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ANNIVERSARY ORATION
OF THE
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETVOF S.C.
BY GEN. GEORGE M’DUFFIE:
Read before the Society, on the *26 h November. 1840,
a’ its annual meeting, in the Lddil of the House oi
Rcpre-cntftlivcs.
Gentlemen us the Smle Agricultural Society
of Smitli Carolina: —[enter upon the perfor
mance of the task you have been pleased to
assign me, with u due sense ol its importance,
and a corresponding regret that I shall not be
aide to fulfil either my own wishes or your
reasonable xpectationo 1 may confidently
trust, however, that this unpretending contri
bution to ihe cause of agt icaltnrnl impr ive
ment, will be received in the spiri in which
it is o fibred; aml that the partiality to which
I am indebted for the honor of now addres'-ing
von, on the greatest and most noglec'ed <•/
all the sources of public prosperity, will in
sure, for unavoidable imperfections of such a
performance, your liberal and indulgent con
sitleralion.
The art of c dlivating the eartli. and of in
creasing and perpetuating its p oductive pow
ers, while it h is been the fi si to indicate the
dawn of civifz ition among m mi, isprubiblv
destined to be the list tom irk, its own ad
vancement, the fi vilslngesol human improve
ment. For o! ail lhe*arts tint contribute ei
ther to supply the physical wants or promote
ilie intellectual developement and moral re
finement of the human lamtfy. none are more
deeply and essentially founded in ti e priuej.
pies of inductive philosophy, or me cap.;hie
of extending their achievements over a wider
field ol usefulness and true beneficence. I is
scarcely possible, in leed, to assign any limits,
either to the airtr•eoateammmt. or to the num
ber or variety of useful productions, with
which the fostering bosom of m I'lter earth is
ever ready to reward the researches and the
labors of her children. And yet, so strange
a paradox is man, that philosophy has stood
eitliing at the wonders of the iteavetis, entan
gled in the mazes of vain conjecture. En
terpri/.e has traversed and vexed the earth
nnd the seas, in the vain pursuit of golden vi
sinns—and even avariep, has wasted i's ef
forts in wild and gamh'ing speculations, con
tributing nothing to the common stock of nn
tional wealth and human comfort, while mil
lions of our rare a T e been literally perishing
for jhe want of nourishment, and the whole
surface of the earth has presented one hound
less and inexhaustible mine of weal'll ril a
bundance, which haughty science has scarcely
deigned to explore, leaving sober industry m
group its toilsome way amidst darkness and
discouragement.
As cultivators of the soil, and as members
of a community whose prosperty depends al
most exclusively, and I may add. unalterably,
upon its productions, it is high time that *’e
should free ourselves from our share of this
common reproach, and make one united and
vigorous effort to redeem our agriculture
from the shackles which ignorance, preju
dice, evil habits, and the blind and fatal thirst
lor the sudden accumulation of large fortunes.
have but too firmly fix ‘<l upon it.
To aid in the accomplishment of this great
reform, and'achievement, in all respects wor
thy of the highest aspirations of patriotic am
bition, I shall proceed to point out some of the
prominent and practical errors most preva
lent in our agricultural system —it system it
may he called—and to lay down some of the
fundamental principles and cardinal rules,
wh.ch must form the basis ol all substantial
improvements in our agricultural economy.
The greatest, most prevailing, and most
pernicious of all the practices which distin
guish and deform the agriculture of tins and
the other planting States, is the almost exe.ti
sive direction of the whole available labor of
the plantation, to the production of our great
est market staple, and the consequent neglect
of all the other commodities which the soil is
capable of producing or sustaining, and which
are essential to supply the wants ol the es
tablishment. No scheme of relorm or im
provement can produce any great and salu
tary results, which does not lay the axe to the
root of this radical vice iu our husbandry.
It should be, therefore, an inviolahle m e in
the economy of every plantation, to produce
an abundant supply of every species ot grain,
and of every species ol live stock, required
for its own consumption. 1 am aware, that
in peculiar localities, when the price of cotton
has been high, examples may he found ol suc
cessful planting where this rule has been dis
regarded.
But this serves only to prove, that even a
bad svstem prosecuted with great energy, and
under favorable circumstanc-s, may be crow li
ed with a considerable share ol the success
which would more certain'y have rewarded a
good one. Such examples, if they constitute
an exception to the rule I have laid down, by
no means impair its force or disprove ns gen
eral expediency. The economy ol a planta
tion should be founded, not upon the tempo
rary and mutable expedients, but uponi gen
eral and permanent rules, adapted to a., t .e
THE COLUMBUS TIMES.
probable Vicissitudes of trade and ot ttie sea
sons, and all the probable fluctuations of pri
ces and of the currency. We have surely
seen enough of these fluctuations, and sutfi
ciently witnessed, if not exjierienced, their
disastrous influence, to warn us against the fa
tal policy ol yielding up the lessons of e>j>e
rience to the temptations of high prices and
prosperous seasons. It is, indeed, one of the
greatest evils which these fluctuations habitu
folly produce amongst ns, that we are but too
successfully tempted, by the temporary al
lurement of high prices, to abandon a:l the
maxims of wisdom and all the rules of sound
economy, which have been imposed upon us
by painful experience, in periods of depression
and adversity. Let us, then, each one for the
sake ol fils.own interest, and all for the com
mon welfare of South Carolina, solemnly and
deliberately restive, that we will neveragain,
under anv temptation incur the just reproach
which r.inst attaclt to our character as plan
ters. if we should be induced to rely upon
distant communities for those essential sup
plies, which nur own plantations are so capa
ble of producing. And to the end, that this
high resolve may be more firmly a'dopted and
perseveringlv maintained, I shall endeavor to
show that it is the dictate, not less of an en
lightened self-interest, than of au enlarged
pubi c spirit.
