The Shasta courier., 1861-11-30
WHAT THE sourH wAsrs.-The Richmond

WHAT THE SOUTH wANrs-The Richmond
Examiner recently said:
Starch, soap, ink, paper, leather, cotton
goods, yarn, and hundred other commodi
ties, scarce, used up, or outrageously dear,
III country of abundant resourcee, among
a people who want nothing from abroad,
and who " intend in future to depend upon
themselves !" We are often hearing the re-
mark, :" If the blockade autlasts three years,
we shall be one OF the greatest nations IN tne
world :" and yet again, the war may iaS'
three years, and while it last we are I'd IA
gagged in meeting its demands, is Pieappet Dc.
by many as an excuse for slowness But
are we to wait until the war IS over p1'olo
we begin to supply the demands OF sucn a.
tainable articles as cotton goods, soap Starch,
and warn? The truth is, ace naust 0eco"le
practical people before the above results are
reached. We must pocket our PRIDE, and II
we cannot be LAWYERS and professors, give our
attention to those occupations that aciH pay,
and not leave to successful though less aspir-
ing Yankees TO creep in and establish them
selves in this or that craft, and pocket our
money because we are too genteel to supply
our own needs.
We as people, have been blessed with
plenty, and our land is teeming with wealth
as vet we have not learned to economize.
Our children have been reared in habits of
wastefulness and extravaganza. Our very
servants despse saving. Rags, sheets of pa
per, bits of twine, pens, needles, bottles, are
daily swept away, burned up, or cast on to
rubbish heaps, which they are too lazy to pick
up, even to =" sell for cash, and which, in
such times as these, ought never to be on the
IL III klAr, ar,lx
Micawber cousins, rouse your inventive fac
ulties, and dip into your encyclopedias for
practical knowledge. Necessity is the pa
rent ofinvention . and how can you display
YOUR patriotism to better purpose ifnot fight
ing, than by contriving, suggesting and as
sisting to establish and improve the many
manufactures which have been already, and
must be still further, set on foot to meet the
demands of the nation, who need neither
watch the raising of the blockade, nor wait
till the war is over, before they begin to be-
come great and independent people.
MORTALITY AMONG CATrLE.-From all direc-
tions we hear of cattle dying in great num-
bers, literally starving to death. The large
dreyes of cattle that cover the plains and
hillsides, depending upon spontaneous nature
alone for subsistence, have eaten almost the
last spear of grass, and browsed the last
green twig. and have waited long for the
early rains to start the green grass but it
came not, and the cattle have wasted away
to weak, walking skeletons. And when at
last the long looked for rain did come, says
the Independent it was cold and pelting
storm. that carried death and destruction to
the half famished herds, and their carcasses
dot the plains in all directions. Farmers
must not only fence their ranches, but cut
bay to feed their cattle for the short period
Intervening between the first rains ssstf the
starting of the new grass ynttle nurs-
ing would save the lives of NY cattle that
otherwise would die from the chill of the first
rain that beats upon them IN their half
starved condition By fencing, the farmer
will save his feed that is now devoured each
successive year by wandering stock, that are
driven from point to point, wherever there
can be found a pool of water or a sprig of
grass the owners having no settled habitation
or nlaee of abode. The substance of actual
settlers is thus devcured. and will continue
70 be. until these wandering bands are fenced
o,t from the limits of ranches. When the
hills and plains of California were covered
with wild oats. resembling one extensive
h,rvest field. it was only necessary to turn
the herds of cattle forth and let them roam,
for the abundance of nature kept them sleek
and fat. and they minded not the storm.
Rut things have changed-the introduction
of laree herds of stock keep the hills and
Mains prazed bare the year round, and far
mers must resort to Eastern practices, and
Law in a supply of hay to assist their cattle
through the Fall months, or their stock will
die. as they are now doing, by hundreds.