The agricultural economy
of antebellum life
by Charles LeCount
One hundred fifty years ago, nearly
all North Carolinians made their
living by farming. And even the
majority' of those who did not actually farm
were still tied to the state’s agricultural
economy: merchants who bought and sold
farm produce, craftsmen who made and
repaired tools and equipment, and mill
workers who processed crops into goods that
could be sold or traded, among others. Some
of these people also farmed part of the time.
During the antebellum period, basically two
types of landed, or landowning, people were
found in North Carolina. A minority' of
them were wealthy planters. The larger
group was often called yeoman farmers,
or sometimes common whites.
Planters
Planters specialized in raising cash crops like
tobacco and cotton. In order to make money
from these crops, planters had to raise them
in large amounts with cheap labor and then
transport them inexpensively to market.
Planters generally owned enslaved Africans
and later African Americans, on whom they
relied to provide cheap labor. They ideally
situated their plantations near the coast and
along navigable rivers or, later, close to
railroads to ensure inexpensive, reliable
transportation.
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The purpose of the Arator, an antebellum magazine
for progressive farming, was "to furnish the Farmers
and Mechanics of North-Caro/ina with a paper devoted
exclusively to their improvement and interests ... by collecting
and publishing from our own most skillful and successful
agriculturists , the best methods of cultivating , manuring,
and otherwise improving the land, and of managing every
brand of husbandry in our own state. ” Notice the different
symbols in this drawing from the magazine's masthead:
the plow, the farmstead, the Capitol, and the fairground.
What do you think each of these symbols stood for ?
An example of one small planter, who
kept a journal so we know what he did, was
William Wallace White. White owned a
614-acre plantation called Holly Hill in
Warren County', and in 1860, he owned
approximately fifteen slaves. On his
plantation, slaves produced tobacco, wheat,
oats, corn, and potatoes; raised hogs; and
kept a dairy herd of eleven cows. White’s
plantation also had an extensive garden for
his family, as well as gardens for his slaves.
His slaves usually worked all day and often
into the evenings, six days a week. But,
according to his journal, in August 1857, as
his crops were laying in, he gave his enslaved
workers a daylong “holiday” — he decided to
throw them a barbecue. White also lightened
their workloads around Christmas, and,
judging from his journal, little work of
consequence was done in January.
Yeoman farmers
Most white North Carolinians, however, were
not planters. They owned their own small
farms and frequently did not own any slaves.
These farmers practiced a “safety first” form
One way we know about the activities of people from the
antebellum years is by studying their journals. Much of the
information in this article comes from information recorded
in the journals of William Wallace White (left) and Emsley
Burgess.
Definitions
Though some gull guano was
gathered on the Outer Banks
of North Carolina, most
guano, or excrement from
seabirds, was imported from
South America. It was one
of the earliest forms of
commercial fertilizer.
Journals were often kept by
planters and farmers to
record daily activities, crop
records, weather
observations, and growing
or harvesting practices. Few
antebellum North Carolina
farm journals survive, but
those that do help us better
understand the kind of
work that was typical, who
performed it, and the length
of time it took.
Crops are said to be laying in
when they need little or no
care or attention near the
end of their growing season.
Many crops ripen during this
time and need only the right
amounts of sun and rain.
In this case, a meeting is
similar to a congregation, or
a body of church members.
In North Carolina, which
did not have as many large
slaveholders as most other
southern states, a farm was
considered a plantation if it
used the labor of more than
fifteen enslaved persons to
grow crops that were used to
provide an income to the
owner.
Different crops are rotated
into fields occasionally to use
and replace different nutrients
in soil. Proper crop rotation
helps keep soil from becom ing
exhausted and unable to
support certain crops.
Subsistence means that
providing for yourself and your
family are primary concerns.
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