Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1859-12-02


should look not merely to the present, but !
to the future. Whether his farm be large !
or small land, as general rule, the small
Ter the better-a prudent foresight should
govern all his labors. IT he cannot afford
to pay for fertilizers, let him make them
by composing; let him save all his ashes
and apply them to his land let him re-
sort to green crops turned 10, which never
fail to remunerate for the labor and ex-
pense bestowed let him protect his soil
by deep plouglling, where II is nesessary,
and by succession OF grasses, which will
afford nutrlment for his stock, and at the
same time prevent the land from washing.
Let him resolve, and always bear in mind
that his home and the home of his children
Isl just aohere he IS that if this or that i'm
provement, or fixture, or adornment,
should not be profitable or needful this
year, it may be next year, or years there
after and that nothing valuable in its ma
ture which he may put in or put on his
land, will be lost to him or his descend
ants. T. is this spirit of thorough cultiva-
ton, OF permanent improvement, which
can alone attach our people as they should
| be attached to the soil, and make the State
what she deserves to be among her sisters.
| The farmer must labor intelligently, and
with we'll defined object in view, or he
will laborto little profit. knowledge is
not only power, but it is money. We see
this truth illustrated every where, in all
human occupations We must know be-
fore we can do; and he that knows most
! in pursuit or business, no matter in what
way he may have acquired his knowledge,
will be sure to excel the stupid and the
unimforned.
North Carolina may be divided into
three parts, to wit: the plains of the east,
the rolling lands of the interior middle
region, and the mountains and valleys Of
the west. She occupies the best latitudes
on the surface OF the globe, being shielded
by her situation from the extreme cold OF
the North and the blasting heats of the
South. Every cereal or grain, every
species of grass, every leguminous plant,
every berry, every truit-tree, and every
vine, common to the temperate zone, to-
gether with rice, tobacco and cotton, at
tain perfection in her soil. Her timber OF
various kinds, and her naval stores, are
more abundant than those of other States
and equal in qnality to the best. From
the county Of Nash to the Tennessee line
her hills and mountains are richly stored
with minerals Of all kinds; while nearer
the ocean, and almost on its very shores
are elecents Of nutrition for the soil, and
stone mari for building purposes, unexcell.
ed in other quarters. Her swamp lands
situated in the Eastern Counties, though
they have long been source of profit, and
though at this time they attracting
more attention than heretofore, have never
been sufficiently appreciated. 1t is esti-
mated that at least one million of acres OF
these lands, capable of yielding ten barrels
of corn to the acre. are still unreclaimed,
tlx, npt1ttoH
Estimating their yield at eight barrels to
the acre, it would give eight millions OF
barrels, which exceeds the corn crop OF
the entire State in 1049, bv two millions
of barrels. In productiveness, and IN the
susteuance which they will afford to ami
NAL life, these lands are destined to become
the Egypt of the South. They are so rich
so we'll supplied with organic and inor.
ganic matter-that they will wear as wei
as the best bottom lands OF Arkansas OF
Texas. There are lands IN Hyde which
have been cultivated in corn for nearly 3
century, without any apparent diminutior
oftheir fertility Lands like these, wheth
er so naturally or rendered so by art, are
really more valuable to the State thar
naval stores, or mines of gold and silver
The best evidences of wealth always con
sist IN fat cattle and poultry, fine horses
good mules, handsome and well-construct
ed dwelling houses, stables and barns, anC
well-ted and well-contented laborers ano
these evidences are generally seen on fer
tile. we'll conducted farms. Gold and sill
yer, and naval stores, though property il
themselves, are only the means for obtain
ing these results. Yet every pursuit is to
be commended in its time and place, mas
much as a just distribution of labor, Great
ed by diversity Of pursuits, is indispensa
ble to high state OF civilization and re
, finemeat.
Our leading staples are rice, corn, wheat
tobacco and cotton. The value of the to
bacco crop of the United States in 1853
was one hundred and seventy-eight mill
ions; its value this year, at the general,
received estimate of Iour millions of bales
cannot be less than two hundred millions
The value OF fonr Southern products-rice
sugar, tobacco and cotton-rose from six
ty-six millions of dollars in 1910, to tw,
hundred and thirteen millions in 1853
and OF this all but fourteen millions wer
dueNto cotton and tobacco. There is n,
prospect that the British and French gov
ernments will succeed to any considerable
extent in producing cotton in Asia ant
Africa. Even if the plant should mature
and yield as well there as here, involun
tary or slave labor is wanting, withou
which this staple cannot be successfully
! cultivated. Experience has shown tha
4 We can sell as much rice, wheat and corr
as we can produce; while the extension o
our commerce to China, Japan and othe