VoL. 11. 
AUGUSTA, GA., OCTOBER 30, 1844. 
Ko. 22. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Soathern Cultivator. 
ECONOMY. 
Stanfordville, Ga., October 22, 1844. 
Mr. — I propose in this communica- 
tion, to give to the readers ot the Southern Cul- 
tivator, a few thoughts connected with facts 
touching the subject of economy. The low 
price of cotton for several years has brought 
about a perceptible change, at least with a great 
many. There is more dependence now than 
formerly on our spinning wheels and looms 
for the clothing of our families. There are se- 
veral of my acquaintances who do not buy any 
part ot their negro clothing; and the good la- 
dies of our country have applied their willing 
hands and hearts to prove to the world that they 
can manufacture clothing for their husbands 
and sons, that will make them appear as respec- 
table as if they were clothed with goods that had 
passed through a custom house. Should not 
these efforts of the ladies stimulate the men to 
look well to their ways and means, and give 
their wives all the encouragement that the na- 
ture of the case requires; provide for them all 
the necessary conveniences, such as good cards, 
wheels, looms, warping bars, and spool frames, 
and not suffer their wives, as some men do, to 
be put to the necessity of going to a neighbor’s 
to warp a piece of cloth. Perhaps the wife, in 
the course of a year, may lose a week in those 
kind of errands, while, if the husband was of the 
right kind of grit, he would make a pair of warp- 
ing bars in one day, which, with eare, would 
last to the third generation. There has a fa- 
vorable change taken place with some men in 
this section in their manner of doing busi- 
ness, viz : they pay the cash for ail their deal- 
ings as they take place. Tnis is good economy, 
as goods for the cash can be had for at least from 
8 to 12^ per cent, lower than they can be obtain- 
ed on a credit; and when the cash system is 
carried out, how easy it is to settle up the year’s 
business at Christmas, which is looked on as 
the time for settlements amongst planters, N ot 
that I advocate the cash system any farther than 
is practicable; there are many men who are not 
prepared to stand up to it, therefore it is economy 
for them to have the good resulting from credit 
so far as it may be to their advantage. At the 
same time, no man should buy an article mere- 
ly because he is getting a long credit on it, as 
pay-day will surely come and will not tarry, no 
not even for a rainy day. But after a man has 
contracted a debt he should use all the means 
within his power to be punctual iii payment. If 
be is not ready when his debts become due, he 
should by nomeans be seen to slip around to 
avoid meeting his creditor, but should come up 
with a suitable deportment and frankly acknow- 
ledge his inability to discharge his obligations, 
and make the best arrangements he can with 
his creditor. This is good economy, as it gives 
some confidence and saves unpleasant feelings 
to both parties. 
It is bad economy for a planter to undertake 
to make a crop with a worn-out set of tools, as 
the work is harder in every particular, nor will 
it be near as well done, neither will there be as 
much performed as could have been with good 
sharp tools. A good hoe-hand can do enough 
more work with a good hoe in one wmek and 
with more ease, than he could with an old, dull 
hoe, to pay for the good hoe ; two good axe-hands 
can, with firs; rate axes, do more cutting in any 
given time than three can do with indifferent 
ones. Any man that has worked on a planta- 
tion, I expect, has done enough to have found 
that there was a great difference between a poor 
tool and a good one. A planter need not expect 
to have good plowing done with shackling 
plows and plow-hoes, and without good plow- 
ing it is idle to expect a good crop, 
I am of opinion, Mr. Editor, that it would be 
good economy with us planters to increase the 
number of our sheep and reduce the number of 
our cows, as I know from experience that one 
cow, well kept, will yield more milk and butter 
than two or three without any extra attention^ 
For any planter who has a plenty of land to a^ 
ford sheep a good range, 1 consider them the 
most profitable stock he can have, taking into 
consideration the small amount it requires to 
keep them. Sheep, with a full supply of pas- 
turage, with frequent changes from one place 
to another, or from one pasture to another, re- 
quire but very little feeding through the winter 
The best feed we have for sheep in this part of the 
country is cotton seed and good green fodder,and 
by giving them sufficient old fields to range on, 
this might be almost or entirely dispensed with. 
It will not do to keep sheep in small enclosures 
long at a time, let their feed be what it may. It 
is bad economy to feed sheep on sheaf oafs, I 
have said to keep them up or in a small field, 
and feed them on oats, they would be soon fed 
to death; and I was not far from the truth, for 
I never have known sheep to do well when fed on 
oats long at a time, but altogether to the contra- 
ry. 1 have never found but that sheep do as well 
here as they do in Virginia, and as regards the 
ewes having lambs, they do much better,for it is 
not uncommon lor lambs there to be frozen to 
death immediately after being dropped, which I 
have never known to be the case here. If we 
would keep the briers and burs out of the way 
of our sheep they would yield us as good a coat 
of wool as sheep do in the northern states, and 
so far as I have been able to judge, the quality 
is as good, after taking into consideration the 
difference in the breed, as we have none ot the 
best blood amongst our sheep, that I know of. 
I am, Mr. Editor, yours respectfully, 
John Farrar. 
P. S. — Your correspondent, Mr. Haygnod, 
made some very justifiable remarks respecting 
seeds and seeds-men, in the Cultivator of the 
23d instant. 1 think 1 can put Mr. Haygood in 
a way to keep in a stock ot good seeds on a more 
economical plan, than to depend on seeds-men 
for them, viz; alter once getting the kind of seed 
that suits him, to save his own seed from them. 
1 have not bought any seed since 1 have come to 
the state, and perhaps have as good cabbages, 
beets, &c. as those who buy their seed every 
year. My plan for saving seed is to take as 
many of the best cabbages as I want for seed 
j ust before hard frost sets in, cut the root and 
part ot the stalk off, and dig a trench deep 
enough to bury the heads, leaving the tops a 
little out of the ground, andlay some corn-stalks 
or boards over them in cold weather — in the 
spring they will take root and run to seed. 
Trim off all the weakly sprouts ; save t’ne best 
only for seed — should they get lousy, smoke 
them with tobacco or sulphur. By pursuing 
this plan, I have kept a stock of good and pure 
seed. Beets, turnips, &c. may remain in the 
ground where they grew till the last of January, 
or later, if cold weather -then take up as many 
of them as are wanting for seed, trim off all the 
small roots and set them out to bear seed. If the 
weather is dry when this is done, they must be 
watered. As they run to seed, trim off all but the 
best branches, the remainder will produce good 
seed without deteriorating. J. F. 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
OVERSEERS. 
Mr. Editor ; — I read, with pleasure, in the 
last number of the Cultivator, an article on the 
“Duty of Overseers,” written by “An Over- 
seer.” If all our overseers would read, adopt, 
and act up to the principles laid dov/n in that 
article, the happiness, as well as the profits, ot 
the planters would be greatly enhanced, and 
the agricultural profession, in every way, vast- 
ly benefitted; for a great deal depends on over- 
seers. I have had many in my employment. 
I have taken uncommon pains in the selection 
of them. Have always secured men of the 
highest reputation, and never parted' v-ith but 
one before his year was out. Yet I can say 
that I have not had a single one, nor have i ever 
known a single one, who comes near up to the 
