340 
HINTS FOR THE SOUTH. 
HINTS FOR THE SOUTH. 
In looking over the pages of the Agriculturist, 
and other journals of the day, I often see articles 
respecting the improvements of the South. I no¬ 
tice the different improvements in planting, rearing 
of stock, and agricultural implements ; I like them 
all, and wish these improvements could be brought 
about; but there it is, when I look around and see 
so much, speaking of desolation and decay, my 
heart fails me and I begin to be fearful that the 
South never will be redeemed from its state of thral¬ 
dom. If you speak to the planters about raising so 
much cotton and not turning their attention to other 
things, or at least divide their labor, they will say, 
“ Oh, well, I know it—I know we are ruining 
ourselves, but it cannot be helped. We are in 
debt and must make col ton to work ourselves 
out.” 
We have to buy our own meat both for our 
tables and our negroes. This takes the work of 
some five or six hands. Then we have corn often 
to buy, and taxes to pay, which, with us, are ex¬ 
tremely onerous ; also, negro-clothing, plows, shoes, 
medical bills, horses, mules, and store accounts to 
pay, and at the end of the year, if there is no inter¬ 
est or instalment of some bank debt to pay, the 
remnant of the good old times of 1836-7, why, 
even then, out of a crop of six or seven thousand 
dollars, we hardly have enough left to pay pur 
overseer. This is a true picture of the South. To 
be sure, some of our most enterprising planters (and 
among them I will name Col. D. J. Fluker, of this 
parish) are raising a small portion of their meat; 
but not a tithe of what they use. This is a very 
important item, and one which would save many 
thousands to the South if it were otherwise. 
I would be obliged to some of your well-in¬ 
formed Southern correspondents if they would give 
a page or two of advice respecting the rearing, edu¬ 
cation, and management of hogs, from the time they 
are ushered into an unfeeling world to that period 
when they are destined to grace the table of a ne¬ 
gro. We can afford to be dependent on the West 
for our table-meat, but we should raise that on 
which we feed our negroes, and not be forced to 
pay from $15 to $16 per barrel for pork. There is 
one difficulty in the way. Our negroes kill off the 
pigs as fast as they appear. We should also be 
able to raise our own wheat here. It has been cul¬ 
tivated successfully in Mississippi, and I see no 
good reason why we cannot fiour it ourselves. 
In regard to negro-clothing, I suppose we must 
he content to be supplied with Lowells and Linseys 
from the looms of the North until we have a manu¬ 
factory of these articles in the South, which is well 
able to support several. Do you know why cot¬ 
ton-bagging and bale-rope, and twine cannot be 
made at home, and thus absorb many a bale of cot¬ 
ton which would find its way to the North or to 
England, the genius of which country will manu¬ 
facture and re-ship it to us with a thousand per 
cent, added? I should also like to know what is 
the best method of taking care of stock which have 
to depend on what nature provides for them. How 
disgraceful it is to a planter to see all through the 
winter his stock, both old and young, standing thin 
aa a shadow, shivering under the lea of some fence 
corner, and starved, turned out “ to root or die ” on 
a scanty winter-pasture. This is what has killed 
all the fine Durham and 'other stock. So it is 
with mules and horses. Is it not possible to build 
some kind of a shelter for stock to shield them¬ 
selves from the cold piercing blasts of winter ? It 
appears to me that the manure which could be col¬ 
lected from the shelter in the spring, would in one 
year pay for erecting it. 
Can anybody tell me also what will make a pear- 
tree bear which is a scion from a bearing-stock ? It 
blooms well and puts forth leaves in profusion, but 
in a short time the blossoms all fall off. So it is 
with my cherry and apple-trees (a). 
J. S. Peacocke. 
Belgrade, E. F. La., July 27th, 1847. 
(a) Our correspondent does not state the nature 
of the soil in which his trees are planted, nor 
whether they are situated on upland or the Mis¬ 
sissippi bottoms. Apples, pears, cherries, peaches, 
&c., we believe do not well succeed in the latter; 
but whether this is owing to any deficiency in the 
composition of the soil or to the heat of the climate, 
we have no means of knowing. If the trees are 
located on the upland, we would recommend that a 
compost, made of charcoal, wood-ashes, shell-lime, 
and a liberal dressing of stable-manure be added to 
the roots, and that the trunks of the trees be tho¬ 
roughly scrubbed with soap-suds. If they are situ¬ 
ated in the low lands, perhaps a dressing of potash, 
shell-lime, and barn-yard manure would have the 
desired effect. 
We hardly think the warmth of climate can be 
the total cause of the failure ; for, during the past 
summer, according to the Alabama Planter, the Mo¬ 
bile market was abundantly supplied with apples 
of the growth of the immediate vicinity, which is 
in about the same latitude as Baton Rouge. 
“ Among these apples, were large greenings, pippins, 
and russets of the Northern States. The first grew 
remarkably large. The others, when fully ripe and 
mellow, are represented to have been of superior 
flavor and excellence. Coming to maturity so early 
in the season, when Northern and Western apples 
are not to be had, they command a handsome price, 
and pay better, perhaps, than any other product in 
our market. This settles the question conclusively, 
which has been so long mooted, that good apples 
could not be raised in this latitude. Here, the small 
trees brought from the North, attain in five or six 
years a large growth, and the russets, greenings, 
pippins, &c., which in Massachusetts scarcely 
reach maturity before winter, in this climate ripen 
on the trees in August and September. The ripen¬ 
ing is in succession, the fruit most exposed to the 
sun and air, first maturing, and are gathered and sold 
as they ripen. So superior, remarks a Northern 
writer, are these apples thus ripened, in flavor, size, 
and excellence, that they can scarcely be identified 
with the same kinds of northern growth. This 
rapid maturing is of course followed by a corres¬ 
ponding decay, but in consideration of the early 
yield, cultivators will not deem it too expensive to 
supply the places of the failing trees with fresh im¬ 
portations.” 
A full reply to the inquiries other than fruit-trees 
will be given in the December and subsequent num¬ 
bers of this periodical 
