THE SOUTHERX CUI.TIVATOR. 
119 
Susjgestious for Soutlieru Planters. 
From the Southern Ag'icnlturisl. 
The present is the darkest day of our agricul- 
ture. We uave all been reared up under a co<- 
to)i, regime. Suddenly its power and vitality are 
gone, and we are prostrate. The pivot of all 
our movements, the lulcrum on which rested all 
our hopes, is -truck from us, and despair and 
ruin look us right in the lace. In our confu- 
sion, darkness and hopelessness, a multitude of 
schemes lor our salvation are proposed. A 
combination to reduce the cotton crop is loudly 
called for. This i> plainly inipracticable. All 
will not agree ; and if all agreed, r ol one would 
leel safe in trusting his neighbor, much less his 
competitor a thousand miles off. Immigration 
is a remedy some propose; ihi-s is a doubtful 
one, or at least partial, since few can or will 
adopt it: and so lar as it goes, destroys, instead 
(if renovating our region. A prominent sug- 
gestion is to embark in manufactures. It is an 
American fallacy, that all men are born not 
only equal, but, like Minerva, full grown, arm- 
ed and prepared lor everything. We seem to 
think with Dogberry, that learning comes by 
nature. The truth is quite the reverse; and 
when it is proposed to regenerate a lull grown 
cotton planter, and convert him into a manufac- 
turer, for one, 1 feel like putting the question t f 
IN'icodemus, “How can a man enter into his 
mother’s womb and be born again But we 
may employ agents. How? sell our negroes, 
give away our lands, and place our all (for all 
would be but little compared with the requi- 
sitions of factories on a profitable scale,) into 
the hands of strangers, to be invested in a bu- 
sine.«s about which we know nothing, and can- 
not hope to learn much, before it may be too 
late? We have some e.xperience in these mat- 
ters— vide the early history of Vaucluse and 
Saluda Factories, and many others which might 
be named. Let speculators speculate in facto- 
ries. Ne sutro. ultra, crepidam'' \.hoGs.\i a pa- 
gan maxim, is a wise one. II the cotton plan- 
ter is to work out his own salvation and re- 
deem his country, it must be in his own line of 
husini'ss. This may be taken for granted. He 
is a child of the sod, reared upon the sod, and 
he must live or perish on it. All shifts are 
vain. It is only making bad worse, to rush into 
radical changes, and “fly from present ills to 
others that we know not of.” Having made up 
our minds to hold on to our native soil, to the 
occupation we have been trained to, and to bap- 
tize ourselves anew “ in the sweat of the brow,” 
let us look around and see what can be done. 
The first thing that strikes us is, that we have 
been under a coUo-n sroieing delusion^ and sacri- 
ficed everything to it. When our soil was 
fresh and cotton high, we abandoned all other 
culture, and purchased with our cotton a vast 
deal that we might have made or grown our- 
selves. It is, however, folly to quarrel wdth the 
past; nor do I think our quarrel just. Why 
might not the cotton planter buy everything, 
even to his corn and butter, as well as the cot- 
ton manufacturer, if he found it to his advan- 
tase to plant cotton exclusively? And frr a 
time such was the case. Our errors w'ere in 
carrying on this system too long, and in exhaust- 
ing our soil too far. These we must retrieve: 
Not violently or suddenly, by radical revolu- 
tions, or slight-of-hand contrivances or combi- 
nation; but gradually, and on the same base 
line that our past operations have been conduct- 
ed. "W e all know something about making and 
applying manure-; we can readily learn all 
that is known every where, the world over; the 
facts are few, the principles simple, and our ex- 
perience and course of reflection have prepared 
us to comprehend and apply therri to our own 
profit; w'hile nature has been prodigal of the 
resources furnished us for the purpose. We 
have lime, marl, peat, muck, salt-marsh, pine- 
straw, oak leaves, and almost every variety of 
mineral and vegetable material for compost. 
All that is wanted is resolution to e mhark vigo- 
rously, and to the proper extent in the matter. 
