The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-06-19

AGRIt ULTURAL APPROPRIATION
BILL.

sentative, Hon. Chas. e. Hooker, We
have received speech delivered by
Hon. ID. w. Aiken, of South Carolina
in the House of Representatives, OF
the " Appropriation BILL" which de
serves some notice. One of the appro
priations asked in the bill is one tC
continue the experiments in the man
facture of sugar.
He says we imported last year ovel
one billion seven hundred million
pounds of sugar; costing the con-
sumers over Sl10,000,0OO. This is an
tonishing fact--that with a large area
of fertile sugar lands still uncultivatedl
we should import sugar instead of ex-
porting.
The Merchant, Mechanic and Farm
er says:
"The sugar crop of Louisiana
can be quintupled without affect
ing the general market to any great
extent or for any lengthy period. We
import S100,000,000 worth of sweets
ANNUALLY, anu tilc uciht'iiu 10 OViS'"i'V
ly increasing. The sugar planter must
study economy, not only in reducing
expenses to the lowest possible figure,
but in forcing his land to produce the
greatest possible yield per acre. I'M
proved implements will assist him IN
the first, rendering more thorough
cultivation possible, which will render
the second probable"
This is one of the commodities that
the supply cannot and will not equal
the demand for long time-dissimilar
to cotton.
Congress appropriates millions OF
dollars for cleaning out "rivers,
almost buried in obscurity, while she
is afraid to increase her appropriations
toward fostering and building up di-
versified Industries upon which rest
our future success in agriculture.
In speaking about encouraging the
growth of the tea plant, Hon. Mr..
Aiken says:
An appropriation is also ask
ed for to aid the Agricultural De-
partment in encouraging the growth
of the tea plant and manufacturing
the commercial article, so that we
may become the producers and no
longer remain, as we are, the pur-
chasers of twenty millions of dollars
worth of tea annually. Thirty years
experience has satisfied individuals in
more States than one in the South
that tea can be grown successfully,
but it has been left to the Agricultural
Department to prove that any State
South of the latitude of Washington,
by devoting the same attention to the
culture of tea that is now given to its
staple crops, might obviate the neces-
sity of our importing a single caddy
of foreign tea"
His speech attacks dealing in ftl-
lures, which has been so ruinous to
both farmers and merchants during
the past year. Hundreds of thousands
of dollars were sacrificed in this future
business; and we know to-day, those
who have been bereft of their worldly
possessions in few days, by gambling
in commodity which benefits no one
save the millionaires of Wall street.
The gentleman also says:
"There is in all our cities class of
men neither Shorthorns nor Jerseys ;
neither grizzly nor black, and yet
they are known by the euphonious
title of bulls and bears. 1t is
these elegant gentlemen, who fire.
quently stock the cards Oh each other
and who never condescend to play
with the farmer any game but heads
[ win and tails you lose, that tells us
the times are prosperous. They deal
altogether in futures, that imagi-
nary product which was never plant
ed, grown, nor harvested, but which
establishes the market price of all
other agricultural products. 1t is they
who by organizing syndicate can
purchase all of any product-wheat,
for instance.-in any western city, and
pay more than the market price thus,
in their technical language creating a
corner; and then by c0lluding
with 'eveners, another techni-
cality,) transport it to the Atlantic
seaboard, sell it for less than the
market price, thus destroying all COM
petition from regular merchants, and
still make handsome profit by the
speculation. AS long as such Shylocks
are recognized as the best and con-
trolling representatives of their re-
spective communities there can be no
general prosperity among the people"
The speech, which is full of good
sound sense and practicability, closes
as follows:
i" Sir-as the American soldier
loves his country, that its honor
is in his custody; and as the American
seaman, when he treads the deck even
in foreign water, symbolizes his love
of country by his alteration for the
flag that floats at his masthead. So,
sir, | would have the patriotism of
the American farmer reflected through
his beautiful home, and intensified
10y the knowledge that at the Capital
his government had endowed de-
partment qualified and empowered to
disseminate for his benefit, even
though he live upon its most distant
confines, practical and experimental
instructions nowhere else to be OBJ
tained.p
The agricultural interest surpasses
all others-it is the foundation of our
future prosperity at home and abroad;
it needs the cooperation Of Congress
sional legislation, and the people.
And when Congress frowns down
upon petty appropriations that may
he auxiliary in promoting this great
interest, it shows conclusively that
agriculture does not meet the approba-
tian it really deserves.
We saw specimens of onions from
DIR. Stackhouse's farm measuring fif-
teen and One-half inches i'm diameter.
Will not the Doctor tell our readers
who farm, how he raises all those fine
things Baptist Record.
If the editor of the Record will
glance occasionally over the columns
Of the Agricultural department of the
Jackson COMET, he viii find out how
most Of these things are raised, as my
father writes sometimes for that de-
partment. He will soon give an ar