The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-09-29
.T1se CaterpilInr1 ON the Coast.

The Caterpillar on the Coast.
We are permitted to make the fol-
lowing extracts from letter received
from o reliable and highly intelligent
source: SO
BnUFFToN, September22, 1868.
Alasi the caterpillars are worse this
year than they were last; and the
ruin is more certain and more gene
uaL The lands have been mortgaged
TO pay the Droney borrowed, and
what the planters are to do, when
ever this poor means of support is
taken from them, God only knows.
But then it is comfort that He does
know, and that ''He ordereth all
things both in earth and Heaven.
So, though cast down, I am not de-
eparing; only grieved for the misery
chat fills our unhappy country.
Now, let me tell you ell 1 know
about the cotton and other crops in
this unfortunate section. Wherever
the fruit has had time to harden.
there will be some cotton made, al
though on some plantations even
that is not certain, for it has been
attacked by the boil worm, which so
Injuries the cotton as to make it
valueless. But where the cotton es-
capes the raveges of the boil worm,
there is such small proportion OF
matured fruit, that there will scarce
~ be enough made to pay plantation
expenses. s
We had a very late spring, and
early in the season an excess of rain,
which helped the grass more than
the cotton. For these reasons, the
cotton is backward, and as the cater
pillars came earlier and in greater
numbers than last year, their ravages
have been even greater than they
were then. The account every one
gives of their destruction, is pitiable.
Very little corn or potatoes have been
planted, for every one was cotton
mad here. AS L tell them, 1 don't
wonder mo,o that such lille State
was obliged to build such q big
lunatic asylum. .,
The ramie, which was thought to
be the staple that would take the
place of cotton, has an enemy of its
own, which eats the leaves and rolls
itself up into n cocoon, just like the
caterpillar. suppose the injury of
the leaf must effect the fibre of the
plant. The planters are now talking
of making oil from the bene, and cul-
tivating the ground-nut as O crop.
But if l have to live here, 1 am going
to cultivate grapes, land make wine,
figs and peaches. So you see, if am
''faint, l am pursuing"
These extracts show the true spirit
both in aOiH and in deed. With the
abolition of slavery, we thought we
saw the end of the great Southern
cotton crops. Weso expressed our
selves three years ago, particularly in
relation to the low country and the
sea islands. 1t appeared to us that the
life and history of the long staple
cotton was told. We do not now in
tend to enter into the question or to
renew the argument, but we shall en-
deavor to do SO hereafter. It has
become a great practical question, n
question of practical craftsmanship,
to which the intelligent white people
of South Carolina, and the South,
il they had the government Of their
own country in their own hands,
would at once address themselves
and bring to it their wisdom, their
experience, and their most thought
ful, practical consideration. The ig-
norant fools, white and black, who
are guiding our affairs, know no more
about what should be done for the
development Of new industries in the
place of that which they have de-
stroyed, than would q South Sea
Islander-Tnot whit. The writer Of
the extracts given above, has, in q
few words, hit the nail upon the
head. There must be a change from
cotton 10 something else. When it be