The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-04-15

lines are located, throw up TluEcS Win
turn plow, and pillow on each side OF
these sufficient to get dirt to throw up
banks about one aud a half feet high.
Merely throwing up with plow will not
do to make effective terraces. For when
we'll thrown up with shovel they are
liable to break if there come very heavy
rains before the banks get settled and
sodded with grass.
By laying off your rows parallel with
terraces you get them on same level, and
each row will hold its share of the water
that falls upon it.
To utilize the ground occupied by ter
races, plant them to some of the forage
crops. Have planted some of my own
to fruit trees and grape vines. By this
means we lose no ground as we do with
bitches. And the roots of any forage
crop, such as milo maize, amber sugar
cane or any of the grasses, will secure
the terraces from breaking.
This first banking will probably take
three or four years to fill up, when they
will have to be thrown up one and half
feet more, and when the accumulations
of soil have filled these, your whole
ground will be level from the top of one
terrace to the bottom of the next above
it, making terraced steps from the bot
tom to the top Of the hill, which will
probably occupy eight or ten years to
make the whole complete. Ofcourse they
must be kept repaired and in good order
during the whole time, and for all times
more or less. Eternal vigilance is the
price of success in all things. Tie cost
is about the same as for hillside ditching.
And now have done with the practi-
cal part of the subject, shall presume
to advocate system so manifest that it
is the only salvation present, to our view,
for this land wasted country?
These old red hills-these old slough
ing gullies, these impoverished farms, all
with one voice answer me, yes: reclaim
reclaim
RECLAMATION be the talisman that
shall clothe these dry bones with new
life. And new hope cherish expectant
visions of cattle grazing on the terraced
slopes Of thousand hills.
Progress progress! is now the word
that moves the nations on toward that
high plane of civilization where our
hopes are fixed on the dawniDg of the
millenniel morn. Christian civilization
means work now, not sentiment The
mechanical world are making startling
strides in the production Of wonderful
machinery, literally making the earth
tremble with gigantic mills and ponder
Gus wheels. Scientists are reaching
dizzy heights, graphing With thermo
electric fires and uprolling scrolls o.
natures laws, scarcely dreamed of before
While we as farmers, Gods elect, oc
cupyiug fields where all the treasures o
mother earth are hidden, waiting devel
opment at our hands, are plodding along
unconcious of our powers, unmindful o
our high destiny, indifferent of our de
velopment, contcnted if we have enough
to eat and drink, while other profession
are moving as an army to higher aims
Then shall we, as farmers, be left behind
and no. subdue and develop our field
that feed and clothe the world? and no
develop and expand our minds, our pow
ers, all that pertains to our calling
Shall we let our sails "droop in the dul
air of Incidence" while storehouses o
nature wait to be unlocked, and we hav
the brains to find the keys2 These sam
old red hills, these same sloughing gul
lies, all I see around me, answer no
But we must rise to the full stature o
our manhood, awake to the dignity ant
Importance of our high calling. Obey
that grand injunction, the fiat of Coz
spoke in the beginning to man: "G
forth and subdue the earth" And whel
we have done our whole duty in advanc
ing to happier, holier christian civiliza
ton, we shall receive deserved plandit
of "well done faithful, come up higher.
May the day speedily come when ou
fields, our farms, ifyou please, shall be a
"terraced gardens" with happy home
in the midst, bright with golden sheen.
Sure enough homes, free from haunting
mortgages and thieving liens, and "ol'
time" South Carolina hospitality shall
crown our festal boards with social joys
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