Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1849-03-23

talitv of that year was increased by the ship
fever, which was very fatal TO emigrants, The
deaths week before last were 286, of which
los, OF more than one-third. were foreign. and
the proportion of that population is now much
more than oRe-third. The mortality Of New
York is much greater than it seems /; because,
being SO largely enigrant from the interior
and from abroad. the proportion OF adults In
her population is much greater than ordinary,
and among adults mortality is not near so great
as among children. New York has $4,000
children less than her share
In the last twenty years, the population Of
New York has nearly doubled, but ITS mortal
ity has nearly trebled.
According TO an official statement of TIE
duration of human life in the several avoca-
tions in Massachusetts, in I847, il appears that
the average of
Agriculturalists is GAIA years.
Merchants 1920
Mechanics -4645
Laborers 1878 +"
This is the average lifetime in the several
occupations beginning at twenty years. Ac-
cording TO this, the three avocations of city
life, merchants, mechanics, and laborers, ave-
rage about 463 years, whilst farmers live more
than 643 years, or one-third longer! This
enormous, and | had almost said atrocicGs de-
struction of human life, which is continually
going on in towns and cities, is enough OF IL
self TO account for the superior progress OF
agriculture in wealth. The loss of so large a
proportion of time, in adult years, the expen-
ses Of sickness, and the arrangement OF busl-
ness, make an aggregate of itself enough to
sink any reasonable rate of profit or accumu-
lation in any pursuit. And hence it is that
the South, which is so much exempt from the
corrosive action of cities on property and pop
ulation has made such rapid progress in wealth.
Thus, then, the superior productlveness OF
agricultural labor, the great intrinsic value as
articles ofnecessity, or of its products. the ex-
travagant style of living in towns and cities,
and finally, the ruinous waste of human life
and labor they occasion, are reasons enough
to account for the fact previously demonstra-
| ted, of the triumph Of the agricultural States
of the South over the more commercial States
of the North.
But it is objected that the Northern States
are more populous, and that if the average
wealth of their individual citizens is less, the
aggregate wealth of the State is greater. This
however, is of no consequence to the argu-
ment The aggregate wealth of Ireland is nc
doubt greater than that of any of our States
as her population is SO much greater. And
yet her people die by thousands of starvation
| am considering the condition of our people
as affected by their respective institutions and
pursuits. And think this the great point IN
which patriotism and philanthropy and phi
losophy are concerned
But it is asserted that the system of the
South is depopulating that the people of Vir'
ginia are deseiting her that the population Of
kentucky is almost stationary and that the
whole Southern section is but thinly settled
and promises to remain So If it be meant by
all this, that Southern modes of living are in.
compatible with a dense population, ] admit
| it, and rejoice in it. So far as the concentra-
ton of people in towns and cities is concern
ed, have endeavored to show that such a
thing is not so much 10 be desired. Nor dc
think it expedent to promote the augmenta.
ton of numbers within the territorial limits Of
a State, by minute subdivision of farms and
plantations among multitude of propretors
or tenants Such is too much the tendency in
the free States, and in other countries; and i
has been found fatal to agricultural improve
the average size of farms 10 an area of three
or four acres, held under their laws of descen
by distinct propretors And in a part of Scot
land, and in Ireland, tracts of similar size
are held by separate tenants And it is pre-
cisely among the peasantry OF France, tn,
croftiers of Scotland, and the cotters of Ire
land, that stagnation and desolation have over
spread the land. and semi barbarism and star
walton, the people. The division of land TO
cultivation into very small tracts, is destruc
tive of lis value The soil of France is, OF
an average, of unusual fertility, and its eli
mate so genial as 10 be favorable to a grea
variety of productions. Yet there, with ;
dense population of it's own, and in the neigh
borhood OF Great Britain. with its mighty eli
ties, the greatest market in the world, the aver
age value of land is only five or six dollars pc
acre-is less than in Virginia In England
the average size of tracts held by the severa
sorts of tenure, is about $50 acres, which i
about as small as can be made proftable-a
small as is compatible with the due rotation
of crops, judicious variety OF stock, and th
prompt adoption of improvements in cuitur
and utensils In France, the owner of tire
or four acre farm, worth only twenty five dol
lars. cannot of course afford to buy an i'm
proved plough-much less can the renter .
such tract in Ireland 1t would cost NOR
than the whole crop is worth AccordIing.'
large proportion Of French and Irish tilag
is performed with the spade, at great ex
pense of manual labor; and, accordingly, it i
England, chiefly, where the tracts are large
: that the modern Improvements in agricultur
have been made-and there the soil is NOR
productive and profitable. That some Virgin
r ians, instead of adopting some of the new me
thods of preserving and restoring the fertilit
of their lands, choose to emigrate 10 ney
c States, where the soil is already rich by ma
r ture, and is cheap, results from mere calcu
laton and comparison of the cost of the tw
e systems And if it be found more proftabl
to remove to a new than to renovate an oil
: soil. it is an evidence of thrift rather than pc
0 verify in the emigrant And of this the su
j periority of the new Southwestern over tn
4 new Northwestern States, which will appea
S by comparison of their property and popr
: ation, is ample proof t
But the impression exists that the populs
I, ton of the South, as section, is really sts
lionary, or is declining. And this being a:
: sumed, it is regarded as evidence that the pei
: pie of the South are migrating, either frol
: dissatisfaction with its institutions or with i
{ progress and prospects, or that the vices p'
culiar TO its system are unfavorable to the il
crease of its population-or that all these con
. bine to depopulate her.
:, ;, But all this is a mistake. If we dedut
!, from the free States the foreign emigratio
q and its offspring, the residue, repr esenting Il
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