Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-17
BELGIAN AND TENNESSEE FARM
ING COMPARED.

The soil OF Belgium IS described as
naturally sterile; yet such is the ex-
cellence of the system Of agriculture
that about one acre and a quarter a head
Of the population support the inhabit-
ants of the densest nation in Europe
The acres under cultivation are $751;
400; the population 5,037, Jos, or AS
per square mile. Think of farmers IN
a climate greatly inferior to ours, sup
porting an average population of AS to
every $40 acres, or square mile, and
then having a surplus to export to the
great city of London and other mar
ketsl They produce a large amount of
beef, mutton, butter, and cheese for ex-
pOrtation; and estimate land by the
square yard that it requires to make
100 pounds of meat or cheese, and use
fertilizers with remarkable skill
and success. All the droppings of
animals on highways r gathered up,
all bones are pounded fine and mixed
with stable manure TO heat and dis
solve; and all towns are washed and
secured for fertilizers of every kind,
including mud from bitches, sewers,
canals and rivers. When you place an
average of so people on every 100 acres
of improved land, they, their dairy
cows, young stock and working ami
mails, must produce no inconsiderable
quantity of manure; but much more is
needed and used. They import Ger
man salts, guano and phosphates. The
extensive manufactures of Belgium
also supply fertilizers of various kinds
and at a small cost, including night
soil or human excrements. Large re-
turns per acre come FRONT this intensive
system Of farming. Our system'is the
reverse of this. We have yet to learn
the true value Of the substances
that form a bushel of wheat, or
100 pounds of pork, beef or mutton.
Estimating sunshine in a field by the
square yard, and a barrel of corn blythe
cost Of the things consumed to make
the crop, are points in husbandry
reached by very few in this country;
yet the more we reduce the strength of
our farms, the more we enhance
the cost of manure, and cut
down the profits of agriculture.
American farmers will soon have to
charge all consumers OF their bread
stuffs a higher price, or work for next
to nothing. In the end, the general
waste of plant food alike in town and
country, Will injure all that need grain,
cotton, provisions and tobacco for their
comfortable support. But until stern
necessity compels reform, If seems USE
less to urge it on the public attention.
In view of this fact, we suggest that a
farmer who has land which he would
gladly sell for ten dollars per acre, but
can find no purchaser, may take
crops worth ten dollars over cost
per acre, and then give it away,
or leave the land to pay taxes.
Already laboring people, both white
and cOlOred,. are emigrating largely
from impoverished district, because
farm wages are not satisfactory. When
the whole nation wastes fertilizers with
perfect recklessness, and railroads
charge more for their transportation
than most farmers can afford to pay,
how is it possible to avoid the steady
increase of this volume Of emigration
out of the old planting States? Fam
lies with young children growing up
TO provide for, will leave to find fresh
and cheap lands in some new country.
We do not and cannot keep them.
Under such a state of facts, how can
our farms grow in fruitfulness and
value? 1t is simply impossible oncom-
mon worn plantations. A new system
of management and economy must be
found and adopted in the South; and
! the sooner the better for all classes.
We can save or manufacture manures
as well in Tennessee as they do in Bel
GUM, and make cheap and invaluable
grass give us agricultural prosperity
equal to that of any nation whatever.
We cultivate the wrong crops to our
hurt, and to the injury of the soil.