Robert Turner Saunders

“ Let unsuspecting emigrants beware, or they will deeply bewail their credulity after having been set down with exhausted means in some accursed region where no water can be had, no timber in sight, no friendly cloud to shield them from the intense heat by day, and where they will shiver by night from cold, and where they will be in constant danger of being scalped by roving bands of merciless savages. ”

“ Imagine the superficial molecules of the earth trembling with the motion of heat, and imparting it to the surrounding ether; this motion would be carried rapidly away and lost to our planet, if the waves of ether had nothing but the air to contend with in their natural course. But the aqueous vapour takes up the motion of the ethereal waves, and becomes thereby heated, thus wrapping the earth like a warm garment, and protecting its surface from the deadly chill which it would otherwise sustain. ”

“ Most Southerners imagine that if they can only grow sufficient cotton, or sugar, to take them north during the summer months,, where during June, July, and August, they can manage to keep cool, they will be healthy during the remainder of the year; and while sweltering in Northern watering places, and "roasting" in Northern cities, they console themselves in enduring the great heat, by the mistaken belief that it is an unusually heated term for that climate, and that it must be much warmer at their southern homes. ”

“ From the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, with the exception of the rich but narrow belt along the ocean, the country may also be considered, in comparison with other portions of the United States, a wilderness, unfitted for the uses of the husbandman; although in some of the mountain valleys, as at Salt Lake, by means of irrigation, a precarious supply of food may be obtained, sufficient to sustain a considerable population, provided they can be induced to submit to privations from which American citizens generally would shrink. ”

“ It will be found that cotton growing will be followed steadily only in those countries where it can be made more profitable than other pursuits. Where indigo, coffee, tobacco, sugar, or breadstuffs will bring better prices, or suit the climate, soil, or conditions of a people better than cotton, cotton-culture may be forced for a few years by the power of high prices, and the necessities of a resolute, intelligent and persistent manufacturing people. ”

“ No little of the wealth and commercial prosperity of Great Britain has been built up by the Cotton States of America. The cotton mills of Lancashire were built principally to spin our cotton, and regular and cheap supplies of raw cotton can still be furnished by us for all the world, if we can only procure sufficient labour. In 1860 the Cotton States furnished two-thirds the quantity of cotton, and three-fourths of that which entered the arena of commerce. In 1849 the quantity grown in these States was only 2,445,793 bales of ginned cotton, of 400 lbs. ”

“ In the plains of India, on the heights of the Himalaya, in Central Asia, and in Australia, wherever drought reigns, we have the heat of day forcibly contrasted with the chill of night. In the Sahara itself, where the sun's rays cease to impinge on the burning soil, the temperature runs rapidly down to freezing, because there is no vapor overhead to check the calorific drain. ”

“ For although necessity may compel the introduction of labourers from the half-civilized pagan races of the earth, we confess we have a strong preference for those of a higher stamp, and who will ultimately make good citizens, merged into our population. Improved lands can now be had in any of the cotton States at prices varying from one to five pounds sterling—five to twenty-five dollars per acre—and farming utensils and work stock can be purchased at fair prices. ”

“ The climate agrees with him and he with the climate. With an intelligent white immigration settling upon the 'uplands' of the Cotton States; with smaller farms and improved seeds; with deep ploughing, commercial manures, an enlightened system of cultivation—using all the appliances of improved husbandry, and employing every available means to render the soil increasingly productive—we could easily extend the average yield of the Southern cotton, crops again to five millions in place of two million five hundred thousand bales. ”

“ Every variety of climate and soil is presented in the cotton belt, stretching from the Atlantic to the Rio Grande, and from the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico."
From a region, then, of such vast extent, what might we not expect, if there were union of effort amongst those interested, to stimulate a larger production? Practically there is no limit to the cotton production of these States.
The sun of Heaven shines not on a land more varied in soil, climate, and production, or better fitted for the habitation of man. ”

“ After all, I can but think that the whole future 'Cotton Supply' question depends in the main on the production of the Southern States of America. That grown in East India, China, Brazil, Peru, West Indies, Egypt, Turkey, and the Levant, is required to be sent back to those countries, for they all import in the aggregate more cotton in the shape of goods and yarns than they export, thereby showing that they do not raise a sufficient collective supply for their own wants. ”

“ It is true that the settlers on the fresh lands here have hitherto succeeded in most years in making fair crops, but this is owing, perhaps, to the strength and freshness of the soil, full of vegetable matter, holding the water like a sponge, and preventing its evaporation. When this vegetable matter shall have been exhausted by cultivation, periodical rains will be indispensable. In short, those who emigrate to the "Far West" must calculate to rely on irrigation solely in their agricultural operations. ”

