1882 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
547 
Scenes in the Southern States. 
This number opens with a beautiful Northern 
Winter Scene. On the opposite page is an equally 
attractive and more stirring picture of Southern life. 
One visiting the Southern States after an absence 
of thirty years or more can but be forcibly im¬ 
pressed with the marked progress made in Agricul¬ 
tural development. There is not less of cot¬ 
ton culture, but more of other crops. While 
truck-farming is by some older planters looked 
upon as small business, it has brought to the South: 
ern States a vast amount of much needed ready 
money, and has played an important part in the 
general improvement. Not only this, but the agri¬ 
culture of the South has been greatly diversified 
by other crops. Formerly a large share of the hay 
consumed in these States came from the North. 
There are now, within our knowledge, several farms 
devoted exclusively to the growing of hay and bal¬ 
ing it for market, and we are glad to add, to the 
great profit of the owners. As an indication of this 
new life, we may quote one of the leading nur¬ 
serymen of the South, who not long ago stated to 
us, that the demand for fruit trees from Texas was 
so great that he found difficulty in meeting it. 
These and many other facts indicate that in the 
future, the agriculture in the South will be varied, 
and not solely devoted to cotton. That there will 
be any less cotton raised, we do not believe, for of 
all the world, some portions of the Southern States 
are best suited to this wonderful crop. Aside from 
its commercial value, the cotton crop has much 
that is picturesque and attractive. The prepara¬ 
tion of the soil, the planting and care of the young 
plants are best suited to the labor now most 
abundant at the South. The beauty of the cotton 
plant when in “the square ’’and in bloom, but 
above all its rich appearance when the opening 
bolls show that the fibre is ready for the pickers— 
“is most striking. The picking, employing men, wo¬ 
men and children, is a merry scene, and a prelude 
to others of busy industry. The work of the gin ; 
the baling; the conveyance to market, by water, 
or by those nondescript teams seen no where but 
in the cotton districts; the final work at the “com¬ 
press,” previous to the shipment on ocean steamers 
—are all features of interest to the stranger. The 
time is not far distant when a greater variety of 
crops will be produced in the South, but also 
through improved methods of cultivation, it will 
grow still more cotton. 
Opinion of an Eminent Artist. 
I was delighted this morning, in passing the win¬ 
dow of the American Agriculturist, to see offered 
as a Premium a reproduction of a very beautiful 
picture, “In the Meadow,” by Dupre. This 
picture is an educator, and 1 am glad to see the 
American Agriculturist the first to take hold of it. 
Oct. 27, 1882. F. S. Church. 
Vegetables and Fruit from the Southern 
States. 
Those who have kept the run of the markets in 
northern cities are aware of a marked change in 
the past ten or fifteen years. Formerly there were 
regular seasons for both vegetables and fruits; 
strawberries came in June and tomatoes in July 
and August, and were not looked for earlier. This 
at present is all changed. Take tomatoes, for ex¬ 
ample; the first in the market appear in February, 
from Bermuda; these are soon followed by a sup¬ 
ply from Florida; others soon after from Georgia, 
and so on northward, until the New Jersey and 
Long Island crops are ready. This cultivation of 
vegetables at the South for northern consumption 
has not only had its effect upon the markets at the 
North, but it has brought prosperity to portions of 
the Southern States, and has had a marked effect 
upon southern agriculture in showing that there 
could be profit in something besides cotton. A few 
years ago we visited a Georgia planter, who seemed 
to be quite disheartened at the fact that a friend of 
his, near Charleston, with a few acres in strawber¬ 
ries, tomatoes, etc., received a larger money return 
than he did with all his many acres in cotton, and 
employing a large number of hands. The cultiva¬ 
tion of vegetables for northern markets is not only 
engaging the attention of those who already reside 
at the South, but market gardeners, who have had 
experience in the Northern States, are turning their 
attention to the South with a view to competing 
with those already engaged in the business. A 
northern gardener who went to Georgia since the 
war, assured us a few years ago, that he had an 
ample income merely from his asparagus bed. One, 
to make an asparagus plantation, must wait at least 
three years before he can have any returns. Hence 
there is little competition, aud there can scarcely 
be a more profitable investment for those who can 
afford to wait. 
The Cotton Crop. 
The World’s Yield. — Nearly Four-Fifths (78 
per cent) Grown in the United States.—The 
Crop Can be Made Far 3Iore Profitable. 
Very few have any adequate conception of the 
magnitude of the cotton crop grown in a small 
number of our States, nor of the practical monop¬ 
oly we have in this product over all the rest of the 
world. Fewer still, among the producers them¬ 
selves, appreciate how profitable this crop may be 
made, simply by increased intelligence on the part 
of the cultivators. In no other crop is there so fair 
a chance for large returns for time, labor and cap¬ 
ital expended. In grain and dairy products we 
have competition in nearly every other country. 
Next to food, cotton is a prime necessity for a 
large part of the human race, yet its culture is 
necessarily confined to a narrow belt of the earth’s 
surface, below 37° degrees of latitude, and only a 
small part of this belt will produce good cotton. 
Where Grown.— The present annual cotton 
crop of the world is about 81 million bales of 
about 450 lbs. each, or iS,835,000,000 11>*., 
produced as follows : 
United States .. - 78 per cent. I Egypt. 5 per cent. 
