The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-12-23
Tho "Small Industries"

By long train of fortuitous circumstances,
which need not now be emu rated, the cul-
ture Of cotton came by degrees to monopolize
the whole capital and energy Of the great ma
iority of Southern planters. The abolition of
slavery gave serious check to this tendency,
which, however, was counteracted in large de-
gree by the unprecedentedly high price of the
staple. This outweighed all the drawbacks
and difficulties of the situation-the uncertain
and unsatisfactory condition of labor, the un-
settled state of the country, the scarcity Of
money, the exorbitant interest charged on
ADVANCES" the iniouitous tax, and the high
price of bacon, corn, hay, mules, guano, and
indeed of everything that was required for the
working of large plantation. The case re-
solved Itself into the following propositions; :;
Everybody was poor, the rar had swept away
the savings of years, the slaves were emancl-
pated, stock was carried of-"raided," barns
and ginhouses burnt. Nothing remained but
land and-debts. Cotton commanded high
BFee ard s NlsuFs Asa out every
not fallen from thirty-ive cents to twelve cents
pound, had the negroes worked well and
fulfilled the stipulations of their contracts, had
there not been so much rain all last Summer,
and had the caterpillar not appeared in de-
vouring swarms, the calculations of our plant
ers would doubtless have proved correct.
1t was not to be so. The hand Of Provi-
dence (and wo say it reverently) can be clearly
bread alone" certainly implies that bread
should be the first consideration of the mate
rial man. This first lesson of nature was in
great danger Of being forgotten. Heretofore
all our planters made corn enough for their
plantations. To have to buy corn was consid-
cred sure sign of ''bad management" Du-
ring the past three years, this good old prac-
tics has been lost sight Of The universal
desire to got rich by planting cotton has been
rebuked by failure of crops, both of corn
and of cotton, and by the low price Of the
latter. And now our planters are obliged to
look about them for other sources of profit
They need be at no loss for choice. They
have cotton and corn, which should still claim
large share Of their attention; and they have
besides wheat, rye, oats, barley, and buck
wheat hemp and fax; hops and tobacco;
groundnuts, peas end turnips; rice and sugar
cane. They have various mineral resources,
from mari and the pbosphates to the rich veins
of nd oil how 0f
timber, and numerous streams to bring it to
market. Naval stores, an important source of
wealth to neighboring Slate, has been scarce
ly developed as yet in ours. Our climate is
admirably adapted for the growth of early
fruits and vegetables, both for home consump
tion and for export to distant markets. The
vine, the olive and the silk worm, al will do
we'll here, once they receive the necessary
attention. Our swamp lands have long been
noted as excellent oranges" for stock, and the
vast sums now annually sent to Cincinnati and
to Louisville, could and should remain within
the State. Horses, mules, cattle, hogs and
sheep. all could and should be raised here not
only for our own use but also for export.
Why ohould we procure from abroad corn,
-four, bacon, wool, and indeed almost all the
neoessaries Of life, when these articles can be
raised as cheaply or even more cheaply at cur
doors?
The Shakers" in New York and Pennsyl-
vauia have accumulated large fortunes by
planting and preparing for market variety of
medicinal plants, most Of which can be grown
here to greater perfection than In the North.
Indeed, many of these ''herbs" are indigenous,
covering our forests, or growing along the
bitches By the roadside. Some of our readers |
in the interior will be surprised TO learn that |
the sage used by the butchers of Charleston |
for their sausages is imported from New York
and Pennsylvania; so with the hops used by |
the bakers and the brewers. Castor oil and
inseed oil, mint, anis and cummin, tansey,
queens delighi, wild cherry bark, sassafras,
logwood, jessamine, fly trap, life everlasting,
and hundred others we could name, are
brought here from the North-some of them
being first carried from here there and then
brought back again. Thus with the numerous
that have enriched the JAYNEs,
The SANDS, the AYERS and the TowXsEYDs of
he North. What are they? a little sassafras,
little iodide of potash perhaps, and the resi-
iue made up of molasses and water The
ingredients are all taken from the South with
ne exception of the water They cost-well,
lot very much. revenue stamp of four cents
8 affixed, and presto, you have the great and
nfallible panacea, sold through the length and
breadth of the South at dollar a bottle.
All this must cease. We do not advocate ]
lon-lntercourse; we simply desire our people