Agriculture, Live Stock, Etc

Some of the early settlers made agriculture their cheif pursuit, and hunted only as necessity required it to furnish their families with food, while it is said that a great majority of them made hunting their chief occupation. Sonsequently the latter class neglected to develop agriculture and thus increase their resources. Farming was then limited to the cultivation of a few acres of wheat and corn, mostly the latter, and a patch of vegetables. Money was very scarce, and the manner in which the people lived made but little necessary. Guns and ammunition were necessary articles and were usually purchased at high prices, with trade at low prices. The price of everything requiring skilled labor to produce it was very high, while articles not requiring such labor in their production were very low. Hence the early settlers had but little of value to sell and no home markets in which to sell it. They raised cotton which they manufactured into clothing, and this was a staple crop prior to 1840, when the cultivation of tobacco begun. Cotton was raised extensively during the Civil War, but when that struggle closed, and the people of the South began again to produce cotton for the markets, the farmers of Wmson Co found it unprofitable, and therefore abandoned it production except to a limited extent, a little still being produced. Corn, wheat, oats and tobacco are the principal crops now raised-- the latter is the money crop and is cultivated very extensively. The farmers have recently turned their attention to the growing of the grasses and clover and the raising of live stock, which they find more profitable.

Very little attention was paid to agriculture prior to 1840, and it developed slowly for many years thereafter. Live stock has been raised to a considerable extent, and the following table will show the number and kind of animals in the county at the several dates specified:

To the observer who reasons from cause to effect, and who wishes to know how and why things about him increase and decrease, a study of the foregoing table will be interesting. It will be seen that the number of horse gradually increased in a fair ratio up to 1870, and then decreased during the next ten years. The reason for the decrease is seen in the next line, where the figures show an increase of 919 mules during these ten years, during which the farmers raised less horses and more mules. The number of cattle from 1860 to 1870 decreased, and then increased during the next 10 years. The most alarming decrease is that of the number of sheep from 1870 to 1880. Here is a good question for free traders and protectionists to discuss, why this decrease. The following table will show the cereal, vegetable and other productions in the county, as given by the census of 1870 and 1880:

There is probably a larger increase in the production of tobacco than in any other commodity produced by the farmers of Wmson Co. During this year 1886 there were 2,823,215 pounds of this article purchased at and shipped from Marion. Some of it came from Franklin and Johnson Counties, but a like amount was hauled out of the county to other markets, so that the amount shipped from this point was just about equal to the quantity produced in the county. The following is a statement of the amount of produce, etc., shipped from Marion during the year 1886: Wheat 115 car loads; flour, meal and feed 1,695,528 pounds; poultry including some eggs 348,140 pounds; eggs, not including the foregoing 45,335 lbs, or about 22, 665 dozens. And the live stock shipped from the same place during the same year, was as follows: Horses 43; mules 397, cattle, including calves 1072; sheep 4288; hogs 2202. In regard to the live stock the shipments do not correctly show the number of animals sold in the county during that time, as many were sold and taken out of the county on foot. In addition to the foregoing there were large amounts of clover seed, dried apples, feathers, wool and other commodities shipped.

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