The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, February 03, 1841, Image 1
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THE 4 (HDEA JOI RV4I.
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[WEWSERIES] VOL. II. "ri1|| === =-??? ?
MH1II CAROLINA, HEDNESDAA, FEBRI7ARA 3 ISJ. ^
? J* '* NO. 0.
; Published every Wednesday Morning, by ?
THOMAS W. PEGUES, 1
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AGRICULTURAL. ii
?? V
From the Carolina Planter. j]
ANNIVERSARY UKATiuu, r
Of the State Agricultural Society of South v
Carolina, by Gen. Geo. McDujfic; read j,
before the Society, on the 26th Novem- s*
ber, 1810, at their annual meeting, in ^
the Hall of the House of Rcpresenta- .,
tives. tj
[concluded.]
I cannot, therefore, recommend a more p
important reform to our planting commit- v
- nity, than to get out of debt with ali prac- a
ticabie despach, if already involved in it, s,
?i ?f/%r thp future never to be in- t.
UliU JMUHV/ IU1 M
volved in it again. Such a resolution, fl
generally adopted and firmly maintained, v
would do more to promote the indepen- p
dence and substantial prosperity of an v
agricultural State, than all the quackeries tj
of legislation united. Imagine for one
moment, the great moral and political t,
change which would be produced, if it g
could be truly announced at this moment, Sl
that every cultivator of the soil, within j,
the wide limits of South Carolina, was en- 0
tirely free from the shackles of debt. It tj
would be a glorious day of jubilee. The ^
fatal spell of pecuniary influence would v
be dissolved at once, the shackles of de- 0
pendence would fall from the arms of the Si
indebted, and every citizen would walk v
abroad in the majesty of genuine indepen- a
dence and freedom. n
j But let us consider the effect which b
this general and habitual freedom from v
debt, would produce upon the progress of r.
individuals in accumulating wealth, and v
'1 " ?^ r\C f |\n A
upon me aggregate piuspumj v?? l(
whole class of planters. Taking expe- n
rience for our guide, it can scarcely be
doubted, that those who have uniformly p
kept out of debt, and have never pur- ^
chased property till they had the money 0"
in hand to pay for it, have generally accu- v
mulated fortunes more rapidly and much \z
more certainly than those who have pur- 0
sued the opposite policy. Every step they a
take is so much permanently gained.? a
They are exposed to no backsets; they rj
arc affected by no vicissitudes in trade, tl
and stand firm and unmoved amidst those tl
great, and now frequent and periodical g,
convulsions, by which those who are in p
debt are always shaken and often over- jr
whelmed. c;
Instances will no doubt occur to every fc>,
one who hears me, of men who have ha- s<
bitually made smaller crops than their L,
neighbors, and who have yet in a series of | a|
years, grown wealthy much faster, by this \
very simple rule, which I once heard laid jE
down by a friend. He never made large rj
cotton crops, and was regarded as a bad a
planter. And when asked how he got tf
rich so much faster than his more ener- r(
getic neighbors, he replied: "My neigh- p
bors begin at the wrong end of the year. r(
They make their purchases at the begin- n
ning of it, on a credit; I make mine at the jr
end of it, and pay down the cash." And Si
here I am reminded of a saying of the I
late John Randolph, of Virginia; a man p
not more remarkable for his genius and p
eccentricity, than for the profound philo- u
sophical truths which sometimes escaped v
him, like the responses of an inspired ora- a
clc. In the midst of one of his splendid g
rhapsodies in the Senate of the United s.
States, he suddenly paused, and fixing his tl
eye upon the presiding officer, exclaimed, h
"Mr. President, I have discovered the phi- c
losopher's stone. It consists in these four 1
plain English monosyllables: 'pay as you b
oo.'" Now, I will venture to say, that 0
this a much nearer approach than alche- v
my will ever make, to the great object of a
its visionary researches. And in recom- \
mending this maxim to the cotton planters u
of the State. I have still kept in view, not h
only the individual interest of each plan- o
ter, separately considered, but the com- u
mon interest of the whole community of c
planters. For this reform, like the others o
v J have suggested, independently of the si
direct benefit it will confer on each indi- c
vidua] planter, will benefit the whole, as a b
class, by checking over-production. One e
rreat cause of the incessant struggle to
nake large cotton crops, to the neglect of
ivery other interest, is the reckless habit
>f contracting debts, which I am depre:ating.
Negroes are purchased upon crelit,
and the planter is thus furnished both
vith the means and the motives* for unduly
ind disproportionately enlarging his coton
crop. As cotton is the only crop that
vill command money, and as money is
he most pressing want of a man in debt,
very thing is directed to that object; so
nuch so, that it is the standing apology
or neglecting to pursue a sounder system
if economy. The saying has, indeed,
ecome proverbial among planters, "if I
vere not in debt, I would not strive to
nake such large cotton crops, but would
levote myself to raising my own supplies,
md making permanent engagements."
