Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-06-16

money, but In the increased value of lands
and tho comfort and progress of the people of
that county. We have equal IL not superior
facilities to market, as good lands aud OLE
mate as suitable for the profitable growth Of
this staple. Allthat has been accomplished
10 Buncombe County can be here and even
moro. for tho beneficial results of tobacco
culture there are yet in their infancy.
We commend 10 our readers careful peru
sal Of tho following article taken from the
Greenvillo, East Tennessee, Democrat, and
hope they will give the culture Of tobacco a
fair trial. feeling assured it will rebound to
their interests. ELL +ia g8Sf III
Buncombe. North Carolina. is county Of
mountains piled on mountains. Fifteen
yoars ago all agricultural efforts, rude at the
very best. was confined to the rich coyes and md
narrow. fertile valleys, walled in between
them. Generally. tho people. lived in log
huts and eubsisted on beat hominy, razor
backed hogs and pine top whiskey. a There
was little education, little enterprise and
general thriftlessness. Itis true that there
were cultured and wealthy citizens in Bun.
oombo and Ashevile. though an isolated and
monotonous town, was the center of good
deal Of Refinement aud elegant taste and opu-
us
tures on old Buncombe are true.
But what change is now presentedH 1t
is no longer cold" Buncombe, but progressive
stirring, wide awake. new Bunoom6e, In
the last ten years che has leaped forward a
half century in civilization, refinement, .pros.
perity and wealth. The farmers are more
enlightened and read more newspapers.
Elegant residences have taken tho place of
barbarian novels. The varied. romantic,
rnn In h,
the magic hand Of educated taste and cult ure.
Ashevillc is growing into beautiful at
tractive city. pulsating with q strong, healthy
tide Of buoyant life and ceaseless activity.
The telegraph and the railroad have brought
her into contact with tho outside world. She
has large stores iino ho.ols god ncwspap pers,
excellent schn"ls, splendid churches. palatal
residences and cuterprisins. mural, Christian
population. and business of all kinds is oun,
Quoted on grand aud remnncra,ive scale.
Every summon A>beviile is entertaining from
600 to 800 visitors. Tho circulating medium
is perhaps 500 now where it was only 81 ten
years ago. What magic has wrought this
marvellous transformation? word Of three
ayllables will answer this query: Tobacco.
If our inelegancy Of expression is excusable.
the whole population Of Bunoom be .shas
gone raein distracted" on the tobacco anes-
tion, and the area. increasing every year,
planted in tho weed, approaches the wonder
ful. The barren mt untain sides produce per
acre twenty, thirty and forty dollars worth p of
tobacco. Ten years ago these steep, rugged
declivities could be purchased as from twenty
cents to one dollar; now they sell readily at
from thirty to fifty dollars. There are four
thoroughly equipped tobacco factories in
Abheville enoh doing business on large
scale and large capital. Its tobacco mare
ket is visited by buyers from all over tho
country. The tobacco raised in Buncnmbe is
Of excellent quality. Hundreds of thuusan
manufacture. There is an abundance Of
money in the community and "cash down"
is the motto and rule of every trade. Men
Of very limited means few years ago are
amassng ample fortunes and for every-
body who will work there is bright future.
Right here is lesson that Greene county
can learn, an example that she can follow
with profit. She has hundreds. yes, thousands
Of acres in every respect similar 70 the val
uable tobacco lands Of Buncombe. Her wild
rugged mountain and hillsides, if cultivated
on the Buncombe plan. would Yield her
revenue at least ten times larger than she
derives from her present staple crops There
is not an acre of her broad domain, unless it
be too steep or rocky for cultivation, but
what will produce o merohantable article of
tobacco. A great denl of her lands will
bring the foest article. We venture the
assertion that her untitled lands, taat grow
nothing but briars mud sedge-grass from
year to year, if planted in tobacco, would
wheat crop that has been harvested since tho
war. Tobacco is never drog in tue mar
ket. 1t will go at some price and that price
will DO cash. Its consumption increases
with the increase Of population. 1t has he.
come the Lending luxury of civilized and
refined life. The cry of it's iniurousncss
only begets desire and determination to
consume moro Of it. 1t is in more constant
demand than liquor, as salable as the prime
necessities Of life.
Our advice to The farmers of Greene coun-
ty Is togo into tobacco raising on large
scale. We know it will pay. You say that
it no longer pays to raise whoat, corn and
hogs. Then you cannot lose anything by
trying something else. Tobacco will pay;
the experiments Of your neighbors across
the State line have demonstrated that fact.
The extraordinary proftnbleness Of the crop
viii enable you to redeem your lands tor
tured into poverty. You have every facility
tor transportation to market, or you can
build your own warehouses in Greenville
and the buyers will seek you. or. better still.
II you will raise the tobacco, sbrewd, saga
cions capitalists will build up factories right
in your own midst. Greene county has the
opportunity to get up out of the duat and
ashes. She has the chance to get herself out
OF the worn groove of farming on the old
togy plan and to enter upon broad, smooth
highway 10 prosperity and wealth. IF she
VIII only do 1t, Greene can far surpass now
Boncombe, and Greenevile can loave Ashe-
vile in the remote distance. Will this be
donc2