The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-10-30
as 1T USE TO BE.
Revival of Old Farming Conditions in

the South.
During the prosperous age of slav-
cry and plantation conditions. the
Southern farmer or cotton planter
devoted his main attention to the
of cotton as a money crop.
but in the order to do this on large
scale, it was vital necessity for him
to provide lavish food supplies for
the men and animals employed in
the production Of the cotton crop.
These cotton plantations were at
that time mostly note from all
good transpc!'' vstems. 1t
would be a m, he greatest
difficulty, if not IN! ity, for the
planter to unde. &c purchase OF
these supplies in lint markets. He
was therefore compelled by force OF
circumstances to produce on his own
plantation practically all of his food
1t thus became fixed hab-
it or tradition amosg the old plant
ers to raise large crops of corn and
oats. and wheat, and with the help
of these crops to maintain large
quantity Of live stock. He naturally
had to have great many mules for
blowing cotton and other crops. and
he also made it a point to raise large
quantities OF hogs, sheep and cattle
The standard food for the slave
was corn-hread and bacon. This was
also largely the food OF all other peo-
pie on the plantation, but it was sup
plemented by wheat bread and beef
and syrup, and milk and butter. all
home raised. Not much care was
given to rhe particular breeds OF cat
tie. The main thing was to have
large numbers Of them. These were
fed and cared for on the plantation as
a matter Of course. 1t was a rare
condition for any of these food pro
ducts to he sold away from the plan
tation. TIE planters idea was to OBJ
tain his money entirely from the cot
ton crop and to raise other crops
merely as an incident to this con
dition. This habit was so firmly fX
ed is the minds of the old planter:
that it is, with difficulty changed witt
the changed conditions at the presen
time.
One of these old planters was re
Gently heard to remark that with tnf
advent of finer cattle on his farm NJ
nroduced very mach more butter thar
he and all his plantation could con
sumo. He therefore did not know
what to do with it, except to grease
his wagons and buggies with it. II
answer to the suggestion that NJ
might sell some of this butter, he re
plied that this was an entirely neV
scheme to him. and that it had neVe
occurred to him to try to raise none.
on anything but cotton.
The Civil War broke up the lnstl
tutios of slavery and necessarily reVo
lutionized the entire labor system
and farming system of the South
With the passing Of the slaves, tn
planters found difficulty in obtainln'
sufficient reliable help to conduct nj
farming operations on the same Das
is as before. His first attention
tursed to cotton, and if there snoul'
be scarcity of labor, it would natur
ally affect the supplementary crop
which were the food crops. Thi
gradually led to the adoption CT tn
system of purchasing food supple
from distant points.
About this time there was rapl'
developments in the West OF lars
grain producing farms, making corr
and wheat apparently very cheap 10
the planter to purchase. Also raj
road systems began to permeate tn
cotton planting regions. thus maxim;
it very easy for the cotton planter u
purchase bacon and corn, and haV'
same delivered at nearby rail roa'
station. This looked like the loglca
arran sements, allowing the cottol
lands to be devoted entirely to cottol
and the grain lands Of the West to D'
devoted to grain, and meat, but ther'
were several fatal defects IN tnl
scheme. First of all, the cottol
planters had no ready money viii
which to pay for these food supplies
This lead to the system Of lavish Dor
rowing, and what was even worse
the purchase from local merchant!
on what was known as credit prices
which were often 60 per cent. highe'
than cash prices. The survival o.
this system through Is years aimos
Impoverished the cotton planters.
Then they began to change thi:
system and devote more attention tc
the production of food supplies OF
the farm. This is now becoming the
prevalent practice, and the coetoI
planter is now returning to his tor
mer prosperity This has been made
much easier for him by the deVel'
opment of the cotton seed oil busl'
ness, enabling him to exchange his
surplus cotton seed for the finest food
stuff that can be made, namely; cot
ton seed meal and cotton seed hullS
he is enabled to raise cattle through
cut most of the year on his farm pro
lucts, and through the winter
months he can cheaply feed cotton
seed meal and hulls. He can also
use this for stall feeding beef cattle
and dairy cattle. 1t is very easy no"
for any farmer in the cotton regions
who gives thought to the subject to
make clear profit on all beef cat
tie of from s. TO $40 per mead This
in itself is profitable occupation
without regard to other work.
The only wonder is that it has not
been more rapidly developed, espec-
ially in these times of scarce and
hieh nriced beef. This is a great Op