Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-05-08
THE AGRIcULTURE OF THE soOTHERN
STATES.
AnEasoAs AaRlo - s ons1sA1.

The AGktCULEgkA OF TIKI SOUTHERN
STATES.
AMERtoAE AGRlo ULIURE Is eENERAL.
This is one Of the most purely agricultural eOun-
tries on the face Of the globe In agricultural
believe II surpasses all others, not eysn
excepting the empire Of Russia. So exclusively
agricultural has cur country been, that years ago
it obtained the plain, but not very inappropriate
name Of ''Uncle Sans farm" Look for moment
at the extent Of this farm The United States with
the territories cover an area Of S,2S5,l4S square
miles, 300, 494720 acres. From this deduct one
quarter as being incapable Of cultivation and there
will remain 1852 81 GAO Of land for the sup
port Of nan and domestioated animals. Allowing
three acres for The support Of each individual With
the animals necessary for agricultural and for
slaUgbtering the United States are capable of sup
porting population Of 5l7, 100000 And if our
country should ever be as dsnsely inhabited as the
empire Of China, thas been estimated thatWe should
have population Of $40 600 Goo Sr nearly as many
as dwell upon the face Of the globe at the present
time.
There are in the United States 449 O75 farms and
plantations, averaging 203 acres each, and Of the
value Of S2362 each. There we're, according to the
census Of 1850, ,363 958 farmers and planters in
the United States, or nearly twice as many farmers
as farms The State Of New York has thelargest
number of agriculturalists, or 3ll ,594; and next
the list having 206 347; while Indiana ranks fourth
with 163. $50 tillers of the soil Her neighboF Ii
nos is fifth in rank with 140 894 Next comes
Tennessee win 1lS Gal and Kentucky with ia, us,
and Virginia with l06 s0T farmers All the other
States have below 100 goo farmers EACH but thoss
tina. come the nearest 70 these figures North
Carolina Georgia, Alabama, and Missouri, al Of
which number upWsrds Of $4,000 aud less than
80 900 each. We shall do well 20 remember that
the farms in the south much larger than those
in the nsrth. If we compare them with those in
New England, shall probably fad them more
than tW' as large. And yet there are many small
farmers in the south well ss in the north. For
example, farmer in nine in Kentucky cultivates
less than ten acres Of land Ia looking to several
other States we find one farmer in % in Louisiana,
I in % in Rhode Island in So in South Carolina,
in 1913 in Michigan cultivate equally limited farms.
The number Osacres ofimprOved land inthe United
States is ll3 e32 GA still larger number OF acres
is uuimproved. In New England % acres out Of
every 100 mprOved in the south, 49, Of every
100; in the southwest Of every 100. In New
England the average value Of the occupied land Is
$50 p per acre. in the middle States S2S per acre;
in the southern States S.. 81; in the southwestern
States Sc %; in the northwestern States SllS9; in
Texas 81 A per acre.
The value ofthe agricultural productsofthe United
States in 1854 amounted to $1,000, ,000 Of the
entire number Of improved acres, 80, 00O0OO acres
we're in meadows ii millions in wheat 81 millions
IN COrn3 mlOns IN c0tbOns mlLlOn5 IN pO5eLOSet
&C., 1l8 millions in crops Of all descriptions.
SKETCH OF SOUTHERN AGRIoULTURE.
Having taken this general view Of the agriculture
Of the whole country, We proceed TO look at that
Of the south historically and in respect to sew
eral Of its features. There single settlements
at the south earlier than at the nOrh at Jamestown
and in Florida and New Mexico, now portions Of the
United States OF course, the cultivation of the
soil have been one of the first pursuits in those
I
whole, differs essentially from that Of the north,
owing chiefly to difference of latitude and climate
Three staple crops of the south, cotton, rice and
sugar. besides many fruits such as oranges, lemons
figs eitron, ETC., cultivated in the extreme south,
are not produced at all in the northern states; and
tobacco another staple of the SOUTH is raised scanti
ly north Of MasOn's aud DixOn's line. On the con-
trary, the chief productions of the north, such as
corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, the various domestic
animals, and what is produced from them are raised
largely in the southern states If survey the south,
as 8 whole, we shall find 1t much more distinctly
devoted to agriculture than the north. Agriculture
is the great pursuit Of the southern people and al
ways has BEEN while the north, though very extern
sivey agricultural is also very largely engaged In
manufactures and commerce. We have in the north
the ship building and lumber producing state Of
Maine-the commercial and manufacturing states Of
Massachusetts and New York-the manufacturing
states Of Rhode Island and Connecticut. On the
y either manufacturing commercial andnOt at all
equatO them in these respects. We must say every
state Of the south that it is chiefly Agricultural
Perhaps the greatest exceptions to this remark may
be the states Of Maryland and Louisiana, within
whose borders the only two great cities in the
south, save st. Louis, in Missouri. And the want
of great cities in the southern states would alone
prove it to be agricultural and not commercial
or manufacturing section. On the other hand, the
very great cities Of New York snd Philadelphia
the great cities of Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago,
Brooklyn and BuffalO-and the very considerable
cities Of Providence Lowell, Albany, Rochester,
Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, ETC., several Of the
last being more populous than most Of the cities in
the SOUTH show the distinction between the pursuits
Of northeruers and southerDers.