\Ve are, then, to conclude and decide upon
the comparative cheapness and economy of
producing ourselves on the one hand, and of
purchasing from abroad on theother, the hogs,
horses, mules and other livestock required for
the use and consumption of our p! titers, du-
ring an average se'ies of years. A stranger
to our wr tched habits of economy, would be
startled at the mere propounding of such an
inq :iry. He could not comprehend the econ
omy of importing from Kentucky what our
own soil and climate are so eminently adapted
to produce. However plausible it is most
assuredly a false economy, founded upon false
reasoning. A man who will assume that our
hogs and horses must he raised exclusively
upon corn, and will gravely sit down to calcu
late the cost of so many bushels at seventv
five or even fifty cents a bushel, will certainly
come to au erroneous conclusion. But those
of us who systematically pursue the business.
o!‘ taising live stock, can testily that the quan
tity of corn necessary to raise hogs, horses
or mules, is extremely incmtSulerahle. Oats,
whether harvesting for the workhorse, and
mules, is an invaluable ctopfor a cotton plan
ter. That which is used as pasturage, while
it will cost only the labor o’ preparing the
ground and seeding it, will keep all the stock
in fine order, from the middle of summer tin
til the opening of the pea fields, and those,
which cost scarcely any labor, will keep them
n like order, with very little aid from the
corn crib, until December. From this time
regular feeding will he required for about
lour months, and after that, very little will suf
fice till 1 1 le oat past tires are again ready. In tins
view of the subject, I have omitted many
useful auxilaries, such as potatoes, pinders,
p aches and apples, the two latter of which
are often permitted to rot on the ground,
though excellent food lor boos, and perhaps
the least expensive of all. Nor have I em
braced in it the at tificial grasses, thouo’h I am
quite sanguine from anexperimeni inow have
m progress, that in most of the st'ong soils of
the upper country, biue grass and herd grass
will sot (teed very nearly as well as they do
in Kentucky. Upon the whole, then, it is mv
deliberate opinion, liiumled upon my own ex
perience and observation, as a planter, that in
South Carolina, and part culnrly the upper
country disti ids, it would Lie true economy
lor the planters to raise their own stock, even
if they could always buy Kentucky pork at
llnee dolin's a hundred, and Kentucky mules
at fifty dollars a head. But let it be remem
bered that to accomplish tins, they must tie
vote themselves to it as an essential branch of
their business. A regular system must be
adopted, and a competent person he charged
with ils execution; and overseers must be
made to know, that it is as much their duty to
superintend n, as the cultivation of the cot
ton crop; lor hogs and horses can no more
thrive without proper at tuition, than corn and
cotton can grow without attention. And u
is worthy of remark, that when hags are lat
or in a good growing order, it a quires not
half so much find to keep them m tliat condi
tion. as i: would rt quite to sustain po r hogs
and prevent them from growing poorer. Ii
is, therefore, a niosi obvious rule of economy,
never to permit stock hogs to sink below what
we denominate a growing condition. The
corn 1 Lat will t>e required to keep them in
tliat condition during lour or five months in
the year, will be less than that which would
he required in extra feeding to prepare poor
hogs tor lhe slaughter pen; aml at the same
age their we gist will b fifty per cent greater,
and tbe r flesh will he much more finn, than
those of hogs brought up in pi.vetty and
suddenly ('•tiened. lam now speaking the
actual result of my own experience, and I
have been astonished to perceive how little
corn it requited to prevent lat hogs from get
ting poorer,
A- an important part of the branch of e
conomv we are now considering, every plan
ter should keep as large a stock ol neat e ittle,
and of sheep, as Ins pasturage and the off'll of
the plantation will support. I o tuis extent,
there is no description ol slock so valuable in
proportion to the expense ol maintaining
them. Their flesh is much cheaper than that
of hogs, anil hesidrs supplying the table of (lie
planter with an abundance of good beef, bui
ter and tpultou, the former will advantageous
ly supply one half of tlie plantation ration ot
meat during the-autumnal months; and the
laiier, all the wool required for clothing the
negroes in winter. In addition to all this, it
is the opinion of the most experienced plan
ters, in which I fully concur, that where cat
ile are penned every night on grounds prop
perlv covered with litter, the manure they will
make in die course of tne year, will very
nearly defray the expense of maintaining
them-
I have tints attempted to s’ ow that it is the
true interest <>f every planter to raise all the
live stock required for ins own use, and lor
the use and consumption of his own planta
tion, though no one eise should pursue the
same policy.
