Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1881-06-23
From the Wilmington Stnr.
Concerning Peer Farming.

During the las: fifteen years Of
alavery the South raised 46.675.69l
bales Of cotton. During the frat fit
teen years under freedom, that is
from 1866 to 1880. the number 0
bales produced was 36 43S. 33333.
-Nor!ie:m Itema
We preached little sermon OF Oh
own N these columns recently abou
the folly Of raising 50 much cotton
the expense Of the cereals and c;hel
crops. Ii the South had produce
but 1000 900 bales instead Of real
ly 57,0O0,000 it would have obtaine
more actual money and been far bet
ter of in many particulars. Blu
there is nothing like the blindness o
the cotton fan ,tic. he would b
miserable if he raised his own bread
stuffs, "hog and hominy,'' and sto
and cattle. He prefers to buy III
pork, look to Kentucky and ohiofo
his horses and mules, and fetch hl
pay from the came section, to raising
it at home and being Independent
Hundreds of farmers prefer TO pay
two prices for supplies by buying Oh
a credit, and have a lecied iondnes
for mortgages even of land as We'll a.
crops to be grown hereafter.
An intelligent business man oI
this city said to us that the Soutl
would be the richest country on tn
globe il it only would save erhat :
makes. That went at once to TIE
centre Of the matter. The "stuh'
made but J: goes to pay Northern
bills for athousand articles that ough
to he manufactured at home. II goes
for extr&vaganc Of one kind anc
another. and :or fertilizers, hay, ia
con, and SO On, that ought 10 De rais
ed IN the South, ana it Is = shame
and reproach 10 Its Intelligence tnat
such Is not the case.
Suppose the South made one hall
Of the cotton, does not every fairly
intelligent Ioan H;hp reflects know
that in few years cotvon would fetch
twice OF thrice what ttetches today?
Why, the South oan absolutely con
troll the cotton markets o. the world
and dictate it's own terms. Was Il
not ahown during the war that Eu-
rope could not do without Southern
cotton: Neither Egypt, nor India,
nor South America, nor all combined
car supply the demands without ths
South. Except il Egypt the cotton
grown ;s :ar below the Southern
standard. The English manuiactur
ers got terribly sick o: surat cotton
Have you forgotten now ravsnously
the cotton spinnera were Immediately
after the war and to what very high
prices cotton rose, nearly fifty cents
or quite per pound Five years pur
suance in course OF voluntary re
preston 20 that not over 100000
bales shuld be made and cotton would
never range below twenty cents, and
would rapge, upon an average, We
believe, OF twenty-five cents.
Now calculate the soring Of cost in
labor, food for horses, fertilizers, ag
ricnltural implements, &c, between
making twice 100000 bales and
that amount only. Mark you, Just
as much money would he realized
from the smaI! crop as the large.
President Morehead, Of tho Missiesip.
pi Valley Cotton Plantera' Associa
ton, in an address published recently
gives some figures that cotton plan
tiers should consider. Speaking OF
the last crop he says:
1--WE will estimate that the crop
has averaged all round S cents per
pound, which would give us Tor 6 50O,-
600 b lies, or 2.6Q0,Q0o,o00 pounds,
S2O8, 100000, the remarkable showing
OF $l2 100000 less than we got for d
5000 900 bale crop.
This is remarkable, and yet 1t
ought no: to surprise any one who
has ever examined the statistics. We
mentioned few days ago that the
crop o; 1873, the smallest crop that
had been raised since the war ended
up to that time fetched several mill
ion dollars more than the largest crop