University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER IV.

AGRICULTURE.

The tables found in this chapter show the condition of
agriculture in the United States for the year ending June,
1850, when no other date is given.

These tables show the number of farms and plantations,
acres of cultivated land, value of the same, value per acre,
value of farm implements and machinery, and whole area, in
acres, of the several Free and Slave States. California is
necessarily omitted from the list of the Free States, because of
the defective returns of the marshals for that State. This
omission can only be supplied by taking the State valuation for
1852, the first made by the State authority. In that year
there were assessed for taxation in California, 6,719,442 acres
of land, valued at $35,879,929, or $5.34 per acre.

In Table X., there is an evident and remarkable error—
either of the marshals, or of the compiler of the census returns
—in regard to the value of farms in South Carolina. This
table, carefully copied from the Compendium of the Census,
gives for South Carolina:

     

Acres improved and unimproved land,	16,217,600
Valued at,	$82,431,684
" per acre,	$5.08

Now the true value of lands in South Carolina is shown by
its State valuation to differ essentially from this. Thus, in
1851, there were assessed for taxation in South Carolina
(American Almanac for 1853, p. 278):

     

Acres of land,	17,073,412
Valued at,	$23,952,679
" per acre,	$1.40

TABLE IX.
Statement showing the Number of Farms and Plantations, Acres of Improved and Unimproved Land, Cash Value of
Farms, Average Value per Acre, and Value of Farming Implements and Machinery, in the several Free States,
with the whole Area of each, according to the Census Returns for 1850.

                                 

FREE STATES.	Number of Farms and Plantations.	Acres of Improved Land.	Acres of Unimproved Land.	Cash Value of Farms.	Average Value per Acre.	Value of Farming Implements and Machinery.	Whole Area of States in Acres.
Connecticut	22,445	1,768,178	615,701	$72,726,422	$30.50	$1,892,541	2,991,360
Illinois	76,208	5,039,545	6,997,867	96,133,290	7.99	6,405,561	35,459,200
Indiana	93,896	5,046,543	7,746,879	136,385,173	10.66	6,704,444	21,637,760
Iowa	14,805	824,682	1,911,382	16,657,567	6.09	1,172,869	32,584,960
Maine	46,760	2,039,596	2,515,797	54,861,748	12.04	2,284,557	20,330,240
Massachusetts	34,069	2,133,436	1,222,576	109,076,347	32.50	3,209,584	4,992,000
Michigan	34,089	1,929,110	2,454,780	51,872,446	11.83	2,891,371	35,995,520
New Hampshire	29,229	2,251,488	1,140,926	55,245,997	16.28	2,314,125	5,939,200
New Jersey	23,905	1,767,991	984,955	120,237,511	43.67	4,425,503	5,324,800
New York	170,621	12,408,964	6,710,120	554,546,642	29.00	22,084,926	30,080,000
Ohio	143,807	9,851,493	8,146,000	358,758,603	19.99	12,750,585	25,576,960
Pennsylvania	127,577	8,623,619	6,294,728	407,876,099	27.27	14,722,541	29,440,000
Rhode Island	5,385	356,487	197,451	17,070,802	30.82	497,201	835,840
Vermont	29,763	2,601,409	1,524,413	63,367,227	15.36	2,739,282	6,535,680
Wisconsin	20,177	1,045,499	1,931,159	28,528,563	9.54	1,641,568	34,511,360
Total	877,736	57,688,040	50,394,734	$2,143,344,437	$19.83	$85,736,658	292,234,880

TABLE X.
Statement showing the Number of Farms and Plantations, Acres of Improved and Unimproved Land, Cash Value of
Farms, Average Value per Acre, and Value of Farming Implements and Machinery, in the several Slave States,
with the whole Area of each, according to the Census Returns for 1850.

                                 

SLAVE STATES.	Number of Farms and Plantations.	Acres of Improved Land.	Acres of Unimproved Land.	Cash Value of Farms.	Average Value per Acre.	Value of Farming Implements and Machinery.	Whole Area of States in Acres.
Alabama	41,964	4,435,614	7,702,067	$64,323,224	$5.30	$5,125,663	32,462,080
Arkansas	17,758	781,530	1,816,684	15,265,245	5.87	1,601,296	33,406,720
Delaware	6,063	580,862	375,282	18,880,031	19.75	510,279	1,356,800
Florida	4,304	349,049	1,246,240	6,323,109	3.97	658,795	37,931,520
Georgia	51,759	6,378,479	16,442,900	95,753,445	4.19	5,894,150	37,120,000
Kentucky	74,777	5,968,270	10,981,478	155,021,262	9.03	11,576,938	24,115,200
Louisiana	13,422	1,590,025	3,399,018	75,814,398	13.71	2,284,557	26,403,200
Maryland	21,860	2,797,905	1,836,445	87,178,545	18.81	2,463,443	7,119,360
Mississippi	33,960	3,444,358	7,046,061	54,738,634	5.22	5,762,927	30,179,840
Missouri	54,458	2,938,425	6,794,245	63,225,543	6.49	3,981,525	43,123,200
North Carolina	56,963	5,453,975	15,543,008	67,891,766	3.24	3,931,532	32,450,560
South Carolina	29,967	4,072,551	12,145,049	82,431,684	5.08	4,136,354	18,806,400
Tennessee	72,735	5,175,173	13,808,849	97,851,212	5.16	5,360,210	29,184,000
Texas	12,198	643,976	10,852,363	16,550,008	1.44	2,151,704	152,002,560
Virginia	77,013	10,360,135	15,792,176	216,401,543	8.27	7,021,772	39,265,280
Total	564,203	54,970,427	125,781,865	$1,117,649,649	$6.18	$65,345,625	544,926,720

In 1854 (American Almanac for 1856, p. 293), there were
assessed for taxation:

                         

Acres of land,	17,289,359
Valued at,	$22,836,374
" per acre,	$1.32
By Table IX. it will be seen that the whole area in acres of the Free States, not including California, is	292,231,880
Number of acres under cultivation,	108,082,774
"of acres not under cultivation,	184,149,106
Value of the lands under cultivation,	$2,143,344,437
" per acre,	$19.83
Whole area of the Slave States (including South Carolina, according to the incorrect census figures)	544,742,926
Number of acres under cultivation,	180,572,292
" of acres not under cultivation,	364,170,634
Value of the land under cultivation,	$1,117,649,649
" per acre,	$6.18

As to general results, the error in the South Carolina return
and the omission of California will about balance each other.

Including only the lands under cultivation in the two sections,
the value per acre in the North is more than three times that
of the South. Including the whole area, the proportion is still
larger.

