The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1854-03-15
AGRICULTURAL.
From The Farmer and PLAnter.
Rambling Thoughts on the Agricul.
ture Of the Upper part of South Car
a1ino


olina.
MEssRs. EDIroRs: As a partial return
for the kindness and hospitality which
has been shcwn me by the citizens of thi,
part Of your State, l beg leave to submit
to them, through the medium of your
useful journal, the result of such limi
ted inquiries as | have been enabled tC
make in relation to the important inter,
est which yonr publication is calculated
to promote. With no practical know
ledge of the pecu!iaritics of your climate,
or the crops best suited to it,JI cannot
hope to offer anything that will be either
new or useful to the intelligent farmers
OF this portion Of your State, and will not
therefore presume to obtrude upon them
crude specu!ati"ns on subjects, with which
they are much moro familiar than | am.
But encouraged by the assurance that he
who causes two blades Of grass 20 grow
where but one grew before, is to that ex.
tent public bcncfactor, will venture to
offer few suggestions and remarks upon
the soil of this portion Of South Carolina:
the modes Of culture which seem TO be
practiScd here, adding few general re-
marks upon the systems generally pur-
sued in portions Of our own country and
OF Europe, most advanced in Agriculture.
The geological features Of this and the
adjoining districts Of ALbcvil!e and Pick
ems, are, as far as | have had an on.
poriumiy to observe them, very similar.
Gnes, granite, mica, talcose and clay
quartz, are the prevailing rocks OF these
districts. These, need no: inform your
readers, are all primitive rocks, and the
three first being composed Of t!e same
minerals, (viz: mica, quartz, and fclspar,)
in different proportions, often pass into
each other by almost imperccptihlc gra-
dations. Gneis, which largely predomi-
mates over al! the others, contains from 4
TO 10 per cent. OF pot ash, about one per
cent. of lime. There is in all these, as al,
so in the veins ofquarlz, considerable iron,
from the oxide OF which your soil takes
lis deep red color. Quartz when pure, is
pure silex. or sand, but many OF these
veins are auriierous, or gold bearing, and
| nave no doubt that some Of them will
hereafter be protitabIy worked From the
abrasion and decomposition Of the rocks
to which have referred; the soil derives
its mineral properties, and IN them when
combined in due proportions with organic
matter o. humus, possesses in high de-
gree the elements OF enduring fertility,
and although it may not possess all the
fertiIizing properties Of some Of the best
soils Of the Northern and Western States,
will in many respects compare favorably
with them. Before proceed to the con-
sideration Of the system offlrming which
seems to he generally pursued in this and
the adjoining districts, suffer me TO say
tha', in my opinion, this State has by
Civ ng away the lands belonging to it,
pursued a mistaken policy, and done much
to retard an improved system Of agricul.
! ture. The difficulty of Introducing Use
ful improvements will he felt wherever
new lands Of gool quality can be obtained
on the terms which the lands Of this State
have been granted, and the effects Of this
policy here have been not only to add
largely to the possessions Of many who
! previously owned moro land than they
could either occupy or improve, but has
also led to u @ system which so generally
| prevails, Of opening new fields and new
farms, instead Of attempting to reclaim
the old. | am aware that other reasons
may be urged here in defence Of this pri-
mitive and in the end ruiuOus system,
which do not exist in some other sections
of country. These arc lst cheapness
and facility Of preparing for cultivation
your lightly timbered oak and pine lands,
10y girdling tue larger trees and burning
the smaller on the land; 2nd, lighter and
cssier cultivation while the vegetable
mould upon the surface may last; 3rd,
the greater expense of obtaining the fer
tilizius manures Of ofguano, marie, lime and
gypsum, deemed so necessary in the re-
suscitalion of exhausted soils and so cx-
tensiyely used in some sections of our
country. AS the course which the two
| first Of the above reasons would justify,
are the irst steps in q system ofhusband
! ry which al enlightened experience has
condemned. Iwi'l not here enter. into