THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



93 



to undcrBtand iheir own inierest, should generally 

 pursue a course so liiile culculated to promote 

 It '? A suliicieiil answer will be found to this 

 queslion, in ili'*. Ibrce of psuiblit^hed hahit.-:, ihe 

 niisiaUen an)hiiion wiiich makes the |ioinl of 

 honorable iii3iiiiciiun consist in llie number oC cot- 

 ton bales, and above all, ilie unfortunate habil po 

 generally |)reva!ent among planter?, oi' neglecting 

 their own business!, an I contidmg it to the exclu- 

 eive management ol" overseers. It is a duty which 

 every planter owe^^, not only to himself, but to his 

 country, as a matter of example, to give his per- 

 sonal superintendence to his business, and nuike 

 himsell master ol' all its details. Ue can scarcely 

 deserve to own an estate, who from false pride or 

 indolent self-indulgence, remains in voluntary 

 ignorance of the various operations upon which 

 its productiveness depends, and relies exclusively 

 upon agents who are practically ii responsible, and 

 in general grossly incompetent. Certain it is, 

 that no general relorm or improvement in our ag- 

 ricultural economy, will ever be made by over- 

 seers. AgcMUs who are employed Irom year to 

 year, who have no interest, in any permanent 

 improvement, and who are generally actuated by 

 the motives of a tenant at will, which prompt 

 them to aim at a large cotton crop the present 

 year, without any regard to the future, or to the 

 subsidiary branches of 3 sound system of econo- 

 my. Every planter who has attempted such 

 reibrms or improvements as I have suggested, 

 can testify how utterly impossible it is to make 

 overseers, generally, realize their importance, or 

 bestow upTu thein sufficient attention to insure 

 their successful execution. Let it, then, be re- 

 garded as the point of honor with every planter 

 to attend personally to his plantation, and make 

 himself master of every branch of its operations 

 and economy. This is an indispensable [)relimi- 

 nary step 10 all nselul improvements in our agricul- 

 ture, and is equally demanded by every considera- 

 tion of private interest and public duty. 



Another nuschievous error in our [)laniing eco- 

 nomy, proceedinir partly from the mistaken ambi- 

 tion ol making a large count of cotton bales, and 

 partly from the uncalculanng habits acquired 

 during high prices, is exhibited in the general 

 Ciirclessness wiiii which cotton is picked out of 

 the field and prepared (or marker. It has been 

 fully demonstrated by experience that those plant- 

 ers who have their cotion properly handled, and 

 sent to maiket free from the contamination of 

 trash and stain, can iiabiiuallj' obtain in our own 

 markets, one cent a pound more thrm can be ob- 

 tained Ibr cotton prepared in the usual way ; and 

 I can personally testily, as the result of my own 

 experience, that the difference made in loreign 

 markets is much greater. Now, i invite vuur 

 serious attention to a l\iw plain and obvious reflec- 

 tions on this subject. A diminution in price of 

 one cent, a pound at the present market rates of 

 cotton, is equal to ten per cent, discount upon the 

 gross amount of the annual income of the planter, 

 and a still larger per centage upon the amount of 

 his net income. It follows, that by the careless 

 operations of lour months in gathering the crop, 

 one tenth of its value is destroyed, and one tenth 

 part of the labor of the whole year is absolutely 

 nullified. The labor of one hundred hands is 

 reduced in value to that of ninety, and five hun- 

 dred bales of cotton arc reduced to four hundred 



and fifty. Now I confidently put it to every prac- 

 tical planter, as a plain question of economy, 

 what possible advantaije tfiere can be in carel< ssly 

 picking out a cotton crop, that will compi'iisate 

 the planter fov this sacrifice of fifty bales of cot- 

 ton, the proihict of the whole annual labor of ten 

 hands.' Let it he admitted, and it is an extreme 

 supposition, that hands will pick out one teiuli 

 more in (he one mode tfian tiiey will do in the 

 other. Even on this hypothesis, one tenth of tliR 

 labor of the whole year would he sncrificed P)r 

 the sake of one tenth of tiie labor for four months, 

 and to tills sacrifice we must add that of the 

 additional cxp"nses of the horse power required 

 to make the additional fifiy bales of couon. Does 

 not the conclusion, then, irresistibly follow from 

 these premises, that every planter shou'd lay it 

 down as a cardinal rule, in pitching his crop, to 

 plant no more than lie can pick out with proper 

 care, civinff due attention to the other interests of 

 his plantation. This rule, like that relatintr to 

 live slock, comes recommended by the twofold 

 consideration, that it not only promotes the indi- 

 vidual interest of each planter, but still mere ex- 

 tensivelv, the general interest of tlie entire class. 

 If it will cause a diminished quantity of cotton 

 to be produced, it will cause the price of that 

 diminished quantity to be proportionately increas- 

 ed, by its superior quality, and still further, the 

 very circumstance of its diminished quantity. 



It is not to be doubted, therefore, that the 

 (reneral adoption of the (wo plain and practical 

 rules, so perfectly in the power of every planter, 

 of raisiniT his own supplies instead of buying 

 them, and picking out and preparing Iiis cotton 

 with pro[iercare and aitcminn, would do more to 

 promote the prospei'ity of the cotton planting 

 stales, than all the mnrvs muIticnuHs speculations 

 and political paper nostrums tliat ever deluded a 

 people with visionary hopes, while they afHicted 

 them with real disasters. 



# # # * * 



There is another reform in our ntrriru'tnral 

 economy, to which every planter in South Caro- 

 lina is invited by the most persuasive considera- 

 tions, public and private. It is to adopt and 

 j steadily pursue a pvstem of permanent improve- 

 ! ment, not only in the soil, but in the bnildiri'j's and 

 fixtures of his p!antn(ion, and (o abandon the im- 

 provident policy hitherto oenera'ly pursued, of 

 exhanstins the sni' in the (00 eager desire to 

 realize a large present income, without any 

 regard to the future. If is absolutely distress'ncr 

 to contemplate the memoria's of this wretched 

 policy exhibited in every part of (he state — a 

 policy which, while it denies to (he present ijene- 

 raiion aln)os( all the rational comfi)rf3 wliich alone 

 make wealth desirable, leaves to posterity an 

 exhausted soil, ruinous mansions, and a barren 

 inheritance. 



Now, it would not be (00 strong an expression 

 to say (hat every do'lar judicially invested in tlie 

 permanent improvement of his estate by a planter, 

 would be worth more to his children than two 

 dollars invested, as is usual, in the purchase of 

 more negrops to cut down the forest and destroy 

 the soil. We have reacf^ed a point in our agri- 

 culture, which imperiously demands a fuildamental 

 change in this respect. IJowevcr the virgin soiU 

 of the south-west may palliate (he folly of such 

 a course, the alternative is distinctly presented to 



