Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-12-05
COTTON CULTURE IN ITS ADVANCED
ASPECTS.

The Southern Magazine for Decem-
Der contains a lenghthened and elabo-
rate article on the cotton problem, or
''the goose that lays the golden eggs"
There is no other industrial, CONNER
cial or financial problem in the South
of more general interest to our readers;
and it is a matter of regret that our
. limited space forbids a full and salts
factory statement of the facts and ar
guments that pertain to the question.
The fallacies about cotton are said to
be:
l. That American cotton is king.
9. That there is certain belt or zone
where cotton may be produced under
peculiar advantages.
8. That under this belt the soil is
better adapted to cotton than any other
on the globe.
4. That the quality (''staple') of the
cotton of the Southern States is and
Will remain superior to that of any
other cotton; and that by reason of
this soil, and these isothermal consider
ations, this belt or zone is capable of so
excelling other countries in quality,
cheapness and constancy of cotton pro-
duct, as to have whenever it pleases
to claim it, supremacy in the market Of
so positive kind as to be virtually a
monopoly"
1t is asserted that these fallacies are
universally held, even by the most
Respondent planters and factors.
Attention is called to the fact that soon
after cotton planters had been robbed
and plundered by four years desola-
ting war, an extra tax was imposed on
their staple, and collected, as shown by
the public records, of sixty-eight mil
lion seventy-two thousand three hun
dred and lightweight dollars and nine
ty-nine cents. Surely King Cotton
and our peculiar. cotton soil and cotton
climate, with the deteriorating labor of
young freedmen, and young women, are
subjected to tests of virtue, self-denial
and courage on the part of planters,
wholly without a parallel on this CONT
nent As a general rule, our
cultivated cotton lands are
steadily failing in fertility.
There is no full and adequate restitu-
ton of the things that make annual
crops of cotton to recuperate the de-
pleted soil. Hence it parts with the
natural food Of cultivated plants, and
gains nothing in return. This practice
continued few more generations will
kill king cotton as dead as Julius
Caesar. But in forty years free negroes
in the South will be worth no more to
raise cotton and sugar in this country
than they are in Jamaica, after a fair
trial of forty years. An agricultural
revolution is inevitable. British India
is going ahead of us at this time
The foreign power that is over the cot
ton-growing districts of British India
is fostering and salutary; while the for,
eign power that is Overt the cotton States
is alike hostile, unwise and malignant
Itseeks to kill the goose that has hither'
to laid eggs of gold. Nor is there like
" to be any abatement of this deep
seated ar6pathy. Itrests on "highel
law than the federal Constitution,
which no act of Congress is able to re-
neal It has the vital growth and
strength of one hundred years. and Of
three or four generations IN succession
The South misunderstands the North
and the North misunderstands the South
In the article before us, it is commended
and believed that by the aid of lrr1ga'
ton and railways, India cotton can be