East Indies.15 per cent. ! Brazil.2 per cent. 
That is, our country produces nearly four-fifths 
of the entire world’s cotton crop, or 31 lbs. to 1 
lb. grown elsewhere. Our four annual crops prior 
to the present year, aggregated 22,877,000 bales of 
the average weight of about 460 lbs., the average 
annual crop being 5,719,250 bales, or 2,635,135,750 
lbs. At the average price in the New York market 
of 111 cents (nearly,) the annual value exceeds 
Three Hundred Million Dollars. 
What Becomes of the Cotton. 
Of our own crop, not quite one-third (32 per 
cent) has been manufactured at home, and over two- 
thirds (68 per cent) has been exported to other 
lands, most largely to Great Britain. (Of last year’s 
crop we used about three-eighths, 371 per cent, 
and exported five-eighths.) Of the world’s total 
production of cotton, the little territory of Great 
Britain takes and manufactures almost two-fifths, 
or 39 per cent. The consumption, in manufac¬ 
tures, by different countries, is shown approxi¬ 
mately in the following table : 
Great Britain 39 per cent Italy.2 per cent 
United States.. 26 percent Switzerland. 1% per cent 
Germany.8 percent Sweden, Nor ) 
Russia. d'A per cent way,Holland, I- 2 per cent 
France. 6 percent Canada, etc..) 
Austria. 3A per cent — 
Spain_ _ 3 percent Total 100 percent 
East India. 2A per cent 
The value of the cotton crop is very largely en¬ 
hanced by the recent discoveries, for such they 
may be called, of the great value of the seed for 
oil, for feeding cake, and as a fertilizer. Passing 
this over now, we are pleased to know that the ex¬ 
perience of a comparatively small number of cot¬ 
ton growers, some of them with but recent prac¬ 
tice, is demonstrating very clearly that intelligent 
culture can readily double and treble the profit 
realized from this crop; that while the great mass 
of cotton growers have hitherto barely eked out a 
poor living, and only that by reason of the natural 
fertility of the soil, and an exceptionally favorable 
climate, yet in no other department of agricultural 
industry does correct information, intelligence and 
skill bring larger returns. The people are awaken¬ 
ing to the comprehension of this fact, and we invite 
communications from our southern readers, illus¬ 
trating from their own experience and observation 
how cotton may be grown more profitably by the 
people generally. 
The Good Work Goes Bravely On. 
New subscribers for our paper continue to pour 
in from eveiy quarter. During the past thirty 
days we have received far more new names than 
during any corresponding period for ten years. 
The friends of the journal will be pleased to know 
of this great prosperity. We are confident they 
will be glad to lend a helping hand in swelling the 
number of recruits to our vast army of readers. May 
we not ask every one of our subscribers to bring 
one, two, three or more friends or neighbors with 
them as they re-enlist for another year? 
Southern Live Stock. 
The saddle horses of the South have always been 
the admiration of Northern horsemen. Light, 
graceful, fleet, enduring, easy, and high-mettled, 
many of them thorough-bred, they are like nothing 
which we have here, and if well broken to saddle 
and to various gaits, especially if they would take 
fences easily, would no doubt meet ready sale in 
Northern cities. 
Southern cattle, with the notable exception of a. 
few herds, have been “ nothing to brag of,” until 
quite recently. Now Southern gentlemen are wak¬ 
ing up to the fact that the best breed for milk and 
butter may be profitably raised at the South. Direct 
importations of excellent animals have been made. 
Many Jerseys of the highest reputation and of 
bluest blood have been taken South and are doing 
exceedingly well. 
The magnificent sheep ranges of Virginia, North. 
Carolina, and Tennessee, have long invited the- 
best blood of Spanish, French, and English breeds 
for the improvement of the native flocks, accord¬ 
ing to the market, whether for early lambs, for- 
mutton, or for wool. 
Preparing for Truck Farming at the 
South. 
BY DOCT. A. OEHHER. 
Location. —The requisites the truck-farmer must 
have in view in selecting a location are cheap, safe, 
and expeditious transportation of produce to the 
market, convenience for procuring manure, a soil 
adapted to the crops he wishes to grow, and sani¬ 
tary surroundings. Other conditions being the 
same, water carriage is preferable to that by 
wagon. If, in the selection of the land, one is con¬ 
fined to a single soil, he should select one consist¬ 
ing of a mixture of organic and inorganic matter ; 
a light, deep, sandy loam, with plenty of humus,, 
or vegetable matter. Experience has shown that, 
without this, crops will not yield as well in propor¬ 
tion to the quantity of manure applied. Locations 
in the immediate vicinity of the larger coast cities, 
offering the best facilities in the way of transporta¬ 
tion and manure, are in the possession of local 
market gardeners, and such lands are generaHy 
highly fertile. The truck-farm, requiring a larger 
area, is compelled to locate several miles beyond 
the corporate limits, on the line of a railroad, or 
on the banks of a navigable stream. The land 
will often be one, the fertility of which has been 
shipped to Europe, or the North, in the shape of 
cotton, by some planter, whose measure of success 
was gauged by the rapidity with which he could. 
