Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-02-25
dersd on, in the following communion
NOTHING TO DO.


To the Editor OF the Rev Orleans Times:
The times are of the hardest. The
| cities North and South resound with ths
cry OF nothing 10 do Clerks and me.
/ chaDics ars out OF employ by thousands
and il the men are doing nothing, whal
4 beconles Of the women and children. j,
But in country like this. and especi-
ally in the Sonth, with its inexhsustihle
fertility aud Doundless capabilities, there
cannot in reality be any lack of remu-
nerative employment. The land! the
\ Add! Agricultural production Is the
basis of natiOBaI prosperity. First the
prime necessities, then the luXuries
first food and simple clothing, then
rich fare and purple and fine linen.
Such is the law of nature, Of common
Young men 90 to the land For the
next six months business and commerce
must be at stand still. There Is nothing
/ to keep the machine moving. All those
] who stay IN cities IN these times are con-
sumers, not prOdueers, at best.only dis
/ tributors.} IL there be no buy rs-Dothing
/ to buy with-who wants clerks, agents,
/ porters? No! Go to the land A COM
| paratively unskilled lRborer can there
\ by industry, and the commouest kind OF
1 common sense, make at least bread.
| Other things bsing equal, the habits OF
order and steady INDUSTRY acquired in
com nnerciRl pursuits will help out the
want of physical aptitude and mere ami
| NAL strength. The late wRr--the cour-
age and endurance there dlsplayed-set
al rest all questions Of capacity for ac-
| tive, energetic employment, while work
/ in the open air and constant motion Sc
cure an average state Of health, far better
1 than that of sedentary or confined en-
I plOyment in city stores and Offices.
But how are you to live while working
a farm and waiting for the crops How
are you to live anyway, while loafing
around the towns and waiting for some
| thing 10 turn up? 1t will cost no more
| to live in the country than in the town,
not so much by considerable figure.
Hard tack and salt pork could be eaten
with relish on q march, while hot b.s-
cults and yenison steaks only provoke
! dyspepsia, when sitting still. It is not
40 long either 20 wait for some result
| from land. All cTsps don't take as long
to realize as corn, sugar and cotton.
! There is plenty to do on land-no end of
occupation. Green crops and vegetables
are the most Immediately remgnerative
Wood telling and splitting furnish no
bad days pay for the hearty worker.
Stock and pork raising, although the re-
turns be distant, are not hand work,
while milk, butter and poultry are not
items to be despised, and bring speedy
| results. r.. ..-.
But how get land? ? and how find tools
and seed and food 1t certainly would
be grand mistake for every man to try
1900 acre plantations with two or three
T., a,
in North and South Carolina, in North
Alabama and Georgia. Lots OF men iE
those countries have pnt in, two or three
together, and hiring and, or where they
can, buying it, are at work themselves
on their own nook, and hiring one or
two colOred laborers, are making the
thing pay. Some farmers in this way
did well last season, did best in fact, aud
more are going into it this year. The
great plant IstiOu system of the Old time
Is dead, butin its stead has arisen a sys-
TEN OF small farms and PERSONAL labor in
which there is comparatively no risk Of
your hands deserving you just at the nc
ment you most want them. A system
OF mixed husbaHdry is thus also favored,
the only really thriving plan Of agricai-
tural operations. Cotton, or sugar, or
rice, is not the only thing that can be
grown in this grand Southern country,
the richest, most bOuptifully endowed
and most favOrsbly situated area of the
same size on the face Of the eArtn.
A solitary illustration viii prove the
value Of energy and determination. Last
spring, fO4r young fellows started with
very small means on about two hundred
acres, near Atlantis. The land had been
worked and was considered poor. They
plowed deep, aud broke up the ground
thoroughly. By diligence and frequent
cultiYating, they brought the land into
such fins tilth, that the first y ear paid all
expenses, and the times being favorable
to buyers, they begin this season on
twelve hundred acres. -Four or five
years OF such Contiuous prudence and
good sense will put these pioneers teyOnd
the chances of life.
Go and do likewise. VIII