652 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 11 



This difference, at the* first glance, is seen to 

 spring from a dill'erent sj-steni of management. 

 Let us briefly contrast them. The old consisted, 

 and, in many places, yet consists, in clearing land, 

 however steep, and cultivating it in tobacco, plant- 

 ed in hills, made lor the purpose in rows running 

 directly up the ascent, leaving a space between 

 them, in which the water of heavy rains collects 

 in torrents, and bears ofl' a portion ot the soil to 

 the plain below. Year after J'car, the land is cul- 

 tivated in tobacco, until the crop fails so much as 

 to threaten loss to the planter. Then the ground is 

 put in corn — the crop worked by shovel ploughs, 

 cutting a shallow furrow, in many instances, di- 

 rectly up hill, loosening the suriace just enough to 

 be carried off by the first heavy rain. Wheat 

 followa corn, and corn wheat, until the land is 

 nearly exhausted. Then perhaps a year of what 

 is called rest is given, which consists in turning in 

 the stock of the farm to eat up every vestige of 

 vegetation that appears during the season. In 

 advanced stages of decline, rj'e and oats are sub- 

 stituted for wheat, and when numerous galls and 

 gullies are formed, and broomstraw covers the re- 

 sidue of the field, it is abandoned as worn out, and 

 thrown into common. The new mode is, simply 

 to adopt the convertible husbandry, to follow grain 

 crops with grass, principally red clover, to allow 

 the land to remain imder grass two or more years, 

 before it is again subjected to the plough, to avoid 

 close grazing, and to apply the manures of the 

 i"arm-pens, stables, &c. The increase of crop is 

 so immediate, and so considerable, Irom this bet- 

 ter husbandry, that to those who are not aware 

 how many prejudices exist in agriculture, and 

 how extremely dilficult it is for cultivators of the 

 earth to change any of their habits, an adhe- 

 rence to the old mode seems unaccountable — 

 habits, perhaps, more pernicious in a hilly country 

 like this, where washing rains are so frequent and 

 destructive, than in any other. Men, apparently 

 with as good natural endowments as the rest of 

 their species, have settled on lands here in the 

 forest state, have built good ho'.ises, and made 

 other expensive improvements, and j'et have pur- 

 sued such a system of culture, as rapidly im- 

 poverished their fields, and inevitably doomed 

 them to sterility, before, in the course of nature, 

 their own lives might be expectiul to terminated. 

 To move in old age to a distant land, and encoun- 

 ter the privations and difficulties of a settlement in 

 the wilderness, among pestilential marshes, howl- 

 ing wild bests, and men nearly as savage, is an 

 arduous task ; to remain at home in circumstances 

 daily becoming more straitened, as the wants of a 

 growing fmiily are increasing, is liitle less per- 

 plexing. Yet this has been the dilemma of so 

 many Virginians, and continues to be so to sucli 

 an extent, that an examination of tlie means by 

 Avhich it may be avoided, may be useful, if it 

 (?hould prove the instrument of rescuing even one 

 individual from that situation. The first step 

 would seem to be, the exposure of the prejudices 

 so operative in producing this result, and particu- 

 larly with regard to the tobacco crop, which will 

 doubtless long continue to occupy a large portion 

 of the labor of^ this country. 



It is extensively believed that its culture is in- 

 consistent with the improvement of the soil, from 

 the large quantity of labor it requires. It is true, 

 the culture of tobacco requires a large portion of 



the time and attention of the laborers of a flirra, 

 where it constitutes an important ingredient of the 

 crops raised; but under a better system than that 

 in common use, time enough is left, not "only to 

 prevent the farm from retrograding, but to main- 

 tain it in a state of progressive improvement. In- 

 stances exist in this country where tobacco has 

 been largely coultivated lor more than twenty 

 years, and j'et the general ieriility of the larm has 

 been more than doubled in that tim.e. 



Tobacco is believed by many to be one of the 

 most powerful of exhausters, not only directly, but 

 indirectly, by exposing the land to wash more 

 than any other crop. As a direct exhauster, I 

 think it less potent than Indian corn, wheat, rye, 

 or oats. It affords the best preparation lor the 

 wheat crop, known to me — decidedly better than 

 a naked fallow. It is true it exposes the land to 

 wash under the ordinary management, not only 

 more than any other crop cultivated by us, but so 

 much, as to render the preservation of the fertility 

 of the soil exceedingly difficult. But a better sys- 

 tem is within the reach of every planter, which, at 

 least, does not diminish the quantity or quality of 

 the plant, whilst it preserves the soil. This sys- 

 tem, I will endeavor hereafier to describe. 



Those prejudices, by producing apath}', prevent 

 the search after improvement which is indispensa- 

 ble to success. 



Many suppose the nature of the labor emplo3'ed 

 in the southern states, is incompatible with an im- 

 proving system of agricultue. The writer is con- 

 vinced, from his own experience, it is better than 

 the hired labor of the greater portion the non- 

 slavebolding stales. 



In bodily health and strength, the black is fully 

 equal to the white man. And as to willingness, 

 necessity alone produces bdior fioni the operatives 

 classes of any color. The agriculturists of the 

 free states, as they are called, must closely inspect 

 the work of their hirelings, to obtain an adequate 

 return for their wages — and a serious neglect in 

 that respect, would be soon f(>llowed by ruin. 

 Where population is dense, and the competition 

 for employment active — where it is a favor 1o be 

 emploj'ed, and a serious evil to be rejected, then 

 the landholder acquires a control over bis hired 

 labor that renders it very efficient. Dut where 

 the demand f)r labor exceeds the suppi)', and the 

 discharged laborer is eagerly employed, immedi- 

 ately after his dismissal by otliers, the case is wide- 

 ly different. And llfis is, in truth, the situation of 

 most of the northern, and all the northwestern 

 states. Did the landholders of the south bestow 

 as much personal attention to their farms, as 

 those of the north, and northwest, tlic inqiropriety 

 of many of their practices would be iiirced upon 

 their attention, and the adoption of better hahits 

 with steady industiy, would speedily show their 

 results. But the control thej' possess over their 

 labor, enables them to delcfiate it to overseers. 

 Crops are made with considerable injury to the 

 soil by those who neilber know or care bow to 

 preserve it. Ruin does not come so soon from 

 neglect of busines, as it would to the northern 

 landholder: it, nevertheless, too olien comes at last; 

 and when the soil is destroyed, the master fiuds 

 subsistence for himself and slaves reduced to a 

 scanty pittance. Paradoxical as it may seem, it 

 is in truth the superiority of our labor that contri- 

 butes to the cadaverous aspect of our country : 



