The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1869-01-28
MISCELLANY.
OuR DANGER.

The cotton crop of 1868 has been a
God.send to the South. We have mo-
oey in abundance, our credit is rapidly
improving, the chains arc broken which
bound us, our future is bright with hope.
And yet all this will be- an evil, rather
than . good, if We do not persevere In
that wise agricultural policy whose hrst
fruits We now enjoy.
Our danger is that the planters may
be tempted by high prices-,hH result
of moderate crup, growing trade and
reckless speculation, to pitch huge crops
of cotton. Each man man who sold
uplapd cotton at 25 or y or 20 cents
hound, doubtless wished he had twenty
bales instead of ten, or hundred IN
place Of fifty. This feeling, however
natural, we must conquer or be. 'andonc'
We have made money by the cotton
crop of 1868, because cotton was not
our first and principal care. There had
been two seasons of anxiety, dlSappo'nt-
ment and loss, which forced the planter
to ackn. wedge that his only safety lay
in securing, at any cost, what bread and
meat .hercquired. The dullest and must
wrong. Headed could see this necessity
and, as consequence, the South pre-
duced all the breadstuiEs she needed,
the corn crop of South Carolina alonc
being 100000 bushels more than 1t
was in 1867. Cotton was secondary
consideration with the planter; but the
two and half million of bales which form
the crop of the year have still! brought
us morc money than four million bales
would have done at the prices OF before
the war. Had the whole strength OF
the South been directed to the culture
ofco,ton the crop would have been three
milliun bales or more, aud then our tor
tunes would have been stakcd upon "ne
cast of the die, prices would have fall
en- and the purchase of Western grain
would have swallowed up the greater
part Of the net proceeds OF our cotton.
As tits, we have been independent OF
outside help. We have not eaten into
the morrow, we have not been obliged
to throw our cotton upon the market,
aud We approach another season W tn dis
tended purses and the faircst prospects
Of success. ..s.-z..s-........ -, :.
But The lessons OF This year and OF
the years which have preceded 1t wall
be worse than thrown away high prices
induce our planters to make cotton their
king and not their slave. The first la,
Dor. first thonght, the first pains, should
be given to wheat, corn aud provisions;
and then, and not before, might the
reign of cotton begin. We should have
the best seed, SO as to improve the sta
pie; fertilizers should be used freely, so
az TO increase the yield per acre; no more
land should be planted than eau be cul-
tivated regularly and we'll. And a cot
ton crop made in this manner will re-
peat the lesson of 1868, and realize for
us far more money than larger yield
ut lower prices with millions of dollars
to ray away in buying our daily bread
There is, we repeat, but one safe
plan: PLENTY OF PROVISIONS FIRST
AND NEXT A MODERATE CROP OF COT
TON. If our planters will stick to this
policy, they will grow rich; if they do
not, they essuredly rue the day when
the desire to become suddenly wealthy
caused them to forsake the plain paths
of prudence and common sense.
Charleston Daily Mcws.