AGRICULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND PROBLEMS IN 



NORTH CAROLINA 



By W. a. Gkaham, Commissioner of Agriculture. 



Upon the close of the war in 1865, the high price of cotton seems to 

 have greatly influenced the minds of the farmers of the Southern States 

 and induced North Carolina to become largely a Cotton State; the cul- 

 tivation was resumed on many farms where it had been abandoned and 

 the gin house and cotton press become unfit for use. The farmer was 

 impressed with the idea that he could raise cotton and with the money 

 received from its sale buy everything he needed, both necessaries and 

 luxuries, and there was no thought of economy. Cotton was the secur- 

 ity required for advance of provisions or indulgence in accounts. It 

 was necessary for the farmer to have advances in order to make his 

 crop ; and he was compelled to raise cotton. In this period the mort- 

 gage or lien on the crop to be produced that year was introduced as se- 

 curity for advances of goods, especially supplies for the farm. But it 

 was not confined to this class of goods ; it was good as security for any 

 kind of goods which the advancer had for sale. 



Thus the farmer adopted the one-crop cotton system, more from 

 necessity than from choice. It is true that the price of cotton was 

 higher than it had been in former times, but the price of what the farmer 

 purchased had risen equally. The poet tells "that distance lends en- 

 chantment to the view and robes the sky in azure blue" ; so the postpone- 

 ment of the day of settlement gave the future a radiant hue to the 

 farmer, and he could but believe that "tomorrow would fulfill the expec- 

 tations of today." 



Leaving the realm of poetry and coming to prose, he was like the 

 negro who on passing a lot of clothing hung out to dry took a shirt. 

 Upon being told he would have that to answer for judgment day replied 

 that if it is as long a credit as that "I'll take two." The farmer saw no 

 need of practicing economy as to his purchases, thinking that prices 

 would remain high and he would be able to settle for anything that he 

 wished. 



It is remarkable how long the farmer continued this custom, although 

 each year he came out in debt, which he expected to pay by increasim^- 

 the acreage of his cotton; his credit was valued not by the amount of 

 cotton he produced but by the number of acres he had planted. Corn 

 or other grain, stock or hogs, were not recognized as good security ; the 

 merchants preferred to buy these articles, which composed the larger 

 part of his goods, beyond the limits of the State, or perhaps he was un- 

 willing to let the farmers know the enormous profit he was charging on 



