Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-05-06

faculties which a wise Creator has bestowed
upon US.
[originaIl
AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
From its earliest settlement, South Carroll
ma has been, emphatically, an agricultural
State. The latitude, thesoil, the climate all
mark out the State as adapted to agricultural
pursuits. Such being the case, agriculture
has not received that close attention which we
might expect. The reason of this, no doubt,
is the fact that it takes very little effort for
the farmer to make competency. On poor
and unproductive soils, the inhabitants are
obliged to resort to art to supply the defects
of nature. This is illustrated by reference
to England. Much Of the soil of England
both Old England and New England lis, by
nature, poor. 1t has been made rich by art.
There is another thing that has retarded the
growth Of South Carolina, in an agricultural
point of view. 1t is this. There is not to-
day, and never has been, any permanent and
extensive concert of action amongst farmers.
Every one has been for himself, and no one
aimed at anything like permanency. At any
period in the history of the State, planters
were ready, at a moments notice, to sell out
all they had and 60 to some place else, either in
the State, or in some other State. 1t is diff.
cult to account for this unsettled condition Of
things which has existed in the State from its
infancy, and still exists. Fewpersons seem to
be welded to the soil, and yet all are bold to
declare that South Carolina is the garden
spot of America. Those who leave the State
become fully convinced, in their minds, re-
specting its excellency, 50 soon as they leave
it. This migratory feeling has powerful eff:
feet on the development of the agricultural
interests of the State. The Improvements are
only temporary concerns, in most instances
The houses are nearly all wooden buildings,
which will, in most instances, not last more
than one generation. No value is attached
to them. Except in cities and towns, the soil
will command as high price in the market
without the buildings, as it will with them.
1t is rare thing to find the children living
in the house which their father built, and
still rarer to find them living in the house
erected by their grandfather. In fact, parents
never expect their children to occupy the
homestead. 1t is contemplated that the
houses which are put up will rot down about
as soon as the builder wears out. In most
cases, they are miserable concerns, afording
but little comfort to the possessor. The dwell
ings are mere icebergs in winter, and furnaces
in summer.
The want of concert among farmers has
had very much to do in impeding the pro-
gress of agriculture in South Carolina, and in
fact in all the South. Merchants have their
trade unions, and their boards of trade. They
meet and consult who they will credit, and
who they will not credit, for how much they
will sell this article, and for how much that.
The same is true respecting mechanics and
operatives in manufacturing communities /;
but the farmers of South Carolina have no
bond of union. Many of them do not even
take an agricultural paper. Each man steers
his own course. Farmers need board of
trade far more than merchants do. Farmers
lose far more by crediting merchants than
merchants do by crediting farmers. If one
class of society has right to protect itself,
every Other class has the same right. Mer-
chants and mechanics are not blamed for act
ing in concert. No objection is raised against
the boards of trade and trade unions of mer-
chants. This is we'll enough but farmers are
censurable because they each 60 singly, sep
erately and alone. Another thing which re-
tards the progress of agriculture in South
Carolina, is the way the landed estates are d.
vided up. Some men have farms as large as
those owned by the great landlords of Eng
land. In an agricultural country land that
is in actual cultivation is so much capital
pro6tably invested. All lands owned but not
cultivated are dead expense. The man
who purchases farm Of two hundred acres,
paying for it two thousand dollars, but only
cultivating fifty of the two hundred acres, really
pays the TWO tnOusauu uollarS lor tHe ulIy
acres. A shrewd merchant would regard the
other one hundred and fifty as he does old and
questionable stock. He would almost give
it away to get rid of it. Were our farmers to
engage more extensively in stock raising, then
large farms would be necessary and pro6ta'
BILE; but for planting purposes, that only is
profitable which is cultivated.
-<->->------
SHALL WE "BAR OFF" OUR CoTToN p
When cotton is we'll up it must be worked.
We must "run around" it, as the term is.
Some do this with a turning plow, running the
bar close to the cotton, while others use a
scooter or sweep. Is the deep, close siding,
as done by the turning plow, necessary or de,
sirable? This depends upon the nature and
condition of the soil. Where the land is
heavy and the beds have compacted by beat:
ing rains, we think the barring of useful
and very important process; but on light,
loose soils, and where the beds were freshly
made at the time of planting, close, deep
siding with any Implement is worse tfan use-
less.-Rural CaroIinian.
To CLEAN 4 LOOKING GLAss.-Wash the
olass with luke.warm soapsuds and q sponge !;