362 



rouditious uudor wbicli full work is f(ot from the hired laborer any where. Wo quote 

 Ibo followinj^ passage entire from Mr. Watts's letter, and commeud it to the carefal 

 iitteutiou of tlis club. It exposes the chief defect in the tra,iuing and habita of the 

 ^JOutheru planter, to which may bo traced a large share of his troubles: " iSouthemers 

 are peculiarlj' au agricultunil people, and yet about their farms there is a manifest 

 indifierence and carelessness about their condition ; the fences are broken down, gates 

 out of order, buildings out of I'cpair, and implements lying around ; it cannot be ex- 

 pected that the emjiloyers shall be diligent and systematic, in the midst of disorder 

 and confusion, any more than a mechanic wiU perform his duty with imlifferent or 

 dull tools or a careless employer. It is easier and less expensive to hare things iji order. 

 With neatness and care there is a spirit of pride and emulation which enters into the 

 actions of every man and woman employed, and diffuses itself into all the operations 

 of the farm, to'the great profit of the farmer." These remarks are worthy of consider- 

 ation. We all assent to them, but something more than this is necessary. We must 

 take the truths they convey, and carry them home with us, and set about at once con- 

 forming our daily practice to them. Permanent success can only bo assured by care- 

 ful, unremitting, .systematic, vigilant attention to details. Without that, no amount 

 of general information, or of intelligence, or of energy, can gather the fruits of labor, 

 but again and again we will find ourselves robbed of the best results of enterprises, 

 however wisely planned and energetically pursued. 



But while we unquestionably need to cultivate more orderly and systematic habits 

 of attending to details, and there is vast room for ]jractical improvement about our 

 plantation buildings, fences, «S:c., it is not necessary, and would hardly be prudent for 

 us to emulate the "prim neatness of the New England or Middle States farmer. Our 

 l>lantiug is done on a much larger scale and under very different conditions. Their 

 handsome barns, neat_,brick out-buildings, painted yearly, multiplicity of expensive 

 stone fences, &c., are no more essential to us than are the decorations of the fancy 

 store to the wholesale grocery. 



A large and not the least interesting portion of :ilr. AVatts's letter is devoted to a 

 minute accon ut of th» operations of a thrifty northern farmer. It is especially inter- 

 esting to us, in enabling us to compare the results of farming here with those obtained 

 under favorable circiimstances elsewhere. An improved farm is instanced, of " about 

 120 acres," in the interior of Pennsylvania, worth about $100 an acre, or $12,000. It 

 is stocked with 6 horses or "mules, (the work would sometimes be done by 4,) 8 

 cows and as" many young cattle ; sometimes 12 sheep ; 10 to 1.5 hogs ; and the force 

 which works is generally the farmer and his two sons, or if he has but one, he must 

 have one hired hand. Adding the value of the stock, of the necessary supjilies, outfit 

 in wagons, carts, implements, seeds, «fec., and ready money required to carry on the 

 work to the original cost of the farm, we will find the investment to be probably be- 

 tween $16,000 and $17,000. The money value of the gross products of this farm in 

 wheat, oats, and corn, is placed at $'2,280, to which must be added $600 realized for 

 ])otatoes, turnips, fruit, garden vegetables, butter, eggs, and- poultry. All the hay, 

 fodder, and straw, are consumed on the fiirm ; the wool is worked into clothing antl 

 blankets, and after providing bread and clothing for his family, feed for his stock, and 

 paying for blacksmith's work and repairs of farm improvements, &c., a net cash bal- 

 ance is left in the hands of the farmer of $1,000. This we are told is the result of the 

 operations of a thrifty farmer who understands his business. He takes his breakfast 

 and has his horses fed, geared and watered, that they may be in the field at snurise. 

 He gets his dinner about 11 o'clock a. m., and is in the field again by 12 o'clock, and 

 (luits work about sundown. • 



There is evidence here of care, industry, and economy j but the results are not such 

 as might safely be calculated ou in planting in the South with equal care and industry 

 and equal capital. Sixteen or seventeen thousand dollars would not have enabled 

 one to plant largely before the abolition of slavery, when to get the labor it was neces- 

 sary to own the laborer. But there has been a great revolution in this respect, and 

 now a judicious investment of that amount, going wholly even ux^on the cash system, 

 v/ould place one among the larger i^lantcrs. We will instance a plantation of 800 

 acres, among the Ijctter class of liplauds in a healthy locality in Edgefield or Barnwell 

 Counties of this State, or the adjacent counties in Georgia, about which wc can speak 

 with authority and accuracy from our perfect familiarity with them. Supposing this 

 place to have "the usual improvements, with .500 acres of cleared land and 300 in the 

 woods, and labor secured and work commenced early in January, the foUowiug figures 

 will show about how the investment should be made, and what results could be ob- 

 tained the first year : 



CASH OUTLAY. 



800 acres laud ' $8,000 



10 mules - l./SO 



2 wagons 1 300 



3 carts 150 



