Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1860-06-02

IT'S said that absence fonquers love,
Sweet lass with eyes SO bonny blue;
am DER too Young 10 marry yet,
Adieu, my natl .e land, adieu!
ANCIENT AND MODERN PRODUC.
TIvENEss OF LAND.
One ofthe most important and in
teresting questions for the political
economists to settle is how on,
skill in Agriculture has improved
the productiveness of the land in
proportion to the labor bestowed
upon it. Caesar tells US that, in
his days, the northern B. it;sh tribes
never sowed their lands, but, like
our Indians, lived on the chase.
They kept cows, (the short horn
Durham then as now probably
being a ~favorite.) In the South Of
England, however, lands were bet
ter cultivated and even quite
well. manured. The use of mari
was we'll known to them and used
it with great discrimination. They
used the pillow and the fail, and
stored their wheat in circular sub
terranean chambers. The remains
of some of these have been dis
covered in this century. The Ro-
mans no doubt did something to de-
velop the agriculture of Britain,
although they had first sought the
British Isle for It's commerce in tin,
and then sought to reduce it by
their armies, and soldiers are seldom
good farmers.
During the Anglo-S Saxon period
great attention was paid to the agri.
culture and the foundation of that
taste laid which has since made the
English the best farmers in: the
world for improving their lands. In
the time of Ethelbert a working
man or slave was sold for some eight
to fourteen dollars, q horse for two
thirds the amount, and a COW for
about dollar and a halt, q pig for
half . dollar, and sheep for quar-
ter.
After the Saxons had settled
down great care was taken OF wood.
land. Arabic land was enclosed
with fences and gates. But three
parts out of four Of the lands
seem to have been used for
pasturage, and most of this IN COM
mon. An acre oflaud would soma-
times be sold for the price of four
sheep. But yet it has been calcu-
lated that, A. d. 700, twelve hun
dred acres would rent for what is
equivalent to $500, and the whole
produce. Of such q farm would be
about ten times that amount, OF s.
600 equal to 81 per acre.
In those days, when the farmers
Jared we'll, the serfs or, laborers
were about as poorly treated as
slaves. One-ffh ofeven the cattle
are supposed to have died of starva-
ton during the winter, if severe.
Still all sorts Of good eating known
now were always plentitully exbi-
bited on the table at the market
Az commerce advanced,
the price Of sheep rose on account
Of the wool /; so that, on an average,
they would bring a dollar; but at
some seasons Of the year twenty
i've cents was considered an ample
price. Nanuring was carried on,
ind blowing Nth four oxen. The
j. " stirred up the ground pretty
|eep. but no attempt sem to have
,een male to turn the clean THROW,
which all depends with us. !
anu the pick-axe, the axe,
he scytha, and the fail were in
common use. The sickle was used
or reaping, and the pitch-fork more
than with us, and they had
wagons and carts.
After the time Of Conquest the
and was more highly manfred
breeding horses and cattle became
! passion of the Normaps, and they
drained vast extents of land. The
were, however, the most &C
tive and the most progressive far
mers of this period. Thomas A.
Beckett himself, the Archbishop Of
Canterbury, and the most proud !