Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-08-31
ASOuthern Boom.
y Courier Journal


Cotton Planters Association formerly
Mississippi Valley Cotton Planters
Association) announces that the an.
nual convention of this important or
ganization will take place October l6,
at Little Rock, Ark simultaneously
with the exhibition Of the State Fair
Association of Arkansaw, for which
very elaborate preparations are being
made. The occasion will be of the
deepest interest to the Southern
people, who have only within a few
years begun to appreciate the advan.
tage Of agricultural exhibitions and
the value Of combination of agricul-
tural interests. The great exhibition
at Atlanta last year was of substantial
benefit to the South. Not the least of
its benefits was the bringing OF North
ern and Southern people together, and
the revelation made to Northern peo.
pie Of the wonderful resources of the
South.
The exhibition at Little Rock
while it will not be on such large
scale as that OF Atlanta, will be a most
attractive affair. The premiums Of.
tered amount to $4,000 and will nc
doubt engender a very active com.
petition among manufacturers, plan
ters and stockraisers. There will be
a fine display Of agricultural machine
ry, sineluding plantation, cotton seed
oil mill, and blooded stock, and on the
fine race track of the Arkansaw Fair
Association there will be both run
ming and trotting races. All such ex-
hibitions instill new ideas into the
people and make them ambitious to
secure the operation Of the best agri.
cultural methods in their respective
localities. State fairs are getting to
be common in the South, and they are
conceded to be productive of great
good,
The National Planters Association
has become large and influential
body, and its session at Little Rock
will draw thither thousands of plan
ters who wish 20 discuss and hear
discussed intelligently all matters per.
tanning to their great interest. What
is called "the industrial daybreak" in
the South is real awakening to the
necessity Of economy in production
and the necessity of adopting all the
cheapening machinery to produce good
crops and Of minimizing outlays in
Northern States for that which can be
produced in the South. The old waste
full days when all plantation supplies
were bought in the North are passing
away. The Southern people are gradu
ally learning the lesson of self de-.
pendenoe. The planters especially,
since the change in the Lbor system,
can no longer follow the laissez faire
policy, but they who. would succeed
have to give more of their personal at
tention to buying and selling and
planting. The planter appreciates
more than ever before the virtue of
economy in the house and in the field,
and he learns that where half bale
to the acre or three quarters of a
bale was produced in the ante bellum
days, two or three bales can be grown
by intelligent and progressive agricul
tural methods. He knows that it is
folly tor the Southern planters to buy
hay corn or bacon in the non cot
ton growing States when all these
articles can be produced at home in
abundance. So the people generally
in the South are now realizing that
they have the richest coal and iron
fields on the continent; that cotton
can be manufactured cheaper in the
South than in New England; that
instead of 100000 spindles, the South
could just as well have 100000, and
make the handsome profit OF from Is
to 22 per cent; that mills can be run
cheaply by the abundant water power
and cheaper labor. Tlud baa
The meetings Of the Planters Asso-
citation in the past few years have
promoted inquiry, and have brought
about substantial reforms in planting.
The yield of cotton is greater per acre,
and likely to keep up under the i'm
proved condition.