Memphis Daily Appeal

some, and give the enemy a chance of pillaging

at least a goodly proportion of it. In either

event, then, nothing can be gained by the

attempt to raise a second crop ere the first is

disposed of.

What, then, it may be asked, are the planters

to do with their lands? The answer is obvious.

Cultivate corn and grains of all kinds - wheat,

barley, rye, oats, etc. - vegetables of every de-

scription, especially beans and peas, sweet and

Irish potatoes. Raise stock and cattle. Provide

food of every variety and in the greatest possible

abundance.

All this will be a work of the highest patriot-

ism, and will, besides, command adequate re-

muneration. Our planters must remember that

the blockade, in a great measure, shuts us

from supplies of food, and hence that the en-

tire southern population are forced to rely exclu-

sively on the products of our agricultural labor.

Heretofore, much of our food - such as flour,

buckwheat, butter, cheese, eggs, pork, hams,

beef, etc. - has come to us from the West. That

source is now cut off, and the large quantities

remaining in the South at the commencement of

the blockade have been completely exhausted.

We are, therefore, thrown back upon ourselves.

We have to provide our own food - or starve.

Our ability to feed ourselves is unquestionable,

but to do so requires on the part of the planters

a patriotic constancy of purpose, and a calm and

invincible resolve to put aside all mere sordid

considerations of possible pecuniary advantage.

It is judiciously observed by a contemporary

that the destinies of the South are to a very great

extent dependent upon the course which the

planters will pursue. Upon them the country

must depend for food, and every acre of ground

upon which any kind of edible suitable to our

climate can be grown, should be devoted to the

production of food for our army and food for the

people.

Unless we have plenty of food our people can-

not be supported, our armies must starve, and

the cause of liberty will perish. The decision of

the great question at issue is, therefore, really

in the hands of the planters.

If they fail to do their duty, untold disasters

and distress will fall upon the country; but if

they are actuated by genuine impulses of patriot-

ism, we shall soon hear they have resolved that

there shall be an inexhaustible supply of the ar-

ticles indispensable to the safety and comfort of

the country.

Let our planters ever remember that to them

the South must look for those aids and applian-

ces without which the most heroic valor and

boundless self-sacrifice would be fruitlessly dis-

played.

Make Bread and Meat.

Mr. B. H. Bingham, chairman of the commit-

tee on agriculture in the Georgia House of Rep-

resentatives, has addressed a communication to

the Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel, from which

we extract the following paragraphs. We

earnestly invite the attention of the planters of

this State to the facts he presents for considera-

tion:

Before the war began, we drew many of our

family supplies from the States northwest of the

Ohio, and many from Kentucky, Missouri and

Tennessee. Now the war is upon us - Ken-

tucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia, are its

present theater. Instead of drawing supplies

from them, we must supply them, we must sup-

ply them by the command of every manly senti-

ment of fraternity, if we be men. From the

census tables and other best sources of statisti-

cal information at my command, I find these four

States have very near as many acres of im-

proved land as the remaining Confederate States

altogether. I find, also, that they yield during

peace more corn and wheat (selected because

they are the leading cereals) than all the other

Confederate States.

Thus it appears that

Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia

have, in aggregate, of improved land -

22,112,073

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Lou-

isiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South

Carolina and Texas .

27,195,557

The four States first named yield during

peace in corn and wheat, in aggregate

200,371,146

bushels.

The nine States last named

106,092,211

Here, farmers of the South, is the plain fact

staring you in the face. Nearly half of the im-

proved land of the Confederacy is already the

theater of war; much of the productive force is

drawn from all, and other portions not now trod-

den by the foe may be desolate before the year

closes. From your hands, wherever they may

be undisturbed by the invader, our brethren are

to be supported. We all have a common fate,

which shall be shared by all. The channels of

our commerce are cut off, and we must provide

for ourselves means of subsistence or die, for the

thought of subjugation cannot be endured.