New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-04-11
FOOD In WAR.

FOOD IN WAR.
Mr. Henry Vidal, tho intelligent contraban(
who favored the audience at Plymouth Church
on Thursday evening, with his experiences al
servnnt 6f sundry rebel officers in various
portions of tho Southwest from the break.
inc ous of the Rebellion down TO the close Of
the three days fight at Murfreesboro, when be
escaped 10 our side, volunteered the opinion,
that rs the Rebels bad little moro to eat,
gentlemen, they would give you trouble yet v
The Food question is evidently a grave one
with them, and may exert an important inhu'
ence over the duration of their struggle.
1t 10 net probable that the States wherein
the Rebels are paramount have ever since the
mature development Of the Cotton culture,
grown ii cir own food. Virginia, North Caro-
lima, Tennessee, Texas, and perhaps Arkansas,
have probably done SO; but the rest have come
far short Of it. When Cotton sells for ten
cents or over per poand, aud Corn may be
bought fox dollar per. bushel, planters in The
Cotton region have generally chosen to buy the
bulk Of their food. 1t simplfes tie working
Of a plantation TO grow but = single crop, and
Cotton is almost alone in afording work all
tho year 'rospd. When tha Christmas holidays
are over, the plow may be started for 4 new
crop; and by the time that crop is picked and
ginned, bagged and ssnt. OF, Christmas has
come around again. No grain or other food
crop fully parallels this, and harvesting Sum-
mer grains or cultivating Indian Corn is apt
TO Interfere with the hoeiBg of the Cotton.
The sharpest and NEST successful planters,
therefore, though constantly eIhorted to diver
sify their crops, have generally chosen to de-
vote their energies and their =" force" almost
exclusively to Cotton. Hence. vast Quantities
OF Corn, Fleur, Bacon, &c, grown in the
Northwest have found ready and steadily
expanding market in tho South. Takep to-
gether, the reyolted States have probably pro
duced less food than they consumed in any
year since 1881.
Armies arc destructive. War is. wastefu.
The cOrn.blades refuse to grow in the track
Of the warhorse. The husbandman rlants
sparingly In the face OF devastating TO ces.
A troop of horse hating over night on a farm
in early Summer viii leave it pretty bare
next morning. The Cattle of the South, com.
paratiyely few at best, are rapidly eaten up
or "pressod" for cavalry, artillery, or baggage
service, and arc rot replaced. Then the plow
stops for want of motive power, and little
is produced because little is seasonably and
properly planted. -..r.-
But the war has for q year past been
waged by the Rebels on scale that must
speedily exhaust the region over which they
bear sway. levy en- mdsss must nearly ar.
rest the production Of food by White industry
Half the effective force of The entire region is
thrust into the armies; the residue is driven
to the woods and caves to avoid arrest, or is
securing the glens and mountains TO arrest
those thus hidden. Little is produced, very
much devoured and destroyed, and the guer.
rilla locusts Gotten mounted) are more terrible
to their friends than to their foes.
That the main Rebel armies have been on
half rations for weeks is well known. Men
can stand this, though they would rather not;
animals exposed to it soon become worthless
Horses Of tho cr0wbait genus cannot haul
heavy guns and baggage trains over such roads
as are made by the passage of an army; cav.
airy cannot be pushed fifty miles q day on
horses that are mere racks of bones. True
the Spring will soon improve oil this; but horses
kept ct hard work in an army can get little
satisfaction or nourishment out of grass for
weeks yet. They want rest and time to re.
cruit their wasted flesh and strength.
That there have been serious Bread Riots in
Richmond, Savannah, Petersburg, and perhaps
other Rebel cities, is not denied. That they
have been partially successful in compelling
gratuitous distributions of bread, is admitted.
True, it is said that the ringleaders were not
furnishing; but their followers clearly were, or
their demands would not have been acceded to.
They were mainly tho wives Of conscripts
serving in the Rebel armies whose entire
wages, if promptly paid, can do very little for
their families, when flour 10 worth $40 to
$ll0 per barrel, meat Of all kinds so cents to
81 rs per pound, tho coarsest and poorest