Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1872-09-19
CATTLE RAISING.

are adapted to nothing but cotton. The be-
lief is universal, that money can be made,
honestly, in South Carolina, in no other way
but by cultivating cotton. This is a grand
mistake. 1t is more than a mistake. 1t is a
ruinous error. We have nothing to say
against cotton or its legitimate cultivation.
When kept within its proper sphere, cotton
gives the State of South Carolina an enviable
position amongst all her sister States. It is
not, at present, our purpose to discuss the
merits or demerits of cotton. All that we
contemplate at this moment is to show that
there is money to be made in raising cattle
We do not mean that South Carolina is
better adapted to raising cattle than it is to
many other rural pursuits. Nor do we de-
sign to make the impression that it would be
profitable for our people to abandon, to con-
siderable extent, everything else and devote
their whole attention to stock raising. This
is exactly the error which we have made with
respect to the cultivation of cotton. Like the
man who drives badly trained team, we have
whipped the willing horse until the poor crea-
ture is we'll nigh worn out. In the upper half
of South Carolina COWS do remarkably well.
We mean they are healthy, and when proper
care is taken with regard to the rearing of
them, they grow to a good size. Our COWS
are neither the best nor the meanest in the
world. There is no natural reason why we
may not raise as good COWS, on an average, as
are raised in any State in the United States
There is no need, however, that we waste time
in proving that cattle will do we'll in South
Carolina. Every one knows this.
That cattle raising on moderate scale
would be profitable in this country, we argue
from the fact that for eight months in the year
dry cattle cost the owner nothing, and milch
cattle very little. All that is required is
little attention. Whatever would be made
would be clear gain, or nearly so. In no
country are the pastures better during the
summer and fall than in South Carolina. We
make every effort to kill grass but in spite of
us it grows almost luxuriously on our old,
worn out fields. There is grass enough Of the
richest kind, wasted every year in York coun-
ty, to feed and fatten thousands Of beeves.
We say it is wasted because it is not econom-
ically used. The marketable value of COWS
is always such as to be remunerative. 1t is
true that a COW will not bringas much money
as bale of cotton but on an average it will
cost as much to produce bale of cotton as it
will to raise ten COWS.
There is another profit connected with rails
ing gcattle which must not be overlooked. The
manure of COW, if carefully saved, during a
year will contribute much toward paying for
all that it costs to keep her. Those who have
not tried thismay regard it as an extravagant
declaration. To such, we say, make the ex-
pertinent and then report. Everybody knows
the advantage of penning few head of cat
tie on poor spot of land. 1t makes it per-
manently rich. This is matter of no small
moment. Anything that makes land rich is
profitable. 1t is said stump never dies in
debt, and the same may be said ola COW. She
pays for the grass she eats during her whole
life