American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1868-05-02
SPECIAL STATISTICS OF FARM RESOURCES
AND PRODUCTS OF MISSISSIPPI,

ASAAA~N
. AND PRODUCTS OF MISSISSIPPI
The following interesting statistic
are from the Monthly Report Of h
Department of Agriculture" issue
by the Commissioner Of A griculture
1. Returns from Mississippi ind
cate a large decrease in the value G
farm lands as compared with the va
uation Of 1860. DeSoto and Tippah
in the extreme northern part Of th
State, show decrease of IS and 81
per cent, espeCtively, attributed t,
the unsettled condition of politica
and financial affairs, and the disas
trous results of the cotton culture O
the past. In DeSoto, one year ago
farming lands would sell for abou
three-lourths their value in 1860, bu
the financial distress, consequen,
upon the fall Of cotton prices, has
thrown a great deal OF land on th(
market, and reduced the price to very
low figures, more than thrce-fourth<
of all land in the county being fol
sale, and much of it must be disposed
of at forced sale, it having been mort
gagged for supplies, &c. The same
may be said of many other counties,
largely engaged in cotton culture
Along the central tier of counties,
Kemper reports decrease of IS per
cent; Lauderdale, 70 to so; Winston,
&c to 70: Attala, &C; Leale, so; Wash
ington, Is; YazoO, &C; Madison, 60 to
70; Kinds, 75-with few sales at any
price. In Pike county, in the South,
bordering on La, farming lands have
fallen in value 80 per cent, except
those adjacent to railroads, while in
the adjoining county Of Marion the
decrease is put down at 70 per cent.
The average depreciation throughout
the State is 65 per cent.
.. Half Of the land In Mississippi
is not included in farms, and only a
third Of the area in farms has ever
been at one time under improvement.
In the best cotton districts, cultivat-
ed LANDS have been comparatively
high, but few were ever held at their
intrinsic value, on account Of the ex-
tent of the unoccupied area in the
southwest. In the south eastern
portion Of the State, between the
capital, jackson, and Mobile, in Ala
bama, the population is sparse, the
land mostly is unentered, the soil
sandy, with small extent of rich
creek bottoms, the price of unim-
proved tracts varying from twelve
cents to one dollar per acre. The
growth is composed of oaks, hickory, |
gum, cypress and long-leaf pine, the
latter predominating, of great height |
and size, of Industrial Importance in
with turpentine making
aud numbering. The soil, like otner
sandy loans, is easily worked and
for few years, becoming
exhausted with constant cropping
md no fertilizing. A bale of cotton
Der acre has been obtained upon such
soil; sweet potatoes i'll unlimited
Quantities, are easily produced, and
night prove a source of large reve-
lue under the new mode of Slicing
md drying for distant markets; the
'astor oil bean grows finely here, and
night be made a source of profit and
to the soil. Peaches
re sure and abundant crop, begin
ing t. bear In three years from the
eed; and wool growing will prove
and a valuable auyilia.
y to tillage farming, wild grasses
verywhere abounding, succulent and
ank in growth, by the middle of
february.
The water is excellent and the eli
late is healthy. All that is needed
D start this region upon a career of !
is a railroad to the Gulf !
Oast from some point on the MiSSiS- :
ppi Central. With such a road, !
md now drug at 124 cents per acre q
euld be greedily taken at 81, and :
Ventually, with Improvements, would !
g cheap at S20. Similar lands, tho :
enerally better, OH the line of the !
-. o., j. u G. n. RR west of Pearl +
yer, are now attainable at So to $40 =
: S2O near stations, and are bargains Z
those prices. In the northern part :
the State, unimproved tracts aver
re about 81 per acre; in Kinds Co., =
90; in Madison, 50; in Washing +,
N, Oh the river, fine Mississippi bot a n
ms, perhaps unsurpassed in the q
Orld, Sc per acre. On the line of :,
10 Mobile and Ohio railroad, 81 80
the common price. The Kinds and
adisOn county unimproved lands
i'll yield 800 lbs. ginned cotton, % ="
lshels corn, or 200 bushels of sweet s.
'tatOes per acre without manure. Il
roductive tracts in Iazoo can be a
lrchased for 60 cents per acre. In rt
eSOto are some 60 sections of "Mis- )
'sippi bottom" at 81 or less per OF
re. II
3. The southern portion of the al
ate, west of Pearl river, is very sim L.
+ in character of soil to western IN
nnessee. The surface is a loan. Is
riched with huanus, underlaid with &C
stiff clay, intermixed with loan, ce
nea! b which is a stratum of sand W
d gravel. Numerous water courses su
ain bottom lands varying from a m
v rods to a mile in width, still rich al
i'm t,lopt food apJ op1,,r;po ol,- ~, lis