The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1885-11-19
HIS LETTERS PROM ITALIA.
HASSEE,


TALLAHASSEE, Oct. II, 1885.
far too significant term to be applied to the
crude methods generally practiced by the soil
tillers in this part of the word.
Perhaps in the palmiest days of the old slave
regime-when the expression southern Plan
ters," was supposed to convey such large ideas
of acres and their products was as true here,
as now, that little was known or practiced OF
those carefully considered and diligently execu-
ted measures by which farmers in less favored
regions of the country find it necessary To ac-
complish their aims
For fifty years the red uplands of this Middle
Florida section have been mercilessIy pllsged of
their productive resources by most wasteful an
exhaustive processes of cropping Ttosnty.6Oe
millions of do0ars would fall far short Of the ac-
tual money value Of only one OF t:Ie crops,
cotton, that has been taken from less than one
half of the cultivated area Of Leon county Ia
the past so years Even now, when impover-
ished land, disorganized labor, and deprecated
prices so generally prevail, the annual value of
the cotton crop of this county of Leon is be-
Now when one rides over the county and
carefully notes the conditions under which this
is done, he is filed with astOnishment A sense
OF what might be accomplished here under
changed conditions absolutely overwhelms me,
accustomed 10 the frost bound stinginess of the
earth in the North and West
When the old time Southern planters were
recklessly laying waste the great forests here,
scorning TO expend their energies on anything
but new ground" they were experiencing
somew hat the same cheap prosperity that attended
the Western farmer when he was able to take
in" virgin prairie as fast as he skinned the cream
from his land. They were both fortunate fel-
lows and their apparently easily gotten gains
were perhaps none too large when we consider the
pioneer hardships they had to endure and clear
away for pOsterity, 10 whom, along with lands,
somewhat the worse for wear, have come NC
Adamized and rallied roads commercial fertilizers,
improved implements and such other money
saving helps. Bnt do not think the analogy
between the early Southern and Western farming
extends beyond their respective methods of i'm
providently exhausting the virgin soils. For
when the problem OF renOvatHg these exhausted
lands aFises-as sooner or later it does in all
cOuntries-the conditions under which the i'm
portant and necessary work has to be accom-.
pished, are materially different in the two To-
calities as to quite defy any rational comparison.
In the Oae case, the process is slow aud expen-
sive; in the other, quick and cheap In the North
laborious. artificial methods, dependent almost
entirely upon human effort are required, while
in the South, nature, if Lett to herself corrects
the evil rapidly, and very little inexpensive
cooperation Of human hands perfects the work
in an incredibly short time. The hindrances
opposed in the one case by the short period of
groscing weather and the long chilled season,
when the d0estice pocers OF the soil are inactive
from numbng frosts, are removed in the other,
and their opposite advantages increased In .
compound ratio by the breeding power Of the
earth, kept fresh with perpetual showers, and
stimulated by increasing sunshine.
Considered in the abstract, this, in my opinion 10
the material difference between farming in the
North and farming in the South. All else. 1t seems
to me, depends upon individual effort and Gun
ming, and only requires the exercise Of those at
tributes OF mans mind that will induce one to 60
in and out OF the rain, OF another to "smile
when asked TO " take something"
So Tar as l am able 10 perceive the differences
existing between individual efforts in farming in
the New England States and this part of Florida
is that more labor and manure is bestowed there
upon one acre Of land than is given here to ten.
The application of as much and az thorough
preparation and cultivation of soils Of equal fer
tility here will result in much greater product
iveness. hs
That such intelligent application of labor i'm
proved methods, and diversified crops, have not
been introduced here, Is owing solely 70 the fact
that ttsy soeTe not needed La the eyes Of the
large class of land owners in the South whose
slave force for fifty or sixty years were engaged
in telling forest TO make cotton, to buy more
slaves, to fell more forest, 70 make more cotton
to buy more slaves, 70 fell more forest, &C. &C.,
such an institution a. nowadays model farm
would have been regarded with the contempt q
| picayune concern deserved Planters were not
farmers any more than the present owners OF
shafts and cattle ranches are miners or "cow
| boys" ft.]
The emancipation of the negro made of his
| undisciplined moral and Intellectual nature an
unavailable force, and within this last few yeas,
since the disturbing effects Of the great social and
| political revolution Ii the South have quieted
down. diversified parposes, Intelligent labor, and
improved methods han como b - s1s3s1 and with
| the need has come largely to b applied. Il
was being overshsdowed By this spirit that
| quickened the wasee places Of The Oocs posely
agricultural State of Alabana, and gave tisth 10
her great i.ea bshy. Birmingham. sad that II q
| tew yeaSs last past has SueIsitassd h es0thesu
bsrhshirss. Under Ne kssding : Toe oalss IL
she ssosdsm 1guss q . iaglsivs niegsrs wah
sa,ck end busds % - pSssusy siSul1ss, -
ssuan ths slack cspsaals, ssadlag ~ -
| Waed" ~
TIE awaksaiae q sAsss ~ pupssu h ~
ssssh = esly isdisSssias = ~ a1eavs sbsaa
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