The free South. [volume], April 09, 1864, Image 3

About The free South. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1863-1864

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VOL. IT.
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INTERESTING FROM PALATKA. j
.1 ?- |i
,?,* The Trip up the St. John'*?Wreck of i
the JTIaplc Leaf?Picket Captured?
J?latters about Town. i
Palatka, April 4th, 18G4.
With a first class steamer, a fine day, '
in time of peace, and with select com- ]
pany, I know of no better place on this
continent to tike a pleasure trip than the
St. John's river between Jacksonville and
this place. The stream is broad, lake- '
like and roomy, the waters deep, and J
almost, alive with the web-footed tribe.
On evary favorable spot along the stream
has been a plantation and a comfortable
dwelling, but now abandoned. The 1
scenery along the banks is ever varying,
and sometimes the tall unbroken pine
forests loom up grandly in the distance; 1
the orange and lemon groves, some of
them in blossom and others loaded with
fruit, are beautiful to the eye and tempt- :
ing to the taste ; and it would seem as if
heaven had been specially indulgent to
this sunny clime. And then it adds to
-the curiosity and excitement of the day
if you can have as companions du voyage
a little fleet of porpoises, rolling, tumbling,
rising, diving, swimming, and, in
-nhort, going through all sorts of evolutions
and locomotions, every one of which
causes them to advance. As far as circumstances
would permit, the luxuries of
vrach a trip we enjoyed on the 2d inst.,
arriving in Palatka a little before the
*un had gone down.
About 12 M, we passed the wreck of
the Maple Leaf \ and over the identical
pot where the rebels anchored the infernal
machine which caused her sudden
destruction. As lightning never strikes
twice in one place, no one seemed to apprehend
any danger. When our commander
heard of that disaster, the gunboat
Norwich was sent to her, to make examination
and save any part of her cargo that
could be taken away. The people ? some
of our conciliated citizens ? had been to
her and taken four boat loads of goods
away. This we learned from prisoners
we left aboard on her hurricane decks, as
our means of transportation would not
permit us to take them away. Strange as
it may seem, these prisoners refused to
accompany their friends to the shore, preferring
to remain in our hands. As our :
eouvov. the Norwich, came in sight of the |
%f ' ?
Maple Leaf \ on the 2d inst., a squad of
rebels was aboard of her plundering, as
buzzards pick a carcass, and, setting fire
to her, they made their escape. A boat's
crew went aboard and extinguished the
flames. After this our voyages arc to be
made by day and not by night as heretofore.
On the night of the 2d inst. Provost !
Marshal Smith and a small force, on the
Harriet Weed, went 30 miles uj> the river
and captured a rebel picket composed of
12 men. Thirteen horses were taken at
the same time. As a partial offset to tliis,
one of our pickets, composed of one Sergeant
and three men belonging to the
40th Mass. Cavalry, has disappeared. We j
know nothing of what has happened to !
them, but the strong probability is, they
were quietly surrounded and had to sur- ;
render unconditionally. The fact is. this !
country is full of small squads of rebels .
posted in places it is necessary they should
hold at present. The rebels have turned
drovers; and when they have removed
some three or four hundred thousand head
of cattle from this section to the northern
portion of the State, these pickets,
acouts and cattle-drivei-s will probably be
removed. Skirmishing, which involves
*?1 1 *AAl - l 4-l.nf n#
Dill IlUlt! 1USS C.\t:cpL luau vx wuinuguw,
takes place almost daily along the line.?
OoL Barton has been reinforced. Montgomery
is somewhere about, and a feeling
of security generally prevails, yet it is
?piite likely that a bloody action may
come off here in a few days. Our forces
found for some distance along the lines
and back among the buildings numerous
sitle-pits and other preparations for de
THE FREE SOUTH?BEAl
fence. But the exploits of the "Linkum
gunboats" had probably taught the enemy
that they were of 110 value.
Col Barton has had the fine residence
of Ex-Governor Mosley, situated a little
out of town, burned down, and the splendid
orange and lemon grove which surrounded
it felled to the ground. Military
necessity required this to be done. It
was a favorite .place of shelter and ambush
for rebel pickets ; they are really responsible
for the destruction of that fine property.
Another large building near the
landing has, for the same reason been taken
down and removed out of the way.?
The Ottawa's guns can now sweep nearly
all parts of the town.
On the evening of the 2d another advance
was made upon our pickets, which
caused quite a waste of powder?"only
that and nothing more."
iuc viuupo lieic tug pguoouuj oimaigu
and are all in fine spirits. The site of the
town is one of the finest on the river.
As all the camps are within the fortifications,
many of the officers are quartered
in buildings. The f ade trees and forest
near by are full of birds, and they sing
as sweetly and appear as gay as if there
was no war.
[ For the Free South. J
Capital aa4 I.abor.
During the past week there has been
much discussion among planters on the
subject of Gen. Birney's order published
in your paper last week. Although I
heartily endorse the feeling which prompted
the order referred to, we still think it
would have been better to have left the
matter where Governor Saxton placed it.
The government, as it may be unwisely,
has, through its agents, sold the lands.
