The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1869-01-23
READING NATTER ON EVERY PAGE.
a Stitch in Time Saves Nine.

careful pcrusni of our farmers. It Is certainly
couched in words Of wisdom. We are ali TOD
prone to .'pitch int" anything. that will pay
us q handsome dividend, and sometimes, too,
to use aseomRon phrase, We. Ego it blind,
A good and successful farmer told us, few
days since, that he would not sell d bushel of
his corn for less than two dollars per bushel.
We knew he had made o splendid crop of this
grain, and were surprised, until he said, he in
tended to plant the whole of his crop this year
in cotton He had made corn enough to do
him for the next two years. Others have told
US the same thing, with this difference, that
they did not have more grain than would carry
them through this year. In the first instance
we cannot but think it bad policy, and in the
second ruinous in the extreme. AS tho arti.
Gle below states, ave have made money by
the cotton crop Of 1868, because cotton was
not our first and principal care''---and, if We
follow the same great principle in the future
we twill grow rich" and strong, and sOld
Carolina" become mighty lever in the stride
Of progress towards making our bright South
ern lahil ahill-tops, mighty city to dwell in" and
her plains to blossom as the rose"
OUR DANGER. Ht}
The cotton crop of 1868 has been Godsend
20 the South. We have money in abundance,
our credit is rapidly improving, the chains are
broken which bound us, our future is bright
with hope. And yet oil this will be an evil,
~ssatlers gcei, if wo,do not persesere in
that wise agricultural policy whose first fruits
We now enjoy. ~
& Our danger is that the planters may be temp
ted by high yprices--the result of a moderate
crop, growing trade and reckless speculation
to pitch huge crops of cotton. Each man who
sold upland cotton at 25 or q or % cents
pound. doubtless wished that he had twenty
bales instead of ten, or hundred in place of
fifty This feeling, however natural, we must
conquer or be undone.
We have made money by the cotton crop Of
1865, because cotton. was not our first and
principal care. There had been two seasons
Of anxiety, disappointment and loss, which
forced the planter to acknowledge that his on
ly safety lay in securing, at any cost, what
bread and meat he required. The dullest and
most wreng-headcd could see this necessity,
and, as consequence, the, South produced all
the breadstuffs she needed. the corn crop of
South, Carolina alone being 1000 900 bushels
{ more than it was in 1867. Cotton was a
secondary consideration with the planter; but
the two-and-a-half million of bales which form
the crop Of the year have still brought us
moro 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 of cotton the crop
would have been three million bales or more,
and then our fortunes, would have been stak ed
upon ono east of the die, prices would have
fallen aud the purchase of Western grain
would have swallowed up the greater part Of
the net proceeds Of our cotton. AS it is. 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, and we approach another season with
distehded purses and the fairest prospects Of
success. 1~'f''t ssi ~ -@tstt -.H ri.
- But tho lessons of this year and of the years
which have preceded it will be worse than
shrown away, If high prices induce our plan.
tiers to make cotton their king and not their
slave The first labor, the first thought, the
first pains, should be given to wheat, corn and
provisions; and then, and not before might
che reign Of cotton begin We should have
che best seed, SO as to improve the staple fer.
tilzers should be used freely, SO as to increase
the yield per acre; no more land should be
plaiited than can be cultivated regularly and
we'll And cotton crop made IN this manner
will repeat tho lesson Of 1868, and realize for
us far more money than a larger yield at low
er prices with millions of dollars 10 bay away
in buying our daily bread. isaS aiTqs
There is. We repeat, but. one .: safe plan /.
PLENTY or rR6visJoNs ffIssT AND NEXT a
sioDEazrE cber OF cor46,a. IL our pisntess
viii stick to this policy, 4hey &ilr grow risb ;
70 N.u.. -tS