The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-04-08

| awakened TO new lie. With very 1latterlUt
prospects of its early completion across thu
mountains to Knoxville, thus bringing thu
State with her seaport towns in direct rail
road connection with the great network O
western roads convcrging towards Knox
vile. Nearer the centre of the State run:
the Spartanburg & Asheyille Road, nearly
completed to the latter point, with an equal
ly strong probability of an early completion
of the missing link from Ashcyille to VOL
Creek, thus again completing still another
important link in the great Western connec
tions with our seaport towns. And still
another line, midway between the two
which, according to d recent survey, affords
the most practicable crossing Of the noun
tains yet discovered south of Pennsylvania
making Asheville its Western termini, with
a direct connection with the great lines ol
road traversing our State east and west
north and south, and running through the
French Broad Valley from its head to its
| foot with the richest soil for grains and
grasses, and her hills affording great vari.
ETY. of minerals, especially lime and iron in
great abundance with some outcroppings OF
coal. All these lines of roads proposing
hearty support of every well-wisher of his
State and her seaport towns. No petty
jealousies should be allowed to hinder the
great work of an early completion of all
these lines Of roads, but every one should
do what he could to bring about this desira-
BILE consummation.
So, to sum up the whole matter, in re-
viewing the advantages of the Piedmont
region of country for permanent settlement,
whether we look to health and religious
influences, the first and highest considera-
ton, along with educational facilities, or to
her material prospects in manufacturing and
agricultural development, we shall s'e that
she is not to be surpassed by any other.
= While we say this generally of the whole
Piedmont belt of country, perhaps we shall
be pardoned if we speak more particularly
of the advantages afforded by our own
County to the worthy cmigrant for perma-
nent settlement.
Anderson County possesses advantages
equal to any other Of the Piedmont belt.
Her soil is of every character from the rich
alluvial bottom to the sandy loan on our
ridges. Between these two extremes we
find the heavy clay soils along our creeks
and branches, peculiarly adapted to the
production of grains and grasses. The
light mulatto soils Of the poorer uplands
although not so we'll adapted to the growth
of grains and grasses as the heavier clays,
is better adapted to the cultivation of cot
ton, the smaller fruits and vegetables. And
the poorer ridges are almost exclusively de-
voted to cotton and the small grains. The
sweet potato finds congenial home on all
these lighter soils, and can be successfully
grown any where in our County. The COW
pea, the luscious watermelon, the chufa, the
pinder, all yield bountifully to proper cul-
ture. The Irish potato and the cabbage,
for an early and late crop, succeed adnlira-
bly,. So with the onion and the usual va
riety of garden vegetables. 1t is believed
that the onion might be made one OF our
best money crops, if it were possible to di-
gle crop, from the all-cotton theory to that
price for this vegetable is never less than
one dollar per bushel, and the yield never
below one hundred bushels to the acre.
Upon our va1iegated soil and with our uni
form climate, the farmer in Anderson Coun-
ty can produce an abundance Of splendid
syrup from the production of sorghum cane
One hundred gallons to the acre is the aver
age Weld, and sometimes it reaches two
hundred gallons or more. Indeed, we have
soil and climate suited, it seems, to the
production of cotton, all the different kinds
of grains and grasses, fruits and vegetables
in great abundance of every variety.
Anderson County has been not inaptly
called the banner county OF the State. In
some respects, at least, she is justly entitled
to the appellation. She was one of the first
counties to throw off the antiquated and
burdensome practice of fencing the crops
instead of stock. This great burden rested
as an incubus on agriculture, requiring
usually winters outlay of labor to repair
and build fences. According to statistics at
Washington, it is estimated that it requires
an average of three dollars of fencing to
every dollars worth of stock, under the old
and barbarous system of fencing crops.
Since the adoption of the change by Ander-
son County the contagion is spreading rap
idly, and the probability is now that the
change will become State law. Anderson
County is Justly entitled to the appellation
Of the banner county in another important
respect. She was perhaps the very first
County in the State to recognize the neces-
sity of drainage law for health and the
development of agriculture. Gradual y put
surely her people are becoming educated 10
the Importance of such law, and the time
is not far distant when its beneficent results
will be seen and felt along the borders OF
all our rivers, creeks and branches. Form
erly, it was not an uncommon occurrence
for logs and trees to be felled in our creeks,
as all easy way of getting rid of any further
trouble, to lie and rot and putrify Until
some kindly freshet should remove the
nuisance to the farm Of some innocent man
below. Under the present law, it is mis-
demeanor for any man to do such an act
| and not only so, but every landowner is re-
quired to keep the streams through his
| farm free from all distractions of RATS
trash, debris &c.
Let her banner wave, say we, until An.
derson shall become such as her natural
advantages entitle her to become-the gar.
den spot of the Piedmont region of the
State.
In conclusion, fellow citizens and farmers
Of Anderson County, let us exhort you, in
the language of Holy Writ, mot to forget
the assembling Of yourselves together, as
the manner Of some is" Once or twice
each year might the farmers of Anderson
| County assemble III mass meeting at theil
beautiful county town to consult together
and devise ways and means to advance and
| develop the great business of agriculture
Lectures or essays should be delivered al
these meetings touching all points connec
ted with agriculture and its advancement
The relations of agriculture to the govern
ment Of the country, the discussion o.
science and agriculture, the question of the
establishment Of agricultural colleges and
experimental stations, all these and much
more would naturally come within The
purview Of such meetings. Said meetings
would not be designed to interfere with OF
supercede the more permanent organization
of the Patrons of Husbandry and Farmers
Clubs, but rather to enlist the popular heart
on the great and paramount question O
agriculture, and thus prepare the way fol
the enlisting of many recruits to the rank:
of these older organizations. Thus, if the
farmers of Anderson County please, viii
the little cloud, not bigger than. mans
hand, become great and mighty cloud
big with blessings for our whole people.
Something Wrong.
Mr.. EDITOR: The Bowling Green club o
subscribers have failed to get two or thre
packages of papers within the past six O.
eight months. There is evidently a neglec
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