Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-06-22
From The T.aurcnsvillc lIcya.I.
To the Agricultural Society at 2eudl

To the Agricultural Society at Heudletor.
GENTLEMEN In obedience to your dircc-
tion | have prepared the following article on
the Grasses for the south, not from nv own
knowledge or experience, but culcd from a
Report find in the Post Oilicc Report Of
1860, written by the Rev g. W. Howard
Associate Editor Of the .Sonthcyn Cuixirutoy.
Kingston, Georgia. The experimental farm
on which he operated is located in Cass Cnnn-
ty, Georgia, between latitude $40 and $50.
rs his experiments were thorough ard various,
('nahy OF which proved worthless, will give
you M account of his failures, as well as his
successes, knowing that failures are often as
instructive successes.
The author, in the first part Of his report
goes into an examination of the causes why
the land in the Atlantic States is so much
cheaper shan land in the Middle and North
crn Stntes And, after pretty thorough ex-
animation of the question, he comes to the
conclusion that it results from the mode Of
culture.
The cotton Planting States choosc to raise
cotton, corn, and lattcrly sorghum, all exhaust
ing crops, without having as yet arranged any
regular supply, by manure or grasses, to rein
state the land with what the crops have taken
from it. The general plan has been to clear
field wear it out, and cigar another Thus
continue until tho exhausted plantation will no
longer makea full support; then sell ont and
remove to tho West. Besides, our people arc
81 afraid their frcwood and rail timber will
give ont, they usually keep large proportion
of their land in woods, which not only brings
in no income, but dctracts more or less from
the products Of the part cultivated. With
outa change this course Will go on from bad
to worse.
Mr.. Howard docs not propose chan, in
tho products heretofore raised. I[c proposes
a change of management, by which each farm
can be able to produce, within itself, rc-sup-
ply for the exhaustion from the crops raised
on it, and by which its productivcness can be
increased even beyond its original fertility
The change proposed is to incorporate fca-
turc in our agriculture, by which crops for tie
Improvement Of the soil shall receive MS reg.
ular and constant attention as crops for family
supply or for sale. Prominent among these
crops are the grasses. And he contends, that
the price of lands in all countries rises Just
in proportion to the attention pnid to the arti.
fetal grasses. AS proof Of this he refers to
Europe where this statement is verified. Land
in Spain the lowest, rises in France still more
in Belgium, and greatest in Germany, which
is almost a continuous meadow. Take com
parison nearer home: The best bottoms in
Georgia do not sell for more than $50 por acre
Kentucky is younger than Georgia, nearer to
lands Of the West, climate not so cool yet
land often has sold there, and that upland too,
tsl00 pcracrc. There every acre in farm,
including woodland, produces something of
value; in Georgia do not contain within them.
selves the means to repair tho damage done by
the crops grown. The rice lands and Sea Is.
land of South Carolina and Georgia sell for
SlO0 per acre, and why? Because they have
within them to keep up their fertility to an
unlimited timo-the rice lands by flowing in
winter, and the Islands by tho sea marsh all
around thnm
The rest of tho Southern land must look tc
live stock as permanent means to keep ur
fertility. And all experience teaches thai
there is no way of keeping live stock in suifi
cient numbers to answer this end but by th,