The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1891-04-09
The Farm Products Of South Carolina

one hundred years 10 pay IOr the IarW
products of South Carolina for the year
1890.
While the population Of this State has
increased 16 per cent, in the last decade,
the value of farm products has increased
40 per cent. The acreage in cultivation
was 20 per cent. greater in 1890 than in
1880. The yield per acre of all the
crops, except wheat, shows healthy i'm:
provement. The total cost Of commercial
fertilizers used in 1890 exceeded the cost
of the same in 1880 nearly 70 per cent,
and for theyea 1890 the cost of fertilizers
amounted to per cent of the total value
of all farm products. The value of live
stock in 1880 was $l7,300,000, and in
1890 was $22,70O,000. The increase in
value, therefore, was 80 per cent. The
value per. head of all stock was higher in
in 1890 than in 1880. Except in wheat
and rice the acreage of all the crops in
1890 exceeded the acreage of 1880. The
acreage in cotton and corn was more than
80 per cent. of the total cultivation area
of the State in 1880 and again in 1890.
&. The renewal of tobacco culture affords
some promise of much larger results from
this crop in the near future. The product
of the Eastern section of the State is now
regarded as formidable rival of the
North Carolina bright leaf. In 1880 the
crop OF tobacco amounted to $4,000
pounds. In 1890 it had risen to $4,000
pounds. Truck gardening and fruit cul-
,ture have become important adjuncts to
agriculture. A recent bulletin of the
census bureau shows that the South at.
lantic States are acquiring q monopoly OF
the truck business of the country. In
1880 the value of garden and orchard
products of South Carolina vas estimated
at $100, 1000, and in 1890 at one and a half
million dollars.
The decrease in the wheat acreage and
the yield per acre appears to be slow, but
certain. An observant farmer, residing
in Fairfield County, formerly a good grain
region, writes that he has not seen field
OF wheat in FIVE years. 1t does not seem
improbable now that this crop may be
finally abandoned, as indigo was in 1850.
The acreage in rice has also decreased, but
the yield per acre has been maintained.
Sorghum cane, from which go much was
expected, has hardly yet become a staple
crop, although h the acreage has been con.
siderably increased, and the crop Is pop
ulsr and profitable. The Indifferent yields
Of oats for the past few years have dis.
couraged the cultivation of this crop, and,
although the acreage exceeds that of 1880,
the decrease for. the past few years has
been very great. Agricultural statistics
of South Carolina show many curious and
interesting facts.
This State has twice surpassed the
world in the yield Of corn to the acre,
yet the average yield per acre is the
smallest of any State in the Union; our
sea island cotton is the finest staple
known to commerce, yet the total pro-
:duction has declined; Carolina head
rice is the highest grade on the market
and has never failed to command the
best prices, yet the acreage is decreasing
and Louisiana has already become the
great rice State of the South. In the
early settlement of the State the farmers
established q quarantine against horses
from other sections because the animals
here were Of such superior breeds, yet ne
have been buying horses and mules from
Kentucky and even the scrub stock OF
Texas has found q ready sale in this
State. The Improvement in this matter,
however, in the last few years has been
marked. Bermuda, Vetch and Lucerne,
with other valuable grasses, flourish in
almost every County, yet ne feed our
stock on Northern timothy. Our lands
have produced the largest yields of wheat
and oats per acre of which we have re-.
cord, yet the acreage in these two impor-
tant crops is apparently steadily decreas-
ing.
But, no matter what the seasons are
nor the price prevailing, the South Caro-.
lima farmer, like the rest of his Southern
brethren, sticks to cotton. This crop
practically meets all the expenditures Of
the farm. 1t buys the work stock and a
large part of the grain to feed it; it pays
for the agricultural machinery and the
labor to operate it; it clothes and feeds
the land owner, the tenant and the hire
ling; it pays for the wagons and pleasure
carriages; it meets the taxes Of the Gov
ernment and the expenses of the schools
and churches, educates the children and
supports the population. This it has
done for twenty FIVE years, and for nearly
twenty years Of that time its value per
pound was decreasing. The cotton crop
Of the South gives employment to large
population~in the manufacturing States,
and constitutes one of the chief collateral
securities abroad for our national obliga-
tions, amounting, as it does, to about
one-half the value of all exports of farm
products from this country. It is king
that has received the homage of Southern
planters and enriched the manufacturers
of old and new England.
A very practical and observant farmer
once explained why the farmers continu.
ed to plant so much cotton to the neglect
of the grain crops: whenever pound
of cotton will pay for pound of bacon
more money can be made growing cotton
than can be made raising hogs" Posi-.
bly, this explains the whole situation, as
the rule may apply to all other articles
needed on the farm. The error in this
calculation must be looked for in the fact
that the pound of bacon is usually pur.
chased before the pound of cotton is pro-
duced, and under such system of ex-
change the cost of production closely ap-
proximates the actual cash value of the
cotton.
There are many causes that have oper.
ated to enlarge the cotton area, among
which may be mentioned, the lack of
sufficient capital, the high price of cotton
at the close of the war, the increased use
of commercial fertilizers, the changes in
the labor system of the State, and the
cash value that cotton always commands.
No criticism of the agriculture of South
Carolina would be just or complete with
out considering these influences.
l.. A. RANSOM.
Columbia, S. G., March 81, 1891.
Death of Rev. I. G. Drayton.