Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1874-03-28
Revolution in Southern Agriculture

Revolution in Southern Agriculture,
The Turf Field and Farm, of New
York, conducted bv a cosmopolitan,
makes the following suggestions to
southern farmers:
Your whole system of agriculture
has been revolutionized. In the ante
bellum days you had at your disposal
the best possible labor, because it was
amenable to discipline, and, like a reg
ular army, ever ready to obey the or
ders of the commander-in-chief You
have now lost by the arbitrament of the
sword, the control of the forces which
made your broad fields laugh with an
nual harvesls, and now you find your
selves burdened with an enormous un.
productive landed property, which is
more heavily taxed than when it filled
o II store houses, and garnaries, and
barns, and furnished nine-tenths of the
foreign exchanges of the whole union.
What, under these circumstances, are
You to do? Your labor is compare
lively worthless. and your land without
labor must inevitably, soone or late
come under the hammer of the sheriff.
We fancy the solution of the problem
is to be found in one word, and that is
grass.
Get your fields in sod, and pasture
upon them every grazing animal that
has a money value. Depend less upon
the plow and the still more expensive
hoe, and have recourse to the mower
Ii you have not the capital in labor,
horses, implements and manure-nat-
ural and artiticial-to get your land in
grass in the ~speediest way, be not i'm
patient or discouraged, have %recourse
to sheep; in time the very poorest land
will put on a good sod of nutritious
grasses under the fructifying tread Of
a flock OF sheep. 1t may be objected
that negroes and vagrant ours will pre-
vent sheep breeding in the south.
This objection has some weight, but is
!, not insuperable. On the contrary, we
+, may pluck safety from this danger,
and be compelled to fold our sheep, q
part of their management too often
; omitted, but which should never be
:, neglected under any circumstances.
!. BY means of the fold you eftectually
q protect your tlocks from night-prowl
' ing dogs and their masters, and the
q brier patches and CALLED spots in YOU
y fields will soon be cleaned or en-
riched by their tramping and theil
V droppings.
) Again, it may G objected that bu
a small portion of the cleared lands o
the south are adapted to grass, an(
some of them not ever to clover. TO
i certain extent this is true, but TIE fac
is that southern planters, absorbed il
10 the cultivation of tobacco, cotton al
~ sugar, have never given sut1icien
IL thought to other agricultural product
quite rs indispensable in their way a
the three above named staples. In tn
balmy days of cotton culture in MissiS
Mt sippi the planter who raised his ow
~ bread and meat was the exception. Mos
er of them were corn buyers, and one c
them raised pork. Most of them ha
H. cotton on the brain, and they all dreade
ut grass as they would cholera, the DO.
W worm and caterpillar.
I'd Under the new dispensation you mu'
x Of necessity give more attention t
I'd other possible farm products, Al d chic
I'd among these are grass aud other forag
is plants. 1t is generally believed thf
6, except Oh stiff clays grass cannot b
grown with profit on the tide.watC
lands of the southern states but has
70 ever bean attempted? Until the a
tempt is made and fails We must refus
ee to subscribe to the general belle
at Where is the grass which makes a fine
ID or closer sod than the Bermuda, grow
Is ing in many house yards in Mississippi
ID always green and growing Under tn
n hottest sunlight and heaviest tramplinl
e. Who bAs tried The TO- :.Ts'sf ".l"
+ Who among the southern planters ha'
We tried the miraculous power of gypsu
ne in growing clover and grass? ADM
ny ting that red clover will not stand Il
&C. prolonged heat Of a southern summc
nd there is a plant of the same family, ai
Ike a far nobler one, which villa pla
re. which Aourishes in perennial verdure
Der the bleak mountains of Auvergne
of France, and all around the Mediterl
he mean, as far south as the cataracts of t
RI Nile, under the fervid sun Of Egyl
ID This is the medtcag0 saliva, the lucer
he of Europe, and the alfalfa of Calift
mia and South America. But southe
l farmers AID planters neglected this,
ro- most valuable Of all the forage plan
is, because in the days Ct slav ry III
'od could think Of nothing but tobacco
ost cotton and they neglect it now, a
my are deferred from its cultivation, unt
ase the roneeu impression that it mi
inc be drilled and cultivated with the hi
IAN The traveller between Alexandria a
= Cairo and Suez, in Egypt, will see tho
IA. sands of acres knee.deep in lucel
which was never put in with the drill
touched with the hoe. Why should
,5d not see the same in our southern state
In conclusion, we will say purchi
tin nothing you can do without make yC
rm own bread and meat, and todo this s.
!, IN cessfully you must grow grass.
in CONE, LET US REASON TOGETHER
ntiI the afflicted in body, We offer a t
, ;s words of plain, practical reasoning.
matter under what form of sickness y
nm. labor there is one great truth y
should ever keep in mind, viz: All {
ease originates in au impure conditi
II of the blood. Purify that, and the
ease must depart, for it has nothing
an. feed on but you cannot purify
a. n blood by the use of poisonous dru
and exhaustive stimulants the rel
tbe which these afford is temporary and
chit ceptive, leaving you worse off at ev,
interval. The best blood purifier e.
va discovered is DR.. Walkers famous Y
nds egar Bitters, compounded of sim,
tbe herbs. No matter how hopeless "
case may seem, try the Vinegar Bite
hot and u few draughts will convince you
are their virtue. DR.. Walker, the discove
of this priceless remedy, had been giv
- nm tn lie nv the nhvsiciona and Ia N