Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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' vol*. X-~Ne't Sehies. UNION c. 11., SOUTH CAKOLIXA,*MARCK 21.*^9. - NUMBER 12. AH tMUUUKAUIKlli SUGGESTIVE AND SENSIBLE LETTER. I have writtcu ao ouch on agricultural subjects that these is but little loft fur i?c to say ; yet in the depressed feeling iu agriculture in our State, in fact all over the country, I bog leave to express the opinion iu tliis communication that all is not lost nor is our case desperate ; but if we will do our part, with a will thatkuows not how to fail, tho future is exceedingly hopeful. Agriculture is the foundation of all other industries, aud uo one can bclcivo that this great couutry can be held down long under this depression. Our young men who have goue earnest/// to work, with a determination to stick and succeed, arc hopeful and doiujr well. It is the old men - who were raised iu oilier days in affluence, and the idle young men and those who seek au easy life through polities, who descant and groan most over the hard times, and hope lor relief through some amendments or destruction of law, both moral aud State, instead of their own strong arms, who are trying to give tone to publie opinion for their own sellih cuds, who are damaging society and the dearest interests of the State. The brave, the houcst, the industrious man should not look back and grieve over the past; that, with all its pleasures aud errors, is gouc aud can't be recalled; but as the (Jod of Nature sends his genial sun-rays to warm aud gladdeu the earth and start the young plants to bud aud grow, so let the vital forces of our human nature work us new cucrgios and new iudustrics, and casting behind thorn all tlio past, with its depression and doom, look onto to the future with a determination to go to work and succeed, and nothing will prevent success. 1 know it is hard, very hard, to got into the habit of work, but with the habit once formed, every man is the happier for it. And, first, let us begin from to-day to prepare for a crop, both of tobacco and com, according to our means and ability. Now is the time to begin. Every man with one horse or one ox, can do something. If he has neither and not the meaus to get either, hire to, or get into copartnership with some one who has, and go to work. Pou't undertake too much of any one crop, but make a little of all; and whatever you do undertake, do well. Plow thoroughly and work it well; save all the ashes made in cleaning up your ground or iu any other way, if only a gallon in a place, and ?'rop it in your corn hills, and save and put on all other manures of every kind, but don't go in debt for manipulated fertilizers, they will not pay on com at presents prices, and on tobacco ouly if you have the money in hand to buy them ; and I repeat, work thoroughly what you undertake. 1 know the prices of both staples are very low. but 1 think they arc now at bottom, and if there is any change, it will be lbr the better.? They will pay, however, at present prices, if made with the strictest economy, it will pay in the sweet sleep produced by the consciousness that you have made an effort to do something for yourself an J your State, and have not been sitting down in idleness, perhaps at a cross-road store or grog shop, groaning over the hard times superinduced by idleness and political heresies. It will pay in the example you set to your brothers and children, even if the balance-sheet at the end of the year shows only your bread for your labor. After you rcrop and garden is planted (don't neglect the garden, for out of that alone you ;jmi ran lie), prepare from one to five acres of land for turnips for your sheep the following winter ; they will grow on most any well-prepared light ground, and will food forty sheep to the acre of turnips, in all the weather in winter that they usually require feed ia this climate; and there is no industry or .took that pays as well in the South a as fifty $o a hundred sheep well cared lbr; they will invariably, from wool aud lambs, pay first cost or 100 per cent, in a year, if well managed and protected from dogs, and every man can and should make his own dog law with a phial of strychnine. Our wise legislators are afraid to do it. These suggestions arc addressed to every man who owns one hundred acres of land or more, who is willing to work, and who can command capital enough to rent one hundred acres or more, and it is more applicable to the man that owns or can rent and stock a larger farm ; but my advice to a renter with small capital is, not to undertake too much, and to a large land owner, with small ability to work it, to rent out what ho can't work well. Believing that we arc at bottom prices for all agricultural products, the chances are that the future will pay all who will | ' I (IV/llV/U JUUIV.HMI.