The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-05-14
A DISASTROUS SYSTEM.
The Cotton Planters 0f' the south and
Their Trtbulatfous.

I
Their TFibulatfous.
Prom the New York Tribune.
The cotton region embraces q smaller
area than northern people generally
suppose. While North Carolina and
| Tennessee, for instance, raise 3 large
| amount of cotton, they cannot be called
cotton states even Northern Georgia.
not a cotton region. Still, the great
staple IS raised so far north as Southern
Virginia, Southern Illinois and Mis-
| souri,, but the fields are scattered
and small and the yield is unsatisfactory.
The greater part of the crop is raised in
South Carolina, In three-fourths Of Geor-
gia, in most of Alabama and Mississippi
in half of Louisiana and Arkansas, and
IN n good portion of Texas. If the
whole the state of Georgia were in cot
ton, the area would be greater than the
aggregate cotton districts of all the rest
of the states. This shows hew limited
Is the cotton region but where soil and
climate are especially adapted to any
product, a comparatively small area
viii furnish a full supply. This is no
tably the case with c0rn. for less than
one hundred counties furnish the surplus
that enters into the commercial market.
Where cotton planting is a business,
little else is raised, and provisions of all
kinds, manufactured articles, and even
the necessary hay and grain, are
brought in from the outside world.
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ken
lucky furnish butter, eggs, fruit, and
some flour Ohio, Illinois, and Mis-
souri, send immense quantities of corn,
bacon, lard, agricultural implements,
and manufactured articles, all of which
are paid for with cotton.
The disastrous results of this system,
after lapse of more than forty years,
are now fully apparent. A great ma
jority of the planters are said to be in
debt, and there does not seem to be the
slightest prospect of their deliverance
so long as the present mode of planting
is continued. A widespread spirit of
speculation, or of gambling, by which
wealth Is to be acquired without work,
has been the outgrowth of this system.
The remedy that has been repeatedly
proposed is that the planter shall raise
his own supplies, and thus save the i'm
mense sums that now 60 to merchants,
railroads, and middlemen. More corn
and less cotton is the proposed motto.
And yet but little impression has been
made, for money must be had to pay
debts, or, at least, interest, and nothing
brings ready money but cotton. So |
more money is borrowed to raise more |
cotton there is no time, no skill, no
taste for other crops. Meanwhile the |
border states of Tennessee, North Gar !
olins, and Kentucky, which are tenders !
to the cotton states, complain bitterly |
Of the reaction Of these adverse cOndi- !
lions upon them money is scarce and /
business is dull, and those who would |
seek remedy in going west" are un- |
Ia, 10 IL arat 1~at
sales of real estate.
There is no doubt that the system /
which the cotton planters have estab- |
lished is a vicious one, and that il is /
only a question of time as to when It |
shall be superseded by a better. Even |
the annual purchase of fertilizers for |
raising cotton viii, in time, lead to dis /
aster. There are, perhaps no statistics 1
of the millions of dollars paid every /
year for superphosphate and gusno, but /
the total is certainly enormous, and |
fully equal to the immense sum paid
for supplies. Whether these fertilizers /
really replace what IS abssracted by the /
cotton may be questionable but the |
land does not grow richer, and the ef- /
feet of the fertilizers on the soil seem /
analogous TO that of alcohol on the /
human system-stimulating it for a time |
10 greater effort, and leaving it in q
state of collapse. The trouble with all
the upland of the cotton states is that
It is naturally thin, and a few years
cropping wears it out. The millions
ipon millions of acres that are to be
seen, beginning even at Mount Vernon
aud running down through the Caro-
inas into Georgia, which were once in
and have now grown up TO
pine, are sufficient evidence of a thin
,oil. Nor are the supply states, such
IS Tennessee and the like, much better
IF. The absence of powders all
through the south is significant, for
hey are evidence of rich soil, one
hat endures long, and is highly favor
lble for all the grasses. The basis Of
he larger part of the southern soil is
and rock, and the value Of such mn-
erial is nowhere great. In those limi-
ed regions where lime rock is the basis,
he farms have great value for IN
stance, in parts of northern Georgia,
Alabcma, and Tennessee, and notably
n the blue grass region OF Kentucky.
Vicious and mistaken as the system
IF the Gotten planter really is, great and
.lmost insurmountable obstacles oppose
he raising of his own supplies. In the
irst place, it hardly pays to raise ten
md fifteen bushels of corn, five and
.ight bushels Of wheat, and ten and
wenty of oats to tie acre and second
Y, the proprietor himself is inexperi-
lnoed, while the negro help is decidedly
A varied industry i'm
,lies and demands varied capabilities,
which neither master nor man possesses.
While an acre of cotton is almost GER
ain to bring from $50 to $40, individu-
/ planters viii not SOW another crop
gorth less than half as much, in order
hat general prosperity may be pro-
luced, and that the ideas of the theo-
lists may be carried out. One thing
he planter and the negro both under
tand, and that is how to raise cotton.
The land Is ready, the implements are
Fought, and even the mules know when
O 60 to work the seasons Of picking
nd ginning are forecrdained, and the
hir,s are rraitin o for their carQoea.