Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1865-08-22
The Gazette Gontet

49,
the New York Evening Post, com
PEELED 10 hill rocky and uneven lands,
and used to small holdings, do not
know, by experiences, all 81 the chan.
ges which improved machinery bias
wrought in agricultural operations on
the great Western prairies. Three
machines do the labor of men 10 such
a degree that the farmers heaviest
tolls are Iightened. and one man Is
enabled 10, achioge. with eases tbs
work Of half . dozen.
We saw, recently, corn feld Of
one hundred and sixty acres, on the
Grand prairie, in the blowing, plant.
ing, and cultivation Of which no man
walked . step. A rotary spader.
drawn by four horses, and driven by
man upon the box, plowed the field
to uniform depth Of eight inches,
and gave such thorough tiltb that it
was not necessary to use harrow ut
all. A corn planter, drawn by two
horses, and driven by rnau upon the
box, next planted the seed. A cult
yator drawn by two mules, one walk.
ing on each side Of the knee-high corn.
and driven by man upon the box,
completed the culture Of a row at q
single operation and In the Toulouse
lay another machine, also TO be drawn
by horses, which will cut down the
corn when it is ripe and lay II 10 reg
ular rows, 10 be finally gathered by
hand. But it is expected that by
next year this machine will be so i'm
proved as TO gather up the corn also.
When it 10 remembered that the
farmer who follows a common pillow or
eultiyator during long summers day,
performs march Of from ten to four.
teen miles. it will be seen What 3
boon is the machinery which relieves
him from this toll. And when we re-
member how scarce were men during
the last four years in the West, We
shall see that but for such labor-saving
implements our vast crops of cereals
could neither have been planted nor
gathered
The farm of which the corn field we
speak Of was part, has seven hundred
acres in o single field Of timothy. OF
what use would this be II II had 10 be
cut by hand But half dozen har.
vesting machines sufficed TO cut it MI,
in good time, and will do, without
grooming, the work Of half regiment
ofmen patent borse-rakes, gather it
zap aud two hay presses upon the
place compress II into bales tit for
shipping, Seventeen and halfmiles
Of board fence incloae little more
than half OF this farm, which has, Is
its furniture, comfortable sheds for ton
thousand sheep. corn crib, rat-proof.
holding fifteen Thousand bushels of
corn, and exhaustive stabling for hor.
SEES.
What machinery has done for tho
West it will do for the South, nov
chat free labor is substituted for slaves.
There is no reason wby the cotton
and sugar.Gelds OF the South should
not DO titled by machinery These
fields, are in Louisiana, Mississippi,
and indeed IN almost che whole Of the
cotton and sugar region, level and de.
void Of rocks, and these are the only
conditions necessary 10 the successful
use OF the most valuable farm ma.
chinery. The slaves, ignorant and
careless because they had no interest
in tho work, used only the rudest and
clumsiest tools; but in the hands ofin.
telligent freedman, the rotary spader,
or tho steam plow or cultivstor, can
be used as well as the immense
level bottom lands OF Louisiana, where
sugar is grown, as on the prairies for
corn and wheat.
Yankee ingenuity, too, will pres
emily set itself TO work to devise new
implements for the moro economical
and rapid prosecution Of such labor
Az contemplating and cane cutting. !
The next ten years will witness an i'm.
mense revelation in the method OF
cultivating the great staples Of the |
South and the fruits OF that change |
will be a greatly increased produc-
ton OF cotton and sugar by the help |
Of free labor, and---what the use of
machinery brings with it--such in.
creased rewards for intelligent labor
10 will prove, even to the most igno.
rant OF the Southern population, the
importance of schools aud the pscu.
mary value Of education, |
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