436 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 7 



much asainst, if. 1 am satisified it never can be 

 adopted in this climate aa a sub.slitute lor winter 

 wheat: but I think it may be sown to advantage 

 instead of oats, on land that will produce wheat. 

 1 also procured from Thorburn, in December 

 last, a quart of a new white wheat, recently sent 

 out from England as a sample, with a tew of the 

 stalks, called "Ealey's gigantic." It well de- 

 serves the name, for it was the largest stalk, 

 largest, fliirest and heaviest grain, I ever saw. I 

 drilled it in my garden and cut it on the 6th July: 

 it yielded three bushels and a peck. The stalk 

 was as large as the original, the heads very long 

 and apparendy well filled, but the grains were 

 shrivelled and evidently injured whilst in blossom, 

 by a heavy rain and wind, from which the other 

 wheat, being more advanced, almost totally es- 

 caped. 



R. Archer. 



THE CULTIVATION OF 31IDDLE SOUTH CARO- 

 LINA. ADDRESS OF JOSEPH E. JENKINS, 

 ESQ., TO THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF 

 ST. JOHNS, COLLETON, S. C. THE LOUIS- 

 VILLE, CINCINNATI AND CHAHI/ESTON RAIL 

 ROAD. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Sir: " In passing through the upper country^ 

 " the planters are astonished, on inquiry, at learn- 

 " ing how little use is made by us of the plough; 

 " an instrument of indispensable necessity to 

 " them !!!! but, it is easy to be accounted for; two 

 " systems of agriculture can never be more dis- 

 " similar, than the one used by them, and that 

 " which obtains in this section of country. TTiere 

 " (I speak of the section through which I passed 

 " this spring, videlicet, from John's Island to Co- 

 " lumbia,) 'twould he preposterous to speak oiYna- 

 " nuring; from 12 to 15 acres and upwards of land 

 " are commonly !!!!! planted of cotton alone; here, 

 " 3^, and, in some rare instances, four of cotton, 

 " and one of corn. We have not the facilities of 

 " shilling our fields from a worn-out spot, to a 

 " virgin soil, exhausting that, and then again 

 '^pursuing the same process. »**•** 

 " Our system approaches nearer horticulture 

 " than farming; comparatively, "our fields are 

 " perfect gardens.^' *****! dij not 

 " see a field of cotton on my return from Colum- 

 " bia, on the 5th of June, which had the appear- 

 " ance of having had a single working, from the 

 " time the seed had been deposited for planting, 

 " (the planting averaged the 15lh April, in 1838,) 

 " to that day. In most of them, the weeds and 

 " grass were taller than the cotton. ***** 

 " Do not misunderstand me, gentlemen, as con- 

 " demning their system; to them, it may be most 

 " profitable; to us, one thing is certain, it would 

 " be ruinous. Therefore, the hoe is the imple- 

 " ment of husbandry with us; and a powerful in- 

 " sirunient it is, in the hands of a strong and vi- 

 " gorous people" — a people, to subsist whom and 

 all other bipeds and quadrupeds on a plantation, 

 one acre ofcorn is planted [to the hand.] !!!!! This, 

 at least, is the average of the low country. On 

 Mr. J.'s plantation, it is probable his servants 

 have of fish tjuantum svfficit. 



Merely observing, that the italics and marks of 



admiration are mine, and not the addresser's, I 

 cannot avoid expressing my "astonishment" at a 

 representation of middle and upper country culti- 

 vation, so grossly erroneous, and only to be ex- 

 cused, because it originates in innocent ignorance. 

 For i assert, without fear of contradiction, that 

 12 to 15 acres are, in general, the maximum, of 

 good planters, for corn and cotton: that there is 

 not a respectable planter in middle or upper Ca- 

 rolina, who not only does not think manuring 

 "preposterous," but whose conduct is diametrically 

 opposed to it, and who docs not "shift his fields," 

 not as above described, (a circumstance now 

 wholly out of the question,) but, from one im- 

 proved spot to another; that there are annually to 

 be found fields of cotton on the Wateree, the Con- 

 garee, &c., which will vie with any on John's Is- 

 land for horticidtura! neatness; that as to "the 

 weeds, grass," &c., I know not what road this elo- 

 quent addresser travelled; but, this I know, that, 

 in 1838, barring a short space of time, when the 

 grass got a little ahead, most of the cotton in the 

 middle country was very clean; and, that in the 

 same section, there are as fastidious amateurs, fully 

 as well acquainted with the operations of the hoe 

 as the most astute planter in the low country. 

 kBut, what is the fiscal fact — in short, the real 

 value of land in the middle and low country — (al- 

 ways excepting the sea-island cotton and the tide- 

 rice plantations, the latter diminishing 33 per cent, 

 in the produce for 1837-38, and Manilla and East 

 India rice fimling a profiiable market in Charles- 

 ton — ) literally nothing — wholly abandoned. It 

 has been sacrificed to the "precision and peculiar 

 elegance of the hoe," to the introduction of hor- 

 ticulture, vice agriculture, to the abandonment of 

 the plough, to the starvation system, which arose 

 from the substitution of cotton for rice, and the 

 relinquishment of the inland swamps, where 

 cattle to any extent might now be raised. In- 

 deed, if lawyers could be driven from the public 

 counsels, and enrrineerinfr, instead of oratory, be 

 taught at the colleges, South Carolina has the 

 means of producing millions she does not now do. 

 But, to roturn to the price of land. Tracts in the 

 low country, sold after the revolution for guineas, 

 are not now worth as many dollars. On the 

 other hand, in the middle and upper country, the 

 price is constantly increasing — "2,000 acres have- 

 recently been sold, on two years' credit, for ^20,- 

 000, which, in the low country, would not pro- 

 duce a tithe of the sum— 8,000 acres, sold by an 

 emigrant for $2 50, are now worth $5, if not S 10 

 per acre. The simple reason, the superior culti- 

 vation, greater produce of provisions, infinitely 

 better treatment of negroes, and the employment 

 of respectable overseers; for, planting, as they do, 



five acres of corn to the hand, acres of oats, 



wheat, potatoes and peas, (with the corn,) so 

 to act is no matter of difficulty, any more than there 

 is to be discovered an impediment to an allowance 

 of half a pound of good bacon per diem to a la- 

 borer, or the payment of an adequate salary to a 

 humane manager. [Vide an article at p. 269, 

 Farmers' Register.] 



In consequence of this system, the planter 

 makes his three, four, or five bales to the hand; 

 and, remembering the facilities of shilling fields, 

 &c., I would observe, that I have known a bale 

 to the acre, produced by a planter, who manures 

 with cotton-seed, clay, leaves, &c., ii"om land that 