I no v propose to consider the subject in a
still more interesting point of vie \ 1 propose
to enquire what would be the effect of this
system upon the general prosperity of the cot
ton planting States, assuming that it should be
universally adopted. It is not extravagant
to estimate the annual expense which a plan
ter would iqcur in purchasing his supplies of
stock, at one tenth of the nett proceeds of his
cotton crop, as exhibited on the books of hie
factor. Assuming, then, that the labor diver
ted from the production of cotton, in order >o
raise these supplies, would diminish the cot
ton crop in the same proportion, it would fol
low that each individual planter would derive
as large a nett inco ue from, his cotton crop, as
he would have derived from one a tenth larg
er, if he purchased his stock, even supposing
that the diminished cotton crop brought no
higher price than could have been obtained
for the larger one. But here we realize the
grand result of the proposed reform in our ag
ricultural economy.
It is a well established principle of political
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA, THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH 11, 1841.
economy, confirmed by the uniform experience
of the cotton planting States, that Yvlien the
supply of a commodity exceeds the effective
demand, the price is diminished, not only in
proportion. 11, then, we assume that the pro
posed reform would reduce the annua! cotton
crop from two millions of bales, to one million
eight hundred thousand, and that the effective
demand ol the world would not exceed the
latter number, it would clearly follow from the
above stated principle, that the smaller crop of
one million eight hundred thousand bales,
would yield a greater aggregate income than
the largest crop of two millions of hales. In
the habitual state of our cotton trade, with a
constant tendency in the production to exceed
the demand, such would always be the result
of diminished production, xvhere no extraordi
nary cases existed to check consumption. If
results from the reasoning, that the planting
States would realize from the universal adop
tion of the proposed reform, a clear aggregate
saving of the sum now annually expended in
purchasing live stock ; and that each individ
ual planter, besides greatly increasing the
comforts of his establishment, would add ten
per cent, to his clear annual income. Entire
ly satisfied, as 1 ain, of the soundness of this
reasoning, and the justness of‘the conclusion
to which it leads, I am aware that it is expos
ed to an apparent objection. It may be very
naturally asked, how it happens that the plan
ters, a class of men sufficiently intelligent to
understand their own interests, should, gener
ally, pursue a course so little calculated to
promote it. A sufficient answer will be found
to this question, in the force of established
habits, the mistaken ambition which makes
the point of honorable distinction consist in
,U* e number of cotton bales, and above all, the
unfortunate habit sogenerally prevalent among
planters, of neglecting their own business, and
confiding it to the exclusive management of
overseers. It is a duty which every planter
owes, not only to himself, but to his country as
a matter of example, to give his personal su
perintendance to his business, and make him
self master of all its details. He can scarcely
deserve to own an estate, who from false pride
or indolent self-indulgence, remains in volun
tary ignorance of the various operations upon
which its productiveness depends, and relies
exclusively upon agents who are practically ir
responsible, and in general grossly incompe
tent. Certain is ii, that no general reform or
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,
as to the subsidiary branches of a sound sys
tem of econemy. Every planter who lias at
tempted such reforms or improvements as I
have suggested, can testify how utterly impos
sible it is to make overseers, generally, realize
iheir importance or bestow upon them suffi
cient attention to insure their successful exe
cution. Let it, then, be regarded as the point of
honor with every planter, to attend person lly
to his own plantation, and make himself mas
ter ofevery branch of its operation and economy.
This is an indispensable preliminary step to
ail useful improvements in our agriculture,
and is equally demanded by every eonsidera
tion of private,interest and public duty.
Another mischievous error in our p'anting
economy, proceeding partly from the mista
!• >n ambition of making a large count of cot
ton bales, and partly from the ui calcula
ting habits acquired during high prices, is ex
hibited in the general carelessness with wh cl)
cotton is picked out of the fields, and prepared
for market. It has been fully demons rated
by experience thot those planters who have
their cotton properly handled, and sent to mar
ket free from contamination of trash and stain,
can habitually obtain in our own markets, one
cent a pound more than can be obtained lor
cotton prepared in the usual \vay; and I can
personally testify, as the result of my own ex
perience that the difference made in foreign
markets is much greater. Now I .invite your
serious attention to a few plain and obvious re
flections 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
on the gross amount of the annual income of
tit© planter, and a still larger per centage up
on the amount of his nett income. It follows,
that by the careless operations of four 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 hundred hales of cot
ton are reduced to four hundred and fifty.—
Now I confidently put. it to every practical
planter, as a plain question of economy, what
possible advantage there can be in carelessly
picking out a cotton crop, that wi 1 compen
sate the planter for this sacrifice of fifty bales
of cotton, the product of the whole annual la
bor often hands? Let it be admitted, and it is
extreme supposition, that hands will pick out
one-tenth more in the one mode than they will
do in the other. Even on this hypothesis,one
teeth of the labor for four months, and to this
sacrifice we must add that of the additional ex
pense of the horse power required to make the
additional fifty hales of cotton. Does not. the
conclusion, then irresistibly follow from these
premises, that every cotton planter should lay
it down as a candid rule, in pitching his crop,
to plant no more than he can pick out with
proper care, giving due attention to the other
interests of Ins plantation. This rule, like that
relative to live stock, comes recommended bv
the two-fold consideration, that it not only pro
motes the individual interests of each planter,
but still more extensively, the general interest,
of the entire class. If if will cause a diminish
ed quantity ol cotton to be produced, it will in
crease the price of that diminished quantity
still further by the very circumstance of its di
minished quantity.
