The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1888-09-27

988.
struction will relieve him from other re-.
uuirements which be is bound to observe
at his peril.
An accurate observer has said hat very
few countries In the wide world afford
better advantages for making an easy
living than in the Southern States. This
is truth SC we'll known that it is useless
to repeat it. If the present condition Of
the agricultural class is not generally
what it ought to be, the fault lies in the
defective system of raising crops, in the
want Of knowledge to avoid washage and
in the absence Of wisdom to provide for
the future. In connection with tho
terrace supreme effort should be made
to find the best means to preserve our
lands from exhaustion, renovating the
soil by thorough system Of manuring
and rotation Of crops, and enriching the
list of our agricultural articles with the
introduction of new and remuneratiye
ones.
Experience has shown that we cannot,
under any circumstances, or any system
of rotation whatever, continue to raise
useful crops on any land for length Of
time unless We return to it, in the shape
of manure, part, at least, ofthe ingfedi.
ents which the crops have distracted
from i:. With very few exceptions the
largest portion of tillable high lands is
nearly exhausted. under destructive
system of continuously raising the same
crops on the same ground, with hardly
any helping ingredients returned to the
soil.
We cannot very much longer afford to
lose sight of this very serious fact, for un.
less proper steps are taken to provide a
remedy our lands that are not already
wasted away will soon become worn ont
almost beyond recuperation. There are
natural laws that govern the use OF soil
as they do that of animal and vegetable
life, and We cannot ignore them with i'm
punity. We must husband the resources
of our soil by proper system of rotation
of crops and protect our land by thorough
terracing, applying to our fields all the
manure we possibly can obtain. Failing
to do this, the time will surely come
when We will have to yield to the ine1or.
able law that no land will remain
permanently fertile unless there be re
turned to it regularly the mineral ingre-
dients which successive crops have with.
drawn.
When ne avail ourselves of the full
natural resources of soil elements and
products with which God has blessed US
and when to these natural advantages we
have added the appliances of modern
agricultural science, the South will have
attained prosperity that shall make her
marvel among the nations of the earth.
In our humble judgment, the terrace is
the basic on which we are to build our
SUCCESS, for it alone secures to us the
permanent use of our soil, and, having
secured that, it is for US to determine
whether We will improve or abuse it.
Senators may discuss the great question
of the tariff, or the relative condition OF
South Carolina in the days offs and 'SS,
but Of what avail is that ifthe very sands
of the soil, from which comes the support
of the people, are rapidly passing away
from beneath their feet. 1t is a graver
question than that of finance and trade.
This question of the preservation and
restoration of our soil is the question OF
the hour and demands the attention ofthe
patriot, statesman and philanthropist of
every rank, from the highest diguitary to
the humblest son of toll. Is it true that
the State is to be victim to that ira.
tional and obstinate trait of peoples
character by which they will not adopt
any measure of general reform until
necessity forces it upon them 2 I shall
offer no apology for uttering sound
Presbyterian doctrine in good Metho.
dist community, that when wisdom and
prudence have failed to serve them a
beneGcent Providence will hedge in g
people and compel them to adopt
measures essential to their preservation.
We have a forcible illustration of this
truth in the recent history of this State.
The stock law vas adopted, only when
they found it impossible otherwise to
protec. their fields, when, as an economic
measure, it should have been adopted
fifty years earlier. Let not that same
want of wisdom aud prudence operate in
! this instance. Let the State agricultural
bureau and the South Carolina Agricul-
tural and Mechanical Society press this
matter with all possible zeal, by offering
such inducements for reclaiming wasted
lands as will command the attention Of
the people. If not the surface soil Of
the Piedmont region will, in the period
of the next hundred years, lie upon the
bosom of the lower country, and We will
become dependent upon their bene6.
cence, if. indeed, we will not have i'm.
poverished them with our red clay, OF
submerged them beneath food ofturbid
waters.
Tho people of that country are now
complaining Of the rapidity with which
our waters are flowing down upon them
in irresistible fury, and filling up the
channels of their rivers and causing them
to overflow and produce destructive fresh.
cts. They cannot protect themselves
against this evil, because they cannot