The value per acre of land in the States, on the dividing
line between freedom and slavery, is suggestive—thus, in the
Free States, the value of farms per acre is as follows, viz:

           

New Jersey,	$43 67
Pennsylvania,	27 27
Ohio,	19 99
Indiana,	10 66
Illinois,	7 99
Average,	$22 17

In the border Slave States the value is as follows, viz:

           

Delaware,	$19 75
Maryland,	18 81
Virginia,	8 27
Kentucky,	9 03
Missouri,	6 49
Average,	$9 25

Take those Slave States which, by position, population, or
intercourse, feel least the influence of the Free States. Thus,
the value of farms per acre is, in

                   

North Carolina,	$3 24
South Carolina,	1 32
Tennessee,	5 16
Florida,	3 97
Georgia,	4 19
Alabama,	5 30
Arkansas,	5 87
Texas,	1 44
Mississippi,	5 22
Average,	$3 74

Table XI. shows the value of the agricultural productions
of the several Free States and Slave States for
the year 1840. It is taken from the Annual Report of
the Secretary of the Treasury on the Finances for 1854–5.
It is understood that the articles of wheat (54,770,311 bushels
in the Free States and 30,052,961 bushels in the Slave States),
sugar (31,010,234 pounds in the Free States and 124,090,566
pounds in the Slave States), and molasses, are not included.

Table XII. has been prepared with great labor. In the
first two columns are given the amount and value of live stock,
and the amount of agricultural products, in the Free and Slave

TABLE XI.
Statement of the Value of the Agricultural Productions of the Free and of
the Slave States for the year 1840.

                                 

FREE STATES.		SLAVE STATES.
Connecticut	$11,201,618	Alabama	$23,833,470
Illinois	11,577,281	Arkansas	4,973,655
Indiana	14,484,610	Delaware	2,877,350
Maine	14,725,615	Georgia	29,612,436
Massachusetts	14,371,732	Kentucky	26,233,968
Michigan	3,207,048	Louisiana	17,976,017
New Hampshire	10,762,019	Maryland	14,015,665
New Jersey	15,314,006	Mississippi	26,297,666
New York	91,244,178	Missouri	9,755,615
Ohio	27,212,004	North Carolina	24,727,297
Pennsylvania	51,232,204	South Carolina	20,555,919
Rhode Island	1,951,141	Tennessee	27,917,692
Vermont	16,977,664	Virginia	48,644,905
Iowa	688,308	Florida	1,817,718
Wisconsin	445,559
Total	$285,394,987	Total	$279,239,373

States, for the years 1840 and 1850. In the third and fourth
columns are given the values according to the calculations of
De Bow, in which the products of the North and the South are
calculated at the same prices, which calculation is unfavorable
to the North.

As to those products whose value is given by De Bow
(Census Compendium, p. 176), in the aggregate, their value
has been distributed as follows, viz:

Eggs and feathers, according to the relative amount of
poultry in the North and South in 1840.

Milk, according to amount of butter and cheese in each section
in 1850.

Annual increase of stock and cattle, sheep and pigs, under
one year old, according to value of live stock in 1850.

Residuum of crops, manure, etc., according to population.

Small crops, as carrots, etc., one-fourth to the South and
three-fourths to the North.

In the fifth and sixth columns are given the values according
to the prices in Andrews' voluminous Report on Trade and
Commerce, made August 19, 1852. The prices are the same
for the two sections. The aggregate products have been distributed
according to the best authorities and information which
could be obtained.

In the seventh and eighth columns are given the average
crops per acre in the two sections as returned by the marshals
in 1850.

"The quantity of wheat in 1850," says De Bow, "is believed
to be under-stated, and the crop was also short."
"Investigations undertaken by the State legislatures and agricultural
societies," says Andrews (Report, p. 696), "prove that
the aggregate production of wheat reported in the census tables
was below the average crop by at least 30,000,000 bushels."
It seems fair to add to our table for "understatement" the
amount of 15,000,000 bushels, [1] which distributed according
to production would give Free States, 10,823,899 bushels;
value $10,823,899; Slave States, 4,176,101 bushels; value,
$4,176,101.

Of hemp and flax, De Bow says: "It is impossible to
reconcile the hemp and flax returns of 1840 and 1850. No
doubt in both cases, tons and pounds have often been confounded.
In a few of the States, such as Indiana and Illinois,
the returns of 1850 were rejected altogether for insufficiency."

TABLE XII.
Amount of Live Stock (and its Value in 1850) and Agricultural Productions of the Free and Slave States, with the Value
of the same (for 1850), according to De Bow and Andrews, for the years 1840 and 1850; and also the Average Crops, per
Acre, of certain Products, according to De Bow.

                                                                                                                                                   

