Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1872-08-01
DROUGHTS.

DROUGHTS.
The greatest drawback to the farmers o.
South Carolina, in fact to the farmers of al
the Southern States, is long and parching dry
spells. With proper cultivation and small
quantity of manure, our poorest lands will
yield immense crops of grain of almost any
kind, provided we have no drought. 1t takes
drought of but few weeks in July and Au
gust to cut off the corn crop. Two facts are
true. First, droughts are more common al
present than they were in the early settling o.
this country; and second, droughts have g
more injurious effect upon crops now than they
once had. 1t is easy, on philosophical princi
pies, to account for both these facts In real
ity, they are but one fact. The one is simply
a result of the other. They stand connected
with each other in the relation of cause and
effect. Many reasons may be assigned for the
decrease in the fall of rain. The main rea'
son, we conceive, however, to be, because the
forests have been cut down. The effects Of
forests upon the atmosphere are two fold
They fill the air with dampness, and again
this dampness, when it is condensed into
clouds, is attracted by the forests. The roots
of trees run deep down into the ground and
absorb the moisture that is contained in it at
considerable depth below the surface This
moisture, much of it at least, is evaporated by
the leaves and thus the air is loaded with
water. The amount of water that is drawn
up from the stratas of the earth lower down
than the roots of ordinary cultivated plants
penetrate, is enormous. This water, if not
drawn up by the roots of trees would gradual
ly make its way into creeks and rivers and ul-
timately into the ocean. All nature is kind
of workshop. The waste material and refuse
matter of one part is taken up and used by
another part, and thus there is a continual
round of aperation. When the laws of ma
ture are not transgressed, nothing grows old
and there is no scarcity of any thing. Our
fathers, when they cut down the noble forests
which once decorated our hills, inflicted upon
u.s. their children and grandchildren, curse
grievious to be borne. If let alone, nature
would in time restore things as they were
once Our old fields would in few years
grow up and restore, in great measure, the
fertility to our soil which it once possessed.
Cutting down the forests has two other ef-
fects, both of which result in decreasing the
amount of rain. Dry and parching winds are
unimpeded in their progress, and the result is
that they carry off the moisture which is in
the atmosphere. Another RESULT that small
streams of water have in many instances been
entirely annihilated, except during the winter
months. This has decreased the volume of
water in the creeks and rivers, and consequent
ly decreased the attractive force for the clouds
and the amount of water evaporated from the
surface of the earth in our particular section.
In view of all the facts, it is suicidal to cut
down any more forest trees. There is in
South Carolina enough Of cleared land, if
properly cultivated with such seasons as once
were in the State, to support ten times the
number ofinhabitants that are now in the
State. All the old SCARED hills should be
sown in grass so that their bald faces might be
shielded from the summers sun. In the
meantime, crops which mature earlier in the
season should be cultivated. Such crops cost
less to produce them, and consequently are
more profitable. They are more certain
Wheat and oats, when sown at the proper sea-
son, are more certain crops than corn. We
have high authority for saying that rebels in
habit parched lands. Those who scar and
mutilate the face of the earth are rebels
against the natural laws of the universe and
need not expect to escape with impunity
The exclusive cultivation of cotton will reduce
any people to poverty, and convert vel
watered land into aparched desert. 1t is sim
ply matter of time. The result is sure, 6
foretaste of which we experience nearly every
| season.