1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



437 



lias been cleared thirty years; nml, it is not more 

 than four years since, (hat on discussin*; the sub- 

 ject with lour planters, in the same neighborhood, 

 it was detcrniiiieil tliat, tor every bale |)roduced a 

 lew years beloiv, (bur were now sent to market — 

 tlic plough, the agent. Fields thus productive, 

 do not perinit the growth of grass, &c., though 

 after the Ibdder is gathered, good crops of crow- 

 loot grass are reaped from the corn-field. 



The editor of the 'Southern Agriculturist,' (p. 

 414, Aug. number,) alluding to an idea of your's, 

 laments the want of county agricultural surveys. 

 Their want is evident in JMr. Jenkins's errors; 

 and, while such universal ignorance, so great a 

 disposition to cherish that ignorance, and entertain 

 euch monstrous misconceptions of the more cor- 

 rect management and the greater wealth and 

 equal civilisation of the upper and middle districts, 

 prevail in the low-country, the prospects of the 

 Bouth, and South Carolina especially, aredark, dark 

 indeed. In the expenditure of the public money, 

 it has given rise to an absolute proscription of all 

 east South Carolina, and a denial of instrumental 

 surveys to sections loudly and fairly calling for 

 them. The rail-road has been made to run in 

 euch a direction as to exclude any access to the 

 provisions of the west from east South Carolina. 

 It has been carried, at an enormous and increased 

 expense, to J3ranchville, via Orangeburg, in fact, 

 to a rail-road, that cannot carry cotton down at 

 any reasonable charge, and receives and spends 

 §1,000 per diem, or "only Si!320,000 per annum. 

 This is the rail-road that is to compete with the 

 almost completed scheme of Georgia and Ten- 

 nessee — a scheme, in which, nolens volens, the 

 "ancient dominion" must join. There will soon 

 be free access, from the Atlantic at Savannah to 

 Knoxville, which may be said to be equi-distant 

 from the James at Richmond and Petersburg, 

 and Charleston and Savannah. On its north- 

 east tarininus and in the more populous and pro- 

 ductive character of its whole line, (lessening it 

 to one-third if not one-quarter the distance,*) 

 the full and forcible effect of western commerce 

 will be felt; for, nothing can prevent a road from 

 Knoxville to Abingdon, and thence to Lynchburg. 

 Again, North Carolina will aid by a road along 

 the Piedmont route to Danville, thus opening 

 another highway to Petersburg and Richmond. 

 To these outlets for western commerce, we may 

 add the Baltimore and Ohio rail-road, the Mercer, 

 (Chesapeake and Ohio) canal — ensurinir to the 

 Chesapeake bay, &c., the grkat depot; also, 

 the Pennsylvania and Erie canals — canalscoramg, 

 as well as the Mercer, into competition with an 

 overwhelming power, ifj as is said to be the case 

 in Great Britain, boats can be towed at the rate 

 of six or nine miles an hour by steam. 



But, what is "the dominion" about? In the 

 Knoxville Register, in a paragraph, most proba- 

 bly written in Charleston, wefind "the main ob- 

 " ject of the xVugusta convention is to establish a 

 " direct Irade from the south directly to Europe. * 

 «i « » « East Tennessee is particularly and 

 " vitally interested. It is important to her, be- 

 " cause it throws our exports and imports into the 

 " same channel." Now, gentlemen of Knox- 

 ville, permit me to ask you, for what "exports 



* See a paper as to the New York canal, and what 

 it brings from the west, in a late Farmers" Register. 



and imports" you can find a market in Charles- 

 ton, (the very existence of wliich, aa a harbor, 

 according to the enirineer Holmes*, is threatened,) 

 equal to thatonthe borders of the Jameal None, 

 whatever; and you would have done better by an 

 access to Sumpter, &c., districts in South Caroli- 

 na, than yon possibly can in Charleston, the 

 market of which, in bacon and corn, is to be glut- 

 ted by a single train of cars; and, indeed, you had 

 better now pray the board to take this route inio 

 its serious consideration. But, I forget myself; 

 that is not the object of your paragraph, or of the 

 meeting — the intention being to ptifi' the bank 

 and prepare the speculators to plunder the public, 

 and fill their own pockets. It is to this ell'ect, 

 that they tell you their mighty agent is to sell the 

 South Carolina bonds, bearing five per cent, in- 

 terest, at par, in Amsterdam, when five per cent. 

 New York stock is worth but ninety in London; or 

 rather, that he can get a premium for them, and 

 get money for three per cent. They have also 

 said Mr. JBiddlehas pronounced the charter worth 

 millions. But', there are other becauses — "be- 

 " cause, after the establishment of the south- 

 " western bank, (five-sixths of which are held in 

 " Charleston and Columbia,) the rate of exchange 

 " will be reduced to almost nothing; and, because 

 " by a direct shipment of the great southern sta- 

 " pies, and a direct re-shipment of European fab- 

 " rics, the factorage and commissions now paid at 

 "the north, will be entirely taken off'!!!!! and 

 " our foreign fabrics made, by so much, intrinsi- 

 " cally cheaper." 



It is for the sage of Knoxville to demonstratCjr 

 how exchange is to be reduced by an issue of pa- 

 per, and this only payable in Charleston, the ca- 

 pital of a state, not having more than 300,000 

 whites. I have been even stupid enough to be- 

 lieve it was regulated by the material passing to 

 and (i"o, sold and consumed. What the latter is 

 of 35,000 persons, two-thirds negroes, in Charles- 

 ton, had better be first ascertained, as well as- 

 whether, should cotton fall in price, South Caro- 

 lina will not necessarily he compelled to supply 

 herself. But the direct shipment is the reliance; 

 as if it did not and had not existed for years. 

 Onlv the home consumption may be said to be 

 consigned (in 1837-8, 54,280 out of 279,957 to 

 the 25th August, from Charleston,) to the north. j 

 This year, Georgia and South Carolina have 

 shipped nearly 600,000 bales, little of it going to- 

 the north. How the factorage and commissions 

 are to be saved, is beyond my humble comprehen- 

 sion. Is Charleston to do the business lor nothing'? 



1 will conclude this paper by a reference to the 



* "Should the uninterrupted passages of water, by 

 the course thus formed, continue, it is greatly to be 

 feared that a few years, if not months, will effect a 

 total change of the currents passing by our wharves; 

 tliat Hog Island will become the north channel, and 

 the channel in front of our wharves be obstructed by 

 larjre sand deposits; that the entire western portion 

 of Sullivan's Island, including Fort Moultrie, will be 

 swept away, thus widening the entrance to our har- 

 bor, which must substitute sand fiats for the channels 

 on the bar, and leave the city and harbor -'exposed to 

 the unchecked violence of destructive storms." Three 

 forfs at the site of Fort Johnson, and three at Fort 

 Moultrie, have already been destroyed. 



I A tabular statement of direct and indirect ship- 

 ments for a few years back, would be instructive. 



