Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE CAMDEN JOURNAL. [NEW SERIES.] VOL. II. CAHDEN, SOUTH CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1841. NO. 8. Published every Wednesday Morning, by THO31 AS W. PEGJUES, Publisher of the Laws of the Union. At three dollars in advance; tf.rer dollars and fifty cents in six months; or four dollars at the expiration of the year. Advertisements inserted at 75 cents per square for < the first, and 37 1-2 for each subsequent insertion.? The number of insertions to lie notod on all advertise monts, or they will be published until ordored to be ( discontinued, and charged accordingly. One dollar ( Dcr souare will be charged for a single insertion. ( \ ? ? Somi-mo.iinly, IVIorithly anil Qurtorly advertisemcnls will bo charged the same as new ones each in. scrtion. All Obituary Notices cxcocding six lines, and Communications recommending Candidates for pubic Offices of profit or trust?or puffing exhibitions, will be charged as advertisements. Accounts for Advertising and Job Work will be prcscntod for payment, quarterly. ( (U"A11 Letters by mail must be post paid "to insure 1 punctual attention. i AGRICULTURAL. From the Carolina Planter. I; EXTRACTS FROM TIIE ANNIVER- 1 SARY ORATION", i Of the State Agricultural Society of South ' Carolina, by Gen. Geo. McDuffc; read. < before the Society, on the 2Qth Novcm- | bcr, 1810, at their annual meeting, in j /Ac 7/a/Z o/ /Ac House of Representa- ( //CCS. "The greatest, most prevailing, and | most pernicious of all the practices which i distinguish and deform the agriculture of ; this and the other cotton planting States, | is the almost exclusive direction of the , whole available labor of the plantation, to | the production of our greatest market staple, and the consequent neglect of all ( the other commodities which the soil is i capame 01 producing or sustaining, auu which are essential to supply the wants of i the establishment. No scheme of reform < or improvement caA produce any great ( and salutary results, which docs not lay i the axe to the root of this radical vice in ] our husbandry. I It should be, therefore, an inviolable ; rule in the economy of every plantation, ] to produce an abundant supply of every < species of grain, and of every species of < live stock, required for its own consump- I tion. I am aware, that in peculiar locali- | ties, when the price of cotton has been t high, examples may be found of success- i ful planting where this rule has been dis- ; regarded. But this serves only to prove, that even 1 a bad system prosecuted with great encr- i gy and under favorable circumstances, i may be crowned with a considerable share I of the success which would more certain- j ly have rewarded a good one. Such ox- < amples, if they constitute an exception to i the rule I ha\e laid down, by no means i impair its force or disprove its general ex- < pediency. The economy of a plantation should be founded, not upon the tempo- i rary and mutable expedients, but upon general and permanent rules, adapted to | all the probable vicissitudes of trade and;: of the seasons, and all the probable flue- ] tuations of prices and of the currency.? i "We have surely seen enough of these I fluctuations, and sufficiently witnessed, if 1 not experienced, their disastrous influence, i to warn us against the fatal policy of I yielding up the lessons of experience to i the temptations of high prices and pros- I perous seasons. It is, indeed, one of the greatest evils which these fluctuations ha- < bitually produce among us, that we arc | but too successfully tempted, by the tern- < 11 j "_r : . i porary auureiuciu ui mgu prices, 10 uuuu- i don all the maxims of wisdom and all the ' rules of sound economy, which have been i imposed upon us by painful experience, ; in periods of depression and adversity.? Let us, then, each one for the sake of his own interest, and all for the common welfare of South Carolina, solemnly and deliberately resolve, that we will never again, under any temptation, incur the just reproach which must attach to our character as planters, if we should be induced to rely upon distant communities for those r essential supplies, which our own plantations are so capable of producing. And to the end, that this high resolve may be more firmly adopted and pcrsevcringly maintained, I shall endeavor to show, that it is the dictate not less of an enlightened self-interest, than of an enlarged public sDirit. 