and the horses fed poorly on corn, eaten too fast because not taken in its natural state, or because the horst's are hungry, the corn often damaged at that. Now, if this corn could l>e made at home, what huge, unnecessary labor it has cost, viz . twice the cost of trans portation by wagon and once by rail. THE EXTRA HAULING CF PROVISIONS would ALMOST MAKE THE CROP. If any additional force is needed by this argument, it would be furnished, perhaps, by an estimate of how many miles of ploughing, compared with the miles of hauling, would be required to make the same corn. With judi cious work, corn or small grain can be made with little more than the actual work of hauling it ten or twelve miles from a detail. Tie- is not a mere artful way of putting the case, but the sober statement of the fact. I ca.'y, t o. the : . ’ -. rn is de! ayed as 1 ong - ; till the hauling e r.t’icts with cit n-w ,u_ is much as the i iking, or when ths ads arc at the worst- We have thus illustrated, ns a sample, one o. the numeroti- sources of less arising from the nun-production of supplie. at ’m ine. What were the hand-, mules, <.tc d ing when they might have been making supplied’ T'.ere be- osKfii® sanest ing unoccupied time, without donbt, what has become of it? We will come to this point at once, not entering into the other items equally instructive. MEANS OF DIVERSIFICATION. lii giving the reasons, we have anticiwted to some extent the means ot diversifying farm ing- „ • i One, and the great means of course, is the production of provision crops, which produc tion should extend in a farming community not only to the supply of the farm, but the support of all the dependencies and allied in terests of such a community. The farmers have both the facilities for production and the market for sales to this extent, with all the advantages of a home market over a foreign, viz., freight, insurance, delay, and the like. If abroad there be richer land, at home there is labor partially unoccupied and proximity. Thus provision crops may become money crops also, not merely supporting the family at home, but sold to others. WE ARE NOT RESTRICTED TO CROPS—STOCK. 2. But we are not necessarily restricted to raising crops as the means of diversifying farm labor. One of the heaviest expenses connected with farming in Georgia is the supply of work stock and of other live stock, as of for beef and milk, sheep for food and wool, bacon, poultry, etc. This annual source is not half so much understood and decWl as the foregoing. Stock-raising furnishes,how ever, one of the choicest and practically most needed lines of diversity in Southern farming. The annual drain on Georgia for mules is simply alarming. Will not mares breed in Georgia? Will not horses and mules born in Georgia survive ? Is there any law against raising them here? Why, then, this exhaust ing annual drain on on our feeble resources? SAVING THINGS. 3. Some other most important work is If be found in saving manures, and especially cot ton seed; in making tools, and in doing at home the jobs for which money is usualljfpaid out- Rainy day work, saving from waste, mak ing the most of everything— e.g-, when a beef is killed, of hide, offal, bones, etc. Taking care of things generally. In former times, the waste on almost any place would have sup ported any frugal family. We cannot afford such waste now, at all events. SPECIAL CHANCES. '• 4. Each farmer, if awake and alive, ustrally has some special opportunities of advantage by conformity to local or occasional circumstan ces — eg. if near a city by sale of melons, pota toes, etc. Fruit raising, dairy products, sale of hay and poultry. LAYING OFF WORK. ft 5. A very large part of a farmer’s work, per haps more than that of most other men, con sists in properly laying off his own work. His head and hands must both be busy. At much of his work the head can go ahead of the hands and both be occupied profitably. GOOD HUSBANDRY. < 6. Consists in the economical usd of ah our means and resources. It implies the saving of scraps, of time, labor, food, fertilizers, etc.; in a word, making the most of our means. It is illustrated where food given to horses, for in stance, has the waste eaten by chickens, and the very ordure by hogs, and the residuum at last used as manure. It admits of little waste, but has new selves set to catch the lesser frag ments that escape. It saves bones, ashes and soap-suds; makes hauling count both ways, and ail edges cut —and this not meanly but wisely and sensibly. It is a part of a plan. The leading items of saving realized on a farm are: 1 A home; 2. Stipples; 3. Fuel ; 4. Garden and orchard; 5. Equipage. Th ' expenses, after the original outlay, tire keeping up stock, especially work-stock, sup plies and fertilizers, materials for tools, and marketing. SHORT CUTS. What are you farming for ? For money. What will you do with money ? Live on it? Suppose you live on what you make, even your own products. Take the short cut and thus save numerous intermediate losses and ex penses. CASH, COMFORT AND I'EAt E- By these means the farmer is independent. He can work on a cash basis, take his own time for selling, buy on the best of terms, living all the while in comfort of body and peace of mind. Such, briefly, are same of the advanta ges which arise from diversification, superior certainty, thrift and happiness. We propose now to discuss TWO ANOMALIES in farming, which perplex the minds of many. The first is as regards concentration. 1. The general rule of success in business, with indi viduals, is conceutration. How is it that the firmer is an exception ? And to what ex tent? The answer to this has been already part anticipated. It is true as a general rule, that while dii'ersi'icati>n on the part of a people is essential to prosperity, the reverse law holds with individuals with whom the law of concen tration of energy prevails. There is genuine philosophy, true political economy in this rule. Divide the industries I of a people, concentrate that of a person. Why then is diversified farming an exception? The fanner is one person, with one farm. Does not the i 'Ctrine of the divi-i n of labor apply to him With certain limitations it does, but . not to the ext x< usive cotton produc tion. ■. Perl ;•if < n required the whole VG.r’> time a -r:.i :u:-i n,t!ie gen r.u rule might pievaii. : ut a- w • have seen, its exclu sive < w .' : iv-.- - . ns ot entin idl - ness. sA N E IN ST RU M ENT ALI TI E>. 2. A.’.iin. the needful preparation of cotton i.- already preparation for the general w >rk of farm. The cotton cannot be made with less ' than annual engagements, and skill in plough ing, hoeing and general culture, is applicable to all other crops. There is time for the study of each in its turn, and nature does not allow entire concentration. WORKING TO CAPACITY. 3. In order to work up to capacity he must work to scale. Farming is a system and must cover all the means, the land, the power and the seasons. Save all the fragments and fill up the interstices. In these savings mainly, the profits consist. They do not displace more profitable work by less profitable, as many are inclined to suppose, but are really something versus nothing, labor versus idleness. LIMITS CF DIVERSIFICATION. This doctrine, however, has its limits. Farming is usually a big enough busi ness for one man ; therefore, to make it the leading business and pursue some side call ing seldom succeeds; and so to make law or merchandise, or manufacturing the leading business and farming aside, is usually unprofi table. We come now to THE SECOND ANAMOLY. Cotton always works out best on pa per. The explanation of this has also been partly given. “ Every one” says that all the successful planters and farmers he ever knew made their own supplies, so that all ex perience is that way, and yet that one can fig ure out more on cotton than in any other way. This discrepancy puzzles many minds. We think it can be made plain on paper. There is nothing mysterious about it, but all the condi tions and facts are open to our senses and ob servation. FACTE AND FIGURES. “There is nothing more deceptive than fig ures,” says Sidney Smith “except facts.” This, however, is because our problems have not been stated right. 1. The principal reason ex planatory is that already given, that he who cultivates cotton exclusively must actually waste much time and labor. NOT PER ACRE, BUT PER WHOLE COST. 2. A second reason is found in the compari son of money made per acre. As the land con stitutes but one of a number of necessary ele ments of production, mere acreage is not a test. In the view heretofore given, we supposed as many acres of cotton as the hands, including extra hands, could gather There was, there fore, no loss of cotton, or little loss, in making the oth r crops and attending to other work. The number of days’ work needed upon an acre of cotton, from the first to the last, is greater than upon any other crop, and the other expenses bestowed upon it greater. The hand-power, horse-power, fertilizing, gin ning, hauling, freight, marketing, are all ele ments of cost. Probably in estimating the cost of cotton there are more uncomputed items than in any other crop—because they are more numerou-. Its share of the general expenses, and the necessary conditions it im poses at seasons when labor is high, are not set high enough in our calculations. The relative exhaustion of land is another element unconsidered, but which the old red hills of Georgia attest, and with their scarred and gullied faces utter a mute protest to Heaven and to man. For while cotton takes less into itself than other crops, clear culture consigns our the river bottoms and the sea. IMAGINARY WEALTH. 