The purchasers are, however, men of
character, and are not disposed to oppress
the laborers even if they could evade the
very ample provisions of Governor Saxton's
orders on the subject.
Let us enquire what a negroes wages are ;
First: At forty cents a task for listing,
etc., lie may, if he pleases, earn 31.00 per
day of eight hours.
Second: He has the use of as much land
to raise all the provisions he may need for
his family.
Tliivd: He may keep pigs, chickens,
turkies, etc.
Fourth: He may raise in his garden,
melons, and other vegetables which bring
in the market, enormous prices.
Fifth: He pays no rent.
Sixth: He has the free use, in the cultivation
of his own crops, of the animals
and implements of his employer.
Seventh: When the cotton is ripe he receives
from two to three cents per pound
for picking.
These privileges, I venture to say, are
greater than those enjoyed by any laboring
class in the world, and the labor required
is certainly of a very light character.
Tens of thousands of white men in
all parts of the world would deem themselves
fortunate if allowed such a chance.
Au industrious negro and his family, say
of a wife and four children may earn tive
hundred dollars a year and never in that
time, do as hard a day's work as a northern
day's laborer does three hundred days
in the year.
- i*i- ?i
Compare tne coniuuons unuer \>mcu
men are now working with that ordered
by Gen. Banks in Mississippi, and mark
the contrast. Some people tliink that
cotton-growing is a certain and easy business.
That Jill that is to be done is to
prepare the ground, plant the seed and
when the cotton opens, pick it and sell it
for a dollar and a half a pound. They
forget that only a year ago, three fourths
of the growing plants were destroyed by
worms. In some iustances fields of promising
plants being swept bare in a single
day. They forget that a man cannot be
expected to employ capital within military
lines and take no thought for to-morrow.
Let our Governor then watch as he
IFORT, S. C., APRIL 0, 1SG4
has always done, with jealous pare, the ic
terests of the freedmen, lint, at the saui
time, remember that capital is made pre
ductive by labor, on the other hand, labo
is energized, and enriched by capital.- i
SiiyfroHtion* to Cotton Growers.
We extract the following suggestion
from a report made to the State Agrncnl
tural Society of South Carolina, in 1841
by a committee on Sea Island Cotton
The report wra written by W. B. Seabrook
of Edisto. *
Before proceeding, however, to weigh
tier matters, it is deemed important t<
notice a few erors in management whicl
ought to be promptly remedied. We hol<
then, that Cotton lands should be listet
immediately after harvest, and not post
poned to a later period* secondly, tlm
too little seed is sown; thirdly, that tin
thinnings of the crop are too rapid 01
sudden; fourthly, that due attention is no
paid to draining?nor, fifthly, to the se
lection of seed for planting.
Food for plants can only be received ir
a soluble or gaseous form. In animal 01
vegetable matter there is no nutriment;
until it is reduced to a condition fit to b<
absorbed by the minute vessels of whicl
the cellular substances of the roots ant
leaves of plants are composed. To effeel
this, air, neat, and moisture, are indis
pensable. When the sward is drawn to
gether in the fall, the rains and frosts ol
winter prepare it for that process througi
1- * - A WVIIAW* ill A mnwvnih
WUlt'll lb piU?co nucu tuc niuiuiu ui oj;nu(
exerts its power. Then decompositior
fairly begins, and is continned dnring th(
period of the growth of the plant, Oi
the other hand, whenever listings are pui
off, as is the usual practice until February
the tender roots of the Cotton becom<
encased in a body of dry inert vegetabh
matter. Tbe plants not only do not ben
efit by the manures which lie beneath th<
, swara, but their tap-roots are obstructec
at the very time when they should be as
sisted in their descent. If, therefore, th<
colour of Cotton in its infancy be yellov
or otherwise unhealthy, the want of food
for the reason already assigned, will b
found to be the true cause. Hence too th<
absence of bottom fruit, and one promj
nent source of new growth. It is for thi
reason, the uon-conversion of vegetable
matter ints gcnine or humus, which ha;
long been supposed to constitute the pab
ulum of plants, that new ground does no
produce a good crop of Cotton the firs
| season. It will yield corn, because th<
I surface becomes aliment by its contac
i with the air. If, however, the width of j
foot in an extended line be well broker
up, so as freely to admit the access of air
in order to bring about fermentation, nev
land will give nearly as large a return th<
first year as the second. Where decom
position begins laie in me season, uuu
the heat which then prevails, it is likeh
I to be too rapid, and, as from this cans*
there will be excess-of stimulus, the inju
ry to the Cotton plant will lie nearly ii
proportion to that excess. In this state
whilst drought checks, and, if it continm
long, entirely arrests the nutritive agents
a few heavy showers of rain again pu
them in such active and powerful motion
that the appearance of new shoots an*
libres, the then evidences of a secon*
growth, is followed, according to the law
of vegetable physiology, by the loss of a]
the embryo fruit. But, admitting tha
the listings take place at the proper time
if the manures be placed, as is now prae
ticed, in a narrow line directly below -th
tap-root, the same consequences, thoug;
in a modified and less injurious form, wi
inevitably follow. Let them, therefore, b
j broad-casted, for in that way only can th
hazards of the old system be avoided,
j Before the introduction of fine Cottons
I it was usual to sow about one bushel c
i seed per acre. Now so great is the desir
I for fame in the markets, that, from th
* * i -V U
toilsome task of selecting seeds, wmc
must be personally done, the grower se
dom uses more than a peck to the acre
and not unfrequently one quart. Th
result, is, that his plants, of a peculiarl
delicate constitution and unprotected b
art, are unable to resist the rude assault
of easterly winds in the spring. Wher
they come up tliickly, they serve as mn
tual props to each other, and it is seldor
that the injury from external causes is s
great that all of them become affected
By the shade too which their leaves cor
jointly afford, their growth is advanced
and by so much is the progress of th
plant in its sphere of operations hastened
The protection of Cotton from wind, ei
pecially at the beginning of the seasor
is a matter of such importance, that ever
planter who understands his duty has
thicket of shrubs and small trees aroun
his fields. Of late it has been found (
essential advantage to plant corn betwee
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NO. 14.