Amount of Live Stock and Agricultural Productions in the United States, for the years 1840 and 1850.		Free States.	Slave States.	Value according to De Bow's prices. Free States. 1850.	Value according to De Bow's prices. Slave States. 1850.	Value according to the prices in Andrews' Report. Free States. 1850.	Value according to the prices in Andrews' Report. Slave States. 1850.	Average Crops per Acre. Free States.	Average Crops per Acre. Slave States.
Horses	1850	2,310,984	201,551
Asses and Mules	1850	45,840	518,933
Horses, Asses, and Mules	1840	2,097,305	2,236,219
Working Oxen	1850	881,607	821,976
Milch Cows	1850	3,626,285	2,832,525
Other Neat Cattle	1850	4,237,928	6,079,309
Total Neat Cattle	1840	7,567,220	7,401,092
Sheep	1850	14,691,999	6,635,076
"	1840	14,144,478	5,166,190
Swine	1850	9,605,978	20,807,403
"	1840	10,085,150	16,211,470
Value of Live Stock	1850	$286,374,541	$253,723,687
Value of Animals Slaughtered	1850	$56,990,247	$54,386,377	$56,990,247	$54,386,877
Wheat, bushels	1850	72,319,491	27,903,426	$72,319,491	27,903,426	$72,319,491	$27,903,426	12.35	9.35
"	1840	54,770,311	30,052,961
Rye, "	1850	12,580,732	1,608,240	6,919,403	884,532	11,196,851	1,431,334	15.55	10.50
" "	1840	14,321,158	4,324,409
Oats, "	1850	96,699,002	49,882,973	29,009,701	14,964,892	42,547,561	21,948,508	26.20	16.63
" "	1840	80,056,173	43,015,168
Barley, "	1850	7,966,110	161,907	5,576,277	113,335	4,779,666	97,144	23.70
" "	1840	4,002,463	159,041
Indian Corn, bushels	1850	242,735,176	348,992,271	121,367,588	174,496,135	145,641,106	209,395,363	31.14	18.93
" "	1840	125,157,562	252,374,317
Irish Potatoes, "	1850	59,320,970	7,705,362	23,728,388	3,082,145	39,490,727	5,779,021	118.53	112.50
Sweet " "	1850	1,122,330	37,145,558	561,165	18,572,779	897,864	29,716,446		164.
Irish and Sweet Potatoes, bushels	1840	89,043,092	19,254,968
Buckwheat, bushels	1850	8,550,618	405,347	6,669,482	316,171	4,275,309	202,673	19.62	8.50
" "	1840	6,806,600	385,143
Hay, tons	1850	12,693,661	1,137,784	88,855,627	7,964,448	158,660,762	14,222,290	1.21	1.19
" "	1840	9,403,328	844,780
Hops, pounds	1850	3,463,191	33,780	1,212,117	11,823	588,742	5,743
" "	1840	1,219,418	19,084
Clover Seed, bushels	1850	411,152	57,820	2,055,760	289,100	2,055,760	289,100
Other Grass Seed, bushels	1850	351,221	65,588	702,442	131,176	1,756,105	327,940
Butter, pounds	1850	245,799,578	67,249,744	$39,327,933	$10,759,959	$49,159,916	$13,449,949
Cheese, "	1850	104,077,577	1,384,490	5,203,879	69,225	6,244,655	82,269
Value of Dairy Products	1840	$27,494,806	$6,292,202
Peas and Beans, bushels	1850	1,550,325	7,637,031	968,953	4,773,144	1,240,260	6,109,624	20.	11.75
Produce of Market Gardens	1850	$3,780,832	$1,377,260	3,780,332	1,377,260	36,000,000	12,000,000
" " " "	1840	$1,774,123	$827,073
Value of Orchard Products	1850	$6,347,757	$1,365,927	6,347,757	1,365,927	6,347,757	1,365,927
" " " "	1840	$4,836,685	$2,420,219
Beeswax and Honey, pounds	1850	6,889,010	7,964,780	1,002,242	1,274,365	1,377,802	1,592,956
Value of Poultry, (estimated)	1850			5,969,411	7,030,589	9,000,000	6,000,000
" " "	1840	$4,287,883	$5,053,435
Cords of Wood	1850			12,767,597	7,232,403	13,500,000	6,500,000
" " "	1840	3,247,814	1,839,790
Flaxseed, bushels	1850	358,923	203,384	538,384	305,076	466,600	264,399
Flax, pounds	1850	2,948,278	4,760,208	294,828	476,021	176,897	285,612
Hemp, tons	1850	198	34,673	29,793	5,217,246	26,938	4,715,528
Hemp and Flax, tons	1840	26,816	68,435
Maple Sugar, pounds	1850	32,164,799	2,085,687	1,608,240	104,284	1,608,240	104,284
Cane Sugar, pounds	1850	none	237,133,000		12,378,850	none	9,485,320		8.75
Cane and Maple Sugar, pounds	1840	31,010,234	124,090,566
Molasses, gallons	1850	550,928	12,145,745	110,187	2,429,149	137,732	3,036,436
[2] Cotton, bales of 400 pounds	1850	14	2,445,779	565	98,603,155	560	97,831, 160		1.02
" " "	1840	none.	1,976,198
Rice, pounds	1850	"	215,313,497		4,000,000		7,320,659		16.67
" "	1840	"	80,841,422
Tobacco, pounds	1850	14,752,387	184,991,406	1,032,667	12,949,398	885,143	11,099,484	7.30	6.82
" "	1840	9,202,043	209,966,267
Wool, pounds	1850	39,651,846	12,793,219	11,895,554	3,837,966	19,825,923	6,396,609
" "	1840	27,559,135	8,242,980
Silk Cocoons, pounds	1850	5,468	5,375	2,734	2,687	2,734	2,687
Wine, gallons	1850	174,629	44,252	349,358	88,504	87,314	22,126
Eggs				2,453,422	2,704,073	Included with milk.
Feathers				918,371	1,081,629	1,200,000	800,000
Milk				5,630,745	1,369,255	11,500,000	3,500,000
Annual Increase of Live Stock				92,750,598	82,249,402	71,593,635	63,430,922
Cattle, Sheep and Pigs under 1 year old				26,500,171	23,499,829
Residuum of Crops not consumed by Stock, Corn-Fodder, Straw, Seed, Cotton, Manure, &c				58,725,718	41,274,282	75,000,000	25,000,000
Value of Small Crops, as Carrots, Onions, &c., Orchard and Garden Products, of Cities—Milk, Butter, Cows, Horses, &c., in Cities and Towns				15,000,000	5,000,000	Included in market gardens.
Total				$709,177,527	$634,570,057	$846,585,297	$627,101,316

Add, then, for "insufficiency" of returns, to the amount of
hemp and flax for these two States enough to make their
production in 1850 equal it in 1840, and its value will be, at
six cents per pound, $1,225,138. With these corrections, the
grand aggregate of the agricultural products of the United
States, for the year ending June, 1850, will be, using Andrews'
prices,—

     

Free States,	$858,634,334
Slave States,	631,277,417
Total,	$1,489,911,751

The following is a list of the prices of leading products in
the foregoing table, by De Bow, and Andrews:

                                 

Indian corn, bushel,	$50	$60
Wheat, "	1 00	1 00
Oats, "	30	44
Irish potatoes, "	40	75
Sweet "	50	80
Rye, "	55	89
Peas and beans, "	62 ½	80
Cotton, bale of 400 pounds,	40 32	40 00
Cane sugar, hhds. of 1000 lbs.	52 20	40 00
Maple sugar, pound,	5	5
Butter, "	16	20
Rice, "	2	3 4–10
Hay, ton,	7 00	12 50
Hemp, "	150 47	136 00
Wool, pound,	30	50
Tobacco, "	7	6
Flax, "	10	6

A glance at the prices of De Bow will satisfy any one that,
if they be fair for Virginia, Tennessee, and the South generally,
and for Illinois, Missouri, and the West, they cannot be
for New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Thus of Indian corn, which De Bow calls 50 cents per
bushel. If Southern and Western corn be worth that price
where it is raised, Northern and Eastern corn must be worth
at least 75 cents. So of wheat, which De Bow puts at a
dollar. If that be fair for Tennessee, Missouri, and Illinois, a
dollar and twenty-five cents is a moderate price for the Northern
and Eastern States mentioned. So of oats, rye, potatoes,
hay, wool, peas and beans, and some other products. There
should be added then to De Bow's aggregates, for the products
of New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania,
as follows, viz:

                 

Indian corn,	56,639,174 bush. at 25 cts.	$14,159,793
Wheat,	31,183,273 " 25	7,795,818
Oats,	59,570,301 " 15	8,935,545
Rye,	11,779,509 " 20	2,355,902
Potatoes,	44,204,441 " 35	15,471,554
Hay,	9,471,369 tons, $7 00	66,299,573
Wool,	22,283,776 lbs. 10	2,228,377
Peas and beans,	1,261,732 bush. 50	630,866
Total,		$117,877,428

This list might be extended still further. Adding this
amount to the aggregates, according to De Bow's figures, and
the total amount will be,—

     

Free States,	$827,054,955
Slave States,	634,570,057
Total,	$1,461,625,012

This is not essentially different from the result arrived at by
taking Andrews' prices. By neither mode of calculation is
full justice done to the North.

VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS, PER ACRE, IN 1850.

The value of agricultural productions per acre for 1850 is

obtained by dividing the total product by the number of acres
of land under cultivation. Thus,—

FREE STATES.

     

Number of acres in farms,	108,193,522
Agricultural product,	$858,634,334
Product per acre,	$7,94

SLAVE STATES.

     

Number of acres in farms and plantations,	180,572,392
Agricultural product,	$631,277,417
Product per acre,	$3.49

VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, PER HEAD, IN 1850.

