Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-06-09
CROPS AND BUSINESS.

The crop prospect 10 every direction
is promising beyond precedent, and this
in a year when the merchants havedon
less for the farmers in the way of ad-
vanees thar any season since the war.
The farmers have been thrown upon
their " resources as never before, and,
to use a slang illustration, it was q
"grcund hog" case with them. They
were ont OF meat and bound to have 1t
Providence has smiled upon their efforts
and sent upon their weltploughed fields
the early and the latter rain. Rain has
fallen at intervals thorughou. the spring
and early parts Of summer as though
specially designed to meet the exact
wants Of the husbandmen. From all
quarters we hear that such crops were
never seen. There are two plain
causes: the people have worked and
the season has been favorable. The
most gratifying evidence Of better times
in store for US lies in the fact that conf
denee is restored in the recuperative
powers Of the country and that the PEG
pie have quit grumbling. We hear less
complaint than usual Of hard times, al
though money is scarce and few men
with long faces can get credit. There
has been a long stride taken toward local
independence and that true prosperity
which God commanded man to work out
for himself when he said, "by the sweat
of thy brow shalt thou live" The soil
is the basis Of all wealth, comfort and
prosperity. Commerce is convenience,
but not a source Of real wealth. For ten
long years the people of this section
tried in vain to plant and grow i'm
mense areas of cotton after the old ante
belium system. They bought not only
all the comforts but the necessaries
of life from distant States, and onse-
-quently all the money they made was
drained from the country year after
year, and they grew poorer and poorer.
The panic Of 1873 FASTENED the ineyita-
BILE result; it cut of their credit to q
great extent, and they at last saw the
necessity Of diversified crops. There is
more corn. wheat, oats and potatoes and
grass Of different kinds growing within
two hundred miles Of Memphis than was
ever known since the country was set
tied by white mer. The people will
need but little of these things from
abroad. Their cotton crop will be almost
a clear surplus with which to pay off old
debts and improve their places, The
lesson learned we are confident will be
an abiding one. When a community
arrives at a conclusion after ten
years Of bitter experience it is apt
to remember it. We see it stated
that one and a half millions
bushels of wheat is growing within
elsy reach Of the Memphis mar
ket, Some of it is ripe and ready for
harvesting. This will bring money into
circulation FIVE months earlier thsn
usual. a month from now the effect
will be visible upon our streets and in
L
the advertising columns Of the newspa'
pers. The monotony Of the long, dreary
summer months will be broken by the
rattle Of heavily laden wagons and a
hustle about the depots and landings,
and on Front street, heretofore unknown
in the middle Of summer 1t is a new
departure as one Of the slowly wrought
out changes Of the times. 1t is the
adaptation Of a whole people to a new
order Of things, by which they will lift
themselves up from the slavery of old
habits to walk proudly erect on the
highway to sueeess and wealth aud all