THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Vol. II. 



OCTOBER J 1834. 



No. 5. 



EDMUAD RUFFIN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR* 



ON THE TRUE PRINCIPLES OF PROFITABLE 

 HUSBANDRY, 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Kogister. 



It is of course, one object of the efforts of every 

 farmer, to increase tiie profits of liis estate, but 

 there is great iliversity, both of opinion and prac- 

 tice, as to the best mode of eflecting this. The 

 method most acted on in Virginia, or at least in 

 that part of it with whicli I am best acquainted, 

 the soutli side of James River, is to lay out any 

 surpkis of money wliich the farmer should hap- 

 pen to have, in the ptuxhase of additional laborers; 

 to make his land produce as much as he can force 

 out of it every year; and when it wears outj to buy 

 another tract if he can. And we are frequently 

 reminded in argument, that it is to this system, 

 that the rich old planters among us owe their es- 

 tates. But it may be objected that the circum- 

 stances in which these were placed, were essen- 

 tially different from ours — land was in their day 

 fresh and productive, and the price of agricultural 

 proilucts generally so high, that even under theif 

 system of farming, industry met Avith a rich re- 

 ward. It may also be observed, that although 

 individuals have thriven under this system, the 

 community has suffered — lands have been ex- 

 hausted by it — population checked — and the accu- 

 mulation of capital generally prevented, The 

 decrease in the returns of labor, owing principally 

 to the deterioration of the soil in this part of our 

 state, is much greater than is generall}" supposed; 

 great as it is universally admitted to he. In the 

 days of our forefathers, 3000 pounds oi" tobacco to 

 a hand, Avas not, it is believed, a very uncommon 

 crop. At the present day, 1000 pounds are esti- 

 mated to be fully the average. In the county of 

 Mecklenburg, certainly of medium fertility, tlirough 

 the whole length of which the Roanoke rolls its 

 fertilizing waters, it is computed by a very com- 

 petent judge, that 750 pounds would equal the 

 average. Some (though a very inadequate) com- 

 pensation may be found for this, in the mcrease of 

 the wheat crop. On the whole, however, we 

 cannot conceal from ourselves that under the sys- 

 tem heretofore practised, the profits ol' agriculture 

 m Virginia, have diminished, are diminishing, and 

 are not likely to increase. To what cause then 

 is this result owing? Neither industry nor econo- 

 my is rare among us. How happens it then, that 

 a climate so benign, capable of^ rearing the pro- 

 ducts of almost every other, and having some 

 peculiar to itself, with a soil which nature made 

 p oductive, and with institutions that stimulate our 

 efforts, by securing their fruits from the capacity 

 of others: how happens it that with all these ad- 

 vantages, our march is retrograde? The answer 

 to this inquiry, I think, may be found in the prin- 

 ciples on which we conduct our agriculture, in the 

 fact that we bestow our capital on the increase of 

 labor, and not on the improvement of the soil. It 

 is obvious that the profit of a farmer must arise 

 fi'om the excess of his income o\ er his out-lay or 

 expenditure. Now his expenditure, however di 



immaterial in this inqniiy, whether the human 

 labor he employs be that of hirelings, as at the 

 north, or of his own slaves, as is usual with us in 

 Virginia; for these are a portion of his capital, and 

 the interest of this capital, if converted into mo- 

 ney, together v.-ith the maintenance of the slaves, 

 is the hire which he pays. Now it has been es- 

 timated in the Register, and the estimate is con- 

 firmed by the experience of all, it is believed, who 

 have made the calculation, that the expense of 

 cultivating land is with us at least five dollars per 

 acre; but tlie averase value of land in Virginia, 

 certainly in this i)art of it, falls far short of eight 

 dollars per acre. Its yearly value or rent then is 

 less than flf^y cents. We come thus to the re- 

 markable conclusion, that in this comparatively 

 long and well-settled country, we bestow more 

 than ten times as much upon labor as upon land. 

 In New York, it would seem from the estimate in 

 Judge Buefs piece, in the second number of the 

 second volume of the Farmers' Register, that the 

 rent of land was about equal to half the cost of 

 its cultivation: in Flanders the rent is half the 

 gross product. It seems then that as agriculture 

 improves, the cost of cultivation relatively to the 

 value of the land declines- That is, the profits of 

 the farmer go to increase the productiveness of the 

 soil, so that with the same labor, he obtains lar- 

 ger results. Now it is human labor which gives 

 their value to all the other means with Avhich the 

 farmer operates, and it is conse(juenfly the most 

 valuable and the most costly of an)-. That sys- 

 tem then which to produce a given result, uses the 

 least of this expensive eleioent of productiveness, 

 is the most profitable. As the improvement of the 

 soil is obviously the most effectual means of doing 

 this,to grudge the sums necessary for im])rovement, 

 is in the long run, extravagance and not econonn". 

 And if VvC leave speculation, and look at fiicts, the 

 conclusion will be the same. By refemng to IVIr, 

 riarder's conmiunication (Farm. Reg. 1st Vol. 

 9th No.) it will be seen tliat with labor not cossing 

 more than #300, he obtains crop^s Avorth more than 

 #2500. Compare this with Avhat Ave every day 

 Avitness in our own part of the countiy, Avhere the 

 expense of tillage is sometimes greater than the 

 Avhole amount of the crop, and it Avill go far to 

 explain the problem with AA^hich AA'e set out. Econ- 

 omy of human labor indeed, seems to n>e to be 

 the principle Avhich lies at the foundation of all 

 good husbandry, and Avhich Avill explain every 

 difference betAveen a Avell and ill manaixod (hriii. 

 Be consistent and systematic in the a[iplication of 

 this principle, and it will compel you to haN-e good 

 fence;', to procure the best tools, and a plentituf 

 supply of strong and serviceable horses and oxen 

 tor draught and the )jIough; and the change thus 

 produced is one which does not merely recommend 

 itself to the proprietor — to the eye o " taste and 

 feeling, the sight of a beautilr.I and highly culti- 

 vated country, is one of the most delightful Avhich 

 can be presented. To look upon "pastures clothed 

 Avith flocks and valleys co\'ered over with corn," 

 must excite in the patriot and philanthropist, emo- 



versified may be its items, is all reducible to the, tions of the liveliest pleasure; Avhile the perpetua? 

 tAvo heads of labor and land, and it is perfectly ' contemplation of increasing sterilitv,- ?gems caleu- 

 VoL. 11,-22, 