Let me, therefore, advise, admonish and
teseech all our planters, as they regard
heir own peace of mind, their own true
nterest, the dignity and honor of their
ocation, and the substantial welfare of
he State, to avoid the entangling cmbarassments
of debt. Let them regard those |
pho may offer them credit with no friend/
eye, but as enemies in disguise, who
eek to lead them into temptation. If they
ave conti acted the habit of anticipating
heir incomes, even for a single year, let
icm reform even that. Yes, "reform it
L/V/?^Uah " TliAn xxt11 ] flioin n^Aononfu Kn
X 11^11 YT 111 Itivil wv
laced on immovable foundations. Then
fill they stand unshaken and unterrified
midst those periodical storms and convulions
which are the inseparable concomimts
of a false and artificial system of
uctuating credit and currency. Then
fill South Carolina find it an easy task to
erform the high and solemn duty of preentiug
those convulsions, by reforming
vat currency.
There is another reform in our agricullrai
economy, to which every planter in
iouth Carolina is invited by the most pervasive
considerations, public and private.
L is to adopt and steadily pursue a system
f permanent improvement, not only, in
le soil, but in the building and fixtures of
is plantation, and to abandon the improident
policy hitherto generally pursued,
f exhausting the soil in the too eager deD
# O
ire to realize a large present income,
fithout any regard to the future. It is
bsolutely distressing to contemplate the
memorials of this wretched policy exhiitcd
in every part of the State?a policy
fhich, while it denies to the present geneation
almost all the rational comforts
fhich alone make wealth desirable, leaves
j posterity an exhausted soil, ruinous
lansions, and a barren inheritance.
Now, it would not be too strong an exression
to say that every dollar judicial/
invested in the permanent improvement
f his estate by the planter, would be
:orth more to his children than two dolirs
invested, as is usual, in the purchase
f more negroes to cut down the forest
nd destroy the soil. We have reached
point in our agriculture, which impoiouslv
demands a fundamental change in
lis respect. However the virgin soils of
le South-west may palliate the folly of
ich a course, the alternative is distinctly
resented to us, of permanently improvig
our estates, or of deserting them. We
annot contend with the planters of Alaama
and Mississippi, in a wild and deructive
system, by which even they have
ink under embarrassment and ruin, with
II their advantages of soil and climate.?
Ve can make up for our comparatively
tferior soil and climate only by a supeor
system of husbandry. While they
re exhausting their soil and preventing
nn< ii1 inAfnoon r\f tilAi r? f 1 ntrnn kir o
its naiuiai iu^i^u3v> yji iiiuti o/a?ga uv u
ickless system of pushing and driving,
:t us improve the fertility of the one, by
jsting and manuring it, and increase the
umber of the other, by moderate workig,
and by providing every thing necesary
for their health and comfort. And
have no doubt that a South Carolina
lanter who shall limit his cotton crop to
ve bales to the hand, and rely mainly
pon the natural increase of his negroes,
nil leave a larger estate to his children,
t the end of ten or twenty years, than a
louth-western planter who follows the
ystcm generally pursued in that quarter,
tough he should make eight bales to the
and, and annually apply his surplus inome
to the purchase ot land and negroes,
i'hough they are really struggling for the
enefit of their children, there is no class
f men who do so little for posterity, and
nil leave so few monuments behind them,
s the cotton planters of the South.?
Vhat sort of an estimate must be placed
pon wealth, and to what rational end can
e desire it, who, with an income of ten
r twenty thousand dollars a year, brings
d a family of children imperfectly edu
ated, in a log cabin, with scarcely the
rdinary comforts of such a dwelling? A
Lranger travelling through our country
ould not be persuaded that it was inhaited
by a race of wealthy, hospitable and
nlightened planters, so few of the monu
ments and improvements that indicate i
wealthy and prosperous community woulc
meet his eye. And if, by one of those
great political revolutions which over
whelmed the ancient Greeks and Romans
our race should be merged in a race ol
conquerors, and our name only descend
to posterity, what classic memorial, whal
substantial monument would bear testimony
that this "delightful region of the sun"
had been once inhabited by a civilized
and enlightened people, eminently distinguished
for their industry, their wealth,
A?ao/)ai?i r\f
a 11 LI llig liU^UWUl VI "IVII <u?ui.uvivuoi
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 important 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 also
be perceived that I have made no disclosure
or recommendation of any improvement
by which large cotton crops may be
made. I have intentionally abstained
from any suggestion of this kind, believing
that every one may be safely left to his
own impulses and his own resources on
this point, and regarding over-production
as one of the greatest evils to which the
cotton planting interest is exposed. Indeed,
if 1 could now reveal a process by
which our common soils could be made
i * i._i n _aa__ A. AI -
to produce two Daies 01 couon 10 me acrc,I
should have great doubt whether the
revolution would be a blessing or a curse
to that great interest. I am aware that
as I have obtained some 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
cotton crop I ever made?that of 1839?
