Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1897-09-08
Cood Roada Necessnrr,

AjuSuO!u VI Dr1talu hlu WILL (TefnGuJ
and France in supplying our own mar.
ket with sugar. And when we take
into consideration only our resources
for producing butte" and milk and
cheese; and now the facilities with
which we can raise the sugar beet, we
can easily convince ourselves that we
ought not only to supply foreign mar.
kets with butter and cheese, and meat,
too, besides feeding all Europe with
our wheat and corn; but that, after do.
ing all this, we can raise our cwn beets
and make our own sugar. 1t is easy
to demonstrate this on paper, but it
does not always foot up according to
our calculations.
The sugar beet fever has spread NIL
over our country, and We believe that
in the end it will bring change in the
amount of sugar importedt to this coun.
try from Germany and France; but we
must not overlook the fact that they
have advantages over us which we
may overlook and which belong to
some of the things which We must get
ready.
Good roads have been SO often urged
upon the attention Of farmers by per:
sons interested in them, and who know
their value, that the subject seems an
old song.
But if re are to raise and I'd haul I'd
the manufacturing plant beetS for
sugar, md to haul the pulp back to
feed our cattle, as we have all calcu:
lated to do; the bad roads. like
Banquo's ghost, will alwaSs be on hind
Just when we do not want to see them.
1t will be interesting tc compare the
cost of hauling farm PRODUCTS to mar
ket in foreign countries, as furnished
by the consuls Of the United States i.
response to circular issued by the
Agricultural Departmental Washing
ton.
Two things will be especially noted
Id these reports: First, that the roads
IN all the municipalities" of Europe
are about as good as they can be made;
where there happen to be hills, the
grades are reduced on the roads much
in use, so as not to interfere with
heavy hauling. And as result of
these good roads much more of every
farm product can be hauled at single
load than with us. A team with two
horses will haul sometimes as much as
five tons; three tons being moderate
load. One thousand Kilograms, which
is something more than our ten, is con.
sidered small load for one horse to
haul fifteen miles md return with
load the same day. The rates of haul;
ing Ore, therefore, much lower than in
this country on account OF their good
roads. The cost per mile per ton rates
at from A to 11:Scents; the lower rates
for the heavy loads.
Comparing these rates with the cost
of hauling over most Of our roads, in
the regions where the sugar beet is
expected to be raised, we can readily
see that in this respect the foreigners
have much the advantage Of us, and
so indeedin handling all their mar
keting. Their better roads enable
them to do their work at less cost.
This is one item of expense which
must be reduced if we would compete
successfully with them either in dairy
products or in the manufacture OF
sugar.
It is perhaps too much to say thai
good roads and civilization advance
with equal step; but if we look q little
into the history of England and of ON
own ancestors, we will be convinced
that without good roads civilization
must halt with tardy step. MacaulaJ
in his history Of England says: 30
all inventions, the alphabet and the
printing press alone excepted; those
Inventions which abridge distances
have done most for civilization of oul
species. Every Improvement of the
means of locomotion benefits mankind,
morally and Intellectually, as we'll a:
materially, and not only facilitates the
interchange of the various production
of nature and art, but tends to remove
national and provincial antipathies
and to bind together oil the branches
of the human family"
In this he has summed up almos
all the elements of civilizatit n. Th'
graphic descriptions which he gives o
some of the roads in England in ths
latter part of the seventeenth century
when a viceroy ON his road to Ireland
spent five hours III travelling fourteen
miles, and was forced to walk most o
the way, whilst his lady was "carrlet
in littey," cannot fail to be under
stood by some of our good farmers
dwellers on our prairies and blacl
lands of our States. 1t is time we ge
out of the mud and become civilized
or we will never save our 500, 600, OO'
by raising our own sugar OF compet'
successfully in the European markets
with our dairy and live stock products
Farm News.
Have Fish a Memory?
A distinguished German professo:
thinks he has succeeded in proving