The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-07-17
On the ssesOurces of YaIObusha
County.

County.
In compliance with your request to pre-
| sent to the readers of the Courier such mat
ters OF interest as relate to the agricultural
and horticultural resources of Mississippi in
general, and Yalobusha county in particular,
as L might deem proper; and with a view,
II possible, OF stirring up the minds of our
own people to the Importance of this sub
Ject, as a remedy for the alarming depression
and almost utter prostration in the farming
interests of the South generally. | will
try and present few thoughts as coneisely
as possible.
In the first place, Messrs. Editors, it is
somewhat unfortunate, that in our attempts
to sum up the ample resources of locality
OF soils, and of climate of ouI own county,
and indeed of the greater portion of the
State, we are compelled to take as our guides
and standard of estimation, the exceptions
rather than the general rules of farming in
this county. We are all compelled to adj
nit that the system of farming as practiced
by the majority of those cultivating the soil
at the present time is failure, and yet with
equal candor, every man admits that the
reasons for this constant failure of the svs-
tenn are most obvious and might be RENE
died. Thus it is, that while poor farming,
bad management and Indifferent labor bring
most of our sO-called farmers out behind at
the end of the year ; yet here and there we
find noble exceptions, and to these we turn
as marked examples of what can be done in
agriculture, in fruit raising and stock raising
in YalObusha county
This county, like all the upland or hill
counties of North Mississippi, possesses all
of the varied soils for which these counties
are noted. The county being drained on
the south and east by the tributaries of the
Yalobusha river, and on the north and west
by the Yocona river and its tributaries, we
have river and creek bottom lands, and hill
and valley lands in all their variety The
former are almost invariably of rich and
productive soil, with a clay subsoil the
valley lands are more sandy usually, and
are lively, vigorous lands, easily worked, and
yield generous crops, scarcely without fail
ure when properly worked The hill lands,
including the flats and gentle slopes, have
also good lively soil, which is exceedingly
productive when first cleared up, but which
easily wears out and washes off unless
farmed carefully and properly. 1t is but
fair to say, that there is considerable por-
tion of lands of the county that is too billy
for profitable production in crops, but even
these portions are exceedingly valuable for
fruit and vine raising, as also for stock.
Portions of Yalobusha county were set
tied many years ago, and under the system
of planting that then prevailed, which was
to run the soil to its fullest capacity until
worn out, and then abandon it for newly
cleared fields, which in turn were treated in
the same way. Up to the time of the war
it was always the logic of Mississippi " that
new fields could be cleared cheaper and more
proftably than old ones could be preserved"
Hence, our county, like most of our neigh
boring ones, presents to-day the unsightly
and unpromising aspect in many localities
of old sedge fields and worn out farms. But
even these, where they lay well and are not
too badly washed, have been demonstrated in
numerous cases to be susceptible of being
reclaimed and made valuable again, and that,
too, by a process that in many cases proves
to be exceedingly profitable at the same
time. And we would state, in passing, that
while many of these old fields are of course
without fences or enclosures of any kind,
there are but few localities in Yalobusha
county where good and sufficient timber
may not be had with which to refence all of
of the valuable portions of these turned-out
places.
Yalobusha county is essentially
timber country, and all of her hills and
holIows, wales and swamps are covered with
the usual varieties of timber that prevail
throughout this section, and all of her hill
lands are exceedingly valuable in that res
pect and the resources of the county in this
particular are worthy of note, and should
be husbanded for the future. If Yalobusha
county can be divided up into small farms,
1t Will be found that such DIVISIONS can De
made so as to give to each farm reasonable
proportion of hills and vallies, of open and
timber lands. In this particular our county
is most favorably situated.
Then, to sum up some of the advantages
of Yalobusha in the matter of its varied
soils, and the productions of which they are
susceptible, we can say, in a general
way, with great emphasis, that We
can raise from our own soils almost anything
in the way of crops-grains, grasses, fruits
and vegetables that grow anywhere under
the shining sun. But when we come to
state in specific sense, what we do raise,
and how much, candOr compels us to make
admissions, which at once present again the
folies of our farming, or total want OF
knowledge of our own resources. But we
will enumerate: Yalobusha raises every
wear from one to sixteen hundred pounds of
seed cotton to the acre, and that this differ
ence in the acres production is to be attribu-
ted more to the manner and matter of culti-
walton, than either the soil, the climate, or
the season, is generally admitted. So of
wheat, we raise from five to thirty bushels
to the acre, the yield being largely depend
ent upon the manner of its cultivation So
of corn; so also, of the grasses, some of
which are found to be exceedingly profta-
| BILE to grow.
F. w. MERRIN.
Wafer VdIIeV Mss