Our farms will be our factories, our own slaves 
our operatives, ourselves must be the managers, 
no oui lay or very little is requisite. If we aie 
so foolish as to estimate the cost and profits of 
extensive manuring, by comparing it with past 
cotton planting, ol course we will conclude that 
it would be ruinous; but compare it with pre- 
sent coFon planting, and it will be seen that 
every planter can profitably engage one fourth 
or more of his whole force in making manure 
at this time ; and the prospective advantages are 
still greate r. Though no one else should do it, 
and no diminution of cotton ensue, still it is cer- 
tain, that cotton must sooner or later run up and 
command a speculative price, every now and 
then, for a year or two at a time. The planter 
whose land has been enriched by manure, may 
then, if so di.sposed, exhaust it again, and coir; 
his deposit of compost, in mint drops.'’ He 
wi 1 have lent labor worth bat little, and got 
back in due season golden usury; while the 
value of his lands has been vastly enhanced, his 
whole scheme of management expanded and im- 
proved in every direction, and his happiness in- 
estimably increased in seeing every thing about 
him flourish luxuriantly — big stalks of cotton 
and big ears of corn, fat hogs and cattle, greasy 
faced, smiling negroes, strong sound fences and 
substantial barns, stables and negro houses.— 
All these things follow inevitably in the train of 
heavy manuring. Less actual money there may 
be for the moment, but more comfort, more sat- 
isfaction and brighter hopes. Here is the sure 
remedy for the error of exhausting our soil here- 
tofore. It is also the only remedy. Slow, la- 
borious, requiring infinite pains, but it is the 
one way, and happily the certain way. 
The evil of over-buying has an equally sure 
and fruit-b°arin 2 ' remedy. To show' that I am 
no enihusia.-^t, Twill say that I doubt very much 
whether we stiall ever be able to make our own 
cloths, blankets, bagging, even our shoes, and 
most plantation implements, any more than we 
can make our'salt and iron as cheap as we can 
buy them, even with cotton at five cents. It is 
true, that, according to locality, each one can 
do something at them; nearly all can furnish 
wool and hides to some extent, and make a great 
many little articles now foolishly purchased; 
while the whole may be made by persons who 
understand the business within the State. But 
our corn, meat, flour, rice, tobacco and butter, 
it is positively disgraceful for any cotton plan- 
ter to continue to buy. There is no five miles 
square in the State that is settled, but has suita- 
ble soil for growing enough rice, tobacco and 
w’heat for its own consumption at least, and on 
which machinery of some sort might not be 
erected to prepare them for use at a saving ex- 
pense, As to that glorious grain, Indian corn, 
it grows every w'here, and is the best gift of Pro- 
vidence to man. The Athenians worshipped 
Pallas for bestowing the olive; but the olive, 
the vine, and the products of the bee combined, 
are not to be compared to our maize. It is bread, 
drink, and sw’eetening. From the tassel to the 
root, fruit, leaf, stem and husk, all are of inesti- 
mable value ; and no w'here can it be cultivated 
to better advantage than w'ith us. On sand or 
clay, swamp or mountain, it flourishes every 
where; and he is not a true man, w’ho does not 
out of sheer gratitude, grow it till every granary 
overflows, and every maw about him is ready 
to burst with it. And can it be said, that with 
such a resource we cannot raise meat in abun- 
dance and to spare? From the first of June 
until frost, it may be soiled cheaper than clover, 
or than the best lands can be pastured. From 
thence to June aeain, it may be ground up alone, 
or corn-cob and shuck together, or fed w’ithout 
preparat’on at all, the stalks and leaves also — 
all equally grateful to every animal, and the 
cheapest as well as best food in the world. The 
cultivation and use of Indian corn is in its in- 
fancy. The time is fast approaching when 
those who can use it, will look with contempt 
upon every other grass in the w’orld, and pro- 
vide meat for most of those who are without the 
pale of its bounty. In the meantime, however, 
w’C can grow turnips, carrots, beets, artichokes 
' and that other invaluable root, sweet potatoes. 
