SOLON ROBINSON, 1845 459 



Notes of Travel in the Southwest — No. VII. 



[Albany Cultivator, n. s. 2:303-4; Oct., 1845 1 ] 



[Covering February 17-20, 1845] 

 Once again, my friends, I come with my monthly greet- 

 ing. Well, where parted we company last? Let us re- 

 flect. We had just visited Mr. Leigh, and given a slight 

 sketch of his method of farming, which I have italicised 

 to give the term a contradistinction from that of planting 

 — the latter term meaning only the cultivation of cotton. 

 But before leaving Mr. Leigh's neighborhood, I must no- 

 tice that I was on President Polk's plantation, and earn- 

 estly hope that his cultivation of Uncle Sam's big planta- 

 tion will be as well managed under the overseership of 

 Mr. Polk, as his Mississippi cotton plantation is reported 

 to be. The next point of interest that I visited was 

 the plantation of Capt. Wm. Eggleston, of Holmes 

 county, who is one of the good farmers of Mississippi. 

 He is a Virginian, from Amelia county, and having an 

 introduction from his friend, Mr. Leigh, I met with a 

 very hearty reception. 



The 17th of February was an uncomfortably warm 

 day. The peas in Captain E.'s garden several inches high, 

 lettuce in full head, and other things in proportion. Cap- 

 tain Eggleston has about 1,400 acres of land under culti- 

 vation, and upon which live 20 whites, and 150 blacks, 

 70 of which are field hands ; about one-third of his land 

 is kept in corn and oats, the proportion of corn being as 

 two to one. He keeps up a continued rotation of crops, 

 and puts all the manure that he can upon the corn, which 

 averages about 25 or 30 bushels to the acre ; plants corn 

 and sows oats in February. He is now working 43 

 mules and horses, and 28 oxen, and makes 560 bales a 

 year, which he has to haul 10 or 12 miles. He also raises 

 all the grain and meat required upon the plantation, 

 feeding his negroes at the rate of SYo lbs. clear bacon 

 per head per week, with about a peck and a half of 



1 Reprinted in part in Augusta, Georgia, Southern Cultivator, 

 3:169 (November, 1845). 