-J V.tWilUIJIJf 111 III.lb Ctllllll*^. i-'roo trade, my friend Major II. says, is what we want, tjouicofit may be a good thing for the South and agricultural sections, but whether is it better to raise rovenu"s by a protective tariff (for our federal govern incut is heavily in debt and must have revenues), or by direct taxation of tobacco, cotton and sugar of the South and incomes of the North?for the South have none. I think a revenue tariff, incidental)' protective, the best. The North, by protective revenue laws, have established themselves in manufactures so as to compete with the world in the manufacture of almost all fabrics except silks, and the time is near at hand when they will no longer want protection. because it will make the South a produ- I ? cor iustead of a consumer of their uianufacures. What we is consumers at our barndoors?we waut the loom, the furnace and the anvil located alongside of our plows, hoes and pastures, so as to save the enormous transportation costs of our raw materials from and manufactured supplies buck to us. What wo especially waut is economy iu the administration of government, Federal, State, and especially county and municipal?the latter is a glorious burdcu. under this State Constitution vc arc living. Kcououiy in living, uiy friend 11. to the coutrary. We have not economized iu liviug in the South as compared with the rural districts of Franco or our Western States. Iu the lattoc, their cost of liviug on hog and hominy, with only a frying-pan for kitchen furniture, is four and a half cents a day for an adult; their habitations for siuglc men, a hole dug iu the side of the hill, with skins for blankets; and for fauii lies, a one room board shanty, partly covered with dirt to make it warm, with a pot, oven, frying-pan and coffee-pot for kitchen furniture ; a looking-glass, a tin-basin, aud a few chairs complete their cstablisuiaut. with no help except their own strong arms.? Their living is on hog at two cents a pound, and hominy, made of corn, at thirteen cents a bushel. Taxes, which aro four times \ irgiuia rates, is almost the only money they have to pay out, except for clothing, which is of the plaiuest aud cheapest kind. I have reeontly had an acquaintance with this Western method of living, and speak with a knowledge of what [ say. Now our corn ought to nay -us at thirty-five cents if theirs will at thirteen cents; our hog product ought to pay us at live cents a pound, aud beef seven cents a pound if theirs will at two and throe cents, provided, however, we will practice the economy that they have to do. I am told "we can't live that way, we should be discarded from society. Do you not discard yourself from society, the finest that 1 have any knowledge of 011 earth, lVuui a climate and soil, considering all its advantages, proximity to theseaboard, See., the best that (Jod has ever given to man. For what, to get rid of taxes? No; they are higher there than here. To get more product from the soil '( No; for where the prices at the barn-door arc estimated, we have the advantage. Then why ? To /iracticc economy ' Then, can't that be done here? I don't moan to live like a | ground hog, lor that is not necessary ; but li\e economically, and yet like honest gentlemen, as our forefathers did on this same soil two hundred years ago; but lived with- i in their income or product. Then, what is the matter ? as Major England asks. My opinion is, free-trade will do us but little good, unless we can tariff against our Northern manufacturers; that is impossible.? But we want all our productions manufactured at Iirintc'f we want a market at our door for all our raw material, and we *vant to supply our manufacturers with our meat and bread, without cost of transportation; and we want iron cotton, tobacco, &e., man-ufacturcd here and our people to stay at home and do it, and not pay tribute to Old England or New England to do it.? Then what is the matter? "l'is not that the earth don't produce her increase, but it is, lirst, that our people have not learned to curb their extravagant habits in proportion to the l'ltiOK of our products. It is essential that they should at once do that. It is because we don't, by our statutes (State 1 mean), encourage manufactures so as to give a home consumption of our agricultural supplies; it is bocause our young uieu don't stay at home and wor/r and economize; it is because our old 1110:1 have been brought up in the days of alliuenco and of politics that don't suit this ago, and we must either reform our habits or surrender our State to bnukruptcy and disgrace. The latter, God forbid. There is no earth ly necessity for it. I have already written loo long. Let ine say to my brother fanners, in conclusion, cheer up; all is not yet lost.?Koin\ J>kvKitIjEY in Southern Flanft r and Fanner ? .? 1'khsona i. Attk.ntiun to 13 usix ess.? Nothing but ultimate ruin stares that farmer in the face who does not pay personal attention to the minute details of his farm. There are a thousand small leaks about tbc management of an ordinary farm, that, if not closely attended to, wiil surely bring the most hard-working farmer to ruin and bankruptcy. A large portion id' the fanners can attribute their present condition to no other cause than a lack of clo?c ntten- I tiou to the small details of the farm, (.'lose supervision of the machinery, tools, stock aud their feed, a place for everything and everything in its place. No hired help is as much interested in attending to these duties as the iaruier himself?such a course would in a few mouths or years at most, | enable many farmers who are now on a down hill grade to again begin to ascend, and if persjrved in will surely make headway against what would otherwise look doubtlii 1.?Maine Farmer. I venerate old age; and I love not the man who can look without emotion upon the sunset of lifo, when the dusk of evening begins to gather over the watery eye, ! and the shadows of twilight grow broader i and deeper upon the understanding.?Low/-1 fellow. I'mKi'auino Coiin LAND.