1 Wc are then to consider and decide upon the comparative cheapness and economy of producing ourselves on the one hand, and of purchasing from abroad on the other, the hogs, horses, mules,and other live stock, required for the use and consumption of our plantations during an average series of years. A stranger to 1 our wretched habits of economj', would be startled at the mere propounding of , such an inquiry. He could not com pre- 1 hend the economy 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 be raised exclusively upon corn, and will gravely sit down to calculate the cost of so many bushels at seventy-live or even fifty cents a bushel, will certainly come to an erroneous conclusion. But those of us who systematically pursue the business of raising live stock, can testify that the quantity of corn necessary to raise hogs,'horses or mules, is extremely inconsiderable. Oats, whether harvested for the work horses and mules,! or used as pasturage for sloe k hogs and stock horses and mules, is an invaluable C-.v n nlontnr Tlint wliifh ic ! U IKJ1. U. VyUtlVil W| used as pasturage, white it will cost only the labor of preparing the ground and seeding it, will keep all the stock in fineorder, from the middle of summer till the; opening of the pea fields, and these, which cost scarcely any labor, will keep them in like order, with very little aid from the i corn-crib, until December. From this time regular feeding will be required for about four months, and after that, very little will suffice till the oat pastures arc again ready. In this view of the subject,! I have omitted many useful auxiliaries, such as potatoes, pindars, peaches and apples, the two latter of which are often permitted to rot on the ground, though ex- j cedent food for hogs, and perhaps the, least expensive of all. Nor have I em-1 braced in it the artificial grasses, though 1 am quite sanguine from an experiment I [ now have in progress, that in most of the strong soils in the upper country, blue rrass and herds srrass will succeed vcrv -5 1 , V nearly as well as they do in Kentucky.? Upon the whole, then, it is my deliberate opinion, founded upon my own experience and observation as a planter, that in South Carolina, and particularly the upper country districts, it would be true economy for the planters to raise their own stock, even if they could buy Kentucky mules at fifty dollars a head. But let it be remembered that to accomplish this, they must devote themselves to it as an essential branch of their business. A regular system must be adopted, and a competent person be charged with its execution; and overseers must he made to: know, that it is as much their duty to superintend it, as the cultivation of the cotton crop; for hogs and horses can no more thrive without proper attention, than corn ind cotton can grow without attention.? \nd it is worthy of remark, that when aogs are fat or in a good gi owing order, it requires not half so much food to keep :hcm in that condition, as it would require to sustain poor hogs and prevent them from growing poorer. It is, therefore, a most obvious rule of economy, never to permit, stock hogs to sink below what we de-, nominate a growing condition. The j corn that will be required to keep them in that condition during four or five months in the year, will be less than that which : would be required in extra feeding to pre-; pare poor hogs for the slaughter pen; and at the same age, their weight will be fifty per cent greater, and their flesh will be much more firm, than those of hogs brought up in poverty and suddenly fattened. I am now speaking the actual result of my own experience, and I have been astonished to perceive how little corn is required to prevent fat hogs from get- j ting poor. As an important part of the branch of economy we are now considering, every planter should keep as large a stock of neat cattle, and of sheep, as his pasturage and the offal of his plantation will support.? To this extent, there is no description of, stock so valuable in proportion to the ex- i pense of maintaining them. Their flesh j is much cheaper than that of hogs, and j besides supplying the table of the planter: with an abundance of good beef, butter n nrl mnffAn tlin f/ArmAn -?T-i 11 u?w liiuvvvfii, Ciiv^ IW1U1U1 >Y ill ilUVUlllil^Uously supply ono half of ihc plantation ration of meat during the autumnal months; and the latter, all the wool required for clothing the negroes in winter. In addi-, tion to all this, it is the opinion of the most; experienced planters, in which I fully con- j cur, that where cows are penned every night on grounds properly covered with ! litter, the manure they will make in the course of the year, will very nearly defray the expense of maintaining them. I have thus attempted to show that it is the true interest of every planter to raise all the live stock required for his own use, and for the use and consumption of his own plantation, though no one else should pursue the same policy. I now propose to consider the subject in a still more interesting point of view. I propose to enquire what would be the effect of this svstcm ur>on the cencral prosperity of the cotton planting States, assuming that it shouid be universally arlopted. It is not extravagant to estimate the annual expense which a planter would incur in purchasing his supplies of stock, at one tenth part of the nctt proceeds of his cotton crop, as exhibited on the books of his factor. Assuming, then, that the b labor diverted from the