164 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
visions of forty acres ; 1400 acres in blue grass, 700 in 
clover and timothy meadow, 360 in corn, 160 in oats, 20 
acres in millet, and the rest in woods pasture. There 
are 30 miles of'fence, mostly rails. The farm force con- 
sists of twelve grown hands and six boys. Gross receipts 
from the farm ^27,000. This return gives an annual 
gross income of eight dollars from every acre, including 
woods — it gives S1500 to each hand, man and boy, aud 
allows about 200 acres to each hand. 
Suppose a person hesitating between the purchase of 
Mr. Gentry’s farm and one in Georgia. We might sup- 
pose him to say,»“If I buy the Missouri farm, it is true, I 
must buy stock to put upon it. But if I buy the Georgia 
farm it will require a large gang of negroes to work 3500 
acres according to the common plan — this will cost a 
great sum of money — on the whole, I will buy in Georgia, 
but the cost of this amount of labor must come out of the 
lands- And besides, I must consider how long this roll- 
ing land in Georgia will last in the cultivation of cotton 
and corn, and as it is perishable property, I must regulate 
my price accordingly.” It is thus, that our landed proper- 
ty is depreciated in value. 
The causes which have been mentioned, we believe, 
are those which most injuriously affect the value of South- 
ern lands. We have only presented heads of thoughts, 
for each point would require extended remarks fully to il- 
lustrate it. Our defective system of agriculture has been 
stated generally, as the cause of the result we are con- 
sidering, and as particulars under this general head, we 
have enumerated the facts, that nur farmers buy land as 
preperty to be worn out, not improved— that a large pro- 
portion of our landed property yields no annual income — 
that our system allows no value to land independent of 
costly labor bestowed upon it— that our succession of 
crops is of a most exhausting nature and lastly, that in 
their cultivation they require an amount of labor, not 
known elsewhere in intelligent agriculture. 
Wo should deeply regret it, if any person suppose that 
these defects in Southern Agriculture are pointed out in 
a presumptuous or captious spirit. The subject we are 
discussing, more gravely affects the pecuniary interests of 
Southern land holders than any other which can be pre- 
sented for their consideration. If there be a process by 
which their lands may be brought up to the standard of 
Northern value, the lands which thousands now own, and 
which are of little worth, would bring to their children, 
affluence. We believe that there is no valid reason 
why this result may follow, and in a comparatively short 
period. 
It involves no censure upon the men who established 
the present order of agricultural affairs to point out its 
present defects. They were pioneers, for the most part 
men of limited means, encountering the forest, prevented 
by necessity from using improved farming tools, raising 
stock without difficulty in the range, and only for their 
own consumption as they were unsaleable, where all 
were producers, and compelled to raise those crops which 
were easy of transportation for long distances by wagon, 
and which would command cash on their arrival in mar- 
ket. But all this has been changed. That which was 
their misfortune, may be our fault. Our Railroads and 
rivers enables us now to carry to market, and to sell 
every thing which men eat and wear. And we shall be 
greatly reprehensible if we do not improve this advan- 
tage to the improvement of our husbandry. 
This thought leads to the proper remedy for the low 
price of our land. That remedy is the incorporation into 
our system of agriculture, of a feature by which crops, 
for the improvement of the soil directly and indirectly, 
shall be as regularly cultivated as crops for sale. Whether 
these crops shall be returned after having passed through 
the bowels of farm stock, is a separate question. We 
wish to see it regarded as much a part of the farmer’s in- 
nocent boast, that he has improved so many acres of 
land as that he has sold so many bags of cotton. 
I To do this we must raise horses, mules, cattle, hogs 
and sheep, for our own consumption, and for the supply 
of the market. Wool is as ready of sale as cotton. It is 
cheaper in our climate, and with proper summer and 
winter pastures to raise a pound of merino wool worth 
fifty cents in New York, than it to raise a pound of cot- 
ton, worth 12 cents in the same market. The cause of 
this is obvious. The increase of a flock of sheep, well 
managed covers its expenses and the wool is clear. There 
is no process by which we can get cotton clear. Two 
negro men, with proper enclosures and pastures, will 
take care of 1,000 Merino sheep. It is estimated by 
competent judges, that the droppings of 1,000 sheep on 
an acre of ground, for one night, are equal to 200 pounds 
of guano. We know what guano costs, and by counting 
365 nights, we may estimate the value of 1,000 sheep, in 
the improvement of 365 acres of land for one year. The 
cheapest way by which we can raise sufficient stock to 
keep our capital in land always increasing, is by the cul- 
tivation of the artificial grasses. In their cultivation it is 
only the first cost which tells — afterwards they work for 
us without labor on our part. 
We would begin with the woodland and woods pas- 
tures, An English park is nothing but a woods pasture, 
and it pays an annual interest on a heavy investment. 
We have in Georgia upwards of thirty millions of acres 
of unimproved lands to six millions enclosed and im- 
proved. Much of this land is perhaps hopelessly, irre- 
claimable, or at least for many years. But a vast amount 
of it can be used for the purpose suggested. When this 
is done, what an addition to the value of the lands, the 
wealth of the State and the comfort of the people,! What 
an exhaustless means of improving lands injured by 
scourging cultivation 1 
A farmer has ^1200 which he desires to invest— he is 
doubtful whether to buy a negro man or more land. Sup- 
pose he does neither, but expends this amount in the pur- 
chase of some one of the concentrated manures, applies it 
to his wheat land in the fall and sows clover with it in 
the manner suggested in another column of this journal. 
If his wheat is successful, he will get back (Mr. David 
Dickson tells us) one hundred per cent, on his outlay for 
manures — if his clover is successful, he will be able to 
raise stock enough, hogs especially, to prevent the neces- 
sity of a future outlay for manure. The land which be- 
fore this process commenced was not worth perhaps five 
dollars an acre, the farmer would be very sorry to sell for 
fifty dollars an acre, after a good clover soil has been 
formed upon it. It will more then pay him the interest 
of that sum annually without labor, and when the sod is 
turned under for cotton, corn or wheat, the results will 
amaze him. A slight dressing of manure on land deeply 
plowed, (a dressing on the surface,) will cause clover and 
the grasses to take hold and flourish, where their growth 
was otherwise impracticable. 
In one word, the remedy for the low price of our landed 
estate is to adopt a system which will annually improve 
the land. 
Our object in this article is to introduce the right kind 
of thought into our Agriculture. We do not mean to say 
that our farmers do not think— they do think, and some 
of them intensely — but the subject of these thoughts is, 
too often, solely, “How shall we make more cotton 7” 
We would append to this inquiry an addition, “How 
shall we make more cotton while we improve our lands 7” 
We believe both these ends are attainable. 
We propose no violent innovations. We \vould not 
diminish the amount of cotton and corn produced, but 
would increase it. We wish to see this incieased pro- 
