94 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



us, or permanenlly improving our estates, or of 

 dt'sertiiiif ih«>m. We cannot contend with the 

 planlersof Alabama and Mississippi, in a wild 

 and desiructive system, by which even they have 

 sunk under embarrassment and ruin, with all 

 tiieir advantages of soil and climate. We can 

 make up Ibr our infrrior soil and climate only by 

 a superior sysiem oC husbandry. While they are 

 exiiauslinif ilieirsoil and preveming the natural 

 increase of their slaves by a reckless system of 

 pushing and driving, let us improve (he fertility of 

 the one, by resting and manuring it, and increase 

 the number oC the other, by moderate working, 

 and by providing every thing necessary for their 

 health and comlbrt. And I have no doubt that a 

 South Carolina planter who shall limit his cotton 

 crop to five bales to the hand, and rely mainly 

 upon the natural increase oC his negroes, will 

 leave a larger estate to his children, at the end 

 of ten or twenty years, than a south-western 

 planter who follows the system generally pursued 

 in that quarter, though he should make eight 

 bales to the hand, and annually apply his surplus 

 income (o the purchase of land and negroes. 

 Though they are really struggling for the benefit 

 of" their children, there is no class of men who do 

 so little for posterity, and will leave so (ew monu- 

 ments behind them, as the cotton planters of the 

 south. What sort of an estimate must be placed 

 upon wealth, and to what rational end can he 

 desire it, who, with an income of ten or twenty 

 thousand dollars a year, brings up a family ol 

 children imperfectly educated, in a log cabin, with 

 scarcely the romlbrts of such a dwelling? A 

 stranger travelling through our country could not 

 be persuaded tliat it was inhabited by a race ol 

 wealthy, hospitable and enlightened planters, so 

 few of the monuments and improvements that 

 indicate a wealthy and prosperous community 

 would meet his eye. And if, by one of those 

 great political revolutions which overvvhelmed 'he 

 ancient Greeks and Romans, our race of con- 

 querors, and our name only descended to posterity, 

 what classic memorial, what substantial monu- 

 ment, would bear testimony that this '"delightful 

 region of the sun" had been once inhabited by a 

 civilized and enlighlened people, eminently dis- 

 tinguished Ibr their industry, their wealth, and 

 the freedom of their institutions'? 



In thus urging a more provident regard to the 

 future in our general economy, it will be perceived 

 that 1 have still kept in view the important object 

 ol' diminishing the aggregate cotton crop of the 

 country, by giving a more useful direction to a 

 portion of the capital and labor devoted too ex- 

 clusively to its production. It will be also per- 

 ceived that I have made no disclosure or recom- 

 mendation of any improvement by which large 

 cotton crops may be made. I have intentionally 

 abstained from any suggestion of this kind believ- 

 ing that every one may be safely left to his own 

 impulses and his own resources on this point, and 

 regarding over production as one of the greatest 

 evils to which the cotion planting interest is ex- 

 posed. Indeed, if I could now reveal a process 

 by which our common soils could be made to 

 produce two bales of cotton to the acre, I should 

 have great doubt whether the revolution would 

 be a blessing or a curse to that great interest. I 



that I preach one doctrine and practice another. 

 But such a supposition would do me injustice. 

 With the largest cotion crop I ever made — that of 

 1S39— I combined all the other branches of eco- 

 nomy I have here recommended. I have now a 

 surplus of 1500 bushels of corn made that year, 

 hogs sufiicieni to supply my wants, that have been 

 fat enough to slaughter since July, and very large 

 slocks of cattle and of sheep, the latter of which 

 supply all the wool required for the winter cloth- 

 ing of my negroes ; and a stock ol' young horses 

 and colts fully adequate to meet the exigencies of 

 my plantation. Alter making due provision (or 

 all these objects, it is of couise the true interest of 

 every planter to make as large a cotton crop as he 

 can without over-working his operatives. In 

 doing this, however, he should never lose sight of 

 the great object of improving the productive 

 power of his estate, instead of exhausting it. 



To this end, it should be his constant ef- 

 fort,, b}'^ manuring and resting the soil and by 

 superior cultivation, to produce a given result 

 fi-om the smallest possible number of acres. It 

 is scarcely possible to overestimate the value of 

 this rule in the actual condition of the old plant- 

 ing stales. Every resource Ibr making manure 

 should, therefore, be improved to the uttermost, 

 without begrudging the necessary labor and at- 

 tention. No labor exerted on the plantation is 

 half so well rewarded. Every description of stock 

 should be regularly penned every night in yards 

 constantly coveted with straw, leaves or other lit- 

 ter. Thequaniiiy of manure that can be thus made 

 in a year is quite inconceivable to those who have 

 not made the experiment. Cornsliouid be habitual- 

 ly planted in old land, of a quality least adapted 

 to cotion, and every hill should be thoroughly 

 manured, scrupulously avoiding the miserable 

 economy too often witnessed, of losing one half 

 its,utility, lo save the inconsiderable labor required 

 to apply it properly. I can bear personal tes- 

 timony that by these means the crop per acre can 

 be invariably doubled on soils originally strong. 

 My corn is principally produced on level lands 

 that were considered lo be exhausted when they 

 came into my possession, and yet by thorough 

 and careful manuring, I have reduced the num- 

 ber of acres cultivated in corn fully one half, ma- 

 king n)ore certain and abundant crops than I did 

 before with double the number ol' acres and more 

 than double ihe labor of cultivation. All the 

 manure not required /or the corn crop, should be 

 applied to the most exhausted of the cotton lands, 

 and it should be made an invariable rule, both in 

 regard to corn and cotion, to list in and bury all 

 the stalks and vegetable matter found upon the 

 soil. My experience justifies the belief that this 

 process aione, if comiTienced before the soil is loo 

 fijr exhausted, will perpetuate if not improve the 

 lerlility of originally strong and level lands, 

 though constantly cultivated in cotton. In fact 

 vegetable matter, as it was the principal element 

 in the original formation of soils, so it must be in 

 their restoration and preservation. Nature be- 

 neficently provides it to our hands, but we too of- 

 ten destroy it as if it were a nuisance, while we 

 vainly employ our speculations and direct our re- 

 searches to find out some mure scientific means 

 of improvement. In proportion as the quantity 



am aware that as I have obtained some reputation | of land required for cotton and corn is diminished 

 for making large cotton crops, it may be supposed I by the means proposed, will that be mcreased 



