m 



&quot;WE MUST CHANGE ALL THAT/ 



Can this state of things continue ? If it does, how long will it be 

 before the fairest portions of our uplands (which were of course picked 

 out by the first settlers) shall become a mere waste of red gullies and 

 broom-sedge ? If we do not use their heritage more rationally, well 

 might the Chickasaws and Choctaws question the moral right of the 

 act by which their beautiful, park-like hunting grounds were turned 

 over to another race, on the plea that they did not put them to the uses 

 for which the Creator intended them. 



Under their system these lands would have lasted forever ; under 

 ours, as heretofore practiced, in less than a century more the State 

 would be reduced to the condition of the Roman Carapagna. 



This will not and cannot be, in these times of rapid progress, inter 

 communication and hot competition. If we ourselves were to fail to 

 do by our lands as we ought, they would simply pass away from our 

 hands into others more willing to conform to the requirements of the 

 times, as dictated by prudence and common sense. The farmer who 

 raises a mere fraction of a bale of cotton upon an acre of land, cannot 

 long hold his ground alongside of him who, with little more labor and 

 expense, raises an entire bale, and that of a quality which in the 

 market will bring two or three cents more per pound. 



It seems almost trite to say that it will not pay to cultivate poor land ; 

 and yet I dare say there are few among us who do not do so to a certain 

 extent. In this evidently our works are not up to our faith. 



CULTIVATING TOO MUCH LAND. 



What is worse, the poorer the land, the more of it we try to culti 

 vate ; vainly attempting to increase the effect of our labor by diffusing 

 it over a larger area. 



There is not, probably, in all our practice, an error more widely dif 

 fused, and more fatal in its consequences, than this one of attempting 

 to cultivate too much land tilling it badly of course, tiring the teams 

 by dint of just traveling over it, and manuring it not at all. The labor 

 and expense thus scattered over four acres of ground, to raise one bale 

 of cotton, would frequently, if bestowed on the improvement of half 

 the area, almost double the product ; and the staple raised on a more 

 generous soil would be of a much better quality than that gathered off 

 the half-starved stalks on the four poor acres. 



One cause of this persistence in the cultivation of poor land probably 

 is, that opinions differ greatly as to what is &quot; poor&quot; laud ; and where 

 no farm accounts are kept, it is not always easy to judge when culture 