No enumeration was made in 1850 of the whole number of
persons engaged in agriculture, as was done in 1840, and the
returns for the latter year must therefore be the basis of our
calculation for 1850, as to the number, and the consequent
value, of the products per head in the two sections of our
country. Assuming, then, that in the North the proportion of
the whole population of those engaged in agriculture was the
same in 1850 as in 1840, and that in the South the proportion
of the free population thus engaged was no larger than in the
North, we have the following result, viz:

FREE STATES.

     

Whole number engaged in agriculture in 1850,	2,509,126
Value of agricultural products,	$858,634,334
Value per head,	$342

SLAVE STATES.

         

Number of free population engaged in agriculture in 1850,	1,197,649
Number of slaves engaged in agriculture in 1850,	2,500,000
Total,	3,697,649
Value of agricultural products,	$631,277,417
Value per head,	$171

De Bow says of the slave population of 1850 (Census Compendium,
p. 94), there are "about 2,500,000 slaves directly
employed in agriculture." This is a small estimate, and the
number given above (1,197,649) of the 6,412,605 free population
of the South engaged in agriculture is very small. With
the little manufactures and commerce of the South, what are
the people of that region engaged in? But, under protest, we
adopt the above conclusions. This, then, is the grand result in
the department of agriculture, the peculiar province of the
South:

The North, with half as much land under cultivation, and
two-thirds as many persons engaged in farming, produces two
hundred and twenty-seven millions of dollars worth of agricultural
products in a year more than the South; twice as much on an
acre, and more than double the value per head for every person
engaged in farming.

And this, while the South, paying nothing for its labor,
has better land, a monopoly of cotton, rice, cane sugar, and
nearly so of tobacco and hemp, and a climate granting two and
sometimes three crops in a year. Nor does a comparison of the
products of 1850 with those of 1840 afford any ground for
hope for the South. A recurrence to Table XI. will show
that, excluding wheat, sugar, and molasses from the aggregate,
the production of the South for 1840 was nearly equal that of
the North. Perhaps in 1830 it was greater.

Table XIII. gives the population, white and slave, number of
acres of land, value of farms, value of land per acre, number
of students and scholars in public and private schools, and the
number of whites over twenty unable to read and write, in the
counties in the several States on the dividing line between the
Free and Slave States, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.
The statistics are from De Bow's Compendium of the Census
of 1850. The table is an important one, and deserves a more
extended consideration than can be given it in this work.

TABLE XIII.
A Statement of Population, White and Slave, Number of acres of Land, Value of Farms, Value of Farms per acre, Number
of Students and Scholars in Public and Private Schools, and the Number of Whites over 20 years of age unable to read
and write, in the Counties on the dividing line between the Free and the Slave States, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi,
with the like Statistics of the Remaining Counties of the respective States.

                                                 

Border Counties and Remaining Counties of their several States.	White Population in 1850.	Slaves in 1850.	Acres of Improved and Unimproved Land in 1850.	Value of Improved and Unimproved Land in 1850.	Value of Farms per Acre.	Pupils in Colleges, Academies, and Private Schools.	White Scholars in Public Schools during the year.	No. of Whites over 5 and under 20 years old.	No. of Whites over 20 unable to read & write.
Counties of Delaware adjacent to New Jersey	50,849	741	501,667	$15,848,760	$31.59	2,075	10,596	18,707	6,292
The remaining County of Delaware	20,320	1,549	454,667	3,541,550	7.79	80	3,620	7,902	3,485
Counties of New Jersey adjacent to Delaware	47,486		386,720	14,553,731	37.63	185	10,642	17,628	1,120
Remaining Counties of New Jersey	418,023		2,366,226	105,683,781	44.66	10,129	78,633	148,253	11,667
County of Pennsylvania adjoining Delaware	23,122		105,569	9,067,082	85.89	303	5,142	8,320	422
Counties of Maryland adjoining Pennsylvania	315,282	17,430	1,615,227	47,851,615	29.63	10,386	42,885	105,229	19,268
Remaining Counties of Maryland	102,661	72,938	3,019,123	41,790,373	13.84	1,528	17,562	42,488	19,158
Counties of Pennsylvania adjoining Maryland	330,688		2,799,532	105,136,277	37.56	3,245	77,376	123,613	11,473
Counties of Virginia adjoining Pennsylvania	64,540	527	732,913	9,512,647	12.98	867	10,505	24,368	4,001
Remaining Counties of Virginia	830,260	472,001	25,419,398	213,910,668	8.42	9,544	99,206	320,897	83,382
Counties of Pennsylvania adjoining Virginia	128,927		1,373,119	32,985,617	24.74	1,330	31,283	49,350	3,708
Remaining Counties of Pennsylvania	2,129,233		13,545,228	374,890,482	27.68	25,941	466,828	775,320	47,575
Counties of Virginia adjacent to Ohio	38,251	1,689	980,219	5,543,346	5.65	150	5,677	15,614	3,845
Counties of Ohio adjacent to Virginia	97,963		843,545	9,354,429	11.09	762	22,374	38,463	4,998
Remaining Counties of Ohio	1,858,087		17,153,948	349,404,174	20.37	17,911	489,904	719,170	51,960
Counties of Kentucky adjacent to Ohio	81,749	9,672	926,151	66,923,351	18.27	942	12,327	30,944	4,422
Counties of Ohio adjacent to Kentucky	261,724		1,069,308	34,577,488	32.34	5,994	48,102	91,906	8,334
Counties of Kentucky adjacent to Indiana	106,473	28,731	1,653,014	17,250,889	10.44	2,764	16,267	39,303	5,252
Remaining Counties of Kentucky	654,940	182,251	15,296,746	142,839,410	9.34	11,721	114,650	263,596	62,107
Counties of Indiana adjacent to Kentucky	134,509		1,276,989	14,480,233	11.34	1,114	26,665	45,657	7,075
Remaining Counties of Indiana	842,645		11,516,433	121,904,940	10.59	6,140	193,369	353,635	62,370
Counties of Kentucky adjacent to Illinois	27,443	5,908	627,218	2,918,419	4.65	338	5,235	11,085	2,700
Counties of Illinois adjacent to Kentucky	18,101		235,716	1,093,685	4.54	none.	2,307	7,384	1,861
Remaining Counties of Illinois	828,933		11,801,696	95,039,604	8.05	4,686	179,662	328,079	33,575

In proportion to the white population, these border counties
of the Slave States contain the following per cent of slaves, viz:

       

Delaware,	1 per cent.
Maryland,	5 "
Virginia,	2 "
Kentucky,	21 "

The remaining counties of the same States give the following,
viz:

       

Delaware,	8 per cent.
Maryland,	71 "
Virginia,	59 "
Kentucky,	31 "

