The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-08-05
Sketches of an Enumerator,

MIR. EDIroR: The duties of an enunicra-
tor. and the length of time allowed for the
performance Of their duties. were not in
congruity. The first great object of the
census is to obtain correct account of the
population, their age, sex. color and civil
condition. Ell the other features of tile
census followed as adjuncts to the popula.
ton schedule. Hence all crop reports par
took of the nature of Il double entry, and
considering the fact that but few farmers
keep anything like exact accounts of the
yield of their various crops, acreage. &c,
much less of their dairy and poultry pro-
ducts, the performance of this duty became
tedious and difficult III regard 70 the
leading crops of cotton, corn and wheat,
the difficulty was not so great, except as to
acreage, but in the oat and all truck crops
the guessing was very wild. In this depart
ment, particularly. no little attention was
given to the cultivation, and the products,
generally, together with the disastrous
effects of the dry weather. that the report
in reference to root and forage crops was
very meagre. In many, many cases the
report for farm or family would be two or
three bales OF cotton, from twenty to fifty
bushels of corn, few bushels of wheat,
and no truck crops at all scarcely. AL
though there were an abundance of chill
dren to be fed there were no potatoes or
peas or sorghum to report to feed them
with. Cotton, cotton is the leading crop, to
the neglect Of almost every other crop.
Potatoes, sweet anu Irish, arc known to be
two Of the cheapest and most valuable
crops raised, whether for the support of
man or beast, and yet the acreage allowed
for each or both on most of the farms emu
merated, except, perhaps, in one case, did
not reach more than half acre. One gen.
tlenan plants largely every year of the
sweet potatoes as cattle food for winter,
and says there is nothing better; and among
children, white or colored, there is nothing
better to feed with in the fall and winter
than the potato. All acknowledge this,
and yet the mania for the cotton crop is so
great that, although there is more money
in an acre OF potatoes if put upon the mar
ket than there is in an acre of cotton, the
infatuation for cotton reigns supreme.
One gentleman showed me one acre in
watermelons, laid by about the middle OF
June with prospect for large yield of
the luscious fruit. Some years since he had
rented farm at one hundred dollars per
year for FIVE years, and had paid the rent
every year by the sale of watermelons
grown upon one acre of land. Of course,
his OWE family were amply supplied with
this great luxury. He finds it easier to cul
tivate an acre in watermelons than in cot
ton, and the profit much larger. Besides,
the income from the watermelon patch
comes in at time when other crops are not
ready for the market.
The pea crop, both for food and forage is
unsurpassed. Besides the yield of peas, the
vine, if left upon the ground, is known to
be an excellent fertilizer. And so with
other truck crops that might be enumerated.
And yet the drift is for cotton, cotton, to
the exclusion of every thing else, thus en-
failing upon themselves and families de-
privation of most of the comforts of good
living, for the sake Of making cotton 10 buy
everything else with. Such a policy, if
persisted liz, must result disastronsly to the
whole country. On many farms on the
Saluda side of the township the watermelon
patch maintains an important position
among the cultivated crops, and so it might
be upon all. To say nothing of the money
value, which depends largely upon your
convenience to market, for the comfort Of
your own family let every farmer, whether
tenant or owner, have his own melon patch.
Ry So doing the temptation to pilfer from
others is removed, and thus the good morals
of the neighborhood preserved.