The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-07-09
For the anderson MteWgcncer.

| F0r the anderson IntcGHgchcef.
Mr.. EDITOR: Why has not every farmer in
Anderson County grown rich? Nature has
done more for him than for those of almost
any other country. The soil is uncxhausted
and inexhaustable. The climate is more tenn
perate than the long, bleak winters of the
Northwest, on the one extreme, and milder
than the hot summers of Mississippi on the
other, thus enabling him to thoroughly pre-
pare his land in winter, pleasantly cultivate in
summer, and leisurely gather in the fall. The
soil and climate are well adapted to the raising
of all the leading products, which divcrsifes
his labor making his calling more interesting,
more pleasant and more remunerative. AL
though he cannot or rather does not, equal
Indiana in her uXuriant corn and wheat crops,
nor Mississippi in her abundant cotton, yet he
can produce the crops of both sections in re-
munerative quantities. Were his bottoms in
as high state of cultivation, and should his
land for small grain receive such attention as
his Indiana rivals we fear not to make the
assertion that they would equal in productive
ness. We have seen in this county as good
clover and grass lots as we ever saw fields in
Kentucky This fact undoubtedly suggests
that if while the more Northern farmers are
locked up in snow and ice, ours were industri-
ously engaged in putting his lands i'll better
state of cultivation, he would reap as rich har-
vests as they No country is self-sustaining
that does not produce the vital necessarics of
life. No farmer is really prosperous that does
not raise his own grain. These assertions an
swer the question.
The whole year round is spent in hasty pre-
paration for tillage of and gathering cotton, to
the exclusion Of all the grain crops. Too great
an area of this is planted the preparation is
too hasty aud impcrfect-the tillage is more
imperfect-the soil is too seldom stirred; the
grass exhausts the fertilizers hands become
discouraged and leave; others dictate their
wages. And in gathering, too much is lost by
falling on the ground. Taking these losses
into the calculation, the ordinary farmer will
find that his cotton has lost him twelve and a
half cents per pound-thc price too many were
forced 10 take last year in market to pay for
taat which they could have produced with as
little cost as the farmer from whom they bought
in the Northwest.
Bnt, Sir, we arc pleased to observe an almost
unanimous and, we trust, progressive change
in this mode of farming. We notice in the
National Crop Reporter that the States of Ala
bama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas are
planting this year 100 acres of corn where they
planted 100 last, and 81 acres of cotton this
year to 100 last. According to the four coun-
ties reported in this State, the area planted in
corn is 40, that Of cotton SIS. In Anderson
County there is a considerable increase in the
area of corn and a falling off Of cotton. The
area devoted to the wheat crop just harvested
in this county, is an increase of 40 per cent.
over the same last year, and the yield 70 per
cent. If the corn crop be but an ordinary
yield, with the expected enhanced value of
cotton, the country will have made one noble
step in the direction of independence.
If in the future there be q still greater re-
duction of the cotton and corresponding in
CTctiSc VI CuC gram CioP9, tHc 1oicC'o"Nie' Va
mortgages and liens, and selling land for taxes,
will have been things Of the past-things that
were known in the days of Southern agricul-
tural folly.
Then we may talk about erecting manufac-
tories, for certainly such cannot generally
flourish where the necessaries of life are scarce,
and demanding an extortionate price The
stream of immigration will then be turned
Southwark Nature has made our country in
viting-rich in natural resources, genial in
climate, and various in productions. But such
invitations are repelled with wheat at two and
q half and corn one and half dollars per
bushe, and bacon at sixteen cents per pound.
The operative cannot labor with such a salary
as will pay the capitalist only handsome
dividend, and receive his provisions at these
figures. But sell him provisions cheap, and he
will labor cheap. Plant more grain and you
can sell cheap.
BOWLING GREEN.