The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-03-27
COLUMBIA,S. c.:
King ,Colton.

NES' King ,Cotlon.,' -TH71.E - =
The Awhite-coated philosopher of the Ne!
York Tribune gives the following aensibl
advice'to his brethren Of the South:
Hardly n Southern paper reaches us bu
has editorial comment OF some sort on tn
prospective crop Of 1850 It is general
conceded that it will be large, if the seaso
is at all favorable. Some editors have til
ssgacity to see, that saying SO much about
great crop this year will have bad effeC
on thatpart' OF the CROP of 1868 which re
mains unsold. '-
Now, friends at the South, before you
double plows have thrown all the land int
ridges for cotton rows, take; time aud civ
this whole business Of agriculture q sober
second thought. You have Just come ou
OF great war, in which you were worsted
The weakest thing in the Sputhern, militia
service. during that war wha its 90 mtmissa
riat. A strictly agricultural people, having
as much pride Of acres as any landed aris
toeracy in the world, were, from the first
and in all stages Of four years strife
weakened, hampered, thwarted, demoral
ized,. and finally defeated, for want, of beef
corn, wheat. hay aud oats. -o
"a great war is like q severe illness-i
tries the constitution and unmasks til,
weakness OF the system. The agricultural
system of the South has been proved defec
tive, because in protracted fight the breacl
appeareH there first. Now what is the grea
Characteristic OF planting? It is,, and from
the first has. been, the deriving of large
income in clear money from abroad surface
by the sale Of vegetable products A small
planter is one whose account sales of cot
up more than $4,000. The sales of the
large planters range all the way from SIS, OOC
to 100000. A few-a very few-Southerr
proprietors received over 100000 from O
single crop. That mode of deriving an in.
come may have been connected with the
character and status of the laborer, but such
connection was not inseparable. A slave
could cradle wheat or fatten hogs, if ordered
to, just rs we'll as he could pick cotton OF
sucker tobacco. Slavery had inherent sins
enough, without charging it with blunders
that were not, in the nature of things, in
separable from unpaid labor. From the
time OF Pocahontas the Southern domain
was divided into large estates. Those who
surveyed and plotted it, felt as Brutus die
about Caesars body:
'Let us carve him as o dish fit for the
gods-not hew him like carcass for the
hounds"
These broad areas were cleared an6
cropped by sport-loving men, for whose
ears the baying of a pack OF fox hounds was
sweetest music Put man with these tastes
at the centre of 1900 acre tract, and what
will he do? He will hnye as few inside
fences as possible; he will make his money
on crop that will cost him the least time,
or planning or worry. He will say dun
uiuianuS, 9ipamus-"after us the deluge. >
Talk to him of rotation, fertilizers, bone
dust. the foot Of the sheep having gold be-
meath it-he answers yon by blast on his
hunting horn. ''My niggers know how to
make cotton" These seven words were
the doom of true progressive agriculture
South of Mason and Dixon.
The inducements that draw the Southern
agriculturist toward cotton-Gelds are very
great He is in debt He wants carriage
horses to replace those which Bragg, OF
Johnson, or Lee broke down dragging can.
non. He is living in a cabin, and would
like to do something with those ghosty and
blackened chimney stacks. The saws of his
gin-stand are bent and rusty. His press is
rude and slow. His mules are stiff, and his
plows worn; his tobacco sheds went fol
camp-fres. We admit that it would be q
help on your place if you could sell 300 bales
next December ut two bits q pound. But
let us reason about it. You do not propose
to move West. You know OF no good cot
ton or tobacco land that is cheaper than
your own pihntatlOu DeSlueS, you nave nc
money to go on. If you leave your chill.
dren anything, it must be in the acres ovel
which you walk. If you drain those acres
OF the last ton of potash and phosphorus
they contain. you leave to those who come
after you wide waste of broom -sedge and
stunted pines-a heritage of briers, and
gullies. and rotten fences. No, gentlemen
you will be wiser and more provident than
that. You will see that while there is some
money in cotton and tobacco, there is in il
little true wealth or power, little of thai
which makes nations great and keeps them
30. The South has never been sufficiently
devoted to the production OF articles Of
prime necesSity Mankind wonld ho hutto,