362 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



population, and the distance from market. 

 We are confined to fewer staple crops for mar- 

 ket, and more frequent repetition of the clo- 

 vers and grasses for improvers. The usual 

 five field system, of one hoe crop, two wheat, 

 and two clover crops, forms one of the best 

 rotations, and is as scourging as can be judi- 

 ciously practised on any, except soils of high 

 fertility. This is objectionable in the too fre- 

 quent repetition of wheat and clover. Jt has 

 been observed in the best wheat countries that 

 the growth of particular classes of weeds, and 

 the multiplication of parasitic, plants, as rust, 

 mildew and smut are favored by too frequent 

 alternations of the same, or nearly allied plants. 

 This effect is said to be still more remarkable 

 in the case of insects. Some are proper to 

 peculiar species of plants, and when the crops 

 are not varied, it is often found that a de- 

 structive multiplication of these species takes 

 place.— [Low's Practical Agriculture.] The 

 southern border of our State is near the south- 

 ern boundary of successful wheat culture, and 

 may consequently be more liable to the disas- 

 ters peculiar to the crop — to those insects and 

 parasitic plants which prove so destructive. 

 It is worthy of experiment whether the wheat 

 crops should not succeed each other at longer 

 intervals, by adopting a more extended rota- 

 tion. Though we are too far south for the 

 safest and most successful wheat culture, the 

 wheat of a southern climate is more valuable. 

 The wheat of northern latitudes contains from 

 16 to 20 per cent, of water, whilst that of warm 

 countries has only from 8 to 10 per cent. — 

 [Boussingault, 173.] It is the small propor- 

 tion of water which ensures its keeping well, 

 and gives command of more extended and va- 

 rious markets for shipment. 



The selecting of seed and frequent changes 

 are of great benefit. New varieties of well 

 selected seed brought from other sections of 

 the State, or from other Slates, are almost in- 

 variably more productive when first intro- 

 duced. In a climate not very favorable to the 

 full maturity and perfection of the wheat, fre- 

 quent changes from a distance are advisable. 

 It has been observed that the minor varieties 

 of any species of wheat are not permanent in 

 their character, though under conditions, they 

 will remain unchanged for an indefinite pe- 

 riod. Under other circumstances, however, 

 they degenerate, and hence particular kinds 

 that were once valued, have now ceased to be 

 so.— [Low's^Practical Agriculture, 334 ] 



Many portions of the State are admirably 

 adapted to grazing and feeding stock; and 

 there is scarcely any portion of it in which a 

 surplus cannot be profitably raised. Under the 

 most unfavorable circumstances in the plant- 

 ing region where tobacco is the chief staple, 

 and requires so much time and attention, the 

 surplus products of the farm mav be profitably 

 fed. In respect to the raising of hogs, I have 

 seen it fairly tested by a planter in my own 

 section of the State, tie raised over forty-five 

 thousand pounds of pork, nett, for successive 



years, being more than one thousand pounds 

 for each laborer, and without any diminution 

 of his crops. It is well known, that corn is 

 unrivalled in its quality for fattening, as com- 

 pared with the cultivated grains, containing 

 j by recent analysis near ten per cent, of fatty 

 j matter. [Norton's Elements, 131.] Its pro- 

 duction may be' pushed to almost any extent 

 j by an improved agriculture and judicious feed- 

 ing and grazing; and at the usual range of 

 prices between corn and pork in the country, 

 j it is more profitable to feed than to sell — be- 

 ! sides it furnishes large resources in feeding 

 for the improvement of the land. It is a con- 

 tinual reproach that hogs are driven from other 

 Stales and sold in this. No justification can 

 be plead on the score of economy or profit, in 

 the sale of agricultural products to purchase 

 meat. Indeed there is something surpassingly 

 ridiculous in the very suggestion that a strictly 

 agricultural community should purchase its 

 meat from another State. 



It is true, we do not possess the humid cli- 

 mate of England and Scotland, nor have such 

 frequent showers of rain, and cannot therefore 

 graze so heavily nor support so large a num- 

 ber of live stock: yet the cutting of two tons 

 of clover from an acre annually, is a good 

 crop in any country. Whenever this can be 

 done, the most improved breeds of stock may 

 be introduced. One of the striking faults 

 in our agriculture is the cultivation of too 

 large a surface. A larger portion should be 

 laid down to grass and devoted to grazing. It 

 is difficult to break through fixed prejudices 

 and habitudes of thought, to remove the con- 

 viction that grazing impoverishes land. In all 

 of the older cultivated countries it is one of 

 the well established means of improvement. 

 "Lands after cropping maybe laid down to 

 grass and grazed with constantly increasing 

 fertility, but if suffered to become full of weeds, 

 the improvement is slow, if perceptible at all." 

 [Low. Prac. Ag.] This is the leading distinc- 

 tion between cultivated grasses and weeds, 

 and should be remembered. Those plants 

 which are nutritious to animals are fertilizing 

 to lands; and in almost that exact relation; 

 for they derive their nutritious principles and 

 fertilizing powers from the proportion of nitro- 

 gen they contain. Beginning with the strictest 

 leguminous plants and clovers, and descending 

 through the grasses to the weeds, the jelation 

 between the nutritive and fertilizing powers, 

 is sufficiently well established for practical 

 purposes. 



Whilst this State is eminently agricultural, 

 we should not look upon Agriculture as sepa- 

 rate and distinct from other great branches of 

 industry. It is not upon that foundation alone 

 that national prosperity is built; but jointly and 

 inseparably upon its commerce and its manu- 

 factures. These leading branches of industry 

 constitute the triune embodiment of a State's 

 prosperity, not separate and antagonistic, but 

 one and indivisible. 



The progress of Agriculture in this State 



