The Russellville Democrat., 1876-03-02


 this and then learn to be econom- ical, we would soon see better times:
 At this season of the year we have the regular periodical dis cussion about planting cotton. At the close of each year the planters see their error, but ac- customed debt and the hope of high prices for the next crop in ,luces them to repeat the error which experience has demon strated IS ruinous. The agricul- tural press throughout the south arc united in ifnplorlng and be- seeching planters to abandon the fatal error of planting too much cotton. The Jackson Miss. Ag- rigcultural Vindicator, one of the ablest agricultural journals of the south, in discussing this subject, says: "The jack Q lantern which has led our planters on from one failure to another for the past ten years has been the hope of making blg crop of cotton, get a good price for it, and have a big surplus at the end of the year. The farmers of Mississippi are poorer this first day of Feb ruary, 1876, than they were at the surrender, and the sole cause of this calamltous state of affairs is the all-cotton system of plant ing. If our lands would not pro- duce the various kinds of grains in large quantity and of fine quality; if they could not grow grass, clover, root crops and vege- tables in as great abundance as any country in the world; if they could not raise cattle, hogs, sheep and mules as easily and more profitably than any other; if, in fine, cotton was the only thing they could produce, there would be some excuse for this all cotton system. It would be the misfor- tune of the farmers, and not their fault; but as it is, their folly is criminal. This all cotton doc ttsina is the most ruinous that any people ever followed, to their own destruction. In California, for number of years, the only crop was gold; and while she ad- hered to her one-crop system, buying from abroad everything she needed, she was one of the poorest States in the Union. Now that she has diversified her industries, and made her gold her surplus crop, she is the rich est and most prosperous. So 1t will be with Mississippi, so soon as her planters will make her cot ton the surplus crop by raising their supplies at home, and make their farms self-sustaining." The error which the Vindicator com bats, is fully illustrated in the extract below from the Oxford Miss. ] Falcon: "Mr. L. $. Dill lard brought to thls place this week, carload of bacon. He says he will sell three or four loads. A car load weighs twenty thous- and pounds, and the price is twelve and one-half cents. Now figure a little. One load costs twenty-five thousand dollars, and If he sells two loads, and the other ten houses in town sell as much as he does, the bacon sold in Oxford will cost the planters of this county fifty five thousand dollars. This does not include what is sold in Abbeville, Taylor and Springdale; but a safe calcu- lation for the county of Lafayette will be eighty thousand dollars, and this for bacon alone. Is not this an eye opener? And with prudence and care this amount could be saved every year by our farmers, if they would only try as hard to raise their neat as they do to raise cotton. Why continue this wild and ruinous policy when it could be so easily avoided? Let the people look to their hog pens and corn cribs hereafter for their profits, and they will not meet with disappointment"