production of cot- ti ton, in order to ra'-se these supplies, would p diminish the cotton crop in the same pro- r portion, it would follow that each indi- p vidual planter would derive as large a o nett income from his diminished cotton a crop, as he would have derived from one o a tenth larger, if he purchased his stock, tl even supposing that the diminished cotton g crop brought no higher price than could is have been obtained for the larger one.? h But here we realize the grand result of fi the proposed reform in our agricultural r economy. ' fi It is a well established principle of po- t< litical economy, confirmed by the uniform' d experience of the cotton planting States, a that when the supply of a commodity ex-! b cceds the effective demand, the price is; p diminished, not in proportion to the excess, p but in a still greater proportion. If, then, fi we assume that the proposed reform would \ reduce the annual cotton crop from two b millions of bales, to one million eight hun-; ti dred thousand, and that the effective de- r mand of the world would not exceed the ii latter number, it would clearly follow 1 from the above stated principle that the v smaller crop of one million eight hundred ti thousand bales, would yield a greater in- tl come than the larger crop of two millions d of bales. In the habitual state of our cot- <] ton trade, with a constant tendency in the o production to exceed the demand, such ii would always be the result of diminished tl production where no extraordinary cases d existed to check consumption. It results c from this reasoning, that the planting c States would realize from the universal t adoption of the proposed reform, a clear 1 aggregate saving of the sum now annual- c i_r i?.i 1 : i: _i i ? iy expunueu ui purcnasing uvu siuck; uuu a that each individual planter, besides great- ii ly increasing the comforts of his establish- s ment, would add ten per cent, to his clear o annual income. Entirely satisfied, as I n am, of the soundness of this reasoning, d and the justness of the conclusion to f which it leads, I am aware that it is ex- ii posed to an apparent objection. It may f be very naturally asked, how it happens n that the planters, a class of men sufficiently intelligent to understand their own in- t terests, should, generally, pursue a course { so little cala/latcd to promote it? A suf- c ficient answer will be found'fo this ques- f tion, in the force of established habits, the c mistaken ambition which makes the point c of honorable distinction consist in the r number of cottoft bales, and above all, ? the unfortunate habit so generally prcva- c lent among planters, of ndglecting their t own business, and confiding it to the ex- i elusive management of overseers. It is c a duty which every planter owes, not only to himself? but to his country as a matter f of example, to give his personal superin- r tendance to his business, and make him- s \(* _ C _11 _ _1 -A *1 TT sen master 01 an us ueians. 11c can ? scarcely deserve to own an estate, who t from false pride or indolent self-indul- } gence, remains in voluntary ignorance of F the various operations upon which its pro- c ductiveqcss depends, and relies exclusive- i; ly upon agents who are practically irre- s sponsible, and in general, grossly incom- " petent. Certain it is, that no general re- t form or improvement in our agricultural a economy, will ever be made by overseers, c ?agents who arc employed from year to i year, who have no interest in any perma- c ncnt improvement, and who are generally r actuated by the motives of a tenant at will, c which prompt them to aim at a large cot- <ton crop the present year, without any re-, i gard to the future, or to the subsidiary t branches of a sound system of economy. ? Every planter who has attempted such re- i forms or improvements as I have suggest- 1 ed, can testify how utterly impossible it is i to make overseers, generally, realize their 1 importance, or bestowupon them sufficient s attention to insure their successful cxecu- t tion. Let it, then, be regarded as the point I of honor with every planter, to attend i personally to his plantation, and make ( himself master of every branch of its c operations and economy. This is an in- i dispensable preliminary step to all useful i improvements in our agriculture, and is equally demanded by every consideration t of private interest and public duty. s Another mischievous error in our plant- r ing economy, proceeding partly from the i: mistaken ambition of making a large count ? of cotton bales, and partly from the un- s uncalculating habits acquired during high F prices, is exhibited in the general careless ncss with which cotton is picked out ot o the field and prepared for market. It has f been fully demonstrated by experience, ii that those planters who have their cotton c properly handled, and sent to market free c from the contamination of trash and stain, o can habitually obtain in our own markets, o one cent a pound more