The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1850-12-18
'''7 frs.n he sonthera culliraios.
FARM EcoNoMY-DIyRRsIFyISG
scROPS.

MIR. Eprrcs s--I am very willing to
aimit /. the impropriety and inexpedis
G ,cy Of CHING all the labor and prime
land Of the country, TO the exclusive
cultivation Of one Or two crops" and !
t.iink we have abundant proof through
eltthc cotton region. TO prove the above
statement to be too true. Admit that We
can make more money by making cotton,
o. rice. or sugar, even should we have
10 buy little corn and neat yearly,
vet Ihold IL to be gross impropriety
because our lands are worn out, and
we thus are losers ere we die. 's
Let as examine. Take land at an
average price Of 50 per acre. clear. put
on buildings necessary. cultivate upon
this system and how long before said
land. will not produce a two third crops
Thus have we lost one-third Of our ca-
pital. Take on. the other hand plan
Ter, who buys. clears and builds with a
view Of never making over two-third
cotton crop. He plants corn, small
gram, potatoes, rests a portion Of his
land raises his own stock, corn and
meat; in addition to this. his manage
,nent will enable him TO rear more ne
groes, his negroes will be stout and
hale, certainly larger, and hls land will
not fall materially short in any period
Of ten years. Suppose this man rests
only tenth Of bis land yearly. suppose
he has only one-twentieth in . good
pasture. and supposehe has only mule
Or horse to sell every five years. in the
meatine supplying himself. Will be
not grow rich while his go-ahead neigh
Dor bill have to seek new place every
20years any hows--or do as many do,
work poor dilapidated plantation, be-
cause his dwelling has cost him too
much to be able to sell for the value
Of land.
The man with a5 or so hands may
afford to live we'll and buy few hands,
but if the small planter Of 5 or 10 hands,
patterned after him, what would he do9
contend it is not so much in the econ
omy Of the last, as it is in his growing
Of varied crop, that the difference is
seen.
know men who twenty years ago
had only two hands, himself making
one, yet they have raised from five to
seven or more children, and have now
fifteen to thirty hands, with fine lot
of"little ones coming on. Where IS
the planter Of fifty hands who has thus
increasedl And besides, We dosnot
see the miserably decayed land around
those little planters. The South buys
yearly an immense quantity Of stock.
hay, corn, oats, pork, beans. .axe-handles.
and some say wooden nutmegs and horn
gun flints. Why is this: Not one of
these articles but what canbe produced
at home. And if all planters would do
something else besides devoting them.
selves so closely to cotton, rice and
sugar, believe cotton would be sus-
tanned at 10 or IL cents, and all would
be richer and happier. Custom rs a
hard master, but not one that we can
nat manage if we put our wits to work,
Were | member Of an agricultural
society. would rather pay my part OF
$500 silver plate to the man who pro-
duced four bales, and the gratest IN
come from other things. than to pay my
part Of $40 premium to or 10 bale
planter. | think our country would
be made happier by the CHANGE.