--\Yhcrc bottom lauds exist, they belong as a matter of course to the com crop. Hut in comparatively few instances has their full capacity been realised. This is never done until the water level?that is. the point at whcli water may geuerally be found by aiukiug a hole in the ground?is some three feet be- i low the surface. This can only be accomplished by deepening the main branch or < water channel until it is as many feet below the level of the lower portions of the i land. Oft-tiuies such deepening of the main channel will effectually drain a piece ] of bottom, without any additional ditching. 1 In other cases where bold springs arise rcmotej'rom the maja ditch, a^^gnpcicllv If I close pipe clay fn'tcrvcrief* wic' 'or drain < ditches must be cut* To avoid loss of land these should always be blind or covered.?- ? If not hitherto attencded to, such ditching snouiu De dono at otiee, that surplus water 1 may have ample time to run out before planting time. Another important poiut is ] to protect bottom lands from being flooded i with water from the hillsides. If not thus protected they receive a double portion of ] the rain fall and with less facilities usually i for surface drainage, necessarily require a I longer time to dry oft*. With proper drain- i ing and protection against surface water from adjacent hills, bottom lands would dry oft" I and become ready for the plough, almost as ( soou as upland. Such a result would great- I )y facilitate farm work and by permitting an earlier planting of corn materially in- i crease the crop. t Upland* should bo bedded with scooters, j the water furrow afterwards opened with a i wide, rather short shovel, uud corn aud manure put in water furrow. A very high ( bed aud a deep sinking of the waterl'urrow 1 into the subsoil, are uot desirable, hence I bedding with a scooter is suggested. The j water furrow in which the corn is planted ought to be sfticicutly wide to admit ol the \ seed being coverd by two furrows of a small : plough, making a narrow ridge and keeping water from settling over the grain. In all i early plantings cover the seed very ligtly s and throw dirt to the young plants very 1 slowly in the early stages of cultivation.? i Experience has shown that light liippings by frost no not injure corn?plant there fore just as soon as tho danger of freezes is over. When the portion of u plant above 1 ground is retarded in growtl*\ by cold?it < seems to devtlope a better root system? ( hence our best crops of wheat in cold win- i tors?hence tho superiority of early t sown to late sown oats. It is said that oats 1 rcquiro two months at least of cool or cold t weather to make a good crop. They mature i the stalk and grain in very hot weather, hut < they form the roots mainly in cool weather. : As two chances of striking good seasons 1 are better than one, we always advise that 1 a portion of tho corn crop ho planted with i some early variety. The ''early golden dent" froui Pennsylvania, hac proved a very good variety for this purpose, in this region of country.?Southern Cultivator. Thought it Made no Difference.? ' That tenon docs not Gt tho mortise by a quarter of an inch," said an employer to a young carpenter who had just begun to work for him. i "I thought that for a garden gate you would not be particular, and it would make no difference." answered the young man. < JSut it did make a difference. It made just the difference between tho young car- 1 pouter having a steady summer job at good i wages, and having his time unoccupied s upon his hands. , I Tii? ....... r.....i...- r....u . . A IIV> VUIJ/IUJVI IUUIJU li yj 1 U 1 l I1U1 lilllll y ? but when the gate was finished, lie paid | the maker without another word and dis- i missed him. The next day there was an- I oilier man in his place, lie happened to i bo a man who thought it did make a differ- < once how everything was done; he always ] did his best, and he kept his situatiou until i the end of the seasou. I 80 it happens. Frequently sonic little thing which was not expected to attract i attention, is noticed by sonic one to whom < the excellence of the work has commended 1 itself, and the man who has made pains- 1 taking the rule of all his labor is surprised i by a sudden and unlooked-for accession to good fortune, ife has been brought into note by some unconsidered trifle, which was done merely because it was his habit to do everything as well as possible. On the other hand, many a man who is lamenting his ill fortune, and don't know what to attribute it to, owes it to some such carelessness io the way of doing his work as that which doomed the young carpenter to a summer of idleness. Everybody is willing to say his prayers when lie is in a tight fix and sees no other way out. The Lord i.s the last rosort of some people, and their rcligiou is after the