Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-04-02
WHOLE NO. lob.
From the Lancaster Examiner and Herald.
A Northern Mans Impressions of the
South.


slider bly changed by a tour, however brief
throi gh the seaboard slave States. So much
| is said about the slaves and their masters, the
sugar plantations, cotton fields and rich swamps,
that large majority forget all about tho coun-
try itself. Having had occasion to pass through
some ofthese States few weeks ago, few
observations concerning them may not prove
uninteresting to Lancaster county men, par
ticularly as of late years considerable emigra-
tion has been going in that direction, chiefly,
however, 10 Maryland and Virginia. The rea-
| son why Pennsylvanians have not found their
way further down still, becomes as clear as
daylight, when one has once had a glimpse Of
| the country.
Maryland and Virginia are two quite respec-
table States in an agricultural point of view.
True, much of the soil, through the mis-
management and carelessness of the native
farmers, has become unproductive and Is
''worn out" but by northern farming and
northern energy, can again be made produc-
tive to an extent that will pay tho farmer hand.
somey for his labor; but this is not the case
with those States lying still further South
| Such as have travelled through the above men,
| toned States, must have remarked the large
amount Of rocky and swamp land, which it is
very probable will never be rendered preduc-
tive, the soil being poor in the first place, and
the expense of reclaiming it in the second, be-
ing so great as to prevent all idea of its being
attempted. Things become ten times worse as
soon as yon get out of Virginia into North
Carolina, which is the poorest and meanest
State, agriculturally, in the Union, South Car
olna excepted, which in this respect bears of
the palm from every country in the world.
Virginia, from having been the mother of
Presidents and Statesmen, has condescended
to be the mother of negroes, and the result OF
her prosperity is only too apparent. The
wretched dwellings OF tae white population,
and the still more miserable cabins ofthe slaves,
speak even louder than Governor Wise, him
self, of her miserable condition. An almost
endless succession of stunted pines lines the
railroad from one end to the other. A few
other species of deciduous trees are sometimes
seen, but it is very rarely that the oak or the
hickory is found. North Carolina is better Off
in her pine forests, for here the trees grow
very often to an immense size, and form one Of
the chief sources ofwealth to the people. So far
as other timberis concerned, she isquite as bad
off as Virginia. The country, too, is more un-
even, and the soil seems much inferior, and in
fact, from this point down to New Orleans, the
soil has an appearance that would be very un-
inviting to Lancaster county farmer, resem-
bling very much, the red, sandy appearance
of that portion of Lancaster known as Muddy |
Greek, but it is still less productive.
There is not SO much cotton raised in North |
Carolina as | supposed. The pine forests |
which cover almost the entire country furnish i
much less trouble. here witnessed the man
ner of making rosin, turpentine and tar. An |
incision is made in the tree with an axe, about |
a foot from the ground, and strip Of the bark |
about three feet long is then taken off above |
the cut and extending down to it. The cut is |
shallow and catches the liquid as it oozes out
of the tree. The rosn is secreted in that por-
ton of the tree from which the bark has been
taken. Each year the bark is taken of foot
or two higher up than the previous year, and
this practice is continued until the tree dies,
which is in about six or eight years: afterwards
the tree is cut down, and then burnt in comi-
cal shaped kiln, from which the tar is pro-
carolina Is assonishing. / saw thousands OF
barrels lying along the road, waiting TO De sent
to market. Much is also made in South Caro-
lima.
One that has never seen a southern swamp,
cannot have the slightest idea OF what 1t is
The season in which saw them, being winter,
there was of course no vegetation, and my
chances of observing them, all the better. The
ground is covered with water, from six inches
to two feet deep, and out of these marshes,
rise enormous trees, mostly pines. A most
singular feature in these trees is, that about
two or three feet from the water, the trunk
suddenly enlarges to three or four times its
usual girthj this suppose, arises from the soft
yielding nature of the soil, which renders it |
necessary for the tree to havc wider and con- |
sequently firmer base for its roots. The aspects |
of these swamps is oftentimes very peculiar
Through the trunks of the trees you can see |
for hundreds Of yards nothing but tho shining |
water, at this season of the year, unrelieved by
animal life of any kind. During the summer
months, however, they are the abode of almost
every species Of vermins They account also
for the sickness which prevails in so many
parts of the South, during the warm weather.
Sometimes these marshes extend almost with
out interruption, for hundred miles; person
begins to think the South is nothing more or
less than one interminable bog, and he is not |
very wrong.
To one who has been accustomed to see |
COnestoga teams all his life, southern horses |
and southern teams present a very strong con-
trast. The bone yard would be deemed the |
fittest place for nearly every horse | saw after |
left Washington. A more wretched, abject |
lot of beasts can be found no where, unless it |
be in Italy, which they say beats the world for |
sorry horses and mules. Oxen are more used |
in the South than horses, for the reason, pre- |
sumo, that they are kept with less expense. / |
am confident, six good horses would cat up
the entire produce of many of the plantations
l saw oxen therefore are preferable, both as
matter Of economy and policy. Nothing sur
prised me more than the small number OF
horned cattle, and livestock generally, kept
on southern farms. Two or three COWS, as
many hogs, a couple Of goats, half dozen Of
barn fowls, and few yoke of oxen, cOnstitu-
ted the planters property his negroes except
ed.
In the matter of barns, they are entirely des-
titute. do not now remember of having seen
single barn after leaving Richmond. The
extreme meagreness of southern crops, rem
ders out-buildings entirely unnecessary to the
planter. He would not know what to do with
il, ifhe possessed one. A rickety shed, a doz-
en- feet long, answers every purpose, and costs
nothing. l saw immense corn-tiel1s in all the
States down to Louisiana, but not grain OF
corn. 1 can't imagine what becomes of it, un-
less used for the support of their negroes. ]
Judge from the appearance of the stalks, that
such ears of corn as we see in Lancaster county
are altogether unknown. They plant their
corn as we do, except that they never put more
than one grain in hill, it being found that
one stalk is quite as much as one hill will
grow.
A perceptible change for the better takes
place in the character Of the country, as soon
as you get into Georgia. The soil looks bet
ter; the cotton and corn fields show more
vigorous growth. Alabama is still better than
Georgia, and in some places tho country looks
quite respectable. The swamps still show
themselves, however, and the entire State, il it
has not the submerged look of the Carolinas,
is yet fiat and uninteresting. 1t is anytbingiese
than the place where northern man, though
| he comes from among the rocks Of New Hamp-
shire, would desire to live. am very CONT
dent that were twenty-five Lancaster county
farmers to locate in any southern State, South
of Virginia, before the close of the first year
twenty-four fthem would have found theii
way home again, and no one would blame them
hold it as almost impossible for a northern
man to feel at home, or even to become re-
cenciled to the routine of southern planta
ton, and the farmer who makes up his mind t,
try his future in the South, would better con
slider the step he is about to take. i SHOULD
advise every man with such intentions, to g