It is not to be doubted, therefore, that the
general adoption of the two plain and practical
rules so perfectly in the power of every plan
ter, of raising his own supplies instead of buy
ing them, and picking out and preparing his
cotton with proper care and attention, would
do more to promote the prosperity of the cot
ton planting States, than all the Monts Multi
caulis speculations and political paper nos
trums that ever deluded a people with vision
ary hopes, while they afflicted them with real
diseases.
And here, gentlemen, it may not be unprofi
table to indulge in a few cautionary reflections
on that wild and extravagant spirit of specula
tive adventure, with which almost all classes
of our countrymen have been smitten and in
fatuated for several years past, and which has
exerted a most pernicious influence, even up
on our agricultural economy. It has unfortu
nately inspired our planters, in too many in
stances, with a sort of contempt for the dull
pursuits of sober industry, and taught them to
look upon every sort of ephemeral humbug as
an El Dorado of sudden and unbounded wealth.
Now, if any one anticipates, from the delibera
tions of this society the discovery of some new
process bv which wealth is to be accomplish
ed without labor, the sooner he d.spels
such a delusion the better. There is no
r yal highway to wealth, any more than to
learning. As labor is the only true and ulti
mate measure of value, wealth is neither more
nor less than the accumulated results of labor,
it follows as a necessary consequence, that by
some speculative juggle, he has managed to
engross the labors of other people. Though
individuals, therefore, may become rich by urt-
TIIE UNION OF THE STATES, AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATES.
productive processes, it is impossible, in the
very’ nature of tilings, that ccmmuuities ever
can. Let us, then, realizing these great prin
ciples of industry and sound economy, and
discarding all visionary schemes, steadily pur
sue the beaten tra< k of honest industry, con
soled by the patriotic reflection, that every dol
lar we thus add to our own fortunes, is so
much added to the State, and the losses of oth
ers constitute no one of the elements of our
prosperity.
As intimately connected with this view of
the subject, I may venture to offer a few sug
gestions calculated to show that in a plantin'*
community habitual indebtedness is the almost
certain cause of pecuniaty embarrassment, and
is palpably opposed to every maxim of genuine
economy. Os all classes of the community,
the planters can best plead the excuse of ne
cessity for going in debt and fatal experience
Ins but too clearly demonstrated the disas
trous result of such a policy. As this is the
besetting frailty of the times, which so many
lessons of experience have entirely failed to
cure, I consider it worthy of the grave and so
lemn consideration of this association. For if
there be anv question in the circle of our gen
eral economy, in relation to which a sound
public opinion should be brought to bear upon
individual imprudence, this, in my opinion, is
that very* question.
If we consult the experience of other States,
we shall find that all the advantages of fertile
soils and genial climate have been blasted bv
the mistaken policy of which I am speaking:
and that whole communities, which industry and
prudence would have caused to flourish almost
beyond example, exhibit one general scene of
pecuniary embarrassment, bankruptcy and ru
in. The experience and observation of every
planter will sustain me in the assertion, that
we pay for credit, in the mode in which it is
usually obtained in the purchase of property,
from 10 to 50 per cent, interest. Every one
who is accustomed to attend administrator’s
and other public sales, must have been struck
by the extravagant prices me.i are tempted to
give by a year’s credit; and not less by the
fact that such men are perpe'ually involved in
pecuniary embnrr&sments, and that, the very
efforts they thus imprudently- make to get for
ward in the world faster than their neighbors,
keep them always in the rear. Lv fact it may
be truly affirmed as a general truth, that plan
ters who are largely’ in debt, are to that extent,
the mere stewards of their creditors. Life is
with them an anxious and slavish struggle in
pursuit of an object which always eludes their
grasp. But there is another form of credit,
fortunately not so prevalent in South Carolina j
as in other States, of which planters are but j
too ready to avail themselves, which is equally j
at war with sound economy and sound curren
cy. I allude, of course, to bank discount. It.
has been so fashionable of late, to pronounce
extravagant eulogies on what is miscalled the
credit system, that it will probably be deemed
quite heretical to say that credit, in any form,
is a public and private evil. It is, neverlhe- ■
less, my deliberate and well considered opin- i
ion, that one of the greatest nuisances that |
could afflict an agricultural community’, would j
be the establishment of agricultural banks, so
located as to enable every planter to obtain
credit to the amount of one third part of the
value of his estate. The fatal experience of
other States has conclusively proved that
such establishments have been the invariable
causes of embarrassments and ruin. Owing
to the periodical fluctuations inseparable from
such a system, it has generally happened that
a credit obtained by a planter, to the amount I
of one third of his estate, in a period of expan- 1
sion, has required the whole estate to redeem
it in a period of contraction. And we have
been but too impressively admonished that it is
the very’ genius and instinct of those institu
tions, to grant credits in periods ol expansion,
and exact payment in periods of contraction.
One motive for calling your attention to this
subject, will be found in the public manifesta
tion of a desire in some parts of the State, to
convert the Bank of the State of South Caro
lina into an agricultural Bank, and with that i
view, to give it a central location. Such a
purpose, 1 should regard as a great public
calamity. Every one practically acquainted
both with planting and banking, must be a
ware that a mere planter’s bank can be not hing
more nor less than a loan office. The plan
ter realizes his in come annually and periodi
cally’,and it follows, that a discount granted to
him except in rare cases, must be virtually a
credit for a year. In practice it would be
more generally for a longer than for a shorter
period. It is. self-evident then, tliat such a
bank could not maintain the character of a
specie paying bank for a single month. Now
if there is any one measure which the public
opinion and the true policy of the Slate concur
iu demanding, it is the rigid enforcement of
specie payments by all the banks Let me
warn my brother planters, there f >re, against
involving themselves in a state of thing? by
which they would either be the means of de
feating this measure of salutary State policy,
or become themselves the victims of it.
