The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1875-08-25
ENCOURAGING PROSPECT.

The prospect or ABUNDANT crops UCI5 year |
throughout Virginia, and the country gener-
ally, Is very encouraging. The wheat crop,
though considerably injured since the har-
vest by excessive rains, is good one both
as to quantity and quality. The harvest of
oats and hay, while not abundant, is on the
whole middling good; fall pastures very
great; yield of potatoes immense. Tobacco
promises we'll Such crop of corn has not
been seen for twenty years. The valleys
are covered over with corn and the little hills
rejoice on every side. When it is consider
ad that every farmer raises corn, the surplus
is 50 large that, should the price be but small,
the aggregate Of values viii be very great.
This should encourage our farming pOpula-
ton, constituting as it does the bone and
sinew of the land.
It is indeed highly probable that for some.
years the seasons viii be prOPi;iOus, and the
agricultural interests Of this and other South
ern States more prosperous. This hope
rests upon good grounds. While one year
may differ greatly from another, yet taking
considerable series, say of fifteen years,
one viii be found to correspond very much
to another. Now it is known that the last
ten years before the present have been most
ly very unfaYorable. Considering then the
general uniformity of the seasons, it is in the
highest degree probable that for some years
to come the agricultural interest will he far
more prosperous than has been known for a
long time. If SO, it will lift great burden
from our farmers, and from the whole land.
There may have been Encouragement of the
public finances; We do not undertake to ex-
pound that intricate question. But the
main root of the difficulty, if we mistake
not, has been deeper. There was a great
amount of debt contracted before the war.
It was general fault among US. Many Of
our people seemed almost TO make it point
to be in debt; at any rate it gave them no
uneasineas to carry ore on indefinitely, from
$4,000 to $4,000, according to circum-
stances. When the war closed with its dis
asters, he who had as much as $4,000 to
pay, found himself not little perplexed to
meet it, under the changed condition of
everything in our affairs. Then came the
stay-laws, which only rolled the burden a
Little farther along the path, leaving it to
be taken up at last, and grown larger by the
process. Far better had the adjustment
taken place in 1865, or soon after, when all
values commanded much higher price than
now. The relation between creditor and
debtor had, and to large extent still has
to be settled. 1t is going on, and as this
progresses we are slowly emerging from the
former unsatisfactory state, and will esta-
blish our goings upon a more substantial ba-
sis. A few years of good crops, connected
with a thorough system of economy in all
our households, viii bring our people into a
condition of comfort and thrift. The Lord
will not leave himself without witness, Civ.
us fruitful seasons, and filing our hearts
with food and gladness. He has always
been "merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
and of great goodness" Let our people be
of good courage. Depression cuts the nerves
of energy. There is an old saying which
applies to our temporal as well as our spir-
itual welfare" We are Savsd By hope, but
are killed By despair."
Speaking of the Importance of thorough
economy in all our households, reminds us to
say that if some of our brethren, and sisters
also, who hold gifted pens, would take up
this subject and give it good sitting, it
would be doing an excellent service to society.
In the meantime we beg leave to give them
for consideration the terse maxim Of John
Wesley, which puts the whole matter in a
nutshell" Make all you can; save all yOI
can gee all you caa.