The Columbia daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1865, 1865-07-29
To the Great German People.
TIT

.AuS country Is cuaTacCeFlZeu Oy every
sort and quality of land. 1t viii produce
almost avery variety of grain. and in
abundance. Even under the semi.barbs-
rous kind of labor pursued by the negro,
where as little is done as possible, and as
small an amount of intellect is employed
as possible, the returns are yet adequate
to the easy suprort.of the Shole popula
ton, and afford usually o surplus for
foreign export. Lands are to be found
which produce in corn from six to sixty
bushels per acre. The average production
IS probably not more than eight bushels
Rer acre throughout the State. Yet, under
a liberal and intelligent culture, have
known sixty bushels to have been i'ro-
dnced. The price Of corn, in average
districts and years. is between. sixty cents
and one dollar These arc = the usual
extremes of cost. In the light coils,
which produce but eight Or ten bushels to
the acre. the total result is greatly in.
creased by the larger number of acres
planted to the hand. Thus farmer in
the middle or sandy districts will plant
twelve acres OF corn and twelve of cotton
to the hand, and several other things
besides. such as peas, potatoes. rice, sor.
ghum and the small grains. as wheat, rye.
and oats. But the small grains are verv
much neglected Barley and huckwheat
are rarely sowa; and though on most of
the large plantations there are fields of
wheat. rye and oats, yet these bear 10
proportion to the other crops. Corn (zea
Indian maize) is the chief article of
brendstuffs for man and beast; wheat is
next to it. The culture of oats is very
much in the back ground: and an acre-or
two OF turnips-Dutch, trough, ~or rufa
6oga-satls6es the farmer This urnip
"patch." as it is called, is usually "co,o.
pe'1'led" Or manured by pastuling. AS
general rule, and until late period.
manures were very little known or used,
and of the manufacture of manure the
people knew little and seemed to care
less. Latterly. there has been improve
ment III this respect, but it is still too
greatly neglected. The farmer usually
relied upon a. perpetual change Of land,
ne" tor ola, or an alienation, year by
year. III the cultivation of his fields. He
rested his lands for a year or 30, in order
to their recuperation. This necessita,ed
the keeping of larger bodies of land than
any good German farmer would ever re-
qure Here new land and an excessive
use Of the p'ow is the practice. Tcpouyh
aud reap, and, as the land becomes i'm
poverished, to abandon the old feds aud
clear new ones, is the ruinous course. \
field is abandoned as soon as it is .'worn
out The phrase, Worn ort land" I
never heard until came to these South
ern States. where the people have more
lands than they we'll know what 10 do
with. There. Is no pains-taking for the
preservation. preparation. stimulation or
.eeouomEof land, all implied in munuring
and proper cultivation. The soil requires
as much feeding az the man or beast that
cuitlva;es 1t; yet this important truth tut
too rarely receives consideration. When
the land can yield No more. by its own
spontaneous virtue. they bid il farewell.
1t is worn out" and the people either
open new fields in contiguous or depart
for distant places-especiallyt to the South
west, which they wear out in turn, and in
short stime, BY the same prohicate prac
tice. The good German farmer will take
this "worn out" land, get it probably at
almost nominal prices. from ty cents to
i've dollars per acre, and make it rich and
prolific by his economic culture, in the
space OF three Years. He knows too we'll
how to value land, and will make the.
small earnings which he brings from home,
0: his little patrimony, bring him in
moneys worth for all that he BUYS,
whether in land or cattle. His thrift and
Industry are the very qualities which have
been lt:le valued here. And this inap
probation Of these virtues has been the
result IN most part. Of a very slovenly
and careless sort of labor-that of the
negro. The school of German farming. in
which our people have been raised, will,
oy the Jrdicious employment of manures
the constant rains-takiny and thought, the
providence of SEASONS and resources, en-
able him to acquire wealth on lands which