I combined all the other branches of economy
I have here recommended. I have
now a surplus of 1500 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 plantation.
After making due provision f<?r
all these objects, it is of course the true
interest of every planter to make as lai^e
a cotton crop as he can without overworking
his operatives. In doing this,
however, he should never lose sight of
the great object of improving the productive
power of his estate, instead of exhausting
it.
To this end, it should be his constant effort
by manuring and resting the soil, and
by superior cultivation, to produce a given
result from the smallest possible number
of acres. It is scarcely possible to overestimate
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 necessary 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
covered with straw, leaves or other litter.
The quantity of manure that can be thus
mauc in a year is quite inconceivable to
those who have not made the experiment.
Corn should be habitually planted 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 inconsiderable
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 number
of acres and more than double the labor
of cultivation. All the manure not required
for the corn crop, should be applied
to the most exhausted of the cotton lands,
and it should be made an invariable rule,
both in regard to corn and cotton, to list
in and bur}'-- 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 fertility of originally strong and
* " ' -1- ~~ <-*4 ? > v* 11r
level lands, tnougn cunsi.ain.ijf v/uiukhvu
m 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
nuisance, while we vainly employ our
speculations and direct our researches so
as to find out some more scientific means
i of improvement. In proportion as the
J quantity of land required for corn and
> cotton is diminished by the means pro.
posed, will that be increased which is Jeft
j fallow, and for small grain. These, after
f one year's rest in good soils, and always
| before they become covered with broom
t sedge, should be fallowed in the autumn,
. carefully turning in all the stubble and
weeds, with two horse ploughs adapted
[ to the purpose.
On the process of cultivation, one or
two remarks may not be inappropriately
made in this connexion. One of the most
prominent obstacles both to a system of
good cultivation and to a system of permanent
improvements is the common
practice of over-planting. It may be not
unaptly denominated a system of wear
and tear, in regard to land, negroes, horses
and mules. As one of its inevitable conseI
t . j !./ _!
quences, a planter aimosi ccriainiy nnas
himself, when the seasons are in any degree
unfavorable, in that uncomfortable
condition usually expressed by saying "he
is desperately in the grass." No man deserves
the name of planter who gets into
this predicament, except 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 grass, as
the other may cut his wary out of the
toils of his adversary, yet it is the hard
knocks and sweat of the laborers in the
one case, and the valor 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 otherwise
necessary, and with all that, it will
be impossible to make a full crop, especially
of cotton. In our climate and soil
! in the upper country, the only means of
I avoiding an immense destruction of im|
mature bolls, by the autumnal frosts, is to
push the growth of the cotton from. the
I beginning, by thinning and preparing it to
I mature as early as it can be safely done,
and never permitting its growth to be delayed
for a single day by want of working.
For what is lost in this way can never
be recovered; and I have no hesitation in
saying that six acres of cotton to the hand,
' properly cultivated, will produce a greater
i result with one half the labor than ten
acres to the hand, cultivated in the rough;
j and imperfect manner but too common I
I ouon in this Sfafp. anH orpnprallv nrpvalp.nt
in some others. In adopting it as a rule,
therefore to plant no larger crop than he
can cultivate in the most perfect manner,
a planter will best consult every view of
sound economy, and even the prcdomi!
nant desire to make a large cotton crop.
! In the cultivation of a cotton crop, I
know no rule more important, and which
is more generally violated, than that of
doing your work thoroughly well, cost what
labor it may. More labor is unprofitably
wasted and more crops injured by bad
cultivation from neglecting this rule than
any other cause. The last strokes of labor
required to complete any operation
are uoubly, often ten times as valuable as
those used in the previous stages of it;
and yet these are the very strokes usually
omitted, in an improvident haste to "get
over the crop," as it is expressed. The
very causes which generally tempt managers
to slight the work?wet weather and
grass, for example?are those which most
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imperiously aemanu me sinui uusw vuuw
of the rule I have laid down.
One of the consequences of over-cropping
and bad working which is most to be
; deprecated,S is the necessity they create,
: and the apology they offer, for permanently
injuring the soil by excessive ploughing,
and what is still worse, ploughing in improper
seasons. I believe that it may be
truly said that in the upper countiy at
least, double the quantity of ploughing is
done in cultivating cotton, that can be justified
by any sound theory. Every 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 inflict on the soil, wilL so certainly
reduce it to a more caput mortuum as (he
murderous practice of ploughing it in wet
weather. There is but one way for a
planter to avoid these evils, and that is by
so planning and so conducting his operations,
as to be habitually ahead with his
work.
