Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-11
AGRICULTURAL. N
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE-DI
STTV on CROPS

sITY or CROPS.
Before the war il was tho interest Of the
Southern planter to raise cotton almost en-
clusively and buy his breadstufis and pro-
visions. Slave labor paid best when thus
employed But now that the soil has to
be cultivated with free labor, It becomes a
matter Of interest that the crops should be
more diversified The Southern people
must raise their own breadstuas and pro-
visions, otherwise they cannot make cotton-
growing profitable. The experience q
every man in the South viii tell him that
this is true, and yet thousands will rush
headlong into the cultivation Of cotton tothe
exclusion Of other important crops, hoping
that the price Of the staple will be such as
to remunerate them for this departure from
true economy. The experience Of the pre-
sent year has shown that too much atten-
ton was shcwn TO cotton and too little to
every other staple This win be changed
TO a considerable extent the coming year,
We hear that much larger breadth Of
ground has been sown in wheat than last
year, ami preparations are being made for
planting more corn the coming spring than
was planted last spring. More oats will also
be sown. Il is to be hoped that the smaller
crops will be increased in a like proper
ton. If the farmers Of the South should
produce their own cereal and other crops in
sufficient quantity TO meet their own De
mands, what cotton they raise win be al
the more profitable. The Commissioned Of
Agriculture has some suggestions in regard
to a diversity Of crops and pursuits in the
South which are worth reproducing. lie
says: Irts asa5
at is evident that the Investigation oil
farm industry must be applied 70 reorgan-
lied Southern agriculture, with modifca.
lions such as climate and soil may indi-
cate; and while cotton, as is hoped and be.
lieved, viii ever be a prominent crop, and
a sure reliance for immediate cash returns
il will never again oveTshad0W and dWar
other interests essential 90 permanent sue
cess in agriculture. And it is also equally
apparent that a portion Of the labor o
these States will eventually be diverted
from agriculture and expended upon othel
departments Of industry, especially manu-
factures; and that the day is not far distan
when portion Of this cotton will be ex
ported from the States in which il is grow
in the form Of yarns and coarse fabrics o
various grades and styles And such da,
will bring surer prosperity and more abun
I.vs v-v,.lf1. ft.,-, .s..,. lo-.,l -. HCt,f
in the past. ..-
1.-THE necessity Of the introduction of i'm
proved farm implements In Southern hus
bandry is imperative. Year by year, il
Western farming, has the economic yalu
Of labor-saying appliances been cumulative
The increase Of such machinery since 1850
and the labor and money saved by II, an
enormous. That which was 10 the West
necessity, from the scarcity Of labor AM
high wages has become equally indispen
sable 10 the South, from the same conside
rations. The difficulty of keeping dow
superabundant growths of grasses an
weeds in the early part Of the season, an
Of picking the cotton in the later month.
afford opportunities for the employment
and invention Of machinery which shoul
prove an incaiculable benefit to cotton pre-
duction.
"The interests Of agriculture IN IN
Southern States, 80 iniuriously affected b
the events Of the past few years demand til
special attention Of this department. TIL
deterioration Of sugar cane, tendency {
which in the best varieties is strongl
marked, has progressed rapidly since 1861
and anew importation Of the ribbon-cane Z
Java is desideratum of future success j
'sugar-planting in the lower Mississippi
valley. II might be well, also, to impor
some OF the best varieties of Egyptia
cotton, for experiment in the Gulf States.