The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-11-18

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Carolina are concerned, We are satisfied
chat q change Of policy is demanded.
Cotton seems now to be in some respects
the. haneof the State We speak with
reluctaupen upon this subject. for our
doctrine ie that farmers, as u general
rule, know best what pertains to their
material Interests. To us. however, it
does seatn obvious that the plantation or
farm ought to be self-sustaining. To
plant less Atea-seleoting the best-and
cultivate it more thoroughly; to plant
less Sf cotton and i1ors of the cereal and
reot crops-this seems to us to be the
true policy, It IS madness to plant cot
tonJwhen the cost Of production is above
the price Of the ppmmodity. It is mad
ness FOR the planter to put himself in the
hands Of the commission merchant, how
ever fair he may be. The planting in
terest Qf the State is the bono and sinew
of the State. The wealth of the State
cones fr9m the soll Of the State. HOY
importantit is, then, to place it upon O.
secure hsais. Aata Labor, We know that
it is. to large extent, unreliable and in
eAioiiant. We p,uat use tue labor We
have OF least until we can get better.
On this subject. orr policy is to reduce
the force Rs,lew as possible, and by good
wages and close suparrisiop. inorease its
efficiency. i Let white labor be intro
duced as fast as possible and DO fully en-
couraged. a Let the poor white man,
whethef' mechanic q iaborer, receise our
special consideration, and let every as
sistenee .be given him to help him in
crease his fortunes. In this connection,
we invite attention to the agricultural
address of General r. Toombs, recently
delivered in Georgia. The Columbus
Inquirer Gays: p"
Gen. Toombs' address opened with an
eloquent and beautiful tribute to the
dignity and the necessity of labor It
Was the law OF God, imposed upon man
from the time Of his creation. He an
noupced his purpose to be to endeavor
to show how the least amount of human
labor could supply the greatest amount
of humah want, This was all that man
could do to mitigate the stern decree.
''by the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat
bread"
The greater portion of Gen. Toombs'
address was an argument to show the
impolioy OF planting all cotton, or large
crops OF cotton and small crops of grain.
He contended that the true economy of
the people OF the South was to plant a
euAicienoy of provision crops for the
support of their own families, their
laborers, their working stock, and the
fattening OF their own meat, and to give
the surplus labor to the production of
cotton. He showed the fallacy of the
calculation OF many planters, by which
they figured out greater amount of
money to be derived from an acre in
cotton than from an acre in corn. The
error consisted in the assumption that it
required no more labor to cultivate
an acre in cotton than one in corn:
whereas the truth is, the labor of the
cotton field is at least four-fold the
greatest. The farmer breaks up his
ground for an acre of corn, plants it.
and gives it in all three workings-the
whole consuming not more than four
days. ut the cost of about six dollars per
acre; and then the work is iinished-the
crop laid by in July. But cotton re-
qu;rcs much more labor in planting,
thinning ont, ploughing and hoeing; aud
Wueu u uly comes, lnSLeuu OF Il tCrmluR-
tion of work with the crop, it still has to
be ploughed and hoed, and the picking
will consume the balance of the year.
It thus appears TINT the same force can
not only cultivate much larger area in
corn than in cotton, but that only about
one-third of the time is required for the
raising of corn. Gen. Toombs regarded
the time consumed in the production of
the crops as very important considaro-
ton in view Of the present unreliability
of labor. Should the laborers ssstrike, !"
or quit their work in July, the exclusive
cotton planter is ruined; but he may be
sure OF q corn crop with only two months
work in the spring. Inadequate as are
the remedies to enforce the observance
of labor contracts, it is of the utmost
importance to the agriculturslist that he
should make sure of at least q support
for the year, in any contingency.
Gen. rToombs regarded the practice of
making Louisville and other Western
cities the corn-cribs and smoke -ho uses
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