AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS SOUTH, ETC. 
215 
evident, as he raised upwards of 1,300 bushels 
of ears of corn from 15 acres, in a single year. 
In 1844. eight years after purchasing this farm, 
his grass brought standing, in the field, in the month 
of June, from $12.50 to $18.75 per acre, and the 
farm sold for more than one third over its original 
cost with very little improvement either in fences 
or buildings. The price of land, however, was con¬ 
siderably lower than at the time he purchased, the 
advance being wholly in consideration of the high 
.state of cultivation of the soil. 
Much of the success in this farming operation 
may be attributed to the management of the good 
lady, in the absence of her husband. The way 
she served out the corned beef, bacon, and greens 
to the hired men cannot find a parallel. Her father 
was a wealthy merchant, in Philadelphia, and owned 
a farm in the neighborhood. After leaving her 
boarding school, she went with the family to spend 
the summer, at the farm, where she found a woman 
highly recommended who had been engaged to 
make the butter for the season. On going down 
to the milk house, a quarter of a mile from the 
dwelling, she there found the milk room literally 
sprinkled with cream and the churn and milk pans 
musty. She ran back to the house, just in time to 
see her father before he started for Philadelphia, 
■and said to him, as he was getting into his carriage, 
“ this butter maker will never do for us. Just come 
down and see for yourself.” Down he went, and 
on beholding the condition of his dairy, his ire was 
kindled and he said, “ my dear child, what shall we 
do'?” “Why,” said the daughter, “take the 
woman into the carriage back to the city and let 
me make the butter.” The action followed the 
word. With a colored boy to do the churning and 
a little girl to assist, she made from June to the 
first of October, upwards of 900 pounds of butter, 
which was sold as fast as made, at a store in the 
neighborhood, at 25 cents per pound, besides using 
milk, butter, and cream in the family, and occasion¬ 
ally sending a roll to a friend. There were nine 
cows, one of which was farrow and another a two- 
year-old heifer. Had there not been something 
attractive about this spring house, this young lady 
would never have had her attention directed to mak¬ 
ing butter. Suffice it to say, it was a stone build¬ 
ing, in which was a spring of cold water, pouring 
into a stone trough, well cemented and turning 
round three sides of the room, wherein the pans 
were set for raising the cream. Near by, was a 
wooden building with a copper boiler and every 
convenience for cleaning pails, pans, churn, &c., 
under an immense large black oak, with its broad 
dark-green leaves overshadowing the whole and 
keeping the atmosphere cool in the hottest days of 
summer. Samuel Allen. 
Morristown , N. /., May , 1849. 
Thf. Kum-Quat. —The Kum-quat, (Citrus japo- 
nica,) is extensively grown in pots by the Chinese 
for decorative purposes, during the winter months, 
and produces an excellent effect. It is much more 
hardy than any other of the orange tribe, and 
when in full bearing is literally covered with its 
small, oval, orange-colored fruit. It is of easy 
cultivation by grafting, and is worthy of the atten¬ 
tion of American amateurs. 
AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS SOUTH. 
The planters of the south are just beginning to 
put their “ shoulders to the wheel,” and revolution¬ 
ize all the obsolete ideas in farming. Progress has 
reached us even here, and we are in earnest. It is 
found better to adopt other views than those which 
have so long held us in their iron thrall. All 
around us, you can see improved implements of 
agriculture, and practical evidences of reason. In¬ 
novation is not now shunned, and many specimens 
of the most excellent effects are evident. We are 
on the right path now; and, in a few years more, 
we hope to see our once sickly child, the south, 
smile again with robust health. But we are still 
dependent on the west for our meat, notwithstand¬ 
ing what the “Great Mastodon” says to the con¬ 
trary. 
A review of the receipts from the interior and 
the exports from the city of New Orleans, will 
prove my assertion. I find that the receipts of pork 
for the past year, in New Orleans, that is, from 
the 1st of September, 1847, to August 31st, 1848, 
over and above the shipments from that city, have 
been, say 38,117 bbls. pork; 14,201 hhds. do.; 
13,564,430 lbs. do.; 18,539 hhds. hams; 381,140 
lbs. bulk bacon. This is in addition to the immense 
amount of pork and bacon sold out by flat boats 
on the river to plantations, and by steamboats 
to the larger towns, Natches, Vicksburg, &c. 
Where is this great amount of meat consumed ? It 
must go to supply the south. I do not pretend to 
say that many planters do not raise their own meat, 
but as a general thing, they do not raise their own 
pork in tne south. There are many causes which 
prevent them. For instance, the difficulty of cur¬ 
ing and saving it, and the quantity of cotton made, 
thus preventing us from raising sufficient corn. 
The continued Jow price of cotton has induced 
many of our prominent planters to turn their atten¬ 
tion to the cultivation of the sugar cane ; and from 
land well conducted, experiments made in this par¬ 
ish, it is now generally conceded, that sugar of a 
good quality can be made on our thin uplands. It 
remains to be proved whether there is sufficient 
stamina in the soil to support the continued drain 
on it. At least, it is thought the land can be kept 
up by alternate rows of corn and peas with the 
cane. These must return something to the soil. 
The experiment is being tried, and we shall soon 
know whether it will be profitable to raise sugar in 
the uplands. There are many advantages over 
the coast planters, and not the least is the facility 
with which wood is procured. Some have said 
that hauling sugar would spoil its grain. This 
cannot be. In Terre Bonne and some of the west¬ 
ern parishes, sugar is hauled some distance. I 
never have heard any complaint on that score. It 
is to be hoped that our interior planters will suc¬ 
ceed. There are some three sugar houses in this 
parish now, and from what I can learn, there will 
be no less than eight or nine more ready by tha 
fall of 1850. 
J. S. Peacocke. 
East Feliciana , La., March 1st, 1849. 
The early sower never borrows of the late.—• 
Old English Saying . 