3. A third reason is found in the imagina tive income it bestows greater than the real. There is some intoxication in handling more money, though it has to be paid out again. It is apt to enlarge the scale of expenses, unless due consideration is given to the difference between gross and net results. The farmer feels richer than he really is, and it is hard to anticipate all the items of outgo —just as in building a house, it is safe, after computing all you can think of, to add 50 per ct. for what you have forgotten. In accordance with this view an observant old commission merchant once told me that all his customers who did not make their own supplies would, about March, or earlier, come to town to see their factors, re marking that they wished to make “some ar rangements,” which always meant to borrow money. I have made some arrangements, at ' times, myself, and so the thing came home to me. Do any of our rea’ers know anything | about making arrangements, or is the idea al together novel to them? If so, we will war rant they make provisions at home, for all who do not make supplies are sure to have to make arrangements. STIMULUS. 4. The provision crops serve also as a stim ulus to industry and forethought—one of our biggest needs. They keep us awake and astir, and if we undertake them we work up to these crops as under a new necessity. INDEPENDENCE. 5. They give us independense; which is bet ter still, our option as to the management of our means —they emancipate us from the bon dage of debt. NET PROFIT. 6. The last and of itself all-sufficient reason we shall present, is the effect of over production upon net profit. Net profit is the difference between two things—the cost of prcduction and the selling price; or in other words, between what it cost us and what we get for it. We will consider the effect of over production, first on cost then ! on price. Its effect is to bring things together which we want as far apart as possible, because in their difference consists our pn fit—the rewar 1 < f our lalwrs —the measure of < ur success. THREE MILLIONS OF BALES Ci MPA RED WITH FOl R MILI.tON OR FIX E. I iuill ns f bales at 2 I yield the same gr'>-' -:tm as four million would at 15. , or as five millions at 12 cents. Would not the crop of three millions sell at 20 cents and over? Would a crop of five millions probably bring an average of 12 cents ? The gross sales ; of the cotton crop amount to a tolerably uniform i sum. Mankind gives us as much or more fora small crop as for a large, without the smallest reference to what it cost us. This is a fact of huge significance, the full importance of which it is difficult to realize. That it is a fact is demonstrated, however, by experience, and the reasons are not abstruse. Were five millions of bales made the present year, 1874, we do not believe it would bring an average of 12 cents. For the lower qualities there would be scarcely any demand. Probably the gross sales of three millions would exceed those of five. Let us consider the effect upon cost of the odd two millions of bales. EFFECT ON COST. Not only would the five millions cost more in the aggregate, but the actual cost of produc tion per pound would be greater. For to make the odd two millions we must call into requisition much poor land, scarcely paying for cultivation. Again, the character of the cultivation would be poorer. Much extra labor would have to be paid for in hoeing and picking, the picking would be protracted and gin an inferior quality. We would also have extra ginning, bagging, rope, freight, commis sions, and other market expenses, and with this policy pursued more than one year, usury on the means of production. To all this we must add the cost of the supplies we might have made, and we see that the hardest of work and of anxiety enter in with the enhanced cost. More land, more work, more care, enter into each added pound, after we pass the proper limit. So much for the extra cost of production for each pound made on poorer lands and under less favorable circumstrances. EFFECT OF A COTTON GLUT ON PRICES. The very words are startling—a glut of cot ton ! They are enough to make us quail at the consequences of our injudicious and inconsid erate policy. The law of supply and demand has been violated, and