than can be ob- t tained for cotton prepared in the usual n way; ana I can personally testify, as the r result of my own experience, that the dif- t fcrcnce made in foreign markets is much 1 greater. Now, I invite your serious at- v ention to a few plain and obvious reflecions on this subject. A diminution in rice of one cent a pound, at the present narket rates of cotton, is equal to ten cr cent, discount upon the gross amount f the annual income of the planter, and . still larger per ccntage upon the amount f his nett income. It follows, that by lie careless operations of four months in athcring the crop, one tenth of its value 5 destroyed, and one tenth part of the la or of the whole year is absolutely nulliicd. The labor of one hundred hands i? rvln^nd in vnlne tn that nf ninntv anrl ? - V ' vc hundred bales of cotton are reduced o four hundred and fifty. Now I confilently put it to every practical planter, as . plain question of economy, what possiilc advantage there can be in carelessly ?icking out a cotton crop, that will comlensate the planter for this sacrifice ol ifty bales of cotton, the product of the vhole annual labor of ten hands? Let ii ie admitted, and it is an extreme supposi ion, that hands will pick out one tent! nore in the? one mode than they will dc i the other. Even on this hypothesis, on< enth of the labor of the whole yea; vould be sacrificed for the sake of on< cnth of the labor for four months, and t( his sacrifice we must add that of the ad litional expenses of the horse power re [uired to make the additional fifty bale: f cotton. Does not the conclusion, then rresistably follow from these premises hat every cotton planter should lay i [own as a cardinal rule, in pitching hi: rop, to plant no more than he can picl iut with proper care, giving due attentior o the othci interests of his plantation.? rhis rule, like that relating to live stock :omes recommended by the twofold con ideration, that it not only promotes tfit ndividual interest of each planter, bu till more extensively, the general intores >f the entire class. If it will cause a di ninished quantity of cotton to be pro luced, it will cause the price of that di ninished quantity to be proportionate!} ncreased, by its superior quality, and stil iirthcr, the very circumstance of its di ninished quantity. It is n6t to be doubted, therefore, thai ffc general adoption of the two plain ant iractical rules, so perfectly in the powei >f every planter, of raising his own sup dies instead of buying them, and picking >ut and preparing his cotton with propei :arc and attention, would do more to pro note the prosperity of the cotton planting States, than all the moms multicaulis spe ailations and political paper nostrum: hat ever deluded a people with visional*] lopes, while they afflicted them with rea lisasters. And here, gentlemen, it may not be un irofitable to indulge in a few cautionar] eflections on that wild and extravagan pirit of speculative adventure, with whicl ilmost all classes of our countrymen have >ecn smitten and infatuated for scvera ^cars past, and which has exerted a mos >ernicious influence, even upon our agri :ultural economy. It has unfortunatel] nspired our planters, in too many in tances, with a sort of contempt tor the 'dull pursuits" of sober industry, am aught them to look upon every visionarj ind ephemeral humbug as an El Doradc >f sudden and unbounded wealth. Now f any anticipates, from the deliberation: >f this society, the discovery of some lew process by which wealth is to be ac simulated without labor, the sooner hi lispcls such a delusion the better. Then s no royal highway to wealth, any mori han to learning. As labor is the only trui ind ultimate measure of value, wealth i icither more nor less than the accumu atcd results of labor; and wherever on< nan becomes rich without labor, it fol ows as a necessary consequence, that bi ;omc speculative juggle, he has managet o transfer to himself the labors of othc jcople. Though individuals, therefore nay become rich by unproductive pro jesses, it is impossible, in the very natun >f things,that communities ever can. Le is, then, realizing these great principles o ndustry and sound economy, and discard ng all visionary schemes, steadily pursu< he beaten track of honest industry, con oled by the patriotic reflection, that eve y dollar we thus add to our own fortunes l_ M, ?K, 5 SO lilUCll clUilUU IU 111U WUUIUI ui liii State, and that the losses of others con titute no one of the elements of our pros >erity. As intimately connected with this view if the subject, I may venture to offer t bw suggestions, calculated to show thai a a planting community, habitual indehtdncss is the almost certain cause of pcuniary embarrassment, and i3 palpably pposed to every maxim of genuine ccon?my. Of all classes of the community he planters can best plead the excuse oj icccssity for going in debt, and fatal cxpeicnce has but too clearly demonstratec he disastrous effects of such a policy.? V.s