The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-08-25
LESS LAND AND MORE LABOR.

exceedingly useful lessons. Inc New Orleans
Times lately called the public's attention 10
the fact that in the state of Mississippi 81 the
present time double as much cotton is pro-
duced as was raised. thirty years ago,
although the amount of land under cultivA-
ticn Is less than it was then. In other dis
tricts and states the same results have been
reached, and the facts are beginning TO ez-
cite comment and give new interest 10 TN
old question. Certainly excellent and az
certainsble reasons exis, for this improvement
in the various crops, aud to discover the
secret is Simply to create everywhere the
same increased crops on decreased acres
age 1t no use waiting for denser
population to develop the full
capacities of our lands or enlarge
the aggregate volume Of cur
crops. In the first place it will DO NO
ticed that this favorable change has occug-
red in the older southern states where the
lands have been worked continuously for II
century, and are regarded AS lar mora iuf,>
rior therefore in quality to our now western
fields. The conclusion follows Immediately
that greater labor and much closer Guilty n
tion must have necessarily been bestowed
upon them, But there ia only one way in
the whole south 10 reach such improved
cultivation, and that is by decreasing the
acreage and using the proper amount Of
fertilizers. In Texas, as WIS suggested by
an extensive state journal the other day,
the entire population have depended to too
great an extent upon the natural fertility OF
the soil. Farmers have depended SO much
upon nature that they have neglected to des
pend upon themselves" The idea has be-,
come prevalent that in this favored cline,
cotton, corn, wheat and ia fact all products
will grow in great profusion and without
cultivation, and herein 10 the
first great mistake made and the first
that ought to be corrected. In agriculture
as in all other vocations, the conditions of
success are labor and we'll selected meane,
and the planter must bear in mind continu-
ally that it will not be only wasted time, but
wasted money to attempt any more than he
has the facilities for doing. The gigantic
and extraordinary railroad building now
going on from one end of the state TO the
other, has we'll nigh robbed the plantations
of their necessary help, and every one re-
members the very serious drawback conse.
quent thereon, which resulted to the farm
ing interests last fall and the spring just past.
So it is with the south generally, and fortuna
ately promises to be. For soma years to
come the rapid development within the cots
ton states will necessarily produce scarcity
of labor, and ia now about time that the
farming interests should appreciate this fact
and govern themselves accordingly. The
ubis,t is one Of most vital significance to all
the industrial classes, and should really
have attracted notice long ere this. Only
that acreage should be cultivated to
which it ia possible to give the highest
degree of labor. If ten acres cGn be made
to produce twenty bales of cotton it is better
to devote and concentrate effort upon them
than to trhe with twenty acres and only
gather len bales. The Houston Post, in an
editorial on this subject, cites the following
illustration of this principle 10 the experience
Of Harris county: q 1t is well known that
he lands Of Harris county are not Of the first |
class generally, yet, by close attention, by
,arly planting, by restricting the acreage to
The legitimate manipulation of the force, our
farmers, AMI our German farmers especially,
are now able, while the state at large is COM
planning of failure Of corn and of serious
shortage in the cotton crop, to claim finer,
higher and more remunerstive return for
their lsbors than they have heretofore ex-
perienced. This ia due mainly to refusing to |
overcrop." 1t is almost too trite to again
quote that the agricultural industries are
the chief dependence Of any nation iavorably |
situated for the same, and il has long been
a source Of regret, as well as great loss OF
wealth TO her that the south has Jagged |
behind the east in this matter. What we
need is division of he immense, unMeldly
plantations into farms such as the poorer
classes can purchase, and such as can be
handled to their full capacity by the amount
Of labor iu their midst. Slavery and the
great landed estate were complementary the
one TO the other, but since the abolition of
he one the necessity for the other has not
only ceased, but become positively detrimen-
al to our planters and the south at large.
The very questions ..agitating England, and
,ausing the impovsrishmont of Ireland 10.
lay, spring from identically the same source
he gathering together by one man of large
masses Of lands which cannot be made to
FIELD anything like the full Of their capacity
md remain as obstacles TO tho efforts Of the
mailer farmer and burden upon the land
IS whole. In striking contrast, no. 10 cite
again the New England farmer, is the system
If peasant proprietorship in France, where
with a serritory:not as large as Texas, tho
products exceed those Of our entire union.
These are changes that must eventually take
place in the south. and the sooner our