“ Even in deserts—the home of the simoom and sirocco—where "the soil is fire, and the wind is flame," refrigeration at night is painful to bear, and hoar frost is not unfrequently produced. Eastern travellers in the desert often complain of the broiling heat of the day, and of its chill temperature at night. Beautiful allusions are also found in Scripture to the same law, where it is related that one of the greatest hardships which Jacob experienced while tending the flocks of Laban was that through the "drought by day, and the frosts by night, sleep departed from his eyes." ”

“ But the whole space to the west, between the 98th meridian and the Rocky Mountains, is a barren waste, over which the eye may roam to the extent of the visible horizon with scarcely an object to break the monotony. ”

“ The western slopes, or those which face the ocean, are better supplied with moisture, and contain more vegetation, than the eastern slopes; and this increases as we approach the Pacific, along the coast of which, throughout the whole boundary of the United States to the Gulf of California, exists a border of land of delightful climate and of fertile soil, varying from 50 to 200 miles in width. ”

“ On a field which has been cultivated fifty years without fertilizers, you can see a heavy crop of clover grown without gypsum, fine fields of Indian corn, cotton, wheat, oats, and Chinese sugar-cane; while in the garden flourish a great variety of vegetables known to higher latitudes, with besides pea-nuts, sweet potatoes, and delicious melons and figs. ”

“ The portions of the mountain system further South are generally inhospitable, though they have been represented to be of a different character. In traversing this region whole days are frequently passed without meeting a rivulet or spring of water to slake the thirst of the weary traveler. It is true that a considerable portion of the interior is comparatively little known from actual exploration, but its general character can be inferred from that which has been explored. ”

“ Wherever the air is dry, we are liable to daily extremes of temperature. By day, in such places, the sun's heat reaches the earth unimpeded, and renders the maximum high; by night, on the other hand, the earth's heat escapes unhindered into space, and renders the maximum low. ”

“ It is estimated that Georgia alone in the present year has consumed upwards of twenty thousand tons of commercial manures—guanos and phosphates—in improving her cotton lands. The product is doubled by it, the cultivation of one-half the area is saved, and the laborer has time to devote to the cereals and fruits, making life on a cotton plantation more agreable to the habits and tastes of the white man. ”

“ Except a narrow slip of California and Oregon, on the Pacific coast, the western half of the United States is a desert, and the whole country west of the ninety-eighth parallel of west longitude is comparatively worthless for agriculture, so far as value should be attached to it by those who take into consideration the constant expense and trouble of irrigation. ”

“ Much has been said respecting European emigration following in America isothermal lines. Isohygrometic lines, however, are far more important. The elements of fertility are heat and moisture, and one is fully as essential as the other.
From these facts, then, the 98th meridian becomes one of great importance to him who is studying the climate of the United States. Lay its map before you, and you will find that it cuts off into the desert a portion of Minnesota, nine-tenths of Nebraska, a large part of Kansas, half of the Indian Territory, and more than half of Texas. ”

“ The completion of the Union Pacific Railroad will cause an immense amount of land along its track through this dreary, inhospitable region, recently donated by the Government to the company, to be brought into market. The company is composed of the keenest speculators in America, who have already been using some "sharp practice" in obtaining millions of land and money from the United States Government. They will have their agents sown broadcast over Europe, thicker than life insurance agents in America. ”

“ As a general rule, cotton-seed brought to the United States, from where it is a native to where it is an exotic, will produce a better cotton than where it is grown, the tendency being continually to a longer and better staple. ”

“ The sections of the South which raise stock are the most delightful of all others—Kentucky, Middle and East Tennessee—while in many others, where cotton grows well, a variety of products can be grown which is wonderful. ”

“ Many of the crops grown in the great States north of the Ohio River can be produced in the cotton States. Besides cotton, sugar, Indian corn, tobacco, rice, wheat, rye, oats, beans, hops, peas, vegetables, fruits, flax, hemp, timber, wool, beef, pork and hides can be produced for market; while South-western Virginia, East Tennessee, Northern Alabama, and Georgia, South-western Missouri, and North-western Arkansas, offer ample supplies of iron, coal, copper, lead, marble, limestone, and sandstone. ”

“ The views of a practical man are always worthy of attention, and Major Saunders, who was born and bred in the land of Cotton, is thoroughly familiar with the subject he discusses, both as a planter, and a Cotton merchant. ”

“ Americans sometimes maliciously say, that they have been six weeks in England without seeing the sun, and when it did appear, it looked like a "boiled turnip;" and that the only ripe fruit they ate here was a boiled apple.
While, in the general, European climates are much warmer than American on the same parallel, England is an exception to the rule. ”

“ The only wise plan for those who, for health, are seeking a change of air and temperature in America, is to repair to the nearest mountains, where an elevation of one thousand feet generally makes it three degrees cooler. Mountains can be found North and South, sometimes between five and six thousand feet in altitude. ”

“ Truth, however, transcends even the laudable feelings of pride of country; and in order properly to direct the policy of this great confederacy, it is necessary to be well acquainted with the theatre on which its future history is to be enacted, and by whose character it will mainly be shaped. ”