I cannot, therefore, recommend a more im
portant reform to our -planting community,
than Ipr those to get out ofdebtwith all practical
despatch, who are already involved in it, an i re
solvefortlie future never tobeinvolvedinit again
Such a resolve, generally adopted and firmly
maintained, would do more to promote the in
dependence and substantial prosperity of an
agricultural State, than all the quackeries of
legislation united. Imagine for one moment
the great moral and political change which
would be produced, if it could be truly announc
ed at this moment, that every cultivator of the
soil, within the wide limits of South Carolina,
was entirely free from the shackles of debt.
It would be a glorious day of jubilee. The fa
tai spell of pecuniary influence would bn dis
solved at once, the indebted, and every citizen
would walk abroad in the majesty of genuine
independence and freedom.
But let us consider the ellect which this
general and habitual freedom from debt, would
produce upon the progress of individuals in
the accumulation of wealth, and upon the ag
gregate prosperity of the whole class of planters
Taking experience for our guide, it can scarce
ly be doubted, that those who have uniform
ly kept out of debt, and have never purchased
property till they had the money in hand, to
pay for it, have generally accumulated for
tunes more rapidly and much more certainly
than those who have pursued the opposite poli
cy. Every slep they take is so much per
manently gained. They are exposed to no
backsets ; they are affected by no vicissitudes
in trade, and stand firm and unmoved amidst
those great, and now frequent and periodical
convulsions, by which those who are in debt
are always shaken and often overwhelmed.
Instances will no doubt occur to every one
who hears me, of men who have habitually
made smaller crops than their neighbors, and
who have ye% in a series of years grown weal
thy much faster, tiy this very simple rule,
which I once laid down to a friend. He ne
ver made large cotton crops, and was regar
ded as a bad planter. Anil when asked how ;
he got rich so much faster than his more en
ergetic neighbors, he replied. ‘My neighbors
b gii. at the wrong end of the year. They
make their purchases at the beginningof it, on
a credit; l make mine at the end of it. and
pay down the cash.” And here lam remind
ed of a saying of the late John Randolph, cf
irginia; a man not more remarkable for his
genius and eccentricity, than for the profound
• philosophical truths which some times escape
him, like the responses of an inspired oracle.
In the midst of one of his splendid rhapsodies
in the Senate of the United States, he sudden
ly paused, and fixing his eye upon the presiding
officer, exclaimed, “Mr. President, l have
discovered tho philosopher’s stone. It con
sists in these four plain English monasylla
bles. “pay as you go Now I will venture
to say, that this is a much nearer approach
than alchemy will ever make* to the great ob
ject of its visionary researches. And in re
commending this maxim to the cotton plan
ters of the State, I have still kept in view, not
only the individual interest of each planter,
separately considered, but the common inter
est of the whole community of planters. For
this reform, like the others have suggested in
dependent')’ of the direct benefit it will con
ter on each individual planter, will benefit
the whole as a class by checking over pro
duction. One great cause of the incessant
struggle to make large cotton crops, to the
neglect of every other interest, is the reckless
habit of contracting deb's, which I am depre
cating. Negroes are purchased upon credits,
and the planter is thus furnished both with the
means and motives for unduly and dispropor
tion atcly enlarging his cotton crop. As cot
ton is the only crop that will command money,
and as money is the most pressing want of a
man in debt, every thing is directed to that ob
ject; so much so, that it is the standing apolo
gy for neglecting to pursue any o her system
of economy. The saying has, indeed, be
come proverbial among planters “If I were
not in debt, I would not strive to make such
large cotton crops, but would devote myself
to raising my supplies, and making permanent
improvements.
Let me, therefore, advise, admonish and be
seech all our planters, as they regard their
own peace of mind, ther own true interest, the
dignity and honor of their own vocation, and
the substantial welfare of the State, to avoid
the entangling embarrassments of debt. Let
them regard those who may offer them credit
with no friendly eye, blit as enemies in
disguise, who seek to lead them into tempta
tion. If they have contracted the habit of an
ticipating their income, even for a single year,
let them reform even that. Yes, ‘reform’ it al
toget her. Then will their prosperity be played
on immoveable foundations. Then will they
stand unshaken and umerrified by those peri
odical storms and convulsions which are the
inseperable concomitants of a false and arti
ficial system of fluctuating credit and curren
cy. Then will South Carolina find it an easy
task to perform the high and solemn duty ot
preventing those convulsions, by reforming
tlsat currency.
There is another reform in our agricultural
economy, to which every planter in South
Carolina is invited to the most persuasive con
sideration, public and private. It is to adopt
and steadily pursue a system of permanent
improvement, not onlv in the soil, but in the
buildings and fixtures of his plantation, and to
abandon the improvident policy hitherto gen
erally pursued, of exhausting the soil in the
too eager desire to realize a large present in
come, without any regard to the fixture. It is
absolutely and stressing to contemplate the me
morials of this wretched policy exhibited in
every part of the Stale—a policy which, while
it. denies to the present generation almost all
the rational ’comforts which alone makes
wealth desirable, leaves to posterity an ex
hausted soil, ruinous mansions, and a barren
inheritance.
