The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-12-20
THE GREAT CREATIVE INDUSTRY,
Its Attractions, Capapiltt.os, Wants, Ad.
vantages and Disabilities.
NUMBER II.

NUMBER II.
Can remunerative crops be realized
from year to year with constantly in
creasng fertility? This occupies the
whole ground--theory and practice
This is the question of questions to the
entire farming community, and should
be pondered by every individual farmer
What answer does the history of agricul-
ture in this community give to the ques-
ton? What, but an emphatic negative?
Quilted, sterile fields and wide wastes tell
melancholy tale of havoc and destruc-
ton. Take, if you will, trip by rail to
the capital of your State; keep a sharp
lookout, and, with occasional reliefs of
green spots of fertility, you will sec
country denuded of it's primeval forest,
and vast tracts with not solitary speci-
men left TO speak OF the grandeur, beau
everywhere, waste, sterility and desola-
ton. Less than n century has wrought
this ruin and destruction. 1t is as if the
the Ottoman Turk had despoiled it; the
Bedouin Arab had annually raided it
and seized upon all he could lay hands
on. Such was the sad impression pro-
duced upon one who has lately seen this
! region, and it made him tremble for the
destiny Of his native land in the near
future.
! How many fields reduced to cnltiva-
tion fifty years ago still retain their orig
inal prOductiveness Here and there It
may be e few acres fayorably located aus,
cared for produce fair crops, or bank or
bottom enriched by alluvial deposits, hut
for the most part lands cultivated that
far back have been turned out, and much
of the same has been felled second time
and put to cotton. Thousands of acres
IN living memory have been treated in,
this manner, and with some honorable
exceptions and slight general advance
this is our agricultural system of to-day
Is this rapid decadcnce and declensicn
inseparably incident upon the cultivation
Of the soil? BY no means. Not neces.
| ssrily SO, hut arising partly from reck-
lessness, partly from ignorance and dis
regard to physical laws. Nor is this i'm
| poverishment permanent. Tho recupe-
rative energies of nature are wonderful.
The sun will continue to dispense his
| heat, the air to watt its gases, the dew
| and rain to descend and fertilize and
fructify the waste places again. They
| will be reclaimed.
The wisdom that imposed labor and
| toll upon man as the price of food. be-
| slowed OH the earth such qualities, when
skilfuily and intelligently directed and
utilized, as TO be capable to produce in
| endless succession. Hence, the pursuit
of agriculture 10 permanency, not to be
superseded by the alembic of the chemist
nor the advancement and perfection Of
science. But bread must be made by
bone and muscle rs long as the genera
! tier nf man endures.
| Nor Is this retrogression general or
itniyersal. In other quarters Of the world
the same lands have been continually
cultivated from remote antiquity. China
has been densely populated fer forty
centuries, and her productive capacities
| are not known TO be diminished. Much
of Europe was thickly settled before the
beginning Of our own era. ITALY sus.
tanned d population during the Common
wealth greater perhaps than. at present.
and yet the identical fields parcelled out
70 the soldiers Of Marius and Sylla, and
] The seven acres of Cincinnatus are pro.
ducing profitable crops at this day.
England has doubled her production of
wheat irsa century. II may be urged
that theirs il an intensive system, conse.
quent upon an over-crowded population
that it is necessary in order TO, sustain
existence itself, that the most rigid econ
| omy must he practieed in the cultivation
of their farms and in the consumption of
their products, which often ar4 but bare
suDslstence; anu tnaS we VINO iive in,tnis
new world ihre nos under tha same ext
gencies; that we have broad and splen.i
did domain 20 choose from; that when
We cut down and wear out We have only
to migrate to fresher lands. Granted
that theae are tfhths; yet already in the
eastern tier of States, even in our newly
peopled country, the renoyating system
mes been ionnd necessary. We begin 10
teaiiEe' that il we would be supported 6y
our thrms, and leave on them any valua-
nle possessions for posterity, we must stop
this premature decay and rapid deterio-
ration. This has been succesehslIy bepun
in many portions of the country. Bare
-=1>entinu need be made to refresh, tho
recollection, TO man. of the Systematic
cultivation, the aau.irable management
and the magnificent crops in large Sec |
tons of Virginia, Maryland and Penn
syivania, wiiSTu bIit u few, years before /
disorder waste and sterility were on sll |
sides apparent. Like Improvement and |
regeneration we believe afe possible for |
us who live in a country In physical fea-
lures similar, in variety and Abundance |
of production not inferior. Not ae some |
haye contended, solely by cutting uD our |
farms IN small parcels and selling out "a |
immig grants, and so rob Us oF, the glory
we may achieve. for ourselves. Nor rs |
others say BY concentrating all our means
and resources on few ac.ss. We offer
no opposition to small farms, we invite