its penalty must be sor rowfully paid. ILLUSTRATIONS ON SMALLER SCALE. The effect of scarcity on price (the demand greatly exceeding the supply) is marvelous. In a besieged city when water is scarce, it will command fabulous prices. Reverse the cir cumstances, let water be abundant and it com mands no price. Let the market gardeners near a city glut the market with strawberries, and only the best quality will sell at all. On the other hand, the first berries of the season bring extravagant prices. This familiar illus tration applies to the cotton crop. DEMAND NOT UNLIMITED. This is shown not only by experience, which fully attests it, but is evident in the nature of the case. We have seen from year to year the effect of the general law, and felt it keenly, too. As much cotton can be made on the cash basis, and consistently, with full provision crops for the whole cotton region, as will meet the remunerative demand. MANUFACTURING CAPACITY GROWS SLOWLY AND CAUTIOUSLY To build and equip factories requires capital and time, and as the capital once invested can not be drawn out, it proceeds cautiously. With much greater facility production of cotton can be increased and diminished than the machin ery for its manufacture. SUPPOSE A FIVE MILLION CROP ON THE MAR NET —GROSS SALES. Well, now, you have made your cotton. You have neglected everything else and made noth ing else. Others have done likewise, and we see a whole country, and a whole population, devoted to cotton, with much of that on hand and little else. This cotton is for sale, not for personal con sumption. A part of one bale would serve you and all your family. What will you do with it? Sell it, of course. You must sell it, and sell annually for whatever it may bring. Now follow it through. The sellers are at the mercy of the buyers, for the supply largely exceeds the demand. The excess in quantity has also deteriorated the quality (by hurried and late handling.) The reports from your factors as ' to what it will bring are absolutely appalling ( In the keen competition between the bulls and j the bears, the bears have it all their own way. I NET PR IFITS—THE FOOT IS ON THE OTHER LEG. The thing to be calculated is the net loss, and j how much you will have to pay for the privi j lege of working a year and finding yourself. • i LIMITATIONS OF iHE COTTON CROP. The usual rather by disaster, , as of the season, the caterpillar and the worm, ■ than by design and forethought. If limited by i design, and all consequent advantages foreseen and enjoyed, the difference would be almost in calculable. The extra two millions which brought us in debt would be replaced by abun dance of supplies and comforts, and the other three millions would yield us a large net in ! come. LOOK ON THIS PICTURE AND ON THAT. With a few actual crops on a general scale of diversified farming, our Southern land would smile and blossom as the rose, and our hearts be gladdened as they have not been wont to be for yeans past. With the cotton crop limited by design, all the needful extra crops and work would be included by design, and we should ’ have abundance, independence, and once more ' some quietne-s of mind. . : i :: i.-. neigl l>or“, countrymen, in pitchin" ■ : ' i■' -L;,_ L;- -lead I,f a eott< n glut, let us witne.-s a keen de mand. In-tea.l ot usury t / mak" cotb n, let ‘ u- -imply make cotton on the ci-h basis, and ' :i le - we are in for it, already ’ y a had police in the past, we shall soon have monev to lend. ' OUR FRIEND— THE CATERPILLAR. ■ If he would but distribute his attentions im- . partially, the caterpillar would be than we. He would often save us much trouble and I expense, and not lessen our profits. WHO IS BENEFITTED? By the over production of cotton, neither the 4 farmer himself nor his people is benefitted. It 1 is work for their purposes thrown a .vay; if it . benefits others at a distance, it is a charity be- J stowed by the poor on the rich —by labor at home on capital abroad. Is the cotton lost ? No, of course not. But the profits are. Are we able to bestow this charity on populations richer than our own ? Nay, not on population so much as on capital its and speculators! SUMMARY—THE DISCUSSION PRACTICAL, AND THE APPEAL MADE TO OUR INTEREST. We have thus discussed this question of Di versified Farming under three leading heads: Our Resources; Their Unwise Restriction to Cotton, and the Actual Means of Diversifica tion ; and attempted the explanation of too ap parent anomalies in our condition. The whole subject is intensely practical, involving the dearest interests of our people and the result of all their hard labors and harder cares. We have endeavored to