The value of lands per acre will be seen by an examination
of the table; and it will be noticed, that, with the exception of
the broken region of Virginia, which lies adjacent to Ohio, and
that of Kentucky, which lies adjacent to Illinois, the value of
lands per acre in the counties of the Slave States adjoining the
Free is greater than that of the remaining counties of their
respective States. The opposite is true, generally, of the
border counties of the Free States. Thus, the effects of
freedom and slavery on the value of the adjacent lands is
reciprocal. The neighborhood of slavery lessens their value in
the Free States; the neighborhood of freedom increases it in
the Slave States. To such an extent is this true, that, in Virginia,
for example, the lands in counties naturally poor, are, by
the proximity of freedom, rendered more valuable than those
unequalled lands in the better portions of the State. Indeed,
this table shows the fact that the lands in the border
counties of the Slave States are worth more per acre than the
remaining lands in the same States, with the addition of the
value of the whole number of their slaves at $400 per head.
And this, be it remembered, while the value of lands in the
balance of the counties of the border Slave States is double
that of the lands in the Slave States not adjacent to the Free.
It is for the interest of the Slave States to be hedged in by a

circle of Free States. If Tennessee had been a Free State,
her lands would have been worth as much as those of Ohio,—
$19.99 per acre, instead of $5.16 as now,—and who cannot
see that, in that event, the lands of North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Georgia would have been worth more per acre
than the sums of $3.24, $1.40, $4.19, respectively. Not only
could Tennessee afford to sacrifice the whole value of her slaves
for the sake of freedom, but even North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Georgia could afford to sacrifice the whole value of
their own slaves, and pay for all of the slaves in Tennessee for
the sake of having a free neighbor. The increased value of
lands would more than compensate for the sacrifice. The
figures prove this.

                 

Tennessee has 18,984,022 acres of land under cultivation, worth $5.16 per acre. Multiply this number of acres by $14.83 (the difference between the value of lands in Tennessee and Ohio), and the amount is,	$281,533,046
Tennessee has 239,459 slaves; value, at $400 each,	95,783,600
This leaves the respectable margin of	185,749,446
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia have 60,891,774 acres of land, worth $3.08 per acre. Multiply this number of acres by $15.73 (the difference in value between the lands in these States and the border Slave State of Maryland), and the amount is	$957,827,605
Number of slaves in these States,	1,055,214
Value at $400 each,	$422,085,600
Value of slaves in Tennessee, as above,	95,783,600
Total,	$517,869,200
Deducting this from the increased value of lands, and the balance in favor of free neighbors is the sum of	$439,958,405

Thus, the figures show that Tennessee could afford, for the
sake of freedom, to sacrifice the whole value of her quarter of
a million of slaves, and pay in addition the sum of $185,749,446.
For the sake of a free neighbor, and to bring up their lands to
the value of those of Maryland, the States of North and South
Carolina, and Georgia, could afford to sacrifice the whole of
their own slaves, pay for those of Tennessee, and make
$439,958,405 by the bargain, which sum is considerably more
than twice the present value of all their lands. Nay, these
States could afford to send off, singly, every slave within their
limits, in a coach with two horses, and provisions for a year, if
they could but bring up the value of their lands to that of the
land in northern Maryland. Indignation, and patriotism, and
dissolution of the Union, indeed, if a fugitive now and then be
not reclaimed! South Carolina could afford to pay every year
more money than she spent in the whole Revolutionary war,
to make her whole number of slaves fugitives; and then make
money enough by the transaction to fence in the whole State
with a picket fence, to prevent their return.

NEW ENGLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, AND VIRGINIA.

Comparisons between portions of the North and the South
can be made to any extent. A few are added, with such suggestions
as seem proper.

Table XIV. is a comparison between the States of Rhode
Island and Connecticut, and an equal extent of cultivated lands
in certain counties of South Carolina. The table includes the
city of Charleston. The comparison extends to the value of
lands, population, value of agricultural and manufactured products,
commerce, and education. The value of lands in the
South Carolina counties is the fictitious one of De Bow's Compendium,
and not the real one of the State valuation.

The portions compared in Table XIV. are of equal age as well
as extent. The free portion has eleven times the white population;
nearly four times the total population of white and slave.
Its lands are worth six times as much, and twice as much after

TABLE XIV.
A Statement of the Acres of Land in Farms, Cash Value thereof, Value per acre, White and Slave Population, with the
Value of the Slaves and their Value per acre, Value of Agricultural and Manufacturing Products, Amount of Tonnage
owned, and built in 1855, and the number of Students in Colleges, &c., and Scholars in Public Schools, in the States of
Rhode Island and Connecticut, and an equal area in South Carolina.

                     

States.	Acres of Improved Land in 1850.	Acres of Unimproved Land in 1850.	Cash Value of Farms in 1850.	Cash Value of Farms per acre, 1850.	White Population in 1850.	Slaves in 1850.	Value of Slaves per acre, at $400 each.	Value of Slaves at $400 each.	Value of Agricultural Products in 1850, according to De Bow.	Value of Manufactures in 1850.	Tonnage owned June 30, 1855.	Tonnage built during the year ending June 30, 1855.	Students in Colleges, Academies, and Private Schools, 1850.	Scholars in Public Schools, 1850.
Connecticut	1,768,178	615,701	$74,618,963	$31.34	363,099				$8,636,789	$45,302,354	137,170	14,067	7,734	71,269
Rhode Island	356,487	197,451	17,568,003	31.55	143,875				1,633,974	22,119,753	51,038	7,862	1,884	23,130
Total	2,124,665	813,151	$92,186,966	$31.37	506,974				$10,270,763	$67,422,107	188,808	21,929	9,618	94,399
Counties in South Carolina of area equal to Rhode Island & Connecticut.
Charleston	183,236	636,495	$5,903,220	$7.20	25,208	54,775	$26.85	$21,910,000	$896,904	$2,767,760	56,419	61	3.082	1,196
Georgetown	49,609	318,514	5,704,920	15.49	2,193	18,253	19.83	7,301,200	1,104,685	68,519	4,516		281	170
Williamsburg	70,360	432,440	861,538	1.71	3,902	8,508	6.11	3,403,200	223,740	12,825			none.	378
Horry	33,664	472,971	385,840	.76	5,522	2,075	1.63	830,000	160,640	154,684			none.	488
Marion	124,306	652,342	2,680,544	3.45	9,781	7,520	3.87	3,008,000	377,826	40,624			50	350
Total	461,175	2,512,762	$15,536,062	$5.19	46,606	91,131	$12.17	$36,452,400	$2,763,795	$3,044,412	60,935	61	3,413	2,582

adding to the value of the lands the whole value of the slaves in
this most intensely slave portion of the Union, at the rate of $400
for each slave. The value of the agricultural products of Connecticut
and Rhode Island is four times as great as that of those
of this portion of Carolina, although the latter has the monopoly
almost of the rice-producing region. Of the value of the
Carolina products, one-third is cotton; and here is the place to
say, that it is owing to the invention of a Massachusetts man
that the South is able to raise its cotton at all at this time. If
the South had been obliged to clean cotton by hand, at the rate
of a pound a day for each slave, as before the invention of
Whitney, the whole cotton-producing region would have been
bankrupt. The treatment which the Northern inventor received
at the hands of those Southrons, whose fortunes he had made,
is a sad portion of history. Before his patent was obtained, a
mob of the chivalry (who despise so heartily and magnificently
a money-making, peddling Yankee) broke open the building in
which his machine was placed, carried off the machine, and
made others from it; and, before he could go through the formalities
of getting his patent, several machines were in successful
operation on the plantations of different gentlemen. In the
Georgia courts, Whitney's rights were decided against, on the
ground mainly that, as "the introduction of the gin would open
up boundless resources of wealth to the planters, it was too
great a power to allow any one man a monopoly of the right to
furnish the machines." South Carolina agreed to pay $50,000
for the invention, paid $20,000 down, then repudiated the contract,
sued Whitney and his partner for the money paid, and
cast the latter into prison. Afterwards, this action was reversed
and the contract fulfilled. The action of Tennessee was similar
to that of South Carolina, without the repentance. North
Carolina did better, and was faithful to its contract. After
years of litigation, Whitney got a decision in his favor in the
United States Court; but meantime his patent was nearly out,
and his application for a renewal was denied by the votes of
those whose fortunes he had made. In Georgia, in the courts,

witnesses, judges, and juries gave way, in spite of law and
evidence, before the rapacity of the planters. "In one instance,"
says Whitney, "I had great difficulty in proving
that the machine had been used in Georgia, although at the
same moment there were three separate sets of this machinery
in motion within fifty yards of the building in which the court
sat, and all so near that the rattling of the wheels was distinctly
heard on the steps of the court-house."