i- [ cotton, on every fourth, fifth, or seventh
e i row, according to the fertility of the soil.
( ; This is done as soon as the ground is bedded.
The corn in its comparatively adr
vanced state, not only serves as a shield
to the diminutive plants in its vicinity,
but without, it is believed, detracting
from the value of the Cottou crop, except
where the land is weak, its product is
s j decidedly greater than single rows usual
1 ly furnish in a regular field of tliat grain.
That bottom fruit cannot be produced
' | unless the crop is thinned in due season,
is obvious: but that to pull up a large
- proportion of the plants very early is the
proper plan, the experienced grower knows
. to be untrue. It is undeniable that, un5
der ordinary circumstances, Cotton will
1 not show its procreative powers until it
1 has attained a certain growth or age.
I Plants on rich land will liegin to "form"
before those on poor land, but neither
t the former nor the latter will disclose the
5 i rudiments of fruit until they have put on
; their coat of bark?the work mainly of
time, of abundance of aliment, or of both.
If there were no disturbing causes, one
plant to the "hill," at the beginning of
the thinning season, would be in exact
accordance with the wish of the grower,
for there is no doubt that, when unchecked,
its isolated position from infancy establishes
a strength of constitution favorl
| ably to early vigor- and maturity. But
I i as the elements frequently wage war against
. i his crop, his business is to act on the
.; defensive.
II In the opinion of our most experienced
t ' cultivators, the first hoeing, which should
, lie completed in April, ought to be deep
l and directed chiefiy to the process of pnl}
verization. At the second operation, one
i half of the plants, (where the ground is
t poor, from three pecks to one bushel of
seed to the acre having been sown,) if
L healthy, should be taken out, and one
1 half or more of the remainder, the next
I time the field is worked. Afterwards, if
> the weather, the natural or artificial
\ strength of soil, the growth of the
. crop and other auspicious indications,
a justify it, two or only one plant to the
? hill should be left. On this head two
general rules ought to be strictly observed:
I ?1. Never to thin in windy or chilly
s weather, and, 2, not to seperate the plants
. so far at any one time as to expose them
s before the bark is on to the direct action
g of the sun's rays?in other words, check
3 ; not the growth, which will be the case it
. these precautions be not noticed.
(To be Continued.)
t
3 Three New States.
fc In the House on the 17th ult, bills were
j passed to enable the Territories of Nevada,
Colorado and Nebraska, to organize Shite
v governments and to enter the Union. The
3 bills require in each of these Territories
an election of delegates to a Convention,
j which shall submit a Constitution agreed
3 upon to the people for their ratification
" or rejection?said election to be held on
J the second Tuesday of October. The Cone
stitution must be republican, and not re,
pugnant to the Constitution of the United
* States and the principles of the Declara|
tion of Independence. Slavery shall be
i prohibited therein by an ordinance fors
! ever irrevocable, without consent of Con^
gress. "When the Constitution is ratified
} by the people, the President is to declare
by Proclamation the admission of these
e States on an equal footing with the original
States, each of which is to be entitled
to one member of the House, until the
e ' next apportionment, and two Senators in
the Congress of the United States.
?, " -
Gen Bvtlek in England.? Opinion in
Englaud with regard to Gen. Butler apb
pears to be undergoing a change. The
I- London S(tectator concludes a review of
Parton's Life of Butler as follows:
e "This biography leaves on onr minus
^ no doubt that the Union posses? es in Gen
^ Butler a man of rare and original capacity,
s extraordinarily fitted for constructive ade
ministration, and without any tendency
l" to cruelty, though with that indifference
n to the feelings of others so often marked
1? in very strong men. Of all the men who
fill our European history the one he is
!" most like?strangely like?is Frederick
l' the Great."
e
I- tf^The Emperor of Kussia has decreed
the freedom of the serfs of Poland,
y They have taken no voluntary part in
a the insurrection, and their fidelity has
d thus been rewarded. Thus in the new
>f and old world rebellion seems to work in.
n favor of freedom.