The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1868-06-10
Variety of Southern Products.
HINTS TO FARMERS.

Under this head great deal might, with profit, be
written, but will conine ourselves to the throwing
off of few immature suggestions hoping thereby to
inctse others deeper thought and consequent action
The great complaint has BEEN and will continue to be-
among our agrculturists Of the uncertainty and unre
liability of labor. Possibly crop in the world re-
qures so large amount of steadily directed labor as
cotton and at old PRICES before emancipation, no crop
little remuneratiye. The Southern planters, as
class were loaded and ha-assed with debt and it
quired good management, and healthiul increase OF
slave capital for to acquire fortune IN the pursuit
The increased expense of wages, and other OUTLAWS,
contingent upon the employment OF free labor, in spite
of the higher prices American cotton now commands
in the markets of the world, to say nothing Of the
onerous cotton tax, reduce the profits on cotton to
even lower average than it might boast OF yore.
This fact, maugre few exceptions OF hard-drliled,
hard driving men, who could pick up gold among the
rocky plains and snowy seppes OF Siberia, remains,
then, very clear to mind, that cotton is by no
means gold-paying king to those who toll IN the
fields to raise it, however much spectators may real
Use upon its transit into other hands Cotton does not
pay. The fairest and most suspicious seasons and
circumstances will scarcely command over clear profit
of one hundrad dollars per Any farmer will be
satisfied with this proceed, and think he has bagged
good thing.
And to pursue the subject further, there is no deny
ing the fact that there is increasing indispostou on
the part of freedmen to hire in gangs farms star
field hands This is true and it is part of wisdom
to blink the looking of unpleasant fact in the face
Rather, is it more sensible to face it boldly and dill
gently apply ingenutes in the pursuit of some
sovereign remedy. The freedmans idea Of happiness
is little truck patch, and dog, and hen-h ouse-and
hens lay eggs for him with the most astonishing liber
atty Indeed, with very trng assistance from his
ncighboFs hogs, he very nearly support his family
from dozen hens AS the freedman acquires little
capital, he sets up for HIMSELF and the yatcnaton
Of the present tendencies would TO be, in few
years, country dotted with the log huts of in
dependent coOred farmers, subsistng in mysterious
manner, independent Of corn cotton. This may or
may not be, but it is certainly the act of forehought
in Southern farmers to render themselves gradually as
independent of coored labor as may be within their
power. For aaght they know, they may be standing
upon the last plank of their ship-this grudgingly al
lowed labor of the freedman-and they will 90 down
among the boiling waves of poverty, the last man of
them holding to uprooted cotton stalk, and
Boosting vauly Of the clod of dirt attached to its
roots" am land-holder." The freedman will then
be andholdcr' too the Government having fostered
his immortal proclvities and cnhroned him in idle
ness. 1t is certainly the policy Of Southern planters
to begin while they have some hold on the freed
mans labor to for his future security
Neither will immi gration succeed to any great ex-
tent while this cotton fever maintains its hold upon
the brains Of people. Indeed the impression has
already gone abroad that, only cotton is product
and con(essedly its cultivation, extending through
the most inimcal seasons of the year. is injurious to
the white man, it has served for many years to divert
immigration from into other and less favored re-
gons. Now there many other branches of indus
try for which climate is equally benignant and our
soil encouraging, and the profit equally as great, if
not greater than that of cottonbesidcs they are not
such labor-exactng crops
The inquiry is often made what shall we turn to- if
not to cotton? The first answer to this would seem
to be- vineyards There is no necessity for emgratinc
to Los Angeles any other quarter of the globe for
successfully competing with the wines of France and
Germany Neither is there any great outlay required
in starting vineyard, at first might be supposed
If farmers would plant ten fifteen acres in vines
the cultivation of it might he carried simultaneous
ly with the usual crop of corn and cotton, without
any material loss of time o. profit. In the worst sea
sons vineyard will return clear profit of three
hundred dollars per When the vines are in full
bearing, it will not be very difficult to secure German
immigration for the manufacture Of the wine. But
the vine is not the only product which would flourish
in our genial Cline The tea plant might be intro
duced with and profit and Immortal Cecstials
would come, throngng fields to teach US how to
curl up its fragrant leaves, and pack them away into
caddics
During the we had an abundance of fine syrup
expressed from the canes Of sorghum. 1t is plant
requiring only limited outlay of labor, and might
with good apparatus, be rendered remunerative
branch of industry Fruits, especially such as bear
ransporatin distance, demand also their share of
attention. The pecan is most valuable nut and
fourishes well in this latitude Many argue that it is
Of such slow growth, that it would require too MANY
years for them to reap the profits Of its culture But
remember it requires only the dropping of few nuts
in the ground, in some unmoested locality, such as
the corners of fences and if YOU do not, your chill
dren may reap the benefits of of the best paving
crops in the world The English walnut possibly may
succeed in this latitude. There is splendid grove of
them in North Alabama bearing profusely nuts equal,
if not superior to those imported Our climate pe
cuarly adapted to silk culture and as the wand of
cotton is passing from-our hands, it may be well to
give this subject consideration Although far
South flax would certainly thrive, as well upon our
aluval lands upon the Nile washed shores of Egypt
These, and variety of other products, our bounti-
full country would pour from her lap if dsenthralled
Of the chains of cotton. But in order that we NAV
rise from ashes there requires some concert of ac
ton agricultural society," where planters may meet
and express their views. Shreveport is the point for
its organisation.
HEDGEs.-One of the heaviest labors Of our cotton
farms has always been fencing, and with cheap ne
gro labor We contrived to hedge in our fields with the
most unsightly, zigzag palisades in the world Now
that we operate with freedmen the task of fencing be-
comes hercuean. Why this Should be So when we |
have at our command the finest hedge plant known to
agriculture, is surprising, The Usage orange the
prince of hedgers and the cost of environing ones
fields with its unailing menace of horns and branches
comparatively trifing. farm Eedged with Usage
orange would double in value Immediately. Let our