Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-02-20
A Word to Cur Planters.

Let US not rake up the ashes Of the
dead past. 1t Is gore, with its institution
of labor, it's time-honored usages, its pre-.
iudices and, we may add, its follies, its
short .sightedne,s and its lack of sound
Judgment in many chings pertaining to
the management of that gre,it interest
which supports all others-the agrical-
tural.
We have to start anew, and we might
as wcH hook the matter in the face and
promptly adapt ourselves to- the great
change that has come over our institutions
1t is only over our institutions, our habits
and usages that this change has come, and
it is worse than idle to mourn over the
past, and lament that the former times
were better than these. We say it Is
only in certain social and Industrious sr-
rsngements and organizations that the
ange referred to has been effected. Tae
conqnering armies Of the Union, whater-
er else they were able to do, conld not
affect our soil or cl,nate-.bey are still
left to lis, aud it only reqa;rcs willing
hands and active industry to avail our
selves of the benefits which both properly
tender to the husba.dman.
The cry that is coming up from oar
sister State of Alabama, where it i
thought 10000 other. people will be with
ont the means of obtaining food, bur
through charitable efforts, together with
the scarcity Of provisions in our own and
other Southern States, should deeply i'm
press our planting friends with the abs"
lutte necessity Of planting and raising sui.
1cent provisions-bread and mest-to
render them indepcndentoff foreign sources
OF supply, and to enable them to furnish
their own people, neighbors and friends
with the means Of sustaining lie. In
times of ordinary prosperity even, it Is
clearly the daty Of the planter to be self
sustaining, while making his future crop
Ont how much more imperative is thai
duty upon Tim NON, when the CRY f"'
bread * coming fro:n thousands "t ai-
icll"w.cii:x-ns.
The system Of large cotton plantation
i< necessarily abandoned. there he'ng NJ
r.liabie labor 20 work them. 1t is, there
FIRE, the duty of Ill ensagei in cultiva
ting the soil 10 use their diminished Ia
bur to the best advantage. Corn and
other grains, and stock ofall kinds should
be produced and raised the present year
for, If this course be not pursued, bad a>
the times are now, they will be tcn-fold
worse twelve months hence. The plan
ters ought not to abandon entirely the cul
,ivation of their former great staple; but
every consideration now pressing upon
the community drives them to the con
clusion that they ought not to yield te
it that supremacy it has hitherto held
among their productions. If they attemp,
to pursue, as far as they can, their old
system of raising cotton, and out of its
proceeds expect to buy meat and bread
they will find, to their sorrow and suffer
ing, that, in this respect, old things have
passed away.
The season is here when arrangements
are to be made, and we hope and trust
that the course indicated above will be
followed. And where landowners, ei.
ther from scarcity of labor or other
causes, cannot cultivate all their land, let
them invite any willing worker to occu.
DIV it. and there will be bread enough
and to spare.-Columbi Phoenix.