The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-10-04
NATION HOPE
baltimore Sum-

h H. Edmonds, editor OF the
Manufacturers Record, in reply 20 an
inquiry as to the probable correctness
Of the predictions of Secretary or Agrl-
culture Wilson in The Sun OF yester-
day that the South Is destined 70 De
come a large meat producer, said:
Secretary Wilson's prediction Is al
ready being fulfilled. The South IS
already becoming a livestock coun-
try. and in this respect it is merely re
turning to the conditions of ante-bel-
Ium days. Prior to the war the South
was a great hog, sheep and cattle
raising country. The
wrought by the war changed agricul-
tural conditions throughout the South
and practically forced that country 10
abandon the system of
agriculture existing up to 1860, n
to concentrate it's attention on cotton
CROWNS to the exclusion Of other
things. This was for many years
the greatest handicap under which
the South lahored. Gradually the
South is returning to a~nte-bellufn
conditions of grain production and
livestock raising.
Civil War a Great Blow to the Indus
try.
In 1850, with a population of about
one-fhird of the total for the country,
the South had over 40 per cent of the
total valve Of livestock IN the u
try, and it produced that year over
"A per cent Of the corn crop. So great
was the decline in the production Of
grain and in the raising Of cattle after
1866 that it was. not until within the
last few years that the grain produc-
ton Of the Central South from Vir-
ginia to Louisiana cache the fig
ures of 1850; and though the South's
population is nearly three times as
great as 1T was in 1860 there are not
cattle, sheep and swine as in 1860.
Even Maryland has fewer neat
cattle now than in that year. the total
In this State in 1910 being 1873, 900,
against 153,77S in 1860. Alabama now
has $4,000 neat cattle, against 542,-
500 in 1850. Kentucky has 665, 600, or
just 100, 900 less than so years ago.
while North Carolina has 5000 less
ard South Carolina 100, 600 less.
Georgia has $4,000 less. Virginia and
West Virginia combined have more
than Virginia had in 1860. because
West Virginia has of recen years be-
come a great cattle-raising State. Or
course, Texas shows a heavy increase,
because in 1860 that State was a new
head Of neat cattle. while at present it
has over 1000. 600 head.
Fewer Sheep Than i'm 1850.
In 1856 the South had 6.O94,OO0
sheep. Today it has only 6,084, 900.
though Texas shows an increase of
1900, 900, the Central South from Vir-
ginia to Louisiana showing a great
decrease. North Carolina, for In
stance, had 546, 600 sheep in 1860 ana
215, 600 in 1910, while the number In
South Carolina declined from $4,000
to $4,000, and in Tennessee from 49,
000 to BAT. 900.
THE same conditions prevail as to
hn 70 sir - ~ 1~~~ ~ o q IT, C---AI
had 1S,2S0,00 hogs, or largely more
than one-half of the total in the
United States. In 1910. n~otwithstand-
ing the great development in Texas
and Notwithstanding the fact that
population was nearly three times as
great as in 1850, the South had only
$4,000, 900 hogs. or less than one-third
of the total IN the ountrv
IF 1t had been possible for the
South after 1855 to reStOck it's farms
with cattle and hogs and sheep, the
supply of which had been exhausted
by the war. and to continue the a
versified farming operations of those
days, it is safe to say tina it would
have recuperated from the effects OF
the war in one-half the time it took
and that It's wealth would now be a.
least double what it is.
The destruction by the war an(
the INSTRUMENTATION of labor, and thu
~ ~ q III "ltH III
negro no longer directed and con.
trolled in his farm work as in tn,
olden days, the fact that money coulC
be borrowed in advance against tn
cotton crop and out against corn o
diversified products, all combined t.
destroy the old w~ell-rounded svsteu
Of agriculture existing before 1860.
Regaining It's Own After Years o
Labor.
After years Of struggle the Soutl
is returning to the diversified agricul
ture. It is making a remarkable in
crease III grain production ard II
cattle raising, Even as tate as 1900
the South produced only ATS. 900. 90
bushels of corn, the yield in nearly al
OF the central States being very mucl
less In that year than $50. L
1850 Alabama produced $4,000 90
bushels Of corn: in 1900, it produce
29.355, 900 bushels. Mississippi pro
duced ~29,50O.000 bushels in 1860 o
hA0 mn