Now, it would not be too strong an expres
sion to say tliat every dollar judiciously invest
ed in the permanent improvement of ins estate
by a planter, would be worth more to his chil
dren than two dollars invested, as is usual, in
the purchase of more negroes to eul down the
forest and destroy the soil. We have reached
a point in our agriculture, which imperiously
demands a fundamental change in this respect.
However the virgin soils of the Southwest
may palliate he folly of such a course, the al
ternative is distinctly presented to us, of per
manently improving our estates; or of desert,
ing them. We cannot contend with tho plan
ters of Alabama and Mississippi, in a wild and
destructive system, by which even they have
sunk under embarrassment and ruin, with all
their advantages of soil and climate. We can
make up for our comparative inferior soil and
climate on y by a superior system of husband
ry. While they are exhausting their soils
and preventing a natural increase of their
slaves by a reckless system of pushing and
driving,* let us improve the fertility of the one,
by resting and manuring it, and increase the
number of the other, by moderate working,
and by providing every thing necessary lor
their health and comfort. And I have no doubt
that a Mouth Carolina planter who shall limit
his crop of cotton to five bides to the hand, and
rely mainly upon the natural increase of his
negroes, will leave a larger estate to his chil
dren, at the end of ten or twenty year?, than
a Southwestern planter who follows the sys
tem generally pursued in that quarter, though
he should make eight bales to the hand, and j
annually apply his surplus Income to the j
purchase of land and negroes. Though they |
are really struggling for the benefit of their
children, there is no class of men who do so
little lor posterity, and will leave so few monu
ments behind them, as the cotton planters of
the South. What sort of an estimate can be
placed upon wealth, and to what rational end j
can he desire it, who with an income of ten or i
twenty thousand dollars a year, brings up a j
family of children imperfectly educated, in a !
log cabin, with scarcely the ordinary comforts
of such a dwelling? A stranger travelling
through our country could not oe persuaded
that it was inhabited by a race of wealthy,
hospitable and enlightened planters, so few of
the monuments and improvements that indi
cate a wealthy and prosperous community
would meet his eye. And if, by one of those
great political convulsions which overwhelmed
the ancient Greeks and Romans, our race
should be merged in a race of conquerors, and
our name only tiescend to posterity, what clas
sic memorial, what substantial monument,
would b -ar testimony that this “delightful re
gion of the sun” had'been once inhabited by a
civilized and enlightened people, eminently
distinguished by their industry, their wealth,
and the freedom ot their institutions?
In thus urging a more provident regard to;
the future in our general economy, it will be!
perceived that I have still kept in view the im- j
portant object of diminishing the aggregate
cotton crop of the country by giving a more
useful direction to a portion of the capital and
labor devoted too exclusively to its production.
It will be aiso perceived that I have made no
disclosure or recommendation of any improve
ment by which, large cotton crops may be
made. I have intentionally abstained from
“any suggestion of this kind, believing that ev
ery one may be safely left to ins own impulse
and his own resources on this pouU, and re
garding over-production as one of the greatest
evils to which the cotton planting interest is
exposed. Indeed, if I could now reveal a pro
cess by which our common soils could be
made to produce two bales of cotton to the
acre, I should have great doubt whether the
revolution would be a blessing or a cur*e to
that great interest lam aware that as 1 have
obtained game reputation for making large
cotton crops, it may be supposed that I preach
one doctrine and practice another. But such
a supposition would do me injustice With
the largest crop of cotton 1 ever made—that
of 1539—1 combined all the other branches of
economy I have here recommended. I have
now a surplus of 2500 bushels of corn, made
that year, hogs sufficient to supply my wants,
that have been fat enough to slaughter since
July, and very large stocks of cattle and of
sheep, the latter of which supply all the wool
required for the winter clothing of my negroes;
and a stock of young horses and colts fully
adequate to meet the exigencies of my planta
tion. After making the provision for all these
objects, it is of course the true interest of eve
ry planter to make as large a cotton crop as
he can, without over-working his operatives
In doing this, however, he should never lose
sight of the great object of improving the pro
ductive power of his estate, instead of exhaust
ing it.
To this end, it should be his constant effort,
by manuring and resting the soil, and by su
perior cultivation, to produce a given result
from the smallest possible number of acres.—
It is scarcely possible o over estimate the
value of this rule in the actual condition of
the old planting States. Every resource for
making manure should, therefore, be improved
to the uttermost, without begrudging the ne
cessary labor and attention. No labor exerted
on the plantation is half so well rewarded.—
Every description of stock should be regularly
penned every night in yards constantly cov
ered with straw, leaves or other litter. The
quantity of manure that can be thus made in
a year is quite inconceivable to those who
have not made the experiment. Corn should
be habitually plan'ed in old land, of a quality
least adapted to cotton, and every hill should
be thoroughly manured, scrupulously avoiding
the miserable economy too often witnessed, of
losing one half its utility to save the inconsid
erable labor required to apply it properly. I
can bear personal testimony that by these
means the crop per acre can be invariably
doubled on soils originally strong. My corn
is principally produced on level lands that
were considered to be exhausted when they
came into my possession, and yet by thorough
and careful manuring, I have reduced the
number of acres cultivated in corn fully one
half, making more certain and abundant crops
than I did before with double the labor of cul
tivation. All the manure not required for the
corn crop, should be applied to the most ex
hausted of the cotton lands, and it should be
made an invariable rule, both in regard to corn
and cotton, to list in and bury all the stalks
and vegetable matter found upon the soil. My .
