122 THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
land, the mud slime, (ot Seats&eld,) all ot allu- 
vial character, (susceptible of culture,) will be 
again taken by the current which originally de- 
posited it — and the planter who boasted of his 
wealth in it, must yield it to the flood, and flee 
for his life. This evil has done its worst with 
us tlready. Oar rivers and creeks are cleared 
to their sources, and lands which have not latter- 
ly been regularly submerged, may be consider- 
ed safe iorever, and their high value fixed. The 
price of land, not immediately on the high- ways 
to market, is from 10 to ^15 an acre, depending 
on quality and situation. To prepare it for 
planting, requires almost, to us, inconceivable 
labor. The forests are dense, and the growth 
colossal; and it has been asserted that SIO to the 
acie, will not more than cover the cost of clear- 
ing. Thus time and arduous work, are neces- 
sary for preparation, and expenses are accumu- 
lating. A failure in tire crop here, would be ru- 
inous likewise; and though beyond the reach of 
high water, perhaps, yet no section there is ex- 
empt from the desolating effects of the rust, the 
worm, lice and caterpillar, which exact an annu- 
al tribute from the crop, and sometimes share 
the whole of it among themselves. Besides the 
steady rains of several week’s duration, which 
often destroy, and always slain a large propor- 
tion of it. And here, as on the river, sickness 
might prostrate the entire force, and a fine crop 
be left in the fields to rot. The mortality, too, 
is very great, and the profits of the most success- 
ful plantations are largely drawn upon to sup- 
ply the deficiency among the hands, which the 
fever yearly creates. There is little breeding 
among them, and of course no increase, save by 
accessions from the more Eastern States. But 
a siill sadder fate may overtake the emigrant. 
He might procure, in his own judgment, and in 
that of his lawyer, an indisputable title to his 
land, and yet be sued for it within a year, and his 
claim be extinguished by the verdict of a jury. 
Such mishaps have occurred to the most acute: 
and I have recently been informed of an instance 
of an accomplished lawyer, who emigrated, 
paid S10,000 for his place, prepared to plant, 
was sued by some claimant of his land, and 
turned off it by due course oflaw ; yet, he knew 
the difficulties and risks of land claims, and gave 
a thorough inspection to his title befoie paying 
the money. This was within the United States. 
What must be the uncertainties in Texas, where 
land has been granted by the league, and scrip 
for it sold and re-sold, with sometimes forty 
claimants for the same tract. This will more 
than counterbalance the difference of the price 
of land in Texas and Mississippi ; and yet the 
best plantations there are dear, and should it be 
annexed to us, they would, no doubt, advance 
several hundred per cent. 
The climate is more fruitful: a longer period 
is permitted the plant to grow and mature. Yet 
an enlightened planter has asserted, that, taking 
the vicissitudes of the seasons into account, the 
33rd parallel of latitude is the most favorable for 
the growth of cotton. Although the plant is in- 
digenous to a lower latitude, and the seed grown 
here cannot be used continuously, year after 
year, in consequence of the rot — which expe- 
rience proved, some years ago, to have arisen 
from predisposition of the seed, and which was 
entirely remedied by procuring more Southern 
seed ; yet soils yield all plants in greater perfec- 
tion by occasionally changing the seed, as well 
as changing the crop, and at any rate, planters 
would have made this exchange. It is very lit- 
tle trouble or expense to procure, every year, a 
few bushels ot seed from Texas or Louisiana : 
and, as the quality of this last was imparted to 
it by admixture of the Sea Island with it, (vide 
Seabrook,) we have only to plant the black seed 
with our own, in order to obtain an equally good 
staple. 
With regard to the cheapness of living, they 
are all as dependant, for mules and meat, upon 
Tennessee and Kentucky, as the worst mana- 
gers among us are, and pay about the same price 
for them. But we have made a commencement 
to supply ourselves, at least, with meat, which 
is a great point gained. A lew planters, scat- 
tered here and there, are unable to raise stock. 
It becomes tlie prey of runaways and theives, 
and is destroyed. The community must en- 
gage in it and distribute the losses. We have 
made fair progress : much the larger part of our 
planters buy no meat, and in a few years, it is to 
be hoped, that neither horse.s, nor" mules, nor 
hogs, will be supplied us, from beyond the moun- 
tains. The beginning* has to be made in the 
Southwest, and it may be asserted with truth, 
that our subsistence is c/iraper than theirs. 
Turn, now, to the picture which home pre- 
sents. Our lands are entirely our own, and are 
amply furnished with stock and implements, 
and with all requisite buildings and machinery. 
Still, the best of them are valued at from 5 to 
SlOan acre, and the average maybe had at from 
2 to $6. True, they are scarcelv comparable to 
those of the West, which produce 2,000 and 
2,500 lbs. seed cotton to the acre, (and not 4,000 
lbs., as Gen. Thompson said in his Texas let- 
ter,) though rarely is the half of it gathered^ — 
while ours yield ordinarily an average of from 
500 to 800 lb.s. Yet, they are far easier worked, 
and more of it can, therefore, be tended; and, if 
we will apply in time, rest, and labor, and ma- 
nure, a moiety of what it would cost to break 
up and move, to buy and settle other lands, and 
prepare them properly for planting, (without 
adding the high cost of mortality in our force,) 
we can, on the first rotation, make them yield a 
bag to the acre, and do it afterwards in perpetuo. 
