SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR 
n 
me preservation ot'its best and highest capabilities, more 
of this mental power. It is not, however, entirely a pur- 
chaseable commodity;, nor is it exactly current at its in- 
trinsic money value. j 
If the planters of a whole State were disposed to unite 
their efforts to supply their cultivated fields with such ele- 
ments of crops as they most need, the common want 
might be fully met for less than a third of the presetit cost 
to each seperate planter. Indeed, it is mainly the exces- 
sive cost of the raw materals of cotton, corn and wheat, 
at the South, as commercial articles, that prolongs our pre- 
sent destructive system of farming. Guano delivered on 
the Hum at a cost of sixty or seveny dollars a ton recjuires 
liiat wheat shall bring two dollars a bushel to pay expen- 
ses, and the no inconsiderable risk of failure. In short, 
we find it next to impossible to hire men to cultivate poor | 
land so that it shall not be made poorer, and pay them for j 
their labor. They cannot realize higit wages, if allowed | 
the use of the land (rent fiee,) and of horses to plow it, | 
unless one will give them manure also, which cannot lie j 
purchased at a reasonable price, as compared with the j 
price of corn and wheat. | 
It may be said that one should make manure on his | 
farm. This is generally the best course: !mt on an old, ' 
'worn out plantation, something is needed as a basis to j 
build upon. iNIore poor land has been renovated by the • 
aid of lime than by the use of any other single elemen | 
tary substance. We should gladly purchase lime for agri- j 
culturl purposes if railroads were not so managed as vir- j 
tually to prohibit the transportation of lime any consider ; 
able distance for the improvement of the soil. Capital in- i 
vested in iron wavs, locomotives, pmssenger and freight 
oars, would yield twice the income by fostering the gener- 
al use of lime, and a better system of tillage than is now 
practiced. At present the State loses many of its best 
citizens by emigration, and the loss of capital by the same 
means amounts to some millions a year, h othing slioit 
of an increase of fertility, and the lessening of the cost of 
TBaking good crops will correct the evil. 
All taxpayers ought to insist on the immediate adop- 
tion of a wiser public policy, having for its object the re- 
t.iining of the wealth and population of Georgia within its ! 
limits. But so long as farm labor and capital are gener- j 
ally employed to impoverish the earth, its abandonment, j 
where most injured, is inevitable. The truth of this re- | 
mark being almost self-evident, and fertility being a quan- j 
tity, even in the best virgin soils, who does not see the j 
importance of the best possible facilities of transporting I 
the integral parts of crops from places where they are j 
abundant to places where they are scarce 1 It is, then, a I 
short-sighted, narrow-minded policy in railroads to refuse 
to use them for the replenishing of the soil, as well for the 
conveyance of its products to market. Decaying forest 
leaves stable manure and deeper plowing aided by marl 
or commmon lime, will do much to restore fertility where 
•.t has been removed and lost. The recuperative powers 
of the calcareous element in soils is not duly appreciated; 
and we shall endeavor in future numbers to develop the 
chemical functions of lime more fully and charly, in 
bringing out the latent resources of long tilled fields, and 
'hus, apparently, creating fruitfulness in sterile land. 
The essential elements of fruitfulness in the earth are far 
from being pound for pound equal to the plants that grow : 
therein. Water and air contribute largely to the solids of 
all plants; so that the substance of the ground is only 
sparingly consumed by their growth. Henf-e fertility is 
in one sense, a concentrated essence, but none the less 
ponderable matter, while comparatively small in amount. 
L. 
Implements iluu are no lon-tr wanted for the 
season, should be carefully laid aside and protected from 
the weather. [ 
IIEGEO HOUSES— PLANTATION HOSPITALS, 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I would invite the at- 
tention of slave-owners to a subject hitherto very much 
neglected, though of very great importance, as I think, tn 
both master and slave, and, therefore, well worthy of tS.* 
careful consideration of every slave holder. 
That Negroes are not, as a general thing, as well prci- 
vided for in the way of comfortable dwellings as thei-'- 
might be, is .simply a well known fiict. That their health 
(and consequently their value to the owner) is thereby 
often seriously afiected, cannot be doubted. It were 
scarcely to be expected, however, that the health of the 
negro should receive special attention while the vast ma- 
jority of the white race place so low an estimate on their 
own. 
In genera], negro houses are “knocked up” in a very 
careless, bungling manner — always too sinuU and t-oo low. 
No attention is paid to ventilation and shading, nor any- 
thing else with reference to the health and comfort of the 
occupant. They are usually placed so near the grounif 
that, in a few years, the lower timbers rot and sink- 
down quite into the earth. But nothing better is provid- 
ed, and the negro is obliged to remain in this uncomforr- 
able and unhealthy situation just as long as it will afford 
the merest excuse for a shelter. It must be apparent, I 
think, to the most superficial observer, that the noxious ex- 
halations emenating from the half-burried and decaying 
timbers, and from the abundant collections of every des- 
cription of putrifying trash, usually to be found under- 
neath and about these old, dirty habitations, together with 
the other numerous deleterious 'Vifluences inseparably 
connected therewith, are well calculated to generate dis- 
ease. 
But let us proceed, my friend, just one step farther. 
Suppose your negro is now actually sick, and obliged CO' 
take his bed here in his old, do.mp, half-burried hid.ge., 
which it is impossible to render at all comfortable either 
in summer or winter; here to struggle for days, perhaps 
for weeks against the crushing forces of a dangerous dis- 
ease, amid the numerous adverse influences and disad- 
vantages with wliicii he is surrounded on every hand r 
and what are his chances for recovery 7 You must see that 
they are very poor indeed. He is in a miserable plight, so 
is everything about him ; and you can do but little for him. 
You would gladly do something if you could. You would 
readily and willingly make all needful sacrifices, if, per- 
chance, you might, by any means, rescue him from his peril- 
ous situation. But it is to be feared that all your sacrifices, 
all your care and attention, though bestov,red v/ithout re- 
serve and without stint, will prove of littleadvantage tohiatu 
Under different, and more favorable circumstances, yoie 
could, perhaps, do a good deal that would be of essential 
benefit. As it is, liowever, you cannot do much ; neither 
can the doctor; and twolo one you will lose your servant. 
There is no doubt, but that many a valuable slave has 
been lost for the want of being beiier provided for, both la 
sickness and in health. It is not enough that you pro- 
vide simply lood and clothing for your servants when they 
are well, and physic when they are sick, no matter bow 
abundant the supply may be. Your own good sense telLs 
you that iioiir interest on the one hand, as well as Konr 
djdij on tlie other, both demand something m.ore than this. 
It is clearly and unquesiionably to your advantage to pro- 
vide comfortable lodgings for your servants, both in sick- 
ness and in health. Whatever tends to preserve the 
health and promote the general well-being of the slave, i* 
an advantage to the owner, and, therefore, well worth)' ©f 
his attention. 
Baitding H uses. — Here I cannot do better, perh.aps, 
than to recommend, in general terms, the plan laid dowa 
