The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-12-22
The Wants Of the South.

Ine ants oil the SUutn.
Hon. FREDERICK WATTS, the
eminent and accomplished Commits
sioner of Agriculture, truly stated the
case in his letter to the late Agricul-
tural Congress that met at Nashville
when he spoke of the wants of the
South as consisting of Capital that
shall be active, Labor that shall he
judiciOusly employed and the Popu-
lation that shall possesses the waste
places and make them vocal with the
hum of busy industry. The time is
near at hand, he adds, when all these
elements of material greatness may
be possessed by the South, if it will
learn lesson from the example OF
those communities and nations which
have become rich while it has be-
come poor.
Undoubtedly, the first of the new
methods essential to the new life OF
the South, is diversification of in-
dustry. The example of Germany
cOnclusively shows that the nation
which utilities all its forces and en-
courages the employment of every
human faculty, is the one which
takes deepest root and offers the
greatest resistance to storms, while
the example of Persia, Turkey, and
Portugal, shows that nations which
engage in one pursuit TO the compa-
rative neglect of all other, do not
have a fiourishing growth, and are
not capable of resisting adversely.
The people of the South should so
direct their future, that success will
not be contingent upon a boun;iful
harveat from n single crop. They
| should establish new manufactures,
and stimulate those already estab-
lished; open new mines, and develop
those already opened; build new rail
roads, and spread wider the wings OF
foreign commerce; and most impor-
taut of all, divide thousands of ex-
hausted acres into small farms, and
| farm them well.
The South has abundant water
power, extensive coal-fields, and
cheap labor. If it will but put forth
its hand, it can successfully compete
with either New England or Old
England in the manufacture the
coarser grades of cotton fabrics and
shoes for its working classes. In
more than half of the States lying
south of the Ohio, may be found iron
ore Of the best quality, and other
valuable minerals. The example OF
Pennsylvania shows low prosperous
= pcopIe may become who will manu-
facture iron. Tennessee may be
come another Pennsylvania, if il
will. BY employing its laboring
population in manufacturing enter
priscs. the South will not only retain
within its own borders the money OF
which il j. now depleted, but it will
have more to sell to other countries.
| And the more il has To sell, the more
miles OF railroad will be built, tn,
more certain aud remnerative will
bc the home markets of its farmers
and the greater will he the ability OF
III its people to possess themselves OF
comforts and luxurics drawn from
every quarter of the globe.
But the South needs most TO dever-
Sly ill., agriculture. BY devoting it,
capital and energies mainly TO the
cultivation Of cotton, il has produced
two disastrous results; its soil has
been compelled to rely upon the
West for its bread and meat. To
remedy the first error will require
time and the exercise ofthe best brain
# the South, hut the concentration
upon small areas of the efforts now
bestowed upon large plantations, will
he a necessary accompaniment Of all
remedial agencies. The second error
| IF looking to the West for the neces-
aries of life, can easily be corrected
| by growing all those foOd-producing
-roVs suited to the South. There are
'cw States in the South in which
wheat and corn will not do well;
fewer yet in which some Of the grass
- and the various edible roots will
not grow. Cattle and hogs may be
-aised with profit where these condi-
tons exist, and not the least of the
profit will he the fertilizing elements
which they will return to the soil il
confined to close quarters. An i'm
provcment of the breeds now in
| general use would increase the income
from these sources. The South also
produces many kinds of fruit and q
org list of the choicest vegetables.
Indeed, there is scarcely limit to
its food-producing capabilities. A
southern journal has recently stated
that there is not product of the soil
pertaining 10 the tropical or tempe
rate zones, and which is of real use
t. man for food, which cannot he
grown in the South.