this is the besetting frailty of the times vhich so many lessons of experience have . entirely failed to cure, I consider it wor i thy of the grave and solemn considera: lion of this association. For if there be i any question in the whole circle of our ; general 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 advan. tages of a fertile soil and genial climate . have been blasted by the mistaken policy i of which I am speaking; and that whole | communities, which industry and prudence [ would have caused to flourish almost be. yond example, exhibit one general scene j of pecuniary embarrassment, bankruptcy . and ruin. The experience and observar tion of every planter will sustain me in the . aesertion, that we pay for credit, in the f mode in which it is usually obtained in the ? purchase of property, from 10 to 20 per t cent, interest. Every one who is accus. tomcd to attend administrators' and other ! public sales, must have been struck by the ) extravagant prices men are tempted to 3 give by a year's credit; and not less by the fart that snrh mnn arp np.mpfnallv in 3 volvcd in pecuniary embarrassments, and ) that the very efforts they thus imprudent. ly make to get forward in the world fas. tcr than their neighbors, keep them al5 ways in the rear. In fact, it may be truly affirmed as a general truth, that planters who are largely in debt, are, to that ext tent, the mere stewards of their creditors. 3 Life is with them an anxious and slavish t struggle in pursuit of an object which al? ! ways eludes their grasp. But there is ano_ ther form of credit, fortunately not so prevalent in South Carolina as in other . States, of which planters are but too ready 5 to avail themselves, which is equally at t war with sound economy and a sound curt rency. I allude, of course, to bank dis. counts. It has been so fashionable of late, . to.pronounce extravagant eulogies on what . is miscalled the credit system, that it will 7 probably be deemed quite heretical to say 1 that credit in any form, is a public . and private evil. It is, nevertheless, my deliberate and well considered opinion, _ t that one of the greatest nuisances that 1! could afflict an agricultural community, r would be the establishment of agricultural . ! banks, so located as to enable every planr tcr to obtain credit to the amount of one r third part of the value of his estate. The .; fatal experience of other States has conT' clusivcly proved that such establishments . have been the invariable causes of emg barrassment and ruin. Owing to the pe riodical fluctuations inseparable from such I a system, it has generally happened that a s | credit ohtained by a planter, to the amount .! of one third of his estate, in a period of - expansion, has required the whole estate t to redeem it fn a period of contraction.? j And wc have been but too impressively j admonished that it is the very genius and 1 instinct of those institutions, to grant crctdits in periods of expansion, and exact J payment in times of contraction. One : j motive for calling your attention to this . subject, will be found in the public mani3 festation of a desire in some parts of the I State, to convert the Bank of the State of j (South Carolina into an agricultural Bank, 3! and with that view, to give it a central loi cation. Such a change, made for such a ' purpose, I should regard as a great public ? calamity. Every one practically acquaint. ed both with planting and banking, must 3 be awaro that a mere planters' bank can 3 be nothing more nor less than a loan of3 fice. The planter realizes his income an3 nually and periodically; and it follows, that s a discount granted to him, except in rare . cases, must be virtually a credit for a 3 year. In practice ii would be generally . for a longer than for a shorter period. It , is self-evident, then, that such a bank 1 could not maintain the character of a sper cic paying bank for a single month. Now, , if there is any one measure which public ' opinion and the true policy of the State 3 concur in demanding, it is the rigid en- < t forccmcnt of specie payments by all the f banks. Let me warn my brother plan. tcrs, therefore, against involving them3 selves in a state of things by which they . would either be the means of defeating . ili:s measure ot salutary state policy, or become themselves the victims of it. , [To be concluded next week.] "Webster's Dictionary.?A new edition of this "rent work is about to be pubT lished, in large 8vo. It will contain 3,000 to 10,000 words not included in the quar1 to heretofore published. The whole number of words will be at least 80,000; being 20,000 more than are contained in Todd's Johnson, and 33,000 more than arc to be found ir. Richardson's Dictionary. > Benefit of Advertising.?A merchant [ lately advertised: "A boy wanted.'' Next morning ho found a band-box at his door, I with the following inscription?"IIow will - this one answer?" On opening it ho found f a chubby specimen warmly done up ia j flannel!