fashion of the sailor, wlio prayed and said, "O Lord, I haven't asked anything of you for fifto :n years, and if you'l get mo ashore L won't ask anything for fifteen years more." The little shoeblack also had a system of theology after which a great many take pattern. He told an enquiring missionary that he always said his prayers at night because he was asleep and didn't know what might* happen ; but never in the morning because any bright boy can take care of himself in the d ly time. TABLE ETIQUETTE. Bread should be broken, not cut; but if you don't like bread "cut" it. In "breakiug" bread use a curb bit. Split a biscuit with your fingers, instead of opeuing it with a knife like an oyster. If tiic biscuit bo hard, a beetle and *edge arc admissable in Jthc best society. Salt should never be put on the tablecloth, but on the sido of your plate. If, however, you want to pickle the table-cloth in brine, you must put salt ou it, of course. A barrel of salt table-cloth would conic in play should your pork give out during the winter. Do uot rattle your knife and fork. A tntfo pud sp oou will bo found more musi- 1' Kat your soup from the side of your spoon, I lithcr inside or outside. Do not take game in your fingers. This, liowcvcr, does not apply to n game of cards. When asked what part of the fowl you prefer, answer promptly. If you want the whole of it don't hesitate to say so. Do not drink with the spoon in your cup. Put it in your pocket. Forgcttiug it, you will be so much ahead. A close regard to his rule has enabled Ben Butler to accum- i ilato a compoteney. 1 It is lad taste for tho host and hostess to t iuish eating before their guests. It is bet- i -cr to move their chairs so as to finish be- ! ii?d them. Never leave the table until all are through, i without sufficient excuse. The sudden en- i .ranee of a policeman with a warrant lor i jjitiii* vuuoltluicd auinutllllt I jxcusc in polite circles. i Pay no attention to accidents or bluuders in the part of ecrvauts. If Bridget blows lorsclt up while encourageing tho fire with ioreoscne, keep right on eating just as if l*ou had never (kora) sene it. Never help yourself to articles of food with your knife or fork. Use a harpoon or i i lasso. 1 When you liavc finished your meal lay four knife and fork on your plate side by i tide, with the handles towards the right, a ittle south by southwest bearing northerly I when the wind is oft'the sideboard quarters, i ?[Exchanyc. Arson and Outlawry in Ohio.?Counibus, March 8.?A week ago to-night, a concerted attempt was made to burn this :ity, no loss than seven fires being kindled it different points, and every uight since jther atteinps have been made. Ataucary hour this morning four buildings were ircd and entirely consumed, and attempts iverc made to fire several others in different parts of the city. The losses so far will imount to ?120,000. All day the city has been in a high state of excitement. The Council mc? in special session to-day and offered rewards for the apprehension of the incendiaries, and ordered the closing of all saloons and places of public resort after 10 o'clock P. M. All persons found on the streets after that hour are to be arrested unless they are well known or can give a satisfactory account of themselves. Special policemen arc on duty on every block, and all thi military compauies arc under arms patrolling the streets. The police commission and a number of prominent citizens wore in conference to night. As a result i large number of citizens were sworn in as defectives and assigned to duty. Hitherto only warehouses and barns have been fired, but this morniug attempts were 1 : j "* jkiuu iu uit11j j#i i villi; rv^iut'iicus. J. ucrc i ire a large number of tramps in and around ihe city, and tliey arc undoubtedly rcspon- i siblo for tbc burning. The citizens arc greatly excited and nearly everybody goes trmed. There are fears of an alarm of fire tonight, and if one is given a terrible riot will no doubt ensue, as the citizens would proceed to lynch the tramps and all suspicious persons. No ar.tests have yet been made, tnd the police arc apparently too ineOcicut tc make any. An attempt was nirdo to bacak open tbc State arsenal this morning, either to burn it j or procure the arms and munition there.? , The insurance agents have had more appli- j cations lbr policies to-day than they were > able to fill. At this hour, 11 I'. M., everything is quiet, but people have not gonu to bed. At 11 30 a chambermaid at the Neil House raised a cry of tire, and an alarm was given from the telegraph b >x in the State House. The square was almost immediately packed with excited people. The announcement was immediately made that the alarm was false, and the fears of the people were somewhat calmed. At midnight the streets arc filled with people. If a cat doth meet a cat upon a garden wall, and if a cit doth greet a eat, (), need j I. ? II 9 i.' H i ? I ?iivj uun? iu di|u?ii : i'jvity 1ounny nas nis Tabby waiting on tho wall, and yet he welcomes her approach with a yawl. And if a kitten wish to court upon a garden wall, why don't he sit and sweetly smile, and not stand up nml bawl ; lilt his precious back up high and show his teeth and moan, as it' 'twere colic more than