Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-12-01

vation of those growths which requires the ex
 ertion of particular skill. Therefore, a fair es
 timate of the annual worth of white mans la
 Dor at the north will accurately measure tht
 value of negro's labor under like circumstan
 ces. As the jus;est meals of ascertanng this information, full enumeration will be made ol the agricultural products of the free States, the average quantity that each man can successful
 " cultivate, and the average price which each product cominauds in the public market.
 The article of wheat is raised in immeasur- ably larger quantities than any other article ol produce gown in the frre-soil region of the west The facts germain to its production are therefore, first compiled.
 The lands in the western country, of which the black prairie lands of Indiana and Illinois are a far type, are capable of producing annual ly from twenty to fifty bushels of wheat to the acre. The size of the crop depends upon va retv of natural fortuities, but rarely ascends above the latter or sinks below the former o! these two extremes. An estimate, therefore, of twenty bushels per acre, annually. would be an extremely moderate average.
 The continuous system of labor. which is es- sential to the tllage of the southern staples not being demanded in the production of wheat, it follows, hat one had may attend much larger number of acres sown in wheat than is appor- toned to a single hand planted in cotton Ac- cordingly, we find, in Illinois, that one man may cultivate forty acres of wheat This in truth, is very low estimate; for since the in- 1 troducton of the various cutting and thrashing machines into agriculture at the north, one man is competent to plant and harvest much more considerable quantity than Is grown on forty acres. But reducing the average to the estimate of forty acres, and calculating upon this the as certained product per acre of twenty-five bush els, we find, as a net result that one man in the western states is capable of producing one | thousand bushels of wheat per annum.
 The market value of this, as of other pro- ducts is extremely huctuating, and during the course of perhaps every half decade, runs a ga nut of prices. beginning at thirty cents and ending at two dollars per bushe
 Preserving uniformly reduced standard of estimation, the average price of wheat is stated at fifty cents per bushel; multiply this upon the annual result of one thousand bushels, and the calculation shows that the proceeds of one mans labor, in the single item of wheat amounts to the sum of five hundred dollars | per annum.
 1 In the production of corn, also, as might be gathered from the prodigious quantities of it shipped annually to the southern ports, the lands of the west are peculiarly adapted. The customary yield of corn is from forty to one hundred bushels per acre; but. for present pur- poses the average will be taken at the lowest | estimate Of this corn, one man can hanaily | till twenty-five acres which adds up as its year l y production one thousand bushels. R4serv- 1 ing four hundred bushels of this for domestic consumption. six hundred bushels remain for market. The prices of this article seldom sinks to twenty cents per bushel; yet, assuming that to be It's average price, we have in the item of corn one hundred and eighty dollars as the annual result of each hands work.
 1 As much iand may be appropriated to mea- dows as the proprietor can afford to reserve; but just now, twenty acres will be regarded as the | customary quantum. From these meadows two tons ot hay to the acre may be gathered. Keeping back one-third of this for home uses, the balance Is sent to market, and for this bal ance we Of the south pay from twenty to thirty five dollars per ton. But reducing the net pro- ceeds of the producer to ten dollars per ton, it Is found that in the item of hay two hundred and seventy dollars is realized As a final result, therefore it is discovered that the farmer in the west on the articles of wheat, corn. and hay, may net yearly revenue ofnlne hundred and fifty dollars for every la borer he employs.
 There are numerous other small products such as Irish potatoes, which are prolific and valuable; apples, which, in large quantities are exceedingly remunerative; and other tritling growthS of farm, which, if taken into account would enlarge the above stated result consid- erably beyond the limits of four thousand dol lars. To be sure these last are minor matters, but trivial results, repeatedly multiplied, swell into colossal aggregates.
 From this yearly income the southern plant CT, removed to the west, wAIld have hut tri- fling subtraction to make for the expenses of his negroes. Almost every article of consump- ton would be p'oduced at home, and one hnn- fred and fifty dollars per annum would three times more than purchase the additional re- qulremens of each ind vidual slave Allow ing, however, these additional expenses to reach Sl5O there is left eight hundred dollars as the annual value of negro's labor at the north
 It has been objected that, for large season ofthe year. a negro north would not be employ ed; that he would be engaged in the seed and harvest time, but that in the long interim he would have nothing to do. In the first place, the souudneSs of the proposition i> very ques tionable, which advocates that there is any season of the year which may not on every farm be turned to profitable arcnunt. Aid in the second place, 1t is matter of no possible moment, whether the slave Is employed the whole or part of the year. He does not con- sume any more while idle than when at work, and the great fact remains that he can clear $500 per annum. Whether he does 1t by la- bor of one day, or the labor of three hundred and szty-fve days, does not by one sclntlla increase the sum of his earnings, nor lessen the sum of his expenses.
 It Is next to be observed, that we do not find in the western states and territories the obl9c- tions. which are so fatal to the existence of slavery in the New gland states--a scarcity of land. and rock-Sown and sterile soil.
 lnnumerable millions of virgin acres lie in the great west, which, under the vigorous dominion of our labor system, would ' hourgeon and blos son." into the tarest agricultural landscapes that adorn the earth.
 Another inducement held ont to the agricul- turalist iS found in the admirable manner in which these lands distribute themSelves.- They expand into illimitable visions of verdur- ous and unwooded fields, into seas and having oceans of praries, which to the tired eve give back the impression that the world is all grass; and waves continuously.
 For these lands all that is required is, that renee be ouilt aud that tneir DOWelS De nov ed with blows, and every seed given into their teeming womhs, is fraught with prolific results.
 In the south, on the contrary, before the soil of the Mississippi bottom can be prepared for cultivation, 1t requires an expenditure of labor equivalent to Sl0O per acre. 50 that, in rea tv, the investment of labor, necessary to fit the Mississippi ands for planting, is adequate to achieve a moderate fortune in the champagne country of the west.
 Now, it is to be seen, what offsettiug items the south can furnish. to balance the imposing array of net results exhibited by our western farmers
 With us, the great staples, of cotton and su- gar include the only contributions which are made to the public markets.
 When the southern planter makes his annu- al shipment of cottn and sugar to New Or leans and receives from his merchant the ac- count sales of the same, his connection with the public, in the character of producer, is at once dissolved. Everything else, or rather the noth- ing else, which Is grown on the plantation re- maIus where it grows.
 The capacity of our southern lands for the production of cotton, shall not discuss. The capacity is different in different To calties-in l..f,, T n. Al.