experience justifies the belief that this process
alone, if commenced before the soil is too far
exhausted, will perpetuate if not improve the j
fertility of originally strong and level-lands,
though constantly cultivatad in cotton. In
fact, vegetable matter, as it was the principal .
element in the original formation of soils, so it
must be in their restoration and preservation. ‘
Nature beneficently provides it to our hands; ‘
but we too often destroy it as if it were a nu- 1
isance, while we vainly employ our specula
tions and direct our researches so as to find
out some more scientific means of improve
ment. In proportion as the quantity of land
required for cotton and corn is diminished by
the means proposed, will that be increased
which is left fallow and for grain. These,
after one year’s rest in good soils and always
before they become covered with broom sedge,
should be fallowed in the autumn, carefully
turning in the stubbles and weeds, with t\yo
horse ploughs adapted to the purposo.
On the process of Cultivation, one or two
remarks may not be inappropriately made in
this connection. One of the most prominent
obstacles both to a system of good cultivation,
an to a system of permanent improvements,
is the common practice of over planting. It
may not unaptly be denominated a system of
wear and tear, in regard to land, negroes, hors
es and mules. As one of its inevitable con
sequences, a planter almost certainly finds
himself when the seasons are in any degree
unfavorable, in that uncomfortable condition
usually expressed by saying “he is desperate
ly in the grass.” ■ No man deserves the name
of planter who gets into this predicament, ex
cept in very extraordinary seasons, any more
than he deserves the name of General who
carelessly permits himself to be surprised and
surrounded by an enemy. For though the
one may work his way out of the toils of his
adversary, yet. it is the hard knocks and the
sweat of the laborers in the one case, and the
va or and blood of the soldiers in the other,
that imperfectly atone for the incompetency
of the manager and of the commander. It is
my confident belief that when even one half
the crop is permitted to become grassy, the
future cultivation of the whole will require
double the labor that would have been other
wise necessary, apd with all that, it will be
impossible to make a full cr p, especially of
cotton. In our climate and soil in the upper
country, the only means of avoiding an im
mense destruction of immature boll, by the
autumnal frosts, is to push the growth qf the
cotton from the beginning, by tinning and pre
paring it to mature as early a's it can safely be
done, and never permitting its growth to be
delayed for a single day by want of working, j
For what is lost in this way can never be re- 1
covered ; and I have no hesitation in saying j
that six acres of cotton to the hand properly i
cultivated, will produce a greater result with j
one half the labor, than ten acres to the hand,,
cultivated in the rough and imperfect manner !
but too common in this Stale and generally |
prevalent in some others. In adopting it as a i
rule, therefore, to plant no larger crop than he j
can cultivate in the most perfect manner, a I
planter will best consult every view of sound j
economy, and even the predominant desire to !
make a large cotton crop.
In the cultivation of a crop I know no rule
more important, and which is more generally i
violated, than that of doing your work thor
oughly well, coat what labor it may. More la- ,
bor is unprofitably wasted and more crops in
jured by bad cultivation irom neglecting this
i rule, than from any other cause. The last j
I strokes required to complete any operation I
! are doubly—often ten times—as valuable as
! those in the previous stages of it; and yet
these are the very strokes annually omitted,
in an improvident haste to “get over the crop,”
jasit is expressed. The very eause.s which
; generally tempt managers to slight the work
j —wet weather and grass, for example—are
| those which most irnpei iously demand the
! strict observance of the rule I have laid
) down.
One of the consequences of oyer-cropping
and bad working which is most to be depre
cated, is the necessity they create, and the
apology they offer, for permanently injuring
the soil by excessively ploughing, and what is
still worse ploughing in improper seasons. 1
believe that it rnay be truly said that in the
upper country at ieast, double the quantity of
ploughing is done in cultivating cotton, that
can be justified by any sound theory. Evpry
ploughing which turns up fresh soil to the
burning rays of a summer sun must tend to
exhaust its fertility. But it is more important
to remark, that nothing which folly can mffict
on the soil, will so certainly reduce it to a
mere capui mortuum, as the murderous prac
tice of ploughing it in wet weather. There
is but one way for a planter to avoid these
evil?, and that is by so planting and go con-
VOL. I. NO. 5.
ducting his operations, as to be habitually
ahead with his work.
1 have thus, gentlemen, drawn up a hasty
and imperfect sketch, presenting for your con
.sideration the most prominent of those meas
ures and maxims which I deem to be essential
for accomplishing that reform in the agricuL
i ural economy of South Carolina, so imperi
ously demanded by the circumstances in
which she is now placed. Our cultivated
lands are in a course of exhaustion, and we
have scarcely any forest lands to clear.—
Though these seem to be public misfortunes,
they may be converted into blessings, if we.
wi:i but realize our true condition, and pvp
erlv improve the occasion. By a law of our
nature—expressed by a proverb of immemori
al antiquity— necessity is tire stern parent of
almost every great and useful improvement.
No authority hvs imperious could have drawn
mankind from the comfortless caverns of sav
age brutality to the happy mansions of social
and civilized life.