love that made that fellow groan ? Alcohol will clean out the inside of an inkstand. It will also clean out the inside of a pocket book a littio more thoroughly and ipiickcr than anything on record. Ma. Blipkin's First Baby.?That first baby was a great institution. As sooa ns ho came into this "breathing world," as the lato W. Shakespeare has it, ho took command in our house. Everything was subservient to him. lie regulated the toinpcraturc, ho rogulatcd the servants, ho regulated mc. For tho first six months of that precious baby's existence ho had uio up, on au average, six times a uight. "Mr. Blifkin's," said my wife, "bring a light, do ; the baby looks strangely : I'm afraid it will have a fit." Of course the lamp was brought, and of course the baby lay sucking his first, like a littlo whito bear as he was. "Mr. Blifkins," says my wife, "I thiuk I fool a draft of sir; I wish jot* wmtM go* wp and see if the wiudow is not open a little, because baby might get sick," Nothiug was mo nmier witn the window, as I knew vcrw well. "Mr. Blifkius," said my wife, just as I was going to sleep again, "the lamp, as you have plnccd it, shines directly in baby's eyes?strango that you have no more consideration" I arranged the light and went to bud again. Just as I was dropping to sleep "Mr. Blifkins," said my wife, "did you think to buy that broma, to day, for the baby ?" "My dear," said I, "will you do uu the injustice to believe that 1 could overlook a matter so essential! to the comfort of that inestimable child ?" She apologized very haudsouicly, but made her auxiety the scapegoat. 1 forgave hen, and without saying a word to her I addressed myself to sleep. "Mr. Blifkius," said my wife, shaking uio, "you must not luoro so?you'will wake up the oaby. "Jest so?jest so," said I, half asleep, thinking I was Solon Shingle. "Mr Blifkius," said my wife, "will you get up nud hand methat warm gruel from the nurse-lamp for baby ??the child ! if it wasu't for liis mother I don't kuow what he would do.? Ilow can you sleep so, Mr. Blifkins?" "I suspect my dear" said I, "that it is becauso I'm tired." "Oh, it's very well for you men to talk about being tired," said my wife, "I don't know what you would say if you hnd to toil and drudgo like a poor woman with a baby." I tried to soothe her by telling her she had no pctionon nnd cot un fur the nossot lf.-ivinc aided iu answering to the baby's requirements, I stepped into bed again, wilh the hope of sleeping. "Oh, dear," said^^at inestimable woman, in great npparcntflmguish, "how can a man, who has arrived at the honor of a live baby of his own, sleepwhen he don't know that the dear creature will live till morning I remained silent, and after awhile, deeming that Mrs. Blifkins had gone to sleep, 1 stretched my limbs for repose. How long 1 slept I don't know, but I was awakened by a furious job iu the forehead from some sharp instrument. 1 stilted up, aud Mrs. Blifkius was sitting up in bed, adjusting somo portions of the baby,s dress. She had, in a state of scini-souiDulcnce, mistaken uiy head for the pillow, which she customarily used for a nocturnal pincushion.' I protested against such treatment in somewhat round terms, pointing to several round perforations in. my forehead. She told me I should willingly bcur such trifling ills for the sake of the baby. I insisted upon it that I didn't think my duty as a parent to tho immortal required the surrenderor my forehead as a piucushlon. This was ono of the many nights passed in this way. The baby was what every man's first baby is?an autocrat, absolute and unlimited Such was the story of Blifkius, as he related it to ?s the other day. It is a littlo exaggerated picture of almost every man's experience.?Richmond' Planter and Fanner. Setting Hens.?This month all the hens should be set that become broody ; as a rule, thero arc no chicks so hardy as March chicks; then the pullets that arc hatched this month arc the ones to save for winter layers. Set Hens at night in a room by themselves. Iteforc setting, examine to see if they hayo any lice on them or not; if they have, irivc theui a eood snriuklinor of insect powder or flour of sulphur; be sure that it goes through to the skin, and give an extra dose under the wings aud at the root of tho tail. Then put the hen on her nest with a piece of old carpet or bag over her, which in the morning, remove. See that she has fresh water, a dust bath, fresh food and liinc whore sho can get at it whenever 6he feels so iuclined.?Planter and Farmer. "Oh, save my wife!" shouted a man whose wife had fallen overboard in tho Hudson Kivcr, recently. They succeeded in rescuing her. Her husband tondcrly embraced her, saying, "My dear, if you had been lost, what should I have done ?? I shall not let you carry tho pocket book strain." o ' "No woman of proper self-respect," says a woman's rights journal, discussing tho marriage ceremony, "willsubmit to begivcu away." Perhaps not; but, dear woman's rightcr, to be "given away" is net tho worst fouturo of the ceremony. She is too often "sold."?Exchange. Yes, aud often so-old that you must give them away to find a market.?register. There aro lots of mon that can tell tho truib, but it seems to hurt them so bad that they never do it.