To return to table XIV. In manufactures, the North has
more than twenty times; in tonnage owned in 1855, three
times; and in tonnage built in the same year, three hundred
and fifty times as much as the South. The "tonnage built"
in 1855, in South Carolina, consisted of one schooner of sixty-one
tons burden. This is since the sitting of several Southern
conventions, in which they resolved to have an extensive commerce
of their own, not only with Europe, but with Brazil and
Central America. As to education, the New England figures
are twenty times as large as those of Carolina.

Table XV. is a comparison between Massachusetts and an
equal extent of territory in Virginia. The portion of Virginia
taken is the southeastern, from the Atlantic to the mountains.
It includes Norfolk, the commercial capital of Virginia, and the
land taken is naturally as good as that of other parts of the
State, and much better than the lands in Massachusetts. The
age of the two sections is about the same. As compared with
Virginia, the white population in Massachusetts is ten times as
great, and five times as great as its total white and slave. Her
lands are worth nearly six times as much per acre, and almost
twice as much as the lands and slaves of the Virginia counties
added together, although they constitute the most dense slave
section of the State (the slaves being worth twice as much as
the lands and buildings). The agricultural products of Massachusetts,
at De Bow's prices, are nearly double those of the
Virginia counties, while her manufacturing products are more
than forty times as great, and eight times as much in a single year
as the whole value of this great portion of Virginia, including

TABLE XV.
A Statement of the Number of Acres in Farms, Value of Farms, Value of the same per acre, White and Slave Population,
Value of Slaves, Value of Agricultural and Manufacturing Products, Tonnage owned, and built in 1855, Pupils in Colleges,
&c., and Number of Scholars in the Public Schools, in the State of Massachusetts, and an equal area in Virginia.

                                 

Counties in Virginia of area equal to the State of Massachusetts	Acres of Improved Land in 1850.	Acres of Unimproved Land in 1850.	Cash value of Farms in 1850.	Cash Value of Farms per acre in 1850.	White Population in 1850.	Slaves in 1850.	Value of Slaves per Acre at $400 per Slave.	Value of Slaves at $400 per Slave.	Value of Agricultural Products in 1850, according to De Bow.	Value of Manufactures, 1850.	Tonnage Owned June 30, 1855.	Amount of Tonnage Built in 1855.	Pupils in Colleges, Academies, and Private Schools, 1850.	Scholars in the Public Schools in 1850.
Patrick	38,192	184,034	$734,771	$3.31	7,187	2,324	$4.18	$929,600	$246,326	$140,172			none.	826
Henry	61,539	96,409	820,070	5.19	5,324	3,340	8.45	1,336,000	258,525	99,956			none.	1,391
Pittsylvania	210,580	300,295	2,850,908	5.58	15,263	12,798	10.02	5,119,200	925,141	878,660			142	667
Halifax	242,758	202,291	3,420,990	7.68	10,976	14,452	12.98	5,780,800	1,128,810	287,666			none.	288
Mecklenburg	215,646	179,183	2,535,628	5.12	7,256	12,462	10.07	4,984,800	831,248	226,654			239	574
Brunswick	177,196	117,702	1,097,948	3.68	4,885	8,456	11.46	3,382,400	524,157	44,941			86	186
Greenville	74,906	82,066	427,173	2.72	1,731	3,785	9.64	1,514,000	198,836	17,641			30	95
Sussex	91,408	98,677	600,096	3.15	3,086	5,992	12.60	2,396,800	328,892	80,133			14	235
Southampton	159,668	176,023	1,068,103	3.28	5,940	5,755	7.06	2,302,000	456,902	36,600			68	288
Nansemond	62,308	117,968	1,717,090	9.52	5,424	4,715	10.46	1,886,000	355,055	168,751			174	298
Norfolk	89,014	75,866	1,252,031	10.89	20,329	10,400	36.21	4,160,000	297,209	1,412,594	35,051	2,171	363	1,926
Princess Anne	50,064	63,175	1,110,673	8.67	4,280	3,130	11.05	1,252,000	257,835	33,337			none.	819
Isle of Wight	65,925	92,901	982,939	6.18	4,710	3,395	8.55	1,358,000	257,046	58,432			56	149
Surry	44,298	65,466	562,052	5.12	2,215	2,479	8.95	991,600	158,347	19,348			30	150
Total	1,533,502	1,852,056	$19,080,472	$5.64	98,606	93,483	$11.04	$37,393,200	$6,224,329	$3,504,885	35,051	2,171	1,202	7,892
Massachusetts	2,133,436	1,222,576	$109,076,347	$32.50	985,450				$11,003,887	$151,342,478	970,727	79,620	14,479	176,475

its commercial capital. Tonnage owned, Massachusetts twenty-eight
parts, Virginia one part; tonnage built in 1855, Massachusetts
thirty-seven parts, Virginia one part. Education,
scholars, Massachusetts twenty-one parts, Virginia one part.

TABLE XVI.
Population, Crops, and other Statistics of Plymouth and Norfolk Counties,
in Massachusetts, and James City and Westmoreland Counties, in Virginia,
for the year 1850.