sift the matter closely, to arrive at the truth, and to make it very plain. For it is important that individuals should thoroughly understand their actual interest in the premises. As a rule, each individual will act according to his opinion of his individual interest, rather than for the supposed good of the community. The exceptions are noble, but few. Co-operation on so large a scale is hopeless, as the result of patriotic conviction ; it must rest on a business basis of actual persua sion of personal interest. . You think all this good—for other people , to consider. For you—man—it is for you Southern farmers, who are much alike in in terests and practices, motives and habits. Their thoughts are germinal. Plant them in your mind. And observe that in the whole : discussion we have given cotton every advan tage it can have—supposing (1) it the only crop; (2) limited by the seasons; (3) limited by design. DEBT AT BOTTOM OF IT. Another remark. Debt is at the bottom of most of the evils of over production. Credit, once invoked, won’t down at our bidding. Debt injudiciously contracted has committed men to the policy of excessive cotton crops, and urges them forward with vain hopes, often end ing in bankruptcy. Even men deeply in debt, however, will do well to consider whether the same policy which got them in is likely to get them out, and whether on the whole they can not make most, as well as save most, by the policy of Diversified Farming. Slieep Proceeds. Comparatively few men know or appreciate the value of sheep, in addition to the income from the sale of wool and mutton. They place s too low an estimate on the sheep as a fertilizer. To all such the following is commended, as it comes from the highest authority on the sub- ! ject: “A hundred Mereno (Other sheep will do as well it is presumed.—Ed. Star.) sheep, given abundance of bedding, will, between De cember Ist and May Ist, make at least forty two-horse loads of manure ; and, if fed roots, considerable more. I scarcely need to say that both the summer and winter manure of the i sheep is far more valuable than that of the , horse or cow. Its manure on high priced land, which requires fertilizers, cannot be esti ' timated at less than fifty cents per head per • annum, and I should be inclined to put it still higher.” The author quoted here introduces a state ment from his former work. He says: “If milch cows are not returned to their pastures at night in summer, or the manure made in the night is not returned to the pastures, the differ ence in the two animals in the particular named in the text, is still greater. Even graz ing cattle kept constantly in the pastures, and whose manure is much bettei than that of dairy cows, are still greatly inferior to the sheep in enriching land. The manure of sheep is stronger, better distributed, and distributed in away that admits of little loss. The small round pellets soon work down among the roots of the grass, and are, in a great measure, protected from sun and wind. Each pellet has a coat of mucus which still further pro tects it. On taking one of these out of the grass, it will be iound the moisture is gradu ally dissolving it on the lower side, directly among the roots, while the upper coated sur face remains entire. Finally, if there are hill tops, dry knolls, or elevations of any kind, the sheep almost invariably lie on them at night, thus depositing an extra portion of manure on the least fertile part of the land, and where the wash of it will be less wasted. The manure of the milch cow, apart from its intrinsic inferiority, is deposited in masses which give up their best contents to tiie at mosphere before they are dry enough to be beaten to pieces and distributed over the soil.” New England’* Prolit in Manufactur ing. Estimated by decades, the profits of manufacturing in New England were as follows : From 1820 to 1830, a shade over 8 1-2 per ct. From 1830 to 1840, just ... 10 “ From 1840 to 1850, hardly . . 8 3-4 “ From 1850 to 1870, a frac’n over 5 1-2 “ From 1860 to 1870, not quite . 12 “ Here is an irregular increase from 8 1-2 per centum in the decade from 20 to 1830 to 12 in the last decade. ■ New England has made manufacturing | pay, notwithstanding the fact that she ' is from fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred miles from the chief producing region, the South. The question arises, l ! if this Le so, why should the cotton any 1 Jongcr seek the mills ? The mills should 1| [ seek the cotton. The expense of maim ; faeturing would be greatly less. The true manufacturing section of the Union is the South. Nature made it V | so, and in the end nature will have her d ’ way. tag