18SG.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



11 



swccpin;? away so many thousands of their peo- 

 ple — ;i!id [ am jriad to see, as an elHcient mean to 

 tliis end, the elForts now making by rail roads, ca- 

 nals, &c. to afford every faciliiy to commercial, so- 

 cial, and political intercourse. Besides thc,-=e 

 means, however, there must be brought to bear 

 great individual exertion and enterprise. Ex- 

 hausted lands nnist he restored — lertile soils main- 

 tained in good heart — industry exercised — econo- 

 my of time and labor consulted and practised. 

 These things would soon put a smilmg ilice upon 

 our country, and take away the inducements to 

 en)igrale. I think the prospect already grows 

 brighter, and a reaction is taking place. Tlie fer- 

 tile cotton regions of the soutiiwest are already 

 nearly filled up. Good land there is high, while 

 land of similar (juality here is comparatively 

 low. 



The ixlowing descrijjtions given of these new 

 countries have acted like a spell — and men have 

 imagined that thev liave at last di-^covered the 

 t rue El Dorado. But the actual view dispels the 

 illusion. AUbough the soil is more favorable to 

 cotton, and greater crops can be raised than on 

 that from which the ^-migrant went, yet this cir- 

 cumstance alone unll not counterpoise the many 

 disailvantages and deprivations to whicli he is sub- 

 ject; hence arise discontent and disappointment; 

 "and in some ins!ances, men have summoned up 

 sufficient resolution to return to the homes of their 

 fatiiers, and spend the remainder of their days 

 where they first drew their infant breatli. I hope, 

 sir, that your Register v\-ill continue to stmudate 

 the people to redoubled efforts in the cause of ag- 

 riculture, and that our belowed country will again 

 Avear the smile of renovated nature, so that there 

 shall no longer be a necessity to leave it, to seek a 

 better. Tliis is a consummation devoutly to be 

 wished. 



PATRICK NOBLE. 



For t!)e Fanners' Register. 

 Oy HORIZOXTAL PLANTATION ROADS. 



In bringing to light the causes which have con- 

 tributed to guiley and waste our lands, there is one 

 in particular, which it appears to me has been en- 

 tirely overlooked by our modern Jeremiahs, in 

 their bitter lameniaiions over the desolations of 

 our agricultural Zion, l)ut which ought not to be, 

 by any of her fi'iends who are at this time endea- 

 voring so zealously to build lip her waste places, 

 and to establish well her bulwarks: but which it is 

 to be feared will suffer a Babylonish captivity at 

 last, (if our prayers arc not heard and answered.) 

 Motwitlisiandiiig all the lamentations of Jeremiah, 

 or the visions of Ezekiel. This cause, though 

 apparently trivial, is the mischief done by ourpre- 

 siMit plantation ror.ds r.nd paths. The deepest and 

 most appalling cavities, vv'hich every where strike 

 the feelings of the firmer v/ith horror, in our was- 

 ted and abandoned tiH.ls, had their humble origin 

 in small cart ruts! These cart roads, like the 

 ploughiiio- of our ancesJors, (which if we do not 

 alter, will be as much censured in after times as 

 we now censure them tor perpendicular plough- 

 ing) are run right up and down hill; and as soon 

 as one place becomes a little cut up and miiy, an- 

 other is made by the side of it uniil at least "a do- 

 zen roads are Ibrmed hy the side of each other, on 



the same hillside. It is astonishing how soon a 

 deep guiley is formed by the water, running in 

 these ruts, (so great is the fall,) even during one 

 hasty shower; and unless there be some remedy 

 provided, must continue to waste and mar the 

 faces of ourfiirms — already scratched and gouged 

 in a long contest with Cufl'ee and his deadly wea- 

 pons. 



To increase and multiply, and replenish and 

 subdue the earth, is a moral injunction; but the lat- 

 ter clause has been practically interpreted in a dif- 

 ferent signification from what was intended: and 

 the soil indeed lias been literally subdued. A 

 rightful Avar was waged, since the creation, 

 against the thorns and thistles and other pests — 

 and it was intended that man should "subdue" 

 and suppress the more noxious parts of the vege- 

 table and animal kingdoms, (and some say, un- 

 civilized nations,) and give encouragement, by 

 calture and preservation, to the growth and propa- 

 gation of those which contributed to the comfort 

 and sustenance of man. Tiic injunction has been 

 misinterpreted, and a long and successful Avar has 

 been carried on against the soil itself. But while 

 some have been engaged in this ruinous conflict, 

 others, as bad, have laid down the Aveapons of their 

 rebellion, and have made peace Avith the earth 

 foreA-er. But to turn UAvay from this scene, Avhich 

 has been the cause of so many fiieling digressions 

 in your journal, I have witnessed tremendous gul- 

 leys formed also by foot-paths: and how many of 

 these are made in a plantation by people, hogs, 

 sheep, cows, &c., and these in proportion to the 

 poA^erty of" the land and tlie scantiness of tlie A'e- 

 getation. In such fields, (and many there be,) 

 the barren hills serve only as bridges to convey 

 the poor creatures from one distant green spot to 

 another, or to some solitary fruit tree; their velo- 

 city and thefiiction of their feet towards which, are 

 ahvays in proportion to the pro])elling power, hun- 

 ger, and thtir leanness in the same ratio. Indeed, 

 there are so many negroes, cows, sheep, hogs and 

 horses, kept on some plantations, that it appears to 

 me they must tread it entirely over in a fe-w days 

 — so that the Avhole land becomes one solid beaten 

 track, some idea may be formed of the number of 

 the paths they make, during a suoav, thougli they 

 travel a great deal less at such times. The Avay 

 these gulleys are made by paths, is, the soil is 

 trodden entirely naked of A'egetation, by the shoe 

 and hootj and nothing to hold the earth together, 

 away it goes the first hard rain. Independent of 

 these gulleys, made by frequented paths, thou- 

 sands of little gutters are firmed all oA^er the fields, 

 by treading off the vegetation, (for which the 

 hoof is admirably constructed,) so that the soil 

 steals almost insensibly away Avithout making any 

 vcrv prominent guiley. This part of the destruc- 

 tion of cattle on land seems never to have been 

 dul}^ considered; but attention turned simply to 

 the depriving the soil of its vegetation and tread- 

 ing the land so bard, as to pre\x'ntits rejiroduction. 

 To prevent the evil of paths, I do not propo.'je lo 

 instruct the hocrs and cows to walk horizontally 

 around tlie hills — but these may be kept up on 

 the confinement system, Avhich is infinitely jire- 

 fi^rable to what I would term the "common" sys- 

 tem, which is indeed "having all things in "com- 

 mon-" As to the cart roads, let the same direc- 

 tion be giA-en to the Avheel, as we have given to the 

 point of the plough, and let the farmer as soon 



