The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-09-18
Improvement Demanded.

The South is emphatically an agricultural
country. BY this we mean that. the people Of
the South are exclusively devoted to- tilling
the SOIL The natural facilities for manufac-z
turing and stock. raising are as good IN the
South as in any other quarter oftthe globe;
but the people have been SC long engaged in
agricultural pursuits, that there is IN their
minds an aversion to engaging in anything
else. Such is the prejudiceagain every others
pursuit that it, is more than probable that no.
change will take place in the South during the
present generation. Our people wil'continuel
to make cotton, and buy meat, bread and
clothes, as our fathers have done.a az O.
1t is "a strange thing that, Notwithstanding
the fact that in the cotton growing States MOTH
ing but cotton has been raised, still no great
Improvements have been made in the cultlva--
tion of cotton. But little effort in this direc-
ton seems to have been made The effort,
seems to have been to devise some mode by.
which greater number of acres could be cul-7
tivated in cotton, but not to make the acres
produce the greatest possible amount of pounds.
Once this theory might be endured, but at +
present it is ruinous. 1t costs, money, and a
great deal of it, too, to- cultivate an acre OF
land 1t is clear that the greater amount OF
cotton that each acre produces, the greater will
be the profit If one acre of land can be'soz
improved that it will produce as much as two
acres do at present, the income is more than
doubled. The Investment is only half and the
taxes and other expenses reduced in propor-
ton still the income is the same as if double
the amount of land were cultivated. On an
average we suppose that about four hundred
pounds of seed cotton to the acre is as much as
is, at present, raised on an acre. This is, we are
convinced, not an under estimate 1t may be
an over estimate. By proper cultivation and
by improving the seed, we feel safe in saying
that the average yield might pc made three
times as much. The expenses would no doubt
be greater for cultivating an acre properly than
it is at present; but notas much as might be
supposed 1t usually costs less do a!tbingL
right, than ito do it wrong or improperly Now
the change which we think is demanded, is 9
that cotton be so cultivated that it be as remu
nerative as possible to the cultivator. In order
to bring about this change, the theory OF large
farms must be banished from the minds of our
people. Large farms are like oyergrown
horses it takes great deal to feed them and
they soon wear out. We always have thought
and still think, that there are portions of the
State of South Carolina that is excelled by no j,
other section on the globe. Nature has done
her part, but art has not done much If cotton
were cultivated in South Carolina as grain, is
cultivated in some portions ofthe world, there
is no telling what would be the results. The
same thing might be said about the cultivation;
of corn wheat, oats and the other cereals.
The average yield of breadstufs might be IN
creased four fold The climate of South Caro-
lima is better adapted. to the growth of corn :,
than Pennsy lvania. Why do we not make as
much corn per acre as is made in Pennsyl-
yania? The only reason that can be assigned
is that we do not properly cultivate our corn.-
YorkvilLe ENQUIRER. - 81