W iiiie Providence seems to have ordained
it as a law of human improvement, that com
munities should not go forward much in ad
vance of their necessities, he has benevolently
endowed them with moral and intellectual
faculties always equal to tire emergencies in
which they may be’ placed. May we not
confidently hope, therefore, that the planters
of South Carolina, under the awaking influ
ence of the great law to which I have
will summon up all their energies to carry
our agriculture to a point of high
that will fulfil all the requirements of our ac
tual condition!
Gentlemen, I sincerely hope and devoutly
pray that some of us, at teas*, may live to see
the day when this ardent hope of every patri
otic citizen will be fully realized; and when
South Carolina will be as proudly distinguish
ed by all the enduring monuments of a pros
porous agriculture, as she ever has been by
an enlightened population sincerely devoted
to the principles of constitutional liberty, and
unconquerably resolved to defend them.
From the Mobile Advertiser, Feb. 22.
LATH VIIOM TEXAS.
The steam packet Neptune, Capt. Rollins,
arrived at New Orleans on Friday, in 40 hours
from Galveston, bringing papers from that
place of the 17th inst. We give the following
summary of news from the new Republic,
which will be found of more than ordinary
interest and importance, from the N. O. Ad
vertiser :
Congress adjourned at Austin on the 10th
instant, late at night. The retrenchment par
ty have carried the day. The appropriations
for ti.e civil list, lor 1841, are cut down to half
a million of Texas money. The army was
disbanded by a unanimous vote, excepting Col,
Wm. G. Cooke’s command of lour hundred
men, which was permitted to remain in ser
vice to complete the survey of the National
road from Red River to the Rio Grande. Not
a cent however was appropriated to pay the
gallant Colonel or his men, for either past or
future services—an oversight, perhaps, of
Congress. When the road is finished, not a
man will be under arms in the Republic. Af
ter the Ist of March next, no more treasury
notes are to be issued, except such as may bo
received in payment of revenue duties and
taxes. The whole amount in circulation now,
is about three millions. Congress has passed
a law laying an impost duty of forty-five per
cent, ad valorem, Texas money, upon all arti
e’es imported, except such as are subject to
specific duties, and the following :—Coffee,
salt, steel, and sugar. In order to protect
emigrants, a law has been made, exempting
for five years from seizure, all negroes and
property arrivinr in the Republic,
The San Bernard schooner of war has gone
to Vera Cruz, with the despa ches from Eng
land to Mexico, and will wait for an answer.
The requirement is, that Mexico shall recog-,
i ize the independence of Texas, in thirty days
after the despatches shall reach the city of
Montezuma; and, so soon as this is done, (as
we stated a few days ago,) Texas will assume
five millions of dollars of the debt due by the
Mexican states to Great Britain; —new bonds
to be issued for the same by Texas, having
fifty years to run. We do not learn what
rale of interest they are to bear. The Re
public of Texas will, in that event, be bound
ed on the west by the west bank of the Rio
Grande, running up to tho United States’
southern line.
Congress has cut down the Navy to one
ship, the Austin, Commodore Moore, for harbor
purposes ; and one schooner, for revenue and
surveying services. A load of coal has been
sent down to the Zavala, together with a draft
on the Yucatan government for $ 10,"000, when
the steamer will return and be laid up.
The revenue of Texas is estimated to be
three millions for the present year.
All the foreign consuls of the Republic are
obliged by law to receive Texas money in
payment of fees. One thousand dollars per
annum, in par funds, are to be paid to the
fjreign ministers, and the balance in Texas
money.
M. Saligny’s great franco-specie corporation*
bill was rejected in the Senate, much to his
discomfiture.
General Lamar is very ill at Dr. Iloxie’s
house, twelve miles from Washington, on the
Brassos. He is not expected to live.
Mr Flood, our Charge, intends to take up
his residence at Galveston, and has given
notice that, he will return home in May.—
General llarrison will be apt to hasten his
return.
All was quiet at last dates from the west,
Air. Ikin, who was so infamously cheated by
consul Woodward, has had a bill passed lor
his relief.
The barque Sarah has arrived at Galveston
from Liverpool in ballast. This is the small
beginning of a great trade.
General I louston, D. G. Burnett, and Mr.
Rusk, are the candidates for the next Presi
dency, aqd it is believed'’ at Houston will be
elected. Col. Cook is a . isidered certain of
the Vice Presidency.
The receivers of taxes are in default to the
government about one million of dollars.—
They are allowed till June to settle up.
O” The amount of water in rain, which fell
at Mobile during the month of January, as
ascertained by S. B. North, Esq. who kept a
Meteorological Journal, during that time, is
14-90 inches. —Savannah liep.
O’ The New Orleans Bee of the 17th in
s'a.it, says that Cotton was selling in that city
for seventeen dollars per bale more than it
sold for that day twelve months. —Savannah
Rep.
State Debts. —Tim debts owed by the sev
en! f>ates are said to amount to the sum of
•3200,000,000! The annual iiterest at the
rate of 0 per cent, amounts to $10,000,000 !
To Speculators. —The Legislature of Ken
tucky have passed a resolution offering a re
ward of $3,000 lor the discovery of the cause
of the milk sickness in cows, at any time with
in five years.
The United States Hotel at Boston, cost
8197,000, has been in operation nine months,
and has realized 11 per cent, on the invest %
ment.