With the help ol these, we can rear every spe- 
cies of animal at as little cost and to as great 
perfecticu as can be done any where on earth. 
It is a great ana injurious mistake to suppose, 
that because our ranges are becoming exhaust- 
ed, and our climate forbids, as 1 believe it does, 
the grasses cultivated elsewhere, that this is not 
a stock raising countr}'. I am convinced it is 
equal to any other for that purpose. We are 
in a great measure exempt from the excessive 
heats, droughts, and wet spells further South 
and Southwest, as well as their pestiferous in- 
sects. Our State is well watered throughout, 
and this single advantage over the lime-stone 
regions of the West so famous for stock, is 
enough to torn the scale in our favor; while there 
and further North, every thing is pinched with 
cold for eight months in the year, and lor many 
of them the ground is covered deep with snow. 
Let the fact speak lor itself. Who has failed, 
that has attempted to raise animals here and 
taken the necessary pains? From the highest 
blooded cross of the Arabian and Barb, to the 
English Rabbit, every thing has been reared to 
perfection. It is only necessary to turn our at- 
tention seriously to it, and take the necessary 
trouble, to do it cheaper than it can be done else- 
where. 
The evil of over-buying is confined chiefly to 
articles for provisions, and 1 have shown the re- 
medy here. Like manuring, it is slow, labo- 
rious, and pains-taking; but as the two evils 
mentioned are intimately allied, so the two re- 
medies suggested, mutually act and re-act on 
one another. Manure makes corn— corn-stalks, 
stock -stock, manure. Let them be therefore 
combined. It is idle (American humbug) re- 
liance upon the magic of majorities, or the alche- 
my of transmuting, not metals only, but men, to 
talk of conventions to reduce the culture of cot- 
ton; or immigration to relieve the pressure of 
the times; or manufacturing to divert our la- 
bor. Let every man set about restoring his 
worn-out lands, and sacredly abstain from all 
bread and flesh not produced by himself, and a 
few short years will rejuvenate South Carolina, 
and make every, one of her sons rich in money — 
and what money cannot purchase, contentment. 
We should never doubt the providence of God. 
The greatest blessings often come to us in the 
appearance of the greatest evils. In our entire 
devotions to mere cotton growing we have ne- 
glected the rich resources bestowed upon us, 
and the culture of crops lar more important to 
both onr moral and physical well being. The 
' lime has arrived w’hen to do so longer, might be 
a lasting injury to ns. Let us be grateful to 
Him, who through only temporary suffering, 
recalls ns from our errors, and holds out to us 
such lavish rewards for doing right. For our 
own good, and for the wellare of our species, 
the agricultural capabilities of our State must 
be developed. With cotton at five cents, this 
will be more fully done in ten years, than it 
would be in as many centuries, perhaps, with 
cotton at ten cents. A wdser forecast than our 
own has ordained our task, andif we would im- 
itate that wisdom, we must address ourselves to 
i s accomplishment, Holkhxm. 
Hints to Housekeepers. — Woollens should 
be washed in very hot suds and not rinsed. 
Luke-warm water shrinks them. 
Suet keeps good all the year round, if chop- 
ped and packed in a stone jar, and covered with 
molasses. 
When molasses is used in cooking, it is a pro- 
digious improvement to boil and skim it before 
you use it. It takes out the unpleasant raw 
taste, and makes it almost as good as sugar. 
Use hard soap to wash your clothes, and soft 
to wash your floors. Soft soap is so slippery 
that it wastes a good deal in washing clothes. 
It is easy to have a supply of horse-radish all 
w'inter. Have a quantity grated while the root 
is in perfection, put it in bottles fill it with vin- 
egar, and keep it corked tight. 
Do not wrap knives and forks in woollens ; 
wrap them in strong paper. Steel is injured by 
lying in ■wooWens.—American Traveller. 
