The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-01-16
: Frons the. Rurd Carolinian for January.
A Practical Essay on Plantation Economy

A Practical Essay on Plantation Economy.
That premium should be offered for the
chest practical paper on Plantation Economy
as Adapted to South Carolina" Is evidence
that the system of plantation management
generally adopted by our planters is lmperfect.
Indeed it may be questioned whethes tney 40
~ aver have generally practised any well de-
vised scheme of plantation economy. iha5
the planters of South Carolina do subsist and
accnrnulate is little else as proof OF the mate
rial advantages of our climate and country;
Unless devotion to cotton culture be accepted
.as nm evidence of approved plantation economy,
our farmers are not entitled to the credit OF
hiph farming. In country where genla!
climate and a generous soil compensate for hall
the labor required in colder climates, no sys-
tenn can be produced that does not produce
surplus for market, as well as subslst the produ,
GERS. That this can be done by the farmers OF
South Carolina is as clear as 1t Is that IL ID not
'pone; and it is equally evident that we are ca
pable Of annually exporting an average cotton
crop without the necessity OF importing SIM
glts article of such necessities as can be grown
in the Temperate Zone. To suggest method
hv which this end can be effected will be the
object of this paper.
in, the first place, all the leaks on the planta-
ton, however small, must be stopped, for often
a half penny saved is two pence made. a pound
of bacon bought at ten cents seems cneap
enough; but when the teams with hired drivers
ara to be taken from the farm to haul It from
stiie place Of purchase, or from the railroad; ana
then. too. the money which is to pay Tor II pc
ing, In air probability, IN tatturo and drawing
one andsa, half per cent. per month, considera-
BILE trouble and labor had better be incurred TO
yroY thataneat at home, rather than buy be-
IL. M for IN Snnth Carolina
.need buy q single pound of meat. One single
'uyeH,bred hog, twelve months old, butchered
annually for each member of bis family, will
snpply him with abundance of meat. And this
can be done by simply economizlng the waste
L.abocJut our farm lots The, fallen fruits. the
isfrbble fields, the kitchen slops, and the CLEAN
i1as about his stables viii suffice to produce a
sufficient quantity Of meat for the farmers
51fafnilyf sps,' - ,....,
TN the second place, bresd should never be
bouekt with the cotton crop. If wheat cannot
e!erown it should be bought with corn or II
corn be an Improbable crop, which 1t IS on
1ine-tenths of the plantations in South Caro-
liaa, some other grain less expensive, out equai-
ly valuable in market, should be grown 70 0e s
1soId or given in exchange for wheat or Hour. IT
our farmers could be induced to determine to
nrofluce their OWE meat and bread, two great
noinss would be gained towards adopting that
system of plantation economy walch would re-
store our State to her wonted prosperity. But
so long as our smoke-heuses are Ia 6aihnlore,
and our grain crops in the Northwest, We Will
continue TO be "hewers of wood and drawers OF
water, for other less favored, but more prudent
people. .,.,, 81. c.-.,.o 8.
capable of sustaining four times ITS present
population. Hence there must be vast guam
tity of il waste or unproftably utilized, simply
growing up in pine. thickets and producing
nothing to defray the annual taxes imposed
upon them. Few acres in the State so sterile,
,bat they will not cover their own nakedness
with vegetable matter during the summer. This
Growth can be and should be turned to account,
6y being consumed by sheep upon the spot
where it grows. One million Merino sheep
MIGHT be imported into South Carolina on the
frat day Of next May, and subsisted tall the hrst
of the following November without further
cost than penning them every night, as securi-
~ against dogs. Almost every native grass or
weed that grows in, the State is fattening TODD
for sheen, and being closely nipped by these
ramblers is carried nightly to the hqrdling
pens. and before morning there distributed,
with wonderful accuracy, as concentrated Ter
.tilizer over, the land. Every hundred sheep
thus managed during year will SO thoroughly
enrich the most Sarren two-acre lot, that IL VIII
crow the following season barley or ,turnips
EssnonsfI "a carry the same hundred sheep
ithroiigh the succeeding winter; and IT this
same' lot be then seeded in grass it will yield
two tons of hay to the acre, or if planted IN
cotbon will produce more than bale to the
acre. with average seasons and proper culture.
n Sheen wilt not only gather from our waste
lands ast kinds of noxious weeds and grasses,
sn;3i5 5eonyert them into stimulating manures,
thfs restoring the most barren spots to fertility
.ajfnost without cost, but every eve will with
the greatest certainty produce q iame, ana the
wool.clips from any flock OF grade MerinoS
will more than compensate for the tnouoie ana !
exuense annually incurred. AS an article Oh
diet no! aesb is more delicious than mutton
and as ansegidenee that the prejudice e4is!lng
against the peculiar taste OF mutton is raP1oiy
,vielding to popular favor, it will command at
.il times higher price than beef or pork: That
more sheep are not grown in South Carolina IS
amazing. and can only be accounted Tor from
the infatuation of our farmers upon the cotton
rcron. Any system of plantation economy
adopted in this State and ignoring the sheep
.fock is incomplete and expensive.
Growing wool and bacon at home, and sub
stituting the small grain crop for corn, except
where corn can be most proftably grown, is by
NO means an abandonment of the culture of
cotton. This system will curtail the area, but
tends to increase the yield, and thereby encour-
Japes the farmer to aim at making his cotton
crop what it should be, a net income. over
four thousand pounds of seed cotton nave neen
crown @ upon a single acre in South Carolina,
and and frequently ten bales, of four hundred
rounds Of lint cotton each, have been picked
and sinned from ten acres. Such crops, how
@ ever. never have and never will be gathered BY
tbe fsrmcr who anticipates his harvest in pro
nortion m to the area planted. An average culti-
vated crop in South Carolina is about twenty,
Ave acres to the mule; ten acres in corn, and
fifteen in cotton; and is a most wastetul econ
omy, which scarcely produces corn enough 70
feed the laborers and plough animals, and no not
q suficiency of cotton to guarantee an appreci-
sble net income to the farming community.
If more grasses and small grain were sownn,