Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1869-01-28
WHAT SHALL BE PLANTED9

- We SUPPOSE that this question has been upper
most in the minds of many Of our farmers tor sew
eral weeks Many have, doubtlessy, already
solved the question, and all will have done so in
few more days. "But how2'' is the question Of
the non,producer, and of those who are looking to
the general and material interests Of our people.
Belonging to both these classes, We beg to say a
word or two in the way of caution and suggestion.
We have observed with pleasure and graduation,
the improved state of feeling existing among our
people upon the incoming of the current year. A
good crop of cotton, bringing remarkable price,
and general suf6ciency of corn and other provi-
sions have, in spite of our political difficulties,
restored to our people hopefulness and confidence
to which they have been strangers for several
years. The depressing effects of peeuniary embar-
rassments are wearing away under the free influx
of money; new vitality seems springng up on
every side; and the outlook upon the future is in
every way promising. .-r..
Now these results are evidently due, not to the
high price of cotton alone, nor only to the increase
of the provision supply, but to the two combined.
The latter enables the farmer to set to work with
the confidence of an assured support for the year,
unhampered by the prospect Of liens upon the fu-
tue reward of his labor and leaves him free to ap-
ply the proceeds of his Cotton to paying of his
liabilities, and to replenishing his stock Of animals
and farm materials. Should our farmers lose sight
of the fact that it is to the combination alluded to
that these advantages are attributable, and allow
themselves, under the stimulus Of the present IT.
regular price, to be seduced into planting largely
of cotton TO the neglect of corn and provisions, we
predict that they will fall into an error fraught
with consequences probably ruinous to themselves,
and surely injurious to the country at large.
Individuals and nations are wealthy only in their
surplus possessions The man who has an income
Of a thousand dollars, and has to buy thousand
dollars worth of necessaries a year, is no richer
than he who, though he receives not q single dol
lar, yet has nothing to buy. The old maxim, that
wealth comes from the soil, means nothing more
nor less than that the prosperity Of people de-
pends entirely upon the abundance and consequent
cheapness of food
There is another point which more nearly affects
the farmer himself, and which, by him, should not
be forgotten 1t is, that the price of cotton is en-
hanced first, and chiefly, by deficiency in the sup
ply; and secondly, to slight extent and Temporal
rly, by speculative eagerness! On the other hand,
the price declines, first, from super abundance Of
supply; secondly, from aoar and the Interruptions
of commerce; and thirdly, from speculative combi
nations. From this, it appears that the chances
against a rise in price are as three to two. viii
the farmer increase the odds by contributing to a
super-abundance of supply2 We cannot see how
such course will rebound to his benefit, especially
when we reflect upon the uncertainty Of the sea-
sons, and the steady increase in the ravages Of the
worm Our advice is, therefore, to plant all kinds
of provisions you need-plant lareely-so as to Sc
cure your independence another year, and make
your cotton crop your surplus