I have thus, gentlemen, drawn up a
hasty and imperfect sketch, presenting
for your consideration the most prominent
of those measures and maxims which
I deem to be essential for accomplishing :
that reform in the agricultural economy
of South Carolina, so imperiously demanded
by the circumstances in which
she is now placed. Our cultivated lands
arc 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 will but realize our true condition
and properly improve the occasion.
By a law of our nature?expressed by a
proverb of immemorial antiquity?necessity
is the stern parent of almost every
great and useful improvement. No authority
less imperious could have drawn
mankind from the comfortless caverns of
savage brutality to the happy mansions of
social and civilized life.
While Providence seems to have ordained
it as a law of human improvement,
that communities should not go forward
much in advance of their necessities, he
has benevolently endowed them with moral
and intellectual faculties always equal
to the emergencies in which they may be
nlnnnrt TVInv top not- oonfiHpntlv hnnp
r*-?" ? ?j " w ""V ^ '
therefore, that the planters of South Carolina,
under the awakening influence of the
great law to which I have alluded, will
summon up all their energies to carry our
agriculture to a point of nigh perfection,
that will fulfil all the requirements of our
actual condition?
Gentlemen, I sincerely hope and devoutly
pray that some of us, at least, may .
live to see the day when this ardent hope
of every patriotic citizen will be fully
realized, and when South Carolina will
be as proudly distinguished by all the enduring
monuments of a prosperous agriculture,
as she ever has been by an enlightened
population sincerely devoted to
the principles of constitutional liberty,
and unconquerably resolved to deiena
them.
From the Christian Intelligencer.
THE HUGUENOTS.
The horrors of ihe Parisian massacre
of. the Huguenots on Bartholomew's day,
August 24, 1572, have generally beeu
imputed to the treacherous dissimulation,
and ferocious bigotry of Catherine de
Medici, the Queen Regent of France, in
connection with the sanguinary ambition
of the Guises, who then were so powerful
at ber court. Notwithstanding, a letter
from Catharine to Pope Pius IV. written
about ten years prior to that "deed of
darkness," has recently been discovered
and published, which proves that at that
period she had very little attachment to
the superstitions of Popery. One paragraph
comprises historical facts of great
importance; and the original is quoted,
because a letter from a Popish Queen to
a Roman Poutiff, decidedly in favor of
Protestantism, is a curiosity. The origi1
1 .L T1 IT M - 4 T> 1 _
nai is iuunu in me ivoyai ijiorary ui i m is,
Volume 8476,among the Belthume Manuscripts.
The Queen Regent thus wrote.
"Considering, most Holy Father, how
great is the number of those who have
separated themselves from the Roman
Church, it is impossible to subjugate
them, either by law or by military force.
The Nobles and the Magistrates, by
their example, draw the multitude to
that faith"?meaning the doctrines of the
Reformed Churches. "Happily, in this "
withdrawment from Rome, no monstrous
opinion has sueceeded, either Antibaptist
or Antitrinitarian, All of them"?the
Huguenots?"recognize the twelve Articles
of the Apostles" creed; which, if it
could be granted to them, it would be the
best means to consolidate the two Chur*
ches. To secure that result, would it
not be useful to multiply Conferences, and
to command the preaching of peace and
charity. There must also be the endeavor,
by an unhappy obstinacy, to avoid
the further separation of those who still
adhere to the Catholic Church. I would
also propose to you, Most Holy Father,
to suppress all worship of images; to
administer baptism only with water and
the word"?doubtless intending merely
the form of words taught by the Lord
Jesus Christ?"the Communion should
be in both kinds?the psalms should he
suTig in vulgai tongue for those who approach
the holy table?in fine, the festi.
val of the Holy Sacrament should be abolishcd."
The precedieg extract from the letter of
Catharine de Medici to Pope Pius IV* unfolds
the great extent of principles of the
Reformation; the very excellent character
of the Huguenots of that period: the
reasonableness and necessity of the Protestant
demands for additional amendments;
and the profound conviction aniong
all orders of society, that Image
worship is idolatrous; the Mass is antichristian;
the use of the Latin language
in public worship is wicked; and that the
llomah Festivals are corrupting and abom r?
if ? ininnftflnl ilnmmPllt
Ilinuic* i? lo u r VI y luijiwt ?uut
on behalf of the Reformers of the sixteenth
century. Hvooenot. ?
Whooping Cough.?It is not generallyknown,
that when a child has this troublesome
and dangerous complaint, if thebackbone,
from the neck downwards, h.
rubbed with garlic, previously waitnot
by the fire, and the patient being aiplaced
near it, a cure is effected in a vcr\
short time.