Year: 1873

years, amounts to only s50,911.S9, which is
regarded as an inconsiderable income from
such valuable franchises, and measures are re-
commended to guard more closely the interest
of the State in the premises.


The subject of inviting immigration to the
State is discussed at length, and to the end
that it may be fostered and encouraged, the
Governor recommends the enactment Of 8
law providing that all persons who immigrate
to this State prior to the 1st of March, 1875
and engage in the cultivation of the soil, shall
receive from the State Treasury bonus in
money equal in amount to the State and
county taxes assessed upon their cultivated
lands and farm buildings; such bonus to be
paid annually, aud to be continued for two
years after the cultivation of such lands shall
have been commenced.


The South Carolina University is represent
ed as being in as prosperous condition as could
be expected under the circumstances. Neces
sary appropriation for maintaining the insti
tuition is asked, and the Governor announces
his readiness to make appointments Of one
beneficiary from each county for the present
year, whenever called upon pursuant to law


The Code of Procedure and the Revised
Statutes claim the attention of the Governor
who cites few of the many palpable defects
they contain, and recommends the appoint
ment of commission whose duty it shall be
to revise and simplify the Code Of Procedure
and the General Statutes, and render them
more in accord with the wants of our people
than they are at present.


With view to encourage manufactures OF
cotton and wool in this State, the passage Of
law is recommended, providing that all such
manufactures that may be established within
the limits of this State on or before the 1st OF
November, 1875, shall receive from the Treas
ury of the State, bonus equal to the State
tax assessed upon the necessary property OF
the same, such bonus to be paid annually and
to continue for FIVE years.


He recommends that the Office Of the Re-
corder of the city of Charleston be at once
abolished, as palpable sinecure for which
there is no necessity.


The subject of the fence law is discussed at
length, and the following reasons are given in
support of his recommendation for the repeal
of the existing laws:


"1st. The building of fence, including the
splitting and hauling Of the rails, is tax
upon the capital and labor of the farmer,
equal, it is estimated, to at least one-third OF
the market value of our average cotton lands.
The money and work thus expended, would,
if applied to the cultivation of the land, in
crease by very large per centage, both the
area cultivated and the production thereof.


I'd. Vast bodies of arabic land, that are
now untitled far want of fencing timber, and
for which, on that account, there is no sale,
would then find ready purchasers among our
agricultural laborers, and be yielding plenti.
full harvests, the cheapening the necessaries OF
life, and adding to the wealth Of the State.


Sd. To require the farmer to fence out his
neighbor's stock, instead of requiring the
owner of the stock to fence it in, is palpa-
BILE act Of injustice and a monstrous instance
of folly, in State whose wealth is agricultu-
raj, and depends almost entirely on tillage,
and not on pasturage.


Why should be required to build fence
around my farm, at a heavy cost, in order to
keep l,y neighbor's COW out of my growing
crop, hen derive no benefit from that COW


Why should his property, consisting Of a
few rowing animals, be more sacred in the eye
of the law, than the few acres, from which,
by industrious toll, I derive my daily bread ?


Is it not just and fair, that every man
should be required to exercise reasonable care
for his own property, and not subject his
neighbor to any cost to prevent that property
from becoming the means of injury to any
other class of property?


4th. The fences themselves occupy consld-
erable portion of the cleared land, thus redu-
cling the cultivated area.


5th. In proportion as the demand for fen
cling timber exhausts the supply of trees in
that locality, the price Of wood for fuel in
creases, which is consideration OF great mo-
ment, in country where there is no develop
ment of strata of coal.


6th Science and experience unite to prove
that, in regions where the forests are being
exhausted, the fall of rain is proportionally
lessened, and the lands are parched by long
droughts, that not only destroy vegetation,
but, from the failure of water, prove fatal to
stock of all kinds that are permitted to run at
large. 1 have read that this is notably the
case in the prairie belt of Texas and New
Mexico; and I have been reliably informed
that it is strikingly exhibited in those sections
Of Virginia where, in the late war, the trees
were destroyed for fuel and other purposes,
along the lines of military encampments.


7th. Cattle and other stock can be fenced
in more cheaply and securely than they can
be fenced out


9th. The system of fencing in stock, while
it lessons the original expense of establishing
farm, will tend to increase the yield per
acre, by preserving large quantity of the
natural manures, for application to the titled
soil.


9th. Enclosed pastures will tend to incte
among our agriculturists the cultivation OF
improved grasses, and also to an improvement
in the breed of stock in both of which par
ticulars South Carolina is far behind most Of
her sister States


10th. Our farmers may be better enabled
to rest their lands, by cutivating several
tracts in rotation, without the necessity of
fencing each, thus recuperating soils that are
threatened with total exhaustion by continu-
Gus cultivation, unaided by proper fertilizers


18th. The fence law repels the agricultural
immigrants of the Northern States, whose
cultivated industry and thrifty modes Of farm
ing are so much needed in this State, where
there are three acres OF arabic land lying tal-
low for every acre there is that is titled. That
most valuable class of laborers shrink from
coming into country or State, in which, be-
fore they can safely run a furrow in a fifty
acre field, they must expend in some cases,
more money and labor to build a fence, than
are required to build house wherein to live.


18th. 1t is not only cheaper to fence cattle
in than to fence them out, but it is far safer