238 
SOUTHERN CULTIYATOR. 
tation. If the cotton planter cannot fully carry out tht 
plan, he can adopt it partially by devoting to it one-third 
or one-half of his arable land. Let him do this, apply all 
this manure to the portion of cotton and use the held-pea 
as extensively as he can in lieu of clover, if his land is not 
adapted to the latter, and he will be well rewarded for his 
trouble, as well in the improvement of his land as by an 
increased supply of stock food. 
In turning his back on an unrelieved succession of hoe 
crops, and adopting a course of husbandry sanctioned 
both by experience and science. Col. Peters will doubtless 
reap a rich reward in improved profits and improved 
lands. 
The cotton planter, however, enterprising, bold or even 
innovating he may be in other respects, yet in the pursuit 
of his peculiar vocation, seems almost as slavish a sub- 
missionist to custom as the celestrials. Year after year, 
with a soil constantly becoming more sterile, with a pinch- 
ed supply of food both for man and beast, and many of the 
latter class fit representatives of Pharaoh’s lean kine, the 
question recurs, how little land will make my corn, and 
how much shall I be able t@ plant in cotton '? Experience 
and science have so often appealed in vain to such mana- 
gers in demonstrating the folly and thriftless consequences 
of this course, as to make it obvious to the slightest observ- 
er, that sheer necessity will alone arrest the evil. Ephraim 
is joined to his Idols — let him alone. (Occasionally, how- 
ever, our vision is greeted by cheering exceptions to this 
melancholy state of things, looming up in the general 
waste of agricultural declension, like so many oases in the 
desert. Such an exception does Col. Peters present, and 
it is with the hope that such exceptions will be multiplied 
and that their successful examples may bring about a re 
formation, that we feel animated and encouraged. We 
know, too, that truth is mighty and will ultimately pre- 
vail. 
A proper supply of pasturage is the great want of 
Southern husbandry. Unless this want shall be better 
supplied, our agriculture must continue to decline. A 
routine of crops which furnishes a plentiful supply of 
grass, hay and small grain, is essential both for successful- 
ly rearing valuable stock and improving our soils. Add 
to this as bountiful a supply of manures as can by care 
and attention be made on the premises, and there will be 
a reasonable assurance for prosperity and independence, 
if not wealth. 
The agricultural statistics of England shov/ that while 
she has som.e ten millions of acres in crops, she has fif- 
teen millions in grasses and pasturage. And there can- 
not be a doubt that the most profitable rural management 
in our own country is that which furnishes the best 
exhibitions of pasturage and the grasses. 
There are portions of Virginia and North Carolina, 
which twenty years ago were so gullied and exhausted by 
the continuous cultivation of the two hoe crops, Indian 
corn and tobacco, that the lands were difficult to sell at 
three or four dollars per acre. These lands now sell at 
from forty to one hundred dollars per acre, and are annu- 
ally becoming more valuable, under a different treatment. 
Where formerly were seen the gaunt cow and horse, the 
half-starved hog and sheep, are now to be found fat and 
improved animals of every kind, luxuriant fields of red, 
clover, of timothy and blue grass, or rich wheat or oat 
fields occupy the places which were cast away as worth- 
less ; emigration is checked, and the country not less than 
the inhabitants, presents a cheerful, pleasing and happy 
aspect. Now, what has caused this revolution 1 Simply 
the change from the unremitted hoe crops of Indian corn 
and tobacco, to a judicious system of rotation and proper 
attention to manure, which while it has improved the soil, 
at the same time has furnished a plentiful supply of grass 
and hay. Add to tkese, the increased facilities for trans- 
portation by railroads and plank roads, and we have a 
full explanation of the great reformation. 
Have the nett profits of the farm been diminished I The 
best answer to this question will be found in the enhanced 
value of the lands: for it is hardly possible that where lands 
have increased in value from 100 to 1500 per cent., that 
profits have not advanced pan passu. 
With such examples before him, why is it that the cot- 
ton planter will persist in his ruinous course 1 Is it be- 
cause he believes nothing can be relied upon for stock food, 
but Indian corn, and nothing for profits but cotton I If 
so, let him ask the Virginia and Carolina farmer, and theT" 
will satisfy him of his error. They will tell him that the 
opinion once prevailed with them that Indian corn for 
food, and tobacco for market, were the only reliable crops, 
and that this was the great error of their old husban- 
dry, which impoverished their stock and their lands, and 
was rapidly depleting their pockets. 
If the tobacco planter has reaped such benefits by a 
change, why cannot the cotton planter do the samel 
Nothing is wanting but the will. It is only necessary tha 
he should rotate with his corn and cotton crops, wliea 
oats, red clover or the field pea, and other grasses whic 
he can grow successful on a liberal scale, connecting with 
it thorough drainage, hill-side ditching;Subsoiling and deep 
ploughing, and the work is accomplished. It may be 
troublesome both to master and to servant in the begin- 
ning, but nothing valuable can be achieved without labor 
and trouble. It is an important — I may say a great un- 
dertaking — great in its consequences to the individual and 
to the State, and the only que.stion to be asked should be, 
whether it is practicable 1 And to this question it may- 
be confidently replied, that there is nothing in climate, soil 
or the peculiar labor of the cotton planter to prevent his 
raising fine stock for all his various uses, or to limit him 
in the improvement of his lands. 
If this be so, it is all that can be reasonably desired 
and it leaves the votaries of the old and ruinous practice 
without justification or apology. 
But I must close here. I have been, my dear sir, al- 
most insensibly drawn into the foregoing reflections by 
Col. Peters’ excellent letter, and if you think they will 
be of any value or interest to your readers, you are at 
liberty to publish them as they stand, connected with the 
extract, otherwise give the extract 'per se. 
Truly yours, I. Croom. 
[in American Cotton Planter. 
Greensbcro\ Alo.., 1855. 
eULTUEE AIID PEESSEVATICN OF THE SWEET 
POTATO. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Seeing many articles 
in your valuable paper concerning the best method of cul- 
tivating the Sweet Potato, I will give you rny plan ofpre- 
paration and cultivation In the first place I break up 
my land very deep with Scooter plows, which are just 
two inches wide and very long. The first breaking is 
done about the middle of February (I plowing land three 
or four times) and then, just as my slips are large enough 
to set out, I take a good Turning plow or scooter and 
mould board and bed as high as I can, making the rows 
just three feet apart ; 1 then take a narrow mattock two 
inches broad and make small holes three feet apart; if 
done when the ground is dry, I have about lialf pint 
water poured into the hole and then set the slip, always 
leaving a hole around the slip for two purposes ; first, to 
catch the showers, and, second, to cover the grass that 
springs up, so as to leave the earth flat where the si^p is 
growing. Before any slips are drawn from my beds I 
have them well saturated with water and also dip the 
roots in a mortar of rich earth. 
In this way I have succeeded well for at least fifteen 
