Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1857-04-15
farmers 4tpmtmert,
BROOM CORN AND BROOM MAKING.

Why is it, MessrS Editors, that the cul-
tivation of the broom corn is so much neg
lcctcd in Virginia, when there is scarcely q
more profitable crop i'll the State! We
pay yearly large revenue to the New
York and New England farmers for this
article, which can be raised us successfully
here as in any part Of the world.
have been informed that the farmers on
the Mohawk river are making fortunes by
the cultivation of broom corn, while the
manufacturers are also realizing fortunes by
broom making. am advised of the exis-
tence of only one farm in Virginia on which
the cultivation of broom corn and making
brooms is carried on large scale.
Messrs. Look & Lincoln, two enterprisng
gentlemen from Massachusetts,, now located
about two miles from Christiansburg. culti-
vate, as have been informed, about thirty
acres Of broom corn, and manufacture
brooms for market, for which they find rea-
dy sales at full prices These gentlemen
also manufacture cheese Of very superior
quality, while their wives manufacture very
excellent palm leaf hats.
Too much praise cannot be awarded to
these gentlemen and their families for the
energy, skill and enterprise with which they
have gone into these various occupations ;
and they deserve from their fellow citize!s
the most liberal patronage.
thought that Petersburg would afford a
fine opening for a protessed broom maker,
and it | could procure man acquainted
with the management of the crop, from the
planting Of the seed to the manufacture of
the broom, should be glad to aid in start
ing such IN enterprise.
1t is time for us to take upon ourselves
the manufacture of all articles of prime ne
cessitv. instead of sending to the North for
everything From wooden button to a
saw mill, all must come from the North
Our hats, our shoes, our books, every art-
Gle of our wearing apparel, the fnery that
adorns our wives and daughters, in short
everything, even our fashions, must be drawn
from the North.
1t is time to establish our Independence
We have been too long pouring the profits
of our labor into the overhowing Golfers of
that rich North whose people, so fur from
sympatlizing with us Of the South, curse us
in their hearts, dcnomcc rs as worse than
savagcs, and are seeking, with fiend-likr
malice and envy, to scatter tira brands in
our midst.
But to return TO broom making, have
no statistics from which to prepare an eSti
mate of the amount paid out by the South
for this article | an certain that if the
amount We're stated. it would strike some of
your readers with profound astonishmcnt.
1t is the fashion of the day to dccry the
low state Of Virginia agriculture and the
slave labor as the causes of our comparative
poverty, but it is not true. 1t is this ever
lasting tribute to the North that makes her.
self rich and ourselves poor Our money
is ever flowing in copious streams North
ward-none, comparatively, ever returns.
We not only buy all our goods, wares and
merchandise from the North, but our pro-
duce must be shipped in Northern vessels.
We have indeed become "hewers of wood
and draws of water" for the North.
Well, where is your remedy for these
evils suggested by simple reference to
broom making? In one word the division
Of labor" Our noble rivers and our mild
climate, afford facilities for manufacturing
not surpassed by any country. Let the
capitalist lay out his money in various large
factories; let him call on Virginia farmers
to feed his operators, let the farmer buy and
consume his fabrics, and then the money
that now goes to pamper the capitalists Of
the north will circulate at home, and Vir-
ginia will soon become rich.-But let US
continue to draw all our goods, &c., from
these, our worst enemies, and our manifest
destiny is poverty, poverty, unmitigated
poverty.