SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 563 



The same system has prevailed on the rice, tobacco, and cotton lands of 

 the South, and has, for a variety of reasons not necessary liere to be dis- 

 cussed, been, in tlie case of the two latter at least, more fatally persisted 

 in. I have already alluded to the exhaustion of your soils consequent on 

 this course of culture, but to show the wide extent of the evil — its pecu- 

 niary consequences individually, and on whole States — the now admitted 

 necessity of a rotation of crops — the equally conceded necessity of intro- 

 ducing some netv staple, or staples, to lender the other crojis in the rota- 

 lion, besides cotton, rice, and tobacco, remunerative — and various other con- 

 siderations having a strong bearing on this whole (juestion — I cjuote the 

 following statements from Sovtliern, as well as highly authoritative sources. 



The Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives of South 

 Carolina, through their Chairman, Hon. R. AV. Roper, made a Report to 

 that body, Dec. 14, 1842, from which the following are extracts : 



" Let us now turn our consideration to one otlier gi-eat staple, cotton, of which the statis- 

 tics are so exact that we can :iscertaiu by caknlafion what our prospects are as regards com- 

 petition in that article. The United States pi-o<hice at present 573,012,473 lbs. — more than 

 one-iiah'the cni[) of the whole world. South Carolina gi-ows of this 43,9i27,171 lbs., or 1-1.3 

 part of the quantity ; but from this source of ])rofit her palmy days are ])a8t. Eveiy year 

 opens new lands in the West, where congeniality of soil and cliinale to this commodity in- 

 creiii^es the product j)er acre far beyond what can bi; reaied at home, and consequenllv re- 

 duces the value infinitely below the costly prices which fonnerly eniiched Carolina. These 

 new lands produce, on an average, 2,.'500 lbs. of cotton per hand, while the lands in Cai'olina 

 yield but 1,200 lbs., atul the expenses of a laborer being about equal in either jjlace, reduces 

 the Carolina cotton to half its intrinsic value. We have also the dechu-alion of Mr. Dixon H. 

 Lewis, in a recent speech in Congress, that cotton, divested of Govenmicnt embarrassments, 

 might be gi-own in Alaliama for three cents a pound. 



"Your Committee will avail itself of the lucid calculations of a distinguished and talented 

 individual,* to ])resent another view of the subject, startling in its details, and bearing strong- 

 ly on the propriet)' of sunnning up all our resources. The crop of the world amounts to 

 1,000,000.000 lbs., which would recpiire, at the rate of 2.50 lbs. per acre, 4,000,000 of acres 

 to grow this quantity. Now, the i()ur States bordering on the coast of the Gulf of Alexico— 

 viz., Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida — contain 130,000,000 of acres; provin" 

 that, if only one acre in .32 were found capable of producing 2.30 liis. to the acre, these four 

 States could, alone, supply the demand of all the markets in the world. In this calculation, 

 the produce of (Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, with portions of other 

 States, besides 1.30,000.000 acres in Texas, are entirely excluded. The lands of the Gulf 

 States, therefore, and Texas, are sufficient to supply the demands of the world in all time to 

 come. Where, then, is the hope or prospect of South Carolina in the competition ? . . . 



" South Carolina comprises within her borders 16,000,000 acres of land, of which only 

 1,300,000 are cultivated. Of this, coiton occupies 175,700 acres ; rice, 80,000 ; Indian com, 

 500,000; potatoes, 22.G12; wheat, 24,079 — making an aggregate of about 300,000 acres ; the 

 balance of 500,000 are taken up in oats, lye, barley, hay, tobacco, and a limited portion of 

 other ai'ticles necessary to the supplies of life. To what use, then, is the balance of our ter- 



rrtumcd quite as good or better profits, than on the wheat lands. He thought, taken as a whole, the craz- 

 ing fanners were doing better than the wheat fiinneis. The latter, thuui;li ostensibly ftiakintr an equaf and 

 frequenily better per centage, wore wn.itiii^ thiir capital. The grazing lands and the wheat lands were rap- 

 idly approarhinir each other in market value, by the rise of the fornn^r and the deterioration of the latter. 

 May this not atford a parallel to what will one day be witnessed in the .Southern States ? 



It is difficult for me to pass by the name of this accomplished wiiter— this pure, upright and philanthropic 

 man — without throwing one stone on the cairn of his well-merited fame. He felt himself from his infancy, 

 cut oti" from the companionship of his kind, by disease and deformity ; but. notwith.'ianding the body was 

 "ugly," he "earned a precious jewel in his head." Triumphing over constant physical suiieriniis which 

 would have prostrated most men, he made attainments in general knowledge possessed by few of his con- 

 temporaries. His range of reading and study was remarkable. In his beautiful and sparkling letters to 

 me, every subject and almost every science is touched upon by him in a manner that shows that he at least 

 had mastered their general principles ; and, in the abandon of private intercourse, they seem to have been 

 to him as the flowerets of a g.vden, among which Ins spirit could roam with that playful and joyous activ- 

 ity which was denied to his poor, frail body, among the objects of the outer and physical world. 



Freely, unassumingly, and without an aspiration but for the good of his fellow men, his mind poured ont 

 ita stores on a variety of topics in the publications of the day. Fortunately, he gave his principal attentiriii 

 to the subject of Agiiculture, and, if not a discoverer (which he never claimed to be), he investigated ami 

 Collated with ,in inclustriousness of research, discrimination and perspicacity, which brought the truth from 

 all ihe ditt'orent sources where discovery or experience had lelt its disjecta Vimihra, into essays, so well com- 

 pacted, 80 clearly arranged, that men of the most ordinary parts could not only understand his sipaiale sen- 

 tences and positions, but their connection and aggregate bearing, and thus master the whole subject. Peace 

 to his ashes I 



* Gov. Hammond. 

 (1133) 



