The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-03-04
r,nROUs AND OTHER PLANTS.

There was a time when cotton was
as little thought about as ramie snd
some other fbrous plants are now. II
cotton had been as generally disre-
garded as those productions are to-
day by the great majority OF the agri-
cultutists, how would our grand cot
ton trade have sprung into being
At this time events and the advice OF
rejecting and practical men advise
that the ~"all-cotton" system shall be
permanently abandoned, as incon-
sistsnt with the welfare and future
prosperity Of our Southern farmers.
This class OF producers are loudly
called upon to diversity their crops.
In doing 80 it would be well to give
due consideration TO the cultivation OF
such 6brous plants as are found to do
we'll in the South, and TO find II there
are not other productions as attractive
as cotton, more profitable, and subject
to fewer vexatious vi%cissitudes.
There are lands that prove I'M
suitable for growing cotton; the
owners Ct such have special reasons
why they should try what can be done
with ibrous plantp, especially those
ior.which there is a good demand now
supplied only by foreign growers. Dur
ing the eleven months ending last Nc
vember, fax, hemp, iute, Eesal and
other iihers we're imported into this
country to the extent of $40, 7S9,42O,
nearly ~. 000, 1000 a month. Ia 1t an
absolute necessity, with our fine
Southern climate which 10 found pc
culiarly favorable to several OF these
plants, that we must depend upon
lands 1000 miles away for what we can
we'll produce ourselves The castor
oil plant grows on Southern soil with
an exuberance that amazes visitors
from the North. We have seen large
fields of it growing in Southern Hi
nois; II money could be made by
growing IL there, surely it would be
more successful here. Broom makers
have assured us that no better
broom corn was ever grown, auC
rarely as good, for their bushes.
as that grown in the vicinity OF Mem
phis. 1t was mostly reserved for thu
fine small brooms, being too good TO
the ordinary qualities of broom. 4
NATION (Ill) correspondent OF tn,
Chicago Tribune writes that a broom
corn grower there had received in tn
Chicago market 500 a ton for his crop
netting him $40 an acre. The write
adds: "Bro ON corn is a proftabl
crop, and the farmers and business
men Of this section begin to reslis
the fact more and more. As q stand
ard crop no other pays better. Banh
ers are now much more willing thaI
formerly 10 assist farmers whose de
pendence is upon this crop. and co
seQuently the brush is frequently hel
, some length Of time for the advanC
in prices that is sure to come late
= the season." With the proved an
: acknowledged superiority OF Souther
over Northern broom corn, is it M
8 worth the attention Of our farmers
e So we might go on r%ecounting ii
value OF other products, but
e there not enough here to set u farr
II ers thinking and experimenting "
~ have often a scarcity Of good butter
- the Memphis market, and never hi
a. we as popular and much sought I
n butter as somebody who understo,
u his business used, some years ago,
he supply II with from Duvall's Blu
as Ark. There was 70 patent and
er secret about his way Of always haviI
IL good butter Of good color. Can
other neigborhood win for itself q
n place in the butter market that d
d, wallis Bluff attained to? With hoi
o. mules, grasses and the other payil
things to choose from, cannot 4
b. Southern farmer readily diversity
IN crops and escape his slavish thraldo
rd 10 "all cotton p