Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-09-25


be, grown successfully in our genial eli.
mate, yet we can better employ our land
in the cultivation of substitutes; and first
among them, our great product of Indian
Corn. Wonderful as cotton is to the en-
ternal man, and the world, in all its rea-
tions of clothing and commerce, it IS IN
fnitcly less 50 than is this plant to home
economy, the subsistence of man. in
the beautiful system of ancient Mytholo-
gy, the Olive was held sacred to the God
dess of Wisdom, and other fruits to GER
tain other divinities; with more propriety
might the Red man have consecraled his
Incompatible maize to the GREAT SPIRIT
whom he worshipped. Indigenous to this
continent, unparalleled in value, and OF
universal use, reaching nearly five hun
dred millions of bushels annually in the
United States, it should be regarded par
excellence, the NATIONAL PLANT. 1t is
applicable to a greater variety Of nutri-
tive purposes than any plant that grows.
Its grain supersedes rs food the use OF
all the small grains, including rice, and
if man will drink spirituous liquors, which
presume he will do more or less for oil
time to como, it furnishes the most whole
some of alcoholic stimulants. Given sepa-
rately, it is the most strengthening food
for work animals; ground in an improved
Gill with the cob. or cob and shuck, it is
the cheapest, and, as abundant experience
;au testify, the healthiest and most nuiri-
tious provender that can be used. Its
leaves make Our fodder, the great sub
s,itute for hay. The stalk contains, at a
certain period Of its growth: a large qual-
tity of saccharinc juice, and when prop.
ery managed, yields high per centage
Of sugar, superior in granulation to that
lerived from the maple tree, and nearly
equal in all respects to that from ;! the . cane.
This product may, however, be applied
IS food for animals, in mode not in use
among us at all, which is destined to con-
tribute largely towards subsisting our
stock, at least: and with the cob and .ccrn
meal, to superscde almost entirely all
other provender. When sown or drilled
and cut before in the silk, and cured with
stalk, leaves and shoots, it furnishes a
fodder, flstcning and grateful, not only to
cattle, but to horses. mules, sheep and
hogs. 1t will answer the purpose Of corn
and fodder both, and if first submitted to
the cutting knife, would be all consumed.
\ piece of land in South Carolina sown
last year with three bushels of seed to
:hc acre, returned at the rate per acre of
$1,000 lbs. of well cured forage. If we
will manure heavily, and drill the seed
10 enable us 10 work it once or twice. We
can exceed even this amount. Thus q
4 very few acres would supply all our
stock the year round
With such abundance of provender at
so small an outly Of manure and labor
| Is this source, with others to be men
.ioned hereafter, would supply, we could
p,ofitably consume corn on our planta-
lions far more extensively than we do
now. We could rear all the improved
stock found valuable to us-manufact're
any quantity of manure, and supply our
selves amply with meat, so sure an indi-
cation of prosperity where abundantly
raised. Although we might not find a
market for any large quantity of corn
! itself, yet the general and enlarged cul-
turc of it would confer upon our own, as
| we'll as it is with other People, the signal
| blessing of reducing to the lowest price
the "stalf' of lifc;" while by feeding it
| away bountifully, We could sell it indi-
rectly at fair value in beef, pork, bacon
! md butter. For these articles, we should
find for a long time ready sale at home,
and at first even for our corn; for corn is
shipped to South Carolina and Georgia in
large quantities, from other States. Our
butter is chiefly imported from the North,
md all our cheese. Our bacon comes
from Cincinnati by way Of New Orleans,
and our pork is driven over the noun
tains. But ample as it might be for our
day, we would not be restricted to the
home market. By reference to our Ma,
tional statistics will be seen the immense
export of all these articles, and the rea-
sonable price they everywhere command.
The whole world would be open to our
competition, and while consumers are
multiplying over the globe, and we pos
sessed the advantage of cheap transporta-
ton to the seaports, we could at least fare
as well as others engaged in this trade.
Considering the inestimable value of
Indian Corn, am inclined to think it our
true polcy-and one which will ere long
be forced on us, whether we will or not
to make it at once our main crop, and
to hold all others, especially cotton, SILL
bordlnate to it. For this reason, we should
now direct our attention seriously to
studying it's character, and improving its
cultivation as we'll as its use. Making
with ease a suficiency for existing wants,
we have been heretofore culpaby negli.
yent in its cultivation. There must be
some radical defect to occasion the mark.
ed contrast in its production here and in
the North. Oar climate II is said is too
hot for its perfect growth. True as this
may be to some extent, it is probable also
that our tiflagc is not adapted to the eli
mate Our soil can be strengthened, and
if the heat of our sun cannot be mitigated
directly, its worst effects may be evaded
by skillful management. A hundred
bushels of corn to the acre has been av.
eraged repeatedly on good sized fields of
native land at the North, while we rarely
gather over fifteen bushels, and on our
unmanured, Older land, from eight to ten
is fair yield. Their most enriched acre,
in the gravelly soil cf Connecticut too,
turned out in 1874, l5l bushels; and
nnother in Now York nrndncnd sn,,n