Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-08-08
Eastts x#trtstts,
Drawbacks of Farming at the South.

OurlnR the year receive uldHy
letters from people who ask "What
are the drawbacks of the South ?"
They correctly figure that as all Sec
tions Of the country have some draw
back or other, the South is not an eX-
ception TO the rule, and therefore,
there must be some serious drawback
as cause for its poor agricultural de-
velopment.
The question is hard to answer.
Ifcalled upon to go to the bottom of
things, should say that the greatest
drawback to farming interests in the
South is simply this The farms are
too large. The system of slavery
tended to large estates. There were
many laborers and they could cover
large amount of land. Prior to the
war, if any land was offered for sale,
in nine cases out of ten the farmer
who owned the adjoining land bought
it and added it to his already large
farm. The importance of the indi>
vidual was too often determined by
the number of slaves he owned, and
the number of acres in his planta~
ton. Therefore, when slavery was
done away with, it left the South
practically all in large old estates or
plantations, A gentleman was talk
ing to me the other day about his
farm. He had $4,000 acres of land.
Of this large amount he had only
about one-tenth in cultivation, and
his statement was that it kept him
busy to make his living and pay
his taxes. "Why not cut it up and
sell it?" 1 suggested. swell, l
would be glad to cut it into 50Oa
tracts and SELL" he replied. The idea
occurred to me-what can man do
with 500 acres of land? Most men
can make more money from so acres
than from 500. Some men are capa-
BILE of handling an army-capable
of being generals-such men perhaps
could handle a 50O-acre farm to ad.
vantage. The ordinary man, OF
the man of fair average ability,
can successfully handle and profit
ably cultivate, say acres Of
land. All over the South "5O-acre
men" are spreading themselves over
100 to 500 acres.
This spreading process results ir
poor farming and poorer returns. i
gives the whole face of the country
a bad appearance. 1t allows weeds
and brush to encroach on the pillow
land. 1t allows the fences to 60 down
1t shortens the yield and reduces TIT
quality of the crops. In the truck
ing belt, near Norfolk, l see ever,
day the benefit of the "small farm
well titled" in the shape of small
well cultivated truck farms. Sucl
farms pay better than the large on
every time. The western wheat O
corn grower may be justified il
spreading himself, in his special lin
of business, over as many acres as h
can; but the southern farmer VIII
has long growing season, and VIII
can grow two or more crops q yea
from the same land, should reduc
his acreage and cultivate NOR
thoroughly. If the farms Of tn
South, at the close of the war, ha
been as small as at the North, tn
South to-day would be far ahead {
any other section Of the Union i
the race for agricultural supremacy
AS it is, these large old estates mus
be cut up and pass into the hand
of small holders. This is now bein
done, but at a slow rate.
Ofcourse there are drawbacks {
minor importance. For example
the southern farmer must keep h
land employed in growing crops or
soon runs to weeds, vines and shrub
Old winter does not ring down tn
curtain in October and hold it thel
until the following April, but thing
continue to grow from one end &,
the year to the other. 1t is trul
said that san idle mind is the devil
Workshop" and we may add-id
land on the farm in the South breeC
much trouble for the farmer. II
stead of lying idle, it should go dow
in grass and be grazed by sheep, ca
tie and horses. This leads
the statement that another gre
drawback to the southern farm
ing is the effort to farm witho
live stock. Too little livestock
raised. Cotton, tobacco, rice, cor
peanuts, &C., are raised in larI
quantities, but there is little stab