Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1857-10-09
For the American F, rmer
Farm ECONOMY


economy. In making use of this term. l
do not mean that contracted. parsimonl.
GUS economy. more commonly termed
stinginess. which shuts up the heart and
stiles every generous emotion and Iiber-
al enterprise but that enlarged and COM
prehensiVe economy. which induces the
farmer to husband all his resources and
and apply them 10 advantage.
Ishail not attempt to discuss this sub
iect in all it's varied details, for that
would require volume. propose sim
ply to direct the attention Of Southern,
and more particularly Eastern Virginia
farms. to the great Importance of the sub
iect, and at present throw out some hints
touching the economy of the capital usu-
ally invested in land.
The great besetting sin. and almost
universal fault with Southern farmers is
10 own and cultivate too much land. This
has become IL most inVeterate habit, par
ticularly with our Eastern Virginia plan
ters. There is scarcely one of them that
does not own double as much land as he
really needs. This habit has grown out
of the particular circumstance attending
the first settlement OF the country, when
lands were cheap. rich, and abundant.
Il has been entailed by one generation
upon another, and has been so long and
so universally practiced upon. that the
most ruinous consequences have resulted
from it. 1t is this system that at one time
threatened to depopulate Eastern Yir-
ginia-that has converted her once rich
and luxuriant fields into barren wastes.
and that produced the present WORKOUT.
dilapida'ed appearance OF great portion
OF it.
With some of our old Va. fogies, this
practice has become not only confirmed
habit, but a matter of pride and taste
and they would conclude that they had
leased TO be old-fashioned Virginia gen.
tlemen, If they were not surrounded by a
whole territory of old-6eld pine and
broom straw. Our Old Virginia planter
is a regular fllibuster. (only he is will
ling to pay.} More land-more terri
tory-is his everlasting cry. The broad
expanded acres have greater charm for
him. tEan the we'll filed corn crib, fat
cattle. or the rich golden harvest. Eve
~ cent that he can hoard up by dint Of
the most rigid stinginess, is invested in
more land, and when his cash fails him,
is credit is pushed to its utmost limit
for the same purpose and when at last
his wide spread acres have been reduced
to utter and hopeless barrenness. and
starvation begins to stare him in the face
he sells negro or two to pay bis debts.
and sets out for the far distant West
there to pursue The same ruinous course,
and. in due time, to produce the same re-
suits.
In order to show the immense loss that
this system entails upon the agricultural
Interest in financial point of view, and
to exhibit the enormous amount of CAPT
to enter more into details, and will exhibit
some estimates that have prepared on
tie subject.
1t may be safely estimated. that our
farmers generally own double as much
land as they really need. provided they
were to adopt thorough system Of cult
walton. But to be entirely within the
bounds Of reason. will put it down to
one third-as an example, l will take one
OF our James River planters, who owns,
say farm OF !5Oc acres, worth $50 900
According TO this estimate, he has 500
acres more than he needs, or he has $40,
600 more capital invested in his business
than is necessary. Now, this enormous
tGm OF SIC. 600 is not only idle and un'
roductive-it not only does not pay
cent OF interest or income. but it is actu
ally lsx-a dead expense upon its own
or. For he has to pay in the first place
an an; uni tax Of 40 or so cents on every
$500 worth, in the treasury of ihe State
this amounts 10 say $40 In the Sc
Cond place. it is worth $40 per acre L
fence in the 500 acres. adding to the cos
Of the land SIS OOO-the annual interes
on which amounts to $500. And in the
,hird place it is worth 10 per cent. t
keep the fencing, which makes another
item Of $5O0-making the annual ex
pense of the surplus lands $40. which
added to the interest of $4,000, the sur.
plus capital invested. say $500, make 6
yearly loss Of S.. 44O. But the evils oil
this system do not stop here. The mer
who own too much land are sure to cult
vate too much. and the cultivation Of toe
much land involves a corresponding waste
Of time and labor. which should be hus
banded with as much care as capital
Furthermore, the man who has too much
land in cultivation. necessarily cultivates
1t specifically and badly-the lands are
Impoverished thereby, and he falls into
uniform habit OF waste-improVidence
and slOvenness about everything on his
farm. And in addition 10 all this, there
is nothing that offers SO great an impedi.
ment to the onward march of agricultural
progress and improvement. as the habit
that have been trying TO combat. The
man who owns a large tract of poor land
aNTta Otyn Mt
prove it : and simply because the task is
such on hcrCu1aan ODo that ha IL datarrad