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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



Farmer, may be referred to, even now, as a 

 model for such performances. The same may 

 be said of Addresses by the late R. G. Harper 

 and N. Biddle, and others of their high order of 

 intellect. 



The State Society of South Carolina having, 

 by resolution, requested Mr. Scabrook to com- 

 municate to tlie public, before the planting sea- 

 son, such information as he may possess, or as it 

 may be in his power to collect, in relation to 

 the means of modifying Ihe effects of drou/h 

 on Indian Corn and other provisions, all who 

 possess any facts worthy of notice, that may 

 cast light on the subject, will feel it to be a pa- 

 triotic duty to contribute them through an organ 

 so well qualified to make the best use of them. 

 The inquiry has been suggested, we need hard- 

 ly add. by the disastrous effects of the drouth of 

 the last summer in that and other States — mak- 

 ing it highly important that full and accurate in- 

 formation should be collected and disseminated. 



REPORT ON THE SCHEME OF REDUCING 

 THE QU.ANTITV OF COTTON GROWN. 



The Committee to whom was refeired the 

 communication of Col. Davie, addressed to Hon. 

 Geo. McDufEe, W. McWillie, and W. B. Sea- 

 brook, report — 



That they have considered Col. Davie's 

 scheme of a combination among the Cotton 

 planters, to reduce the quantity planted, and 

 thus enhance the price. They regard it. in the 

 first place, as impracticable. The habits of 

 planters are those of separate action : they com- 

 bine less than any other class of men. Each 

 regards his plantation as his empire : he looks 

 around and considers what will best promote 

 his individual interest ; and though there is no 

 doubt that many might be induced to meet, con- 

 sult, and possibly write in favor of Col. Davie's 

 project, yet some, and probably a great many, 

 would prefer separate action, and thus destroy 

 the scheme in the very outset. 



The vast number of persons engaged in plant- 

 ing Cotton in the Southern and South-Western 

 States, i-enders the whole project impossible. — 

 What may be our itnerest in South Carolina, 

 might not, and very probably would not, be the 

 interest of the planters in Alabama, Mississippi, 

 Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida and Te.xas. Their 

 means of raising immense crops make them in- 

 sensible to that which presses upon us with so 

 much severity. 



Jn the second place, your Committee are per- 

 suaded that, if such a scheme were practicable, 

 it is by no means desirable that it should take 

 place. For, in its most favorable action, it would 

 m the end operate very much to the injury of 

 the Cotton planters. If by a reduction of one- 

 half in the production, the price be raised one 

 or two hundred per cent., the next season the 

 quantity raised would be greatly increased, 

 which would again reduce its value to a ruinous 

 extent. Nothing can have more disastrous ef- 

 fects upon planters than this fluctuation from 

 low prices to high, and from high to low. All 

 •which is necessary to our prosperity is a dimi- 

 nution of our wants, and a near approach to cer- 

 tainty in the market value of Cotton. Whether 

 -it be high or low is of little consequence. Every 

 thing will soon conform to it. From the cheap- 

 ^894) 



ness and sapenor quality of our Cotton, it has 

 possession of the English manufactures in the 

 ratio of nine to one. In the course of a few 

 j-ears, if we continue to increase the quantity, 

 we shall, in a corresponding increasing ratio, 

 diminish tiie production in East Indian and 

 South American Cotton, and. at length, fairly 

 drive all competition from the field, and thus 

 secure a monopoly of Cotton in the markets of 

 the world. This will give security to our do- 

 mestic institutions. For, as soon as the world 

 feel that they are dependent on us for the Cot- 

 ton manufactured and worn by its millions, there 

 will be no disposition to take from us our labor- 

 ers, and thereby prevent the supply of so neces- 

 sary an article. 



But if we do not gi'ow the quantity now ex- 

 ported, and keep pace with the increasing pop- 

 ulation and consumption of the world, the vacu-' 

 urn will have to be supplied by other nations. 

 On looking at a statistical table, hereto annexed, 

 it will be seen that almost every bale now ex- 

 ported is annually consumed in manufactures. 

 This being so, it follows that the supply by us, 

 or others, must meet the demand. This may be 

 illustrated by reference to the state of things in 

 the British West India Islands. The act of 

 emancipation withdrew an immense amount of 

 effective labor from the ctiltivation of sugar : it 

 of course diminished the supply from them, but 

 increased it in Demarara and Louisiana. The 

 object of Great Britain in liberating her slaves 

 was to pave the way to general emancipation 

 in the West Indies and North America. So far 

 she has failed in accomplishing it; and indeed, 

 at present, it looks, from her importation of Afri- 

 cans and East Indians, as if she was half way 

 repenting her folly. But we can render no 

 more efficient service, in accomplishing her 

 cherished object, than by diminishing our pro- 

 duction of Cotton. When we shall do so, her 

 East Indian provinces will come into the mar- 

 ket, and supply what we have failed to do. — 

 Let her once turn the current of trade, and give 

 the monopoly to the East Indies which we now 

 have, in a short time we shall be driven from 

 the field, and then where is slaverj" .' Our ne- 

 groes will be valueless, and a burden ; and, of 

 course, their owners will cea.se to hold them. 



Your Committee are fully convinced that 

 there is not now, as is supposed, an over-pro- 

 duction of Cotton ; for there cannot be an over- 

 production of an article which is annually con- 

 sumed. That this is the case with Cotton ap- 

 pears from the statistical table. 



The situation of distress in which ■we have 

 been, and possibly still are, is not the result of 

 over-production. It resulted from the visionary 

 speculations of great financial and commercial 

 schemes. Many indulged in fancies illusory as 

 the South Sea scheme, and to the full as impos- 

 sible, as the discovery of the famous el dorado. 

 Such men gave to every thing a fancied value, 

 which increased as their imaginations expand- 

 ed — credit was unnaturally extended, until debt 

 exceeded every possible means of payment. — 

 Hence the revulsion of '37 and '38, and the pros- 

 tration of much real, but more fancied wealth. 



At the present moment we are recovering 

 from that, by satural and proper means. Our 

 Cotton at low prices is paying annually our 

 debts, and compelling us to reduce our luxuries, 

 and to pursue a just economy. The currency is 

 gi-adually expanding through the operations of 

 our well-regulated banks, so as to meet the wants 

 of the people, and had it not been for the unpre- 



