Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-07-20

Who instantly disappear in what seems .
vavn,nr cavern. By 9 o'clock the snip y
aded--often crammed 30 full OF the stun
that only The spaces reserved Tor working
the machinery remain empty between
decks.
Acct rush for the halliards and get on jib
and mainsail and cast on the lines that
hold them 10 the pier. andaway they go, by
the score, in such race down the river 40
would stir the soul Of the most ennuied
spectator. No more enthusiastic or capa-
bic sailors OF sloops than these darkies can
be found. and with their sweethearfs
perched on the little cabins 70 urge them
on, the negro pilots send their little yachts
driving down or beating up TO w,ndward;
with relish for victory and disregard
for the rights Of competition that are stun
ming to behold.
Leaving Norfolk after an examination OF
tho truck-farmers, the northern agricui-
turist should 90 to Durham or to oxford.
North Carolina, and look at the tobacco
plantations. IL is in the regions round
about those towns that the very finest
tobacco in the world is grown. North
Carolina has few gold-mines ana on a
certain occasion last fall, down IN Mont
gomery county, pocket was iounu ~ .ne
placer-diegings on Iebe SAUNDERS ia,.n a
that panned out Sl5O.000 in week. But
Tebe Saunders is nowhere in luck COM
pared with the man who owns and knows
how to cultivate stretch of the white sand
Of Durham or Granville counties.
For instance, there is Farmer r. X. Knott.
who lives near Oxford. Farmer Knott
came out Of the war without cert, ana
what was worse he had no education.
But he was shrewd man In one respect,
and he is now able to draw check for
$780, 900. He got hold of some OF the
Granville sand and began to raise tobacco.
For time the tobacco he and Others
of the section raised was marketed
at very small profit. 1t went to Rich
mond, and it was of the light golden
yellow not then very well known as IN
great demand IN the market. But 1t was as
fine as silk--literally as fine as silk--and 1t
made demand that is now world wide.
The market has shifted to the towns in the
section where IL grows. and railroads have
been built TO transport the crop. On market
day the planters bring in the stuff by the
hogshead and roll it of the wagons TO
the wide floors into warehouses built tor
the purpose The hogsheads are opened.
the tobacco dumped out and assert,
cd, and an auctioneer gets up ana
wants to know how much he IS Of
fered, and the buyers from New York
and all other manufacturing centres
tumble over each other in their anxiety to
answer the question. Forty cents pound
is a common price for the leaf. and seventy
is often reached for choice lots. Last year
Mr. Knott bad some choice lots, and 80
many of them that he cleared 5000 an acre
from ten acres. There were several other
planters in Granville county who did as
well. while plenty of them made T5o9 an
acre-the top profit made by MIR. Ballen-
tine on his choice lot of spinach on his
truck farm near Norfolk.
TOBACCO CULTIVATION.
The tobacco crop requires intelligent
care, but there is no YANKEE farmer worm
q forkful of daisies who couldn't learn TO
grow the crop in one season. The seed is
sown in specially prepared bed IN febru-
ary. The plants are transplanted to the
field in MAY. From $500 to $500 plants
are put on an acre. and q darky, who costs
the planter about Sl4 month all told,
keeps two and half acres in prime order
if he is looked after properly. The yield IS
from 700 to 1.200 pounds an acre. and the
money for il should be in the planters
pocket within ninety days from the day
the plants were set out. after which he can
go fishing or to see his poor or rich reia-
tions or do anything else that pleases him.
If, after looking over such farms and
such profits as are actully made mere the
man who has been fighting potato-bugs
about the head-waters of the Hudson or
dosing The hog-cholera in the Mississippi
Valley or whiting under the hot winds of
the western country doesn't think there liz
money in some kinds of farming he is
curious sort of farmer. Not all farms nor
all planters make such profits, but there
are grades in farms and farmers III the
North as well as in the South.
Probably the first thing northern farm
er would ask about these southern lands is
the price. Around Norfolk farms that are
we'll located cost 5000 an acre. That Will
buy a farm of good truck land with good
would yield 500 an acre IN profts.
The best kind of farms for tobacco-cul-
ture in the golden tobacco belt are to be
had at 1925 an acre. This price Is for land
which should yield. under proper cultiva-
ton, from four to ten times its cost in
profits every year depending on the wea-
ther at certain stages OF the growth OF the
CROP, and in rare eases $500 an acre. The
buildings are of kind that would not
would the condition of the fences please
him. But the land s all right for tobacco.
There are plantations of from 800 to 600
acres in North Carolina which the owners
try to manage, but no plantation of that
size. of which the reporter could learn,
was profitable. The small plantations care
fully planted and well fertilized and cult
waited were the ones that made their own
ers rich. if incomes of from $4,000 to Sl0,-
900 year net be counted the incomes of
rich men.
As on the truck-farms around Norfolk,
the labor is and must be done by negroes.
The white man cannot afford to work for
the price of negro. and the northerner
who goes South will make mistake if he
does not devote his time to encouraging
the niggers instead of to the hoe. 1t is
therefore. that the South is not
the place for man with no capital at all.
but very good place for a man of small
means and thrift. 1t is better to go South
than West.