Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1838-01-11

the root with them. These people found
their favoritc vegetable thrivcd well in new
grounds. by degrees their ncishbo,s came
int" the habit Of raising potatoes, but many
years elapsed before the cultivation Of them
was generally among the ycomanry of this
country. Long after they were held in
contempt, and the master mechanic Often
had to stipuiato with his apprentice tina, lie
should not he obliged to eat potatoes. An
aged mechanic once informed me that he
had raised nine bushels, having at that me
(l746) Il dozen apprentices, but did not
venture TO offer them a boiled potato with
their meat, but left them in the cellar for
the apprentices to get and roast as they
pleased; but soon found that he should not
have enough for seed, and locked up what
was left. The next year he raised the
enormous quantity of thirty bushels the
neishhors stared, but The hoys dcvourcd
them the following winter.
About this time some Of the gentry
brought this vegetable on their tables, and
the prejudice against them vanished. Thus
by degrees, a taste for them was formed
never to he ~cxtinguishcd. The culture of
The potato is now well understood a crop
mcllorates instead Of impovcrishes the soil.
and the culture can be increased to any cx-
tent. Thus by the curiosity of one lover of
nature, and his experiments, has all humble
weed been brought from the mountain of
South America, and spread over Europe
and North America, until it is cmphatically
called "thc bread of natious.' Still the
country from whence it was taken. has been
too ignorant or supcrstitious TO attempt its
cultivation until within n few years. Now
tho lights of science are chasing away the
long deep shadows of the Andes.
"Ricc was brought from India in 1921,
and cultivated. by way of experiment in S.
Carolina. 1T succeeded we'll, and for many
years vas the staple article of the State. 1t
seems strange, but it is no more strange
tl:an~isuc, that n vegetable sioux! h-vcSa
neral and religious influence overthc mind
of man. Bralima could never have en-
forced his code of religious rites, with a
f''b IL - uuiu lGO IlOl IL
houndedi i'll rice plant. His followers would
have become carniverous, Notwithstanding
all the rays of his glory, and the awful cx-
Editions Of his might, if he had not driven
the animals away, and secured his veccta-
bic kingdom for his worshippers. Man is,
i'll spite of his philosophy, a creature of the
earth, and, in q measure, like the ,clamc-
leon takes the hues Of his position and food
9Th Cotton plan was at frst cultivated
as n flower in our gardens, and Il beautiful
flower it is. This plant alone has made Il
revolution III the, finances of the world"
Look al the growth and consumption ofthe
United States, and the immense manufac-
turc of it in England, where it cannot he
grown, and youfwiIl find my assertions true
in the most extended sense.
Asparagus which is now the delight of all as
an early vegetable and for which several
millions fdollars are paid our gardens an
%-rualiy is of late culture III this country.-
At the time Of the revolution, asparagus
was only cultivated on sea-board; this
ihNu' nav NV avn cQSbSu liz tuTIllcr oil
the interior.
Until our purchase of Louisiana, this
country was indebted io.the East aud West
Indies for Sugar. In our Countrywide
thirteen United States-sugar and molasses
were made in small quantities, from corn
stalks, sweet apples, pumpkins, aud maple
trees; but all put together, furnishes but a
small part of the sugar demanded by The
great mass Of the people: Our people arc
fond of saccharine, or swceting, to use our
peculiar term for it.
The corn stalk, the pumpkin, and the
sweet apple are given up for sugar and
mol"sscs-and the maple is falling before
the axe, aud VIC must rely Son The sugar
cane alone, unless we can Substitute. as in
France, the sugar beet. The culture OF
the sugur beet has been commenced with
us, and probably will he successful"
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