The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1866-03-31
Cotton or Grain,

The Southern CultlVnlOr Oh March
Isl says: From all we can learn, we
think there is altogether too much of a
mania for cotton planting abroad. 1t
is certain that food crops will pay to
the extent required to sustain our pop.
ulation; and with prospective duty
upon cotton, of what it originally cost
to raise it, its production to the extent
of Il full crop would be ruinous. Give
us the full enjoyment Of the fruits Of
our labor, and we will be more inclined
to work for big crops. We should en-
large on this point, but find all that
needs be said, in an article elsewhere,
from the Southern Banner.
The Banners article is as follows:
Shall cotton or grain be our main
crop this year, is question of no
little moment at this time.
In our impoverished condition, the
future more than ordinarily uncertain,
and free labor problem Of doubtful
solution, it is natural that every body
should desire to plant all the cotton
possible, which will pay at least $50
per bale, and if the season be favora-
bic, enable the planter to buy his pro-
visions, etc, and lay by something for
contingencies.
Many are going to make cotton
their sole crop-planting only little
corn or other grain. Everybody is
going to plant cotton, and those who
never saw cotton stalk are now buy
ING seed, and calculating with paper
and pencil the great returns they are
going to make. Cotton presents the
rcadiest means of making money, and
therefore, all are hat in hand to his
Majesty--now, more than ever, King.
But there is an old economical adagc
--"don't put all your eggs in one bas
ket' which might be adyantagcously "
remembered by the cotton worshipcrs.
If the season should be unfavorablc, if
the worm, the grasshopper, or any Of
the other enemies of the great staple"
should make the crop Il failure, and
bring all the pencied estimates of.
profits to nought-nay, make the re
suit, after paying the freedmen and
supporting them, loss instead Of
gain, where is the money to come from
to buy provisions, etc. ? Or suppose
that the crops Of the Northwest should
fail, or be insufficient, and prices ad
vance considerably above the present
high standard, even supposing that we
do make the cotton we expect, and get
$50 per bale for it, if we cannot buy
provisions or are obliged to pay Az
immense price for them, where is our
profit?
Last year all the labor that was
available was employed in growing
corn and wheat, and yet it is an ad-
mittcd fact that the supply Of bread
stuIis in the country now is insufficient,
and that this is one of the causes Of the
present high prices Of grain. The sup
ply of labor is now materially reduced
below what it was last year, both in
quantity and quality, and if it be almost
exclusively employed in the produc-
ton Of cotton, to the neglect Of bread
stuils, We may depend on it, that when
driven to Il Northern market to buy
all we want, and thrown on the tender
merccs Of railroad companies to bring
us what we buy, we will find that the
magnificent profits Of our cotton, if we
realize them, will pass out of our pock-
cts into those of ''Our friends of the
great Northwest of whom we heard
such hattering tales during the war,
and into the insatiatc maws Of the
railroads, to whom the direst popular
necessity is the most favorable oppor-
tunity.
The temptation to plant cotton is
very strong. 1t will certainly pay
largely five make a crop; but that i
depends on two other ifs, namely: if
the season be favorable, and if the
freedmen "conclude to work" 1t
would be wise, therefore, to guard
against contingencies, and let each
agriculturist, whether he be the large
planter with his thousands of acres, or
the humble farmer, plant enough grain,
at least, for his own use, and then he
may WOO the smiles Of King Cotton as
,nurh ,s hn nIn.sps
"Alake all the money we can this
year, and sell out" is the cry Of pctu
lance and impatiencc, and has no wis
dom in it, for it amounts to the same
thing as killing the goose that lays the
golden egg. II
Plant cotton, but remember that
roasting ears are not to be dispensed
with that a few bushels of wheat ut
home, without sending to Cincinnati to
get them, and then sending TO the de-
pot day after day to see if they have
arrived, are Il great contribution to
comfort; and that a little rye for a
grazing patch, and other purposes,
may be cultivated with advantage, if
used i'm moderation.