The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-04-10
Cotton VS.. Corn.
STONY POINT, April s, 1867.

fondness for controversy, nor from a
desire to appear in print, nor yet
from a determination to play ''last
tag" with you, that I respectfully ask
for another showing in your columns.
I believe the end aimed ut by both of
us is the same; but we propose to use
different means. Surely, nothing
would contribute more to the happi.
ness of her citizens than for the
South to become, in every respect,
self-sustaining. I would rejoice to
see her commence ploughing every
sea, to hear her spindles twirling in
every County, District or Parish,
and, most of all, to know that her
agriculture was the most improved
in Christendom. But is all this pos
sible? Can such IN instance bo
found in the history of nations, that
any one people was pre-eminent in
the three great proofs of civilization?
The old saw, that he who is jack of
all trades is master of none, is as mp
plicable to nations rs to individuals.
If the South attempts to build her
own ships, weave her own fabrics and
grow her own staples, she will most
assuredly fail. And yet this is the
sum and substance of your advice, L
infer, from your repeated publications
on this subject.
We are n bankrupt people, and,
before we become resuscitated, we
must redcvelop our resources, by
digging them from tho soil. We
have no commerce, and no money
with which to build up manufactures,
and our only source of income must
be the cultivation of crops; and here
is the point. We must grow those
crops that will net us the most money
when thrown into market. Of this
crop, each planter must judge for
himself. A ncighbor of mine plants
largely of corn, and pays but little
attention to cotton, because his rich,
alluvial lands produce abundantly in
grain of all kinds, but they inva-
riably rust cotton. It would be as
suicidal for him to plant large cot
ton crop RS it would be for the Rich
land planter to depend upon tho I'M
manured sand-hills of your District
for corn harvest. Extremes are as
destructive to agriculture rs they are
to any other department of life. Tho
avarice of that planter who buys his
-four, corn, bacon and molasses, (for
such n planter is sure to stint him
self and family,) and grows only cot
ton, that ho may stuff his Golfers, is
about as commendable as the folly of
that other extremist, who refuses to
plant cotton for fear he may have to
buy something from the Yankees.
If there arc two ideas in practical
economy that it becomes our planters
to inculcate upon themselves now, if
ever, they are these: l. Plant every
thing you can for market, and, when
harvested, sell it to whomever will
pay you most for it. 2. Buy rs little
of everything as possible, and buy
from him who will sell you cheapest.
The dcstitution of our country, and
more particularly of our State, is
great; but what would it have been
had the planters, last year, grown no
cotton? The universal and almost
unprecedented drought totally de-
stroyed the corn crops, and, but for
the little cotton grown, thousands
more of our citizens would now be on
the charity list. If the State raised
100, 900 bales of cotton in 1866, it has
been the means of supplying her citi-
zens with $4,000, O00-an amount
that, if properly expended, would
this spring have imported into the
State half as many bushels of corn
rs is grown in the State in n success
full year. [ am convinced we devote
far too large an area to the culture OF
corn, and it is an cold habit and q
prejudice" which few more scorch-
ing summers will assuredly "shakc
off," We speak of corn-Indian
maizc-as the staff of life. What Il
delusion! Nine-tenths of Christen-
dom never saw corn stalk, nor al
ear of corn. In bye-gone days; the
greasy smoke-house md well filled
crib were indicative of the quantity
of labor dono on the plantation, be
cause the laborer, destitute of care
and almost of thought, fattened like
q pig when rationed heavily from
each. Such consumers were heavy
tax upon the commissariat of the
plantation; but they have diminished,
and will continue to decrease porcep-
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