Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-07-20
Ths Public Ledger for AbsenIees.
wHAr THE PEOPLE ARE DOING,


WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE DOING.
Upon a moderate estimate Shelbl
county will raise enough corr to do thu
people for home consumption twelve
months. That is on an average. Somt
viii not have enough. Others will have
asurplus to sell or feed to stock. So the
result is about the same. There will be
. considerable wheat crop-we have nc
idea how much. This has cost but little
labor and is easily harvested and pre-
pared for market or the mill. As there
are but few good wheat mills in the
county, the most Of this grain will be
sold to Memphis merchants, who are Of
fering good prices. The wheat may be
set down as a surplus product over what
the farmers usually raise and is praeti-
cally a clear profit, and the money so
realized goes at once into circulation at
a time of the year when it is much
needed. The fruit crop is unusually
large this year, and large shipments
have been and are being made North.
Some neighborhoods have also shipped
considerable quantities Of Strawberries,
raspberries, etc. Another item of
home production seen in our mar
kets in better supply than ever
was known is spring lamb. The
butchers and market men say the article
was never until this summer equal to the
demand. 1t is fine, fat, and in splendid
condition. The best lambs weigh seven
ty.6ve pounds and the farmers readily
sell them in market at five dollars a
head. The raising of these lambs costs
nearly nothing, and there again is money
made which is nearly all clear gain. The
people are encouraged the more to en-
gage in sheep-raising since the passage
Of a law to protect the sheep from dogs,
and it is likely that this branch of home
enterprise will rapidly expand. All
these things tend to show that our people
in ten years of hardships and expert
ments have adapted themselves to the
changed system of labor and are becom-
ing locally se%lf-sustaining and independ.
ent, The suicidal policy Of buying corn,
oats, hay and bran from st. Louis or
Cincinnati is discarded, and henceforth
the man who does not produce these arti-
cles of actual necessity at home will not
be considered q good farmer. There will
also be less -four and meat bought
through our merchants than heretofore,
and we hope the time is not far off when
every farmer will raise his own meat and
bread. Whenever a community manages
to make its exports greater in value than
its imports it is bound to prosper. The
principle is plain and simple. 1t is a
matter OF economy and common sense.
Too many people all over the c~ountryhaye
been living beyond their incomes, vainly
expecting a favorable turn in the wheel
of fortune. That wheel seldom turns
the right way, except when we put our
shoulders to it and 20 to work. This the
people Of our section have done, and
the results are beginning to be seen, as
shown above. The agricultural interest
is the basis of all permanent prosperity.
When that languishes there is little hope
left for the merchant, the banker, the
newspaper, or even the mechanic, who.
next to the farmer, is the most impor.
tant factor in the glory and strength Of
a nation. Our prospects we're never
brighter. II the people will persevere
In the course they have begun, and set
mp king ceru and king wheat and king
potatoes ever king cotton, they are
bound to grow rich, prosperous and
contested. With such an outlook all
classes, whether tillers of the soil. &C.
cordlng to the divine decree, or belong.
ing to the artificial and n~on.produciDg
classes have reason to be inspired with
renewed energy and hope.