Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1880-01-22
Our Farming Interests.

We arc an agricultural community, and with
proper management there is no more pleasant or
independent avocation in life than farming
The farmer can make his own bread and meat,
aud, if necessary, clothing for himself and
family, and ho alone can enjoy all tho comforts
and ncccssaries of lifo without money and with
out price. Our State is we'll adapted TO agri-
culture. Wc layo mild and healthy climate
Our SOIL if not naturally rich, still is sufficiently
fertile to yield q liberal harvest with proper
tillagc, while by judicous cultivation and fer
tilization it mny be developed TO tho highest
degree Of productivencss. From the mountains
TO the scaboard we can grow two Of the greatest
staples Of the world, cotton and rice while corn,
wheat, oats, rye sorghum and almost every
article Of food which can be grown i'll any Of
the zones can be grown proGtably in our State,
tropical fruits and spices only excepted. Nor
arc We less favored in the matter of raising
stock Of all kinds. With such opportunities we
Should be happy and prosperous people and
each year should witness our growth in wealth
Is this, however, the case? During the fourteen
years since the close of tho war our people have
greatly improved i'll the matter Of tillage Of tlcir
lands and have generally harvested larger ana
more proitab crops than before the war, but
have they increased in wealth? Arc they not
more generally involved III debt now than they
were ten years ago? We hardly think negative
answer could be given to this question. Why
then is this the case and what is the cause of
our failure? General extravaganza OF course is
one cause, but thcro are other causes which
should not exist. We DO not make our bread
and meat ut home. Ton upon ton Of meat and
flour arc shipped annually TO this county and
sold to our farmers, consuming al! their surplus
crop in purchasing what they should grow TO
sell. Our brooms and rakcs, our hoe handles
and axe handles and plows and plow stocks, our
wagons and nearly every implement used on the
farm, many Of which could be made at home in
idle times OH rainy days, are bought from the
North and help to exhaust our country Of money.
Our f.riliscrs. which last but Il year and which
cost heavily, are bought instead Of being made
i'll the barnyard and stable. Our readers will
remcmbcr that during last year We obtained in
formation from .guano agents, showing that il
would require twelve hundred bales Of cotton to
pay for the commercial fertilizers used in this
county, and that if droughta or floods should
cut short the crop the people would be left in a
lcporabc condition. Has not this Substantially
happened? The bad crop year cut of the
yield that in n number Of instances farmers
failed TO make enough cotton TO pay for the
fertilizers used, while their debts for supplies
arc left hanging over them with no means to
meet these just demands. Suppose our people
during the winter moths would turn their al
tcnlon TO making manure Ivy lt'ering their lots
aud hauling in muck woods earth, &C., would
they not have better, cheaper and more pcrma.
ncnt fertilizer, aud in u few years would not
their lands become permanently curichcd? We
arc NOW about To enter on another crop season.
and while VIC admit the necessity of buying
some commercial fertilizers for n few years, yet
our people should buy less and less each yea"
and strive every winte, by saving and making
manure 10 dispense with them in few years
altogether or nearly SO. Let us all set 10 work
TO improve our condition by making our own
corn, wheat and bacon ANA by annually i'm
proving oar land with home made manurcs. If
all our people will turn their idle time and the
winter months to such work we will find our
condition greatly improved in Il iew years, both
in the increased value OF our lands and in the
clear profit realized from them.