There is another marked difference between the
agriculture of the north and that which prevails at
the south, and that is, many Of the southern cult
vatOrs are what termed planters, who very Of
ten cultivate thousands Of each, instead Of
hundred OF two or at the most few hundred acres
as is generally the case ct the north. We know
that Washington, the farmer Of Mount Vernon, had
plantation composed Of some 5000 acres, and that
Jefferson and Clay were large landhoders. The
rice estate Of EI-GOV Aiken, of South Carolina,
covers an island Of $500 acres, 1900 Of which
are cultivated for rice; besides, 500 acres are in
corn, oats and potatoes, while other hundreds
are occupied for gardens, lawns pastures, etc.
We have read of an estate in Louisiana, now in
900 acres of the finest quality Of cultivated land,
1t has a frontage of 80 acres on the Mississippi
river, and to cultivate it q working force of $50
hands is required. The price recently paid for the
estate was S1,0O0,000. 1t is, perhaps, the finest
plantation possessed by any single individual in the
United States
Another thing that distinguishes much of the
agriculture Of the south from that in the north,
particularly in New England and the middle states,
is worthy Of notice The large farmers and plant
ers of the southern states very often only raise
crop Of single article-i may be rice, tobacco,
sugar. cotton; or they may raise few articles,
and those very largely, and, perhaps, hardly any
thing that they consume at home. After convert
ing their crops into money, they buy the corn, the
hay, the fruit, or whatever other farm products
they may need. But in this portion of the country
the majority Of cultivatOrs are what may be termed
small farmers. They endeaVor to raise little Of
everything that they may need for horne consump-
tiOn-a piece of corn another of wheat or rye, an
other Of oats or potatoes. And then, they must
raise their own hay, their own milk, butter, and
cheese, their own vegetables, fruit Sc. And they
endeaVOr to have little cash to buy some -four or
other articles that they cannot produce ohesply
as they can purchase them from abroad. The word
farm, as used in the United States, denotes por-
ton of land consisting usually of grass land mea
dow pasture, tillage, and woodland, cultivated by
one man, and usually owned by him. That is what
is understood especially by farm in the north; and
be who cutiVates such farm we understand to be
a farmer. The words farm and farmer are thus
generally understood in the south; while, on the
other hand plantation and planter are the terms Of
ten used when the operations are very extensive
and when a single CROP very few are cultivated
mentioned above. And it is well known that this
is the kind Of farming that generally prevails in the
West India islands.
Baa- The Memphis AUalaHehs, tells deal of truth
in the following paragraph.
lNvOCATIONs TO SOUTHERN ABoLITIoNIsTs.-Much |
has been said and done recently with the view to the
formation of great "Union party" at the SOuth-sn
which is to make it its chief business to
save the Union. If there is class Of politicians that
we dislike, for their utter worthessness it is that
class which have regarded it as their peculiar pre-
rogatve to the Union. Real pstriots have been
worried, as it we're, by these "Union-savers" ever
since there Union to save, and we doubt if the
country will be efectusy rid Of them untilthe
Union shall have been irrevOcsbly lost To mind
the fact hatthe event would at annihlate this
orOaking band Of Union savers is strong eonsiders
ton in favor Of dissolution and it is question with
US if the benefits resulting directly from their des
ruetion would not balance the evils which
would flow from the severance
hot ma has in o1frv mid uF - ]