The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-02-27

arms Europe will give us the capital and labor,
if We seek them aright.
To seek and obtain this foreign aid should
now become. the paramount interest Of the
South. Without it she must sink into hopeless
vassalage. With it she may attain proeperi-
ty so elevated as to cast into the shade all
Western progress, and render her the wonder
of mankind. 5.G 49,
A Sortherner's Defense Of the Southern Cot.
ton Planter.
A correspondent of the New England Farmer,
who has recently travelled in the South, fur
nishes ten admirable reasons for the mania of
cotton planting, to the exclusion of other crops.
His argument will be particularly consoling to
those of our readers addicted to "cotton on the
BRAIN" and for their benefit We append the ar
ticle: .ie
WY Is Cotton ALMOST THE ONLY Crop
RAISED IN THIS PART OF TIE SOUTH ?-In the
any point in litigation, the practice of business
men is accepted as law by our courts ofjustice.
Is not the general practice of farmers in any
locality, or under any circumstance, entitled to
similar respect? Is it not safe to assume, for
instance, in this case, that the Southern planter
has reasons for his devotion to cotton, which
the theoretical man overlooks or under-esti-
mates? A brief reflection on the subject has
suggested the following reasons for the tenacty
with which the planter clings to his favorte
staple, and for the little heed he gives to the
exhortations of agricultural editors to diversity
his crops:
1. The soil and climate is better adapted to
the production of cotton than to those other
crops which the planter is urged to raise. Pay
ing crops of cotton are made by hired labor, on
shares and on rent. Farmers tell me that
remunerative crop of corn alone cannot be
ted to the growth of cotton ara worth far more
succeeds much better.
2. The cost of fertilizers applied to the cot
ton field is well repaid by increased production,
and the use of guano and of the Charleston
phosphates has largely extended the cultiva-
ton of that staple; but this is not true of other
crops.
8. Everywhere and at all times cotton is
cash product at some price. ea
4. With the exception of wool, few agricul-
tural products are marketed at so small an ex-
pense for transportation as cotton. A ton Of
hay, grain, potatoes, &C., may be worth from
SIS to $50; while that amount of cotton will
bring from $500 to $4O0.
s. Cotton-the mere lint, which is solids
perhaps the least exhaustive of soil ingredients
of all agricultural crops. 1t is as if the farmer
sold only the Silk of his corn, or the straw
of his grain. On this point, Prof E. w. Hill
yard, Of Mississippi, says, 'there is probably no
other crop SO little exhaustive as one of cotton
Int, few as much so as cotton Nth the SEED
The latter carries with it, on an average, ~
pounds of soil ingredients per bale; the former
four pounds at most" There are full two
pounds of the seed, separated on the farm by
ginning, to one of the lint. IF there is half
bale of 400 pounds of lint from an acre, the
owner has about IA bushels of seed, which ia
valuable for manure or for feed for stock.
bale from an acre gives % bushels of seed, and
20 bushels with fertilizers is considered very
large dressing for an acre of land. This selling
the husks or straw and keeping the grain is
popularity with the cotton crop, and the old
distich,
a'Hie along, oxen, HE along faster, 80
The straw for yourself, the grain for your mas
ter"
may be changed,
HE along, we mules, HE along faster,
The grain for yourselves, tho lat for your mas
ter. -
6. Cotton is the industrious mans crop; he
can work at it in this climate every month in
the year. 80; 49,
z. Cotton is the gentleman's crop, The a6rst
families" are interested in and proud of its
production. The chief end of Southern news
papers is to report prices and prospects Of cot
ton. These reports are the first thing the read
er looks for rs he opens a Southern paper. But
the Southern planter, his family and hands, the
Southern merchant and his clerks are not the
only ones interested in the quotations. They
are scanned anxiouslycby the Yankee manu-
facturer, and even in England and OF the ccn-
tinent the focus of gold-bowed spectacles is
brought to bear on the smallest fraction along
side the columns of figures which indicate the
value of cotton. Responsibility is strong
point, aud needs no calculation; but it suggests
another.
8. The beauty of the plant. As have seen
only the dried and wilted stalks in the field,
quote from correspondent of the Southern
Cuhirator the following statement: "a fine
cotton field in its healthy stage, some half
cloudy morning in August, decked in all its
radiance, with mingled red and white, rivals in
its beauty and magni6cence any Oriental
flower garden"
8. A large proportion of the twelve months
labor ON the cotton crop is comparatively light
work, which can be done by the least efficient
of the plantation force.
TO- Cotton is an interesting crop. The casu-
alties to which it is exposed, from the sprout..
ing of the seed to the baling of the lint, and
the ever recurring fluctuations in its market
value, give it something akin TO the absorption
of game of CHARGE. Hence the expression
have heard from planters, "No cotton, no life
no cash"
TRUSTEES OF THE UNrvERs1ry.-In joint
assembly, yesterday, Messrs. j. K. Jillson, D.
H. Chamberlain and L. G.. Northrop were
elected Trustees of the South Carolina Uni
versity. The Board now consists of Messrs.
Lee, Bowley, Swails, Jervey, Jillson, Chamber
lain and Northrop. The Governor is er otfeic