Suppose a planter with 3,000 acres of average 
land": He sells lor ^15,000, and emigrates to 
Louisiana: He buys a choice place there of 
2.000 acres, which he deems enough, and pays 
560.000 for it; or, if he gets it at S25 the acre, 
$50,000 ; or, if he prefers to be off from the riv- 
er, he pays from 20 to S30,000. It has cost him 
from 500 to $1,000 to move, including, if you 
pleat.e, the loss of part of his crop, which he 
must leave in order to reach his new place in 
time to prepare for planting, provided this last 
is improved ; and at least ten times that amount, 
if he has it to clear, in time, and work, and sub- 
sistence, without adding wffiat he could have 
made and saved in the meantime, on his old 
plantation. He can gather only about five bags 
to the hand after all, taking one season with 
another, and probably he would not average it; 
for, should it escape all the evils which I have 
alluded to, his force could not pick out much 
more than this, and do j ustice to his plantation 
improvements. What if we were to expend 
the half of one of these sums, even of the small- 
est, in making and spreading manure, and adopt- 
ed the system of rotating, resting, and cultivat- 
ing to advantage, would we not make more than 
we could po.ssibly gather? would not our worn 
Oldfields bloom like an enriched garden spot? 
Could we not make an abundance on Jd the 
land we now till, and work our negroes lightly, 
employ our surplus force in mending stock, (of 
which we would soon have a superabundance,) 
procuring timber and lumber for market, and 
making all requisite improvements? No plan 
can be devised to render us more prosperous and 
independent, and it is this which, sooner or la- 
ter, unavoidable necessity will compel us to 
adopt. 
W e are freer from the insect, and from dis- 
ease, than in the West, and are never flooded by 
high water; nor is the crop injured, or diminish- 
ed, by the incessant rains of a more tropical 
clime, nor tom up by the awful tornadoes which 
sometimes desolate a whole region, and which 
Seatsfield depicts with great accuracy, and pow- 
er, and effect. We have an earlier market, be- 
ing on the Atlantic, and can realize half a cent 
more for our cotton, than if in equal competi- 
tion, which will pay the difference they obtain 
in the quality of theirs. We are comparatively 
healthy, with air which is not saturated and 
heavy almost to cutting, as theirs is, with the 
miasm of the swamps; and water, which they 
cannot dig from their mud banks, nor filter from 
their lime prairies. W e enj oy more of the luxu- 
ries and pleasures of life, and are, therefore, 
higher in the scale of rational existence; for 
civilization consists in the multipliciU and 
vanity of our wants, physical, moral aqd intel^ 
lectjjal. We mingle in a more refined society 
and educate our children in higher pri nr- . les, 
and for nobler objects, than the gross sc s of 
Western life exhibit — where wild sport, and 
vulgar pastimes supersede moral developj-.ent, 
and physical energy predominates, to the e;. . !u- 
sion ot intellectual culture. And indeed, she 
mass of our advantages over the.n, far :ri -ss 
thatof theiis over us; and, with skilful man; 
ment and well-ui>'ected industry, we are c jmpe- 
tent to equal them in their boasted privileges. 
' But my article is long enough. The sa'ojecl 
is full of interest, and at ihis crisis uf i.apor- 
tance, and susceptible of a variety of views, 
which, at a future time, I may present. 1 have 
said enough to awaken attention ; and if it de- 
ters a single family from risking the loss ot all 
they possess, and peace, comfort and health, to 
venture among the disastrous uncertainties of 
Western life, my effort will be amply repaid. 
A Burke Planter. 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
cultivation of cotton. 
The Improvement in the Cultivation of Cotton in the 
Flat Woods — The susceptibility of the Improvements 
of the Lands shown by Experiments. 
Mr. Editor — It is known to a great many 
people in this section of country, that the flat- 
woods of Elbert county was once thought to be 
unfavorable to the culture of cotton, though late 
experiments have shown the suspicion to be in- 
correct; however, in its original state, it i.s not 
altogether so well adapted to the production of 
cotton as higher lands, especially with careless 
farmers. David Bell, a practical farmer of this 
county, has proven, Irom actual experiments, 
that cotton may be giown, to an advantage, on 
any land in the Southern clime, where the tem- 
perature, and the length o! the seasons, will ad- 
mit of its being raised at all. He has shown 
the good effects of manures — enough so to in- 
duce any farmer to turn his attention to the sub- 
ject. He is now making a small experiment 
upon one acre of land, which has been cleared 
and abandoned years ago, and thought to be ir- 
reclaimable — which is supposed to be the case 
with most of the lands in the flat-woods, when 
“wornout:” this is also proven to be incorrect. 
This acre which he has manured, is now in a 
state of high cultivation — and it is thought it 
would not be extravagant to say, that it will 
make 2,000 lbs. of cotton, from its present ap» 
• pearance. His manner of manuring is simple : 
he finds that litter from the woods, with little of 
the soil, of itself is an excellent manure; and 
when combined with the litter from stock, or 
cow-penned upon, answers, in a high degree, 
the reclaiming of most any land— and adapts it 
to the culture of most of our productions. He 
finds that low lands, when properly managed, 
can be made to produce cotton finely. From 
what observations and experiments he has 
made, the result of his conviction is, that there 
is more advantage to be derived from properly 
planting a crop, than unthinking farmers have 
heretofore been aware of. He invariably well 
prepares, and throws his lands, where he intends 
for cotton, as high as a turning plow will admit 
of; and where his land is any wmy low, he uses 
the hoe to bring it to a proper elevation. 
Land done in this way, produces cotton to as 
early maturity as desirable. He finds it to far- 
mers’ interest, to cultivate a small quantity of 
land to the hand ; which, by a proper system of 
manuring, will yield more to the farmer, than 
double the amount otherwise cultivated. And, 
though he is In favor of “annexation,” yet he 