                                                                                         

Population, Crops, &c.	Plymouth County, Mass.	James City County, Va.	Norfolk County, Mass.	Westmoreland County, Va.
Whites	55,241	1,489	78,643	3,376
Free Colored	456	663	249	1,147
Slaves		1,868		3,557
Total	55,697	4,020	78,892	8,080
Dwellings	9,506	396	12,545	869
Whites between the ages of 5 and 20	17,342	540	23,460	1,330
Pupils in public & private schools	11,249	315	18,252	367
Natives unable to read and write, over 20 years of age	50	52	64	398
Number of Farms	2,447	129	2,637	443
Acres of Improved Land	101,135	21,251	107,884	68,627
Acres of Unimproved Land	114,254	44,132	67,444	6,450
Value of Farms	$6,048,442	$561,931	$13,748,505	$1,132,197
Value of Farms per acre	$28.08	$8.59	$78.41	$8.70
Number of Horses and Mules	2,458	534	3,311	1,101
" " Neat Cattle	11,855	2,365	12,656	6,225
" " Sheep	5,384	1,217	580	3,676
" " Swine	4,574	4,009	8,209	8,237
Wheat, bushels	251	25,476	356	82,774
Rye, "	17,143		17,423	502
Oats, "	26,809	22,040	14,939	7,897
Indian Corn, bushels	105,243	102,430	112.132	269,115
Irish Potatoes, "	208,402	2,789	253,158	4,970
Sweet Potatoes, "		5,730		6,176
Peas and Beans, "	871	300	3,952	1,350
Barley, "	3,267		5,462
Buckwheat, "	239		454
Butter, pounds	374,816	17,785	347,089	28,437
Cheese, "	130,478		90,160
Hay, tons	28,532	8	41,588	32
Hops, pounds	12		81	129
Clover Seed, bushels	152
Other Grass Seed, bushels
Tobacco, pounds				1,346
Cotton, bales				7
Wool, pounds	16,643	2,197	879	8,603
Beeswax and Honey, pounds	3,352		1,047	3,700
Value of Animals slaughtered	$176,102	$14,339	$289,809	$41,740
Value of Produce of Market Gard's	$13,502	$365	$136,796	$26
" " Orchard Products	$19,205		$55,458	$512
Wine, gallons	21		91	2
Manufacturing Capital	$2,397,305	none.	$5,433,300	$3,330
Number of Hands	8,024	none.	15,628	19
Annual Product	$6,713,906	none.	$13,323,595	$16,300
Value of Domestic Manufactures.	$953	$544	$25,702	$7,843

Table XVI. is a comparison between the counties of Norfolk
and Plymouth in Massachusetts, and the counties of Westmoreland
and James City in Virginia, as to population, education,
agriculture, etc.

James City Co. is the county in which are situated Jamestown,
the Plymouth of Virginia, and William and Mary's
College, the rival in age of Harvard University. Jamestown
now contains two houses, and of William and Mary's College
it is said that it seldom has more than forty students (the
Census Compendium gives it thirty-five in 1850). Westmoreland
Co. is the native county of Washington. Of the Massachusetts
counties, Norfolk is the county of the Adamses, and
Plymouth that of the Pilgrim settlement.

VALUE OF LAND IN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN COUNTIES.

The value of land per acre in some of the counties in the
South, where there is the largest proportion of slaves, is as
follows, viz:

Charles Co., Maryland (whites 5,665; slaves 9,584), $10.50.

Amelia Co., Virginia (whites, 2,785; slaves, 6,819), $7.60.

Beaufort, Colleton, and Georgetown Co.'s, South Carolina
(whites, 14,915; slaves, 71,904), $7.30.

The value of land per acre in some Northern counties is as
follows, viz: Hudson Co., New Jersey, $178; Delaware Co.,
Pennsylvania, $86.

No more tables will be given in the department of agriculture.
Some further comparisons and illustrations are given.

Virginia, free, and as thickly settled as Massachusetts, would
have had, in 1850, 7,751,324 whites instead of 894,800.

Massachusetts, a slave State, and as thinly populated as
Virginia, would have had in 1850, 102,351 white inhabitants
instead of 985,450.

Virginia, free, would have had an annual product of manufactures
amounting to $1,190,072,592. instead of $29,705,387.

Massachusetts, a slave State, would have had manufactures
amounting to $3,776,601, instead of $151,137,145.

Virginia, free, would have been worth in real and personal
property (on the basis of the census estimate), $4,333,525,367,
instead of (value of slaves deducted) $203,635,238.

Massachusetts, a slave State, would have been worth
$48,604,335 instead of $551,106,824.

Boston, with slavery, according to the increase of population
in Virginia, would have contained 3,489 people instead of
136,881. In the whole South there are less than fifty cities
with a population of 3,500.

Richmond, Virginia, free, according to the increase of population
in Massachusetts, would have contained 1,076,669 free
people instead of 17,643.

If Virginia had not a settler within her territory, and should
be opened at once to free settlement, in ten years she would
have nearly as many white inhabitants as she now has, two
hundred and fifty years after her settlement, and in twenty
years she would have nearly as many whites as the whole
number of slaveholding States now have, provided 60,000
settlers should go in the first year, and that the rate of increase
should be as great as that of Wisconsin, Iowa, or Minnesota.
Even with this population of twenty years, she would not be so
densely peopled as Massachusetts was in 1850. The figures
prove our statements: thus, Wisconsin had, in 1840, 30,749
whites; in 1850, 304,756. Ratio of increase 89.11 per cent.
Assume 60,000 whites in Virginia at the close of the first year,
and the rate of increase as above, then in ten years she would
have 594,660 white inhabitants, and in twenty years 5,793,475.
Number of whites in Virginia in 1850, 894,800; in the slaveholding
States, 6,184,477. Thus, as to population, slavery in
two hundred and fifty years has done the work of twenty. As
to the value of lands, it has done still worse. Thus, in little
more than ten years, Wisconsin had brought up the value of

her farms per acre to $9.54; Virginia in two hundred and fifty
years had barely raised the price of her lands to $8.27.

We give below, from different authorities, the past and
present condition of the lands of the Free and Slave States.

"New England" (says "A perfect description of Virginia,"
published in London in 1649) "is in a good condition of livelihood;
but for matter of any great hope but fishing there is not
much." Compared to Virginia, "it's as Scotland is to England,
so much difference, and lies upon the same land northward as
Scotland does to England; there is much cold, frost, and snow;
their land is barren, except a herring be put into the hole you set
the corn in, it will not come up; and it was a great pity all
those planters, now about 20,000, did not seat themselves at first
at the south of Virginia, in a warm and rich country, where their
industry could have produced sugar, indigo, ginger, cotton, and
the like commodities."

Said Sir Thomas Dale, in 1612, speaking of Virginia, "Take
four of the best kingdoms in Christendom, and put them all
together, they may no way compare with this country either
for commodities or goodness of soil."

Says Beverley at a later period: "In extreme fruitfulness,
it (Virginia) is exceeded by no other. No seed is sown there
but it thrives, and most of the northern plants are improved
by being transplanted thither."

Says Lane, the Governor of Raleigh colony, in 1585, speaking
of Virginia and Carolina: "It is the goodliest soil under the
cope of heaven, the most pleasing territory of the world.
The climate is so wholesome that we have not one sick since
we touched the land. If Virginia had but horses and kine,
and were inhabited with English, no realm in Christendom
were comparable to it."

Such was the country which slavery took two hundred years
ago: and any quantity of testimony to its fertility could be
quoted. Mark the change which slavery has made.

Says Washington (letter to Arthur Young, Nov. 1, 1787).

"Our lands, as I mentioned to you, were originally very good,
but use and abuse have made them quite otherwise."

Says Olmsted (Seaboard Slave States, pages 63 and 65),
speaking of the lands, stock, and vehicles of a certain locality
in eastern Virginia in 1855: "Oldfields'—a coarse, yellow,
sandy soil, bearing scarce anything but pine trees and broom-sedge.
In some places, for acres, the pines would not be above
five feet high—that was land that had been in cultivation,
used up, and 'turned out' not more than six or eight years
before; then there were patches of every age; sometimes the
trees were a hundred feet high. At long intervals there were
fields in which the pine was just beginning to spring in beautiful
green plumes from the ground, and was yet hardly noticeable
among the dead brown grass and sassafras bushes and blackberry
vines, which nature first sends to hide the nakedness of
the impoverished earth.

"Of living creatures, for miles, not one was to be seen (not
even a crow or a snow-bird), except hogs. These—long,
lank, snake-headed, hairy, wild beasts—would come dashing
across our path, in packs of from three to a dozen, with short
hasty grunts, almost always at a gallop, and looking neither to
the right nor left, as if they were in pursuit of a fox, and were
quite certain to catch him in the next hundred yards." (Number
of swine in Virginia in 1850, 1,829,843.)

"We turned the corner, following some slight traces of a
road, and shortly afterwards met a curious vehicular establishment,
probably belonging to the master of the hounds. It
consisted of an axle-tree and wheels, and a pair of shafts, made
of unbarked saplings, in which was harnessed, by attachments
of raw-hide and rope, a single small ox. There was a bit
made of telegraph wire in his mouth, by which he was guided,
through the mediation of a pair of much knotted rope-reins, by
a white man—a dignified sovereign wearing a brimless crown
—who sat upon a two-bushel sack (of meal, I hope, for the
hounds' sake), balanced upon the axle-tree; and who saluted

me with a frank 'How are you?' as we came opposite each
other."

Said Henry A. Wise, in 1855, during his canvass for Govenor,
speaking to the Virginians: "You all own plenty of land,
but it is poverty added to poverty. Poor land added to poor land,
and nothing added to nothing makes nothing; while the owner is
talking politics at Richmond, or in Congress, or spending the
summer at the White Springs, the lands grow poorer and poorer,
and this soon brings land, negroes, and all, under the hammer.
You have the owners skinning the negroes, and the negroes
skinning the land, until all grow poor together.

"You have relied alone on the single power of agriculture,
and such agriculture! Your sedge-patches outshine the sun;
your inattention to your only source of wealth has scared the
bosom of mother Earth. Instead of having to feed cattle on a
thousand hills, you have to chase the stump-tailed steer through
the sedge-patches to procure a tough beef-steak." (Number of
neat cattle in Virginia, in 1850, 1,076,269.)

"I have heard a story—I will not locate it here or there—
about the condition of the prosperity of our agriculture. I was
told by a gentleman in Washington, not long ago, that he was
travelling in a county not a hundred miles from this place, and
overtook one of our citizens on horseback, with perhaps, a bag
of hay for a saddle, without stirrups, and the leading line for a
bridle, and he said, 'Stranger, whose house is that?' 'It is
mine,' was the reply. They came to another. 'Whose house
is that?' 'Mine, too, stranger.' To a third, 'And whose
house is that?' 'That's mine, too, stranger; but don't suppose
I'm so darned poor as to own all the land about here.' "

Wise was speaking at Alexandria, in Fairfax Co., the
county of Mount Vernon, and the farm of Washington. In
certain parts, this county has been wonderfully improved by
Northern emigrants, who have purchased lands and applied
free labor and skill to them. So much have they improved their

portion, that the Patent Office Report says, "A traveller who
passed over it ten years ago would not now recognize it."

Says the Hon. Willoughby Newton, of Virginia, in his agricultural
address, in 1850: "I look upon the introduction of
guano, and the success attending its application to our barren
lands, in the light of a special interposition of Divine Providence,
to save the northern neck of Virginia from reverting
into its former state of wilderness and utter desolation. Until
the discovery of guano—more valuable to us than the mines
of California—I looked upon the possibility of renovating our
soil, of ever bringing it to a point capable of producing remunerating
crops, as utterly hopeless." Is Virginia to be saved
by guano? Mr. Newton recommends the application of two
hundred pounds per acre. Number of acres of land under
cultivation in Virginia in 1850, 26,152,311. Amount of guano
requisite to cover this land, at the rate of two hundred pounds
per acre, 2,615,231 tons. This, at $50 per ton, would cost
$130,761,550. Guano must be applied every other year.
This would give the annual amount 1,307,615 tons, and the
annual cost $65,380,775. Where is the money to pay this
annual tax to come from? How long would it take the permanent
registered tonnage of Virginia (9,246 tons in 1855) to
import enough for one year's use? And then the spectacle of
this magnificent fleet (of eighteen vessels of five hundred tons,
or thirty of three hundred), officered by the chivalry, and
manned by slaves, toting bird-manure around Cape Horn, in
quantities enough to cover the worn-out surface of the Old
Dominion!

Of North Carolina, the Patent Office Report for 1851 says
(communication of G. S. Sullivan, of Lincoln Co.), "We
raise no stock of any kind except for home consumption, and
not half enough of that; for we have now worn out our lands
so much, that we do not grow food enough to maintain them."

Of Alabama (communication of N. B. Powell): "We are

the most dependent people in the Union, rely mainly, as we
do, upon our neighbors of the West for nearly all our supplies."

Says Olmsted (page 475) of the threshing of rice in South
Carolina: "Threshing commences immediately after harvest,
and on many plantations proceeds very tediously, in the old
way of threshing wheat with flails by hand, occupying the best
of the plantation force for the most of the winter. It is done
on an earthen floor in the open air, and the rice is cleaned by
carrying it on the heads of the negroes, by a ladder, up on to
a platform, twenty feet from the ground, and pouring it slowly
down, so that the wind will drive off the chaff, and leave the
grain in a heap under the platform." Threshing machines
have, however, been introduced on some large plantations.

Of Alabama, says Hon. C. C. Clay, Jr., a politician and
leading man, in an address in 1855: "I can show you, with
sorrow, in the older portions, of Alabama, and in my native
county of Madison, the sad memorials of the artless and exhausting
culture of cotton. Our small planters, after taking the
cream off their lands, unable to restore them by rest, manures,
or otherwise, are going farther west and south, in search of
other virgin lands, which they may and will despoil and impoverish
in like manner."

"In 1825, Madison county cast about 3,000 votes; now she
cannot cast exceeding 2,300. In traversing that county, one
will discover numerous farm-houses, once the abode of industrious
and intelligent freemen, now occupied by slaves, or
tenantless, deserted, and dilapidated; he will observe fields,
once fertile, now unfenced, abandoned, and covered with those
evil harbingers—fox-tail and broom-sedge; he will see the
moss growing on the mouldering walls of once thrifty villages;
and will find 'one only master grasps the whole domain' that
once furnished happy homes for a dozen white families. Indeed,
a county in its infancy, where fifty years ago scarce a
forest tree had been felled by the axe of the pioneer, is already
exhibiting the painful signs of senility and decay, apparent in

Virginia and the Carolinas; the freshness of its agricultural
glory is gone; the vigor of its youth is extinct, and the spirit
of desolation seems brooding over it."

Enough of these extracts to show the blight of slavery in the
department of agriculture; no extracts are needed to show
that the farms in the Free States increase in value with every
succeeding year. It is not now necessary "that a herring be
put into the hole" with corn, "or it will not come up."