Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-02-17
FROM CALIFORNIA.
is Il True there is no Remedy for the
Evils Of Which Our Farmers
Complaint
Answer No. There is a Remedy in
Diversified Agricultural PGrsuits.

RAINsBURG, CALIFORSIA, January 10.
EDTToRs APPEAL.-In your issue OF
the twenty-fourth of November, in an
editorial article entitled, " Source OF
Wealth - you invite the farmers OF
the several Southern States TO make
known, through your journal, Their
views upon questions affecting the pro-
gress and prosperity of that portion OF
The community which they specially
represent. / am not now a citizen OF
either of the States named, but ! feel a
profound interest in all that concerns
their future prosperity. ] would gladly
see agriculture everywhere-and espeei-
ally in the Southern States-both pros
porous and progressive. If | can con-
tribute anything to. this result, shall
patiently submit to the criticism
which may be provoked by the views
] shall express. We are all world
hetterers in our way-we should be
If We were not. The trouble is that We
are disposed to confine our efforts within
too narrow limits. The diffusion of in
dividual experience through the medium
of the press is attended with so little
difficulty that such as may be Of value
10 the community at large can only be
withheld through neglect Of an obvious
duty. Having promised so much, YOU
VIII permit me TO point out the means
10y which l think q progressive spirit
may be infused into Southern agricul-
ture, and through which 8 condition of
prosperity viii inevitably result. In the
same number Of your paper to which
have referred, l find graphic descrip-
tiOl Of the general condition of South
ern agriculture by your correspondent
NJ Let US cOncede the faith
I'M rF hr
C0ucede, too, that 8 rigid adherence
TO the system Of farm management
throughout your section will result, as
he predicts, in ''pOverty and pauper-
ISM Is il true there j. no remedy for
the evils of which be complains? Is il
true that a people laying claim to intel
ligence; to the faculty of adaptsbilitv,
energy, culture, refinement, are deter
mined to sit quietly down and suffer
themselves TO drift into "pOverty and
pauperism." l cannot think so. You
and / have witnessed 9 manifestation by
the whole people OF the South OF those
very qualities which, If applied to the
solution Of the agricultural problem,
would place their farming interests upon
the envisble footing of the Northern
and Western States. at is never too
late to mend.H II
I'M N1ND44ADN Oh 1Ulk FARMING
INTERESTS
Is such as we have conceded it to be. a
radical change in farm management is
Of vital importance, and must be prompt
" inaugurated. Laying claim to no
special wisdom in any vocation, yet
believe that your people are not without
n remedy for the evils from which they
sJIfieT-a remedy within the reach Of
every enteTprising farmer who loves his
occupation. And just here take leave
TO say, that unless the farmer is so firm |
ly attached to his vocation as to be will |
ling 10 devote his time and talents to !
success in it, it is better for him that he /
abandon il f0T some more congenial 4
pursuit. 1t will not be cOntroverted that /
farming, like every other pursuit, TO be |
successful must be made the chief bust |
ness Of the farmer, that it must be |
pursued with a patient resolution and 4
steady purpose to excel, not merely as
drudgery, TO be avoided on every posi-
ble occasion. The man who farms sue
cessfully, must bring to his work all the
qualifications that would command |
success in any other branch of bus
iness. It's demands upon his
faculties are without limit, taxing to
their utmost capacity all the powers of
his mind, giving full scope for the exer-
else Of all the resources of his intelli- /
gence. Rightly appreciated and proper
" pursued, ii promises him rewards af-
fOrded by no other vocation. The great
est evil from which your people now
suffer, il seems TO me, is blind devo-
ton TO staple crops. Their greatest
need, therefore, is diversified agrieul-
ture. Il would extend their eommuni-
cation to too great length to attempt
specification Of the crops which should
constitute the diversificatiOn. 1t will
suffice to say that upon all of our South
ern farms wheat, oats and barley NAV
prOfitably curtail the area devoted to
cotton. Especially important is it to al
lot certain proportion of each farm TO
permanent pasturage.
COTTON
is q crop which demands attention from
the beginning to the end Of the year,
preventing that care of permanent inn
prOvements indispensable to their pres
ervation. To admit OF that necessary
care, crops should be substituted which
can be harvested more rapidly. In
illustration, oats and barley substituted
for corn as food for stock, can be pro-
duced for one-fifth the coat. They can
be sOwn and harvested almost entirely
by horse power and machinery, instead
OF the expensive man power, indispen-
sable 70 the production of corn. The
work il finished early in summer, the
appropriate season for repairing perma-
neDt Improvements upon the farm.
During the growing season they require
no attention. As food for all stock not
fatted for market, they answer the same
purpose as corn. Oat hay and barley
hay, next TO wheat hay, is esteemed
above any other long forage, for stock
Of all kinds, in California Together
with barley, they constitute the food
Of work animals. Even in Los
Angeles county, where corn is abund-
ant aud cheap, barley is invariably
mixed with corn for working animals. ,
Scarcely any Of the lands under culti- ;
walton in the region tributary to Mem ]
phls produce less than ten bushels of ;
wheat per acre. Wheat Is rarely worth ,,
less than one dollar and TWENTY-FIVE I
cents to one dollar and fifty cents per
bushel in your market. In point of ;
profit, wheat produced with improved !
implements, and harvested byinproved :
machinery, is an equally desirable crop | !
as cotton, while the care and hazard !
incident 10 the production Of these two ,
crops compared, it l. infinitely prefer
able. The wheat growers upon the sandf
plains OF the San Joaquin Valley
grow rich upon average yields OF eight /,
bushels per acre, sold at one dollar and
fifty cents per GENITAL. As in the
case OF
OATS AND BARLEY,
upon equal area devoted 10 It's prOduc-
ton the man force and capital en-
ployed are reduced the crop is hsr-
vested in summer, and the farmer secures :
time for farm Improvement. Alike ,
with oats, barley and wheat, hay may !
be produced from the grasses at about
one-ilfth the cost OF fodder. with all the
advantages as to time stated to chsrsc-
terize the substitution OF small grain for q
corn. The practice OF this diversified 1
system viii result in a surplus Of hay Q
and grain upon the farm, and the ae- +
cummulatiOn Of stock for its consump- q
ton VIII suggest itself to the producer Y
as the source Of greatest profit in dis
posing OF II. The barn system follows
as necessity = replacing contracted
stable room and trough feeding in pen Il
lot as now practiced. Manures accunu- {
late for the resuscitatiOn of your ex- e
hausted soils, and the time neaessary ]
for their application Is afforded@ That b
this condition OF things is an G
ultimate necessity Of your people, s
l think you Will concede. With
out il, there can he no permanent o
prosperity for your agriculturist. But, /
perhaps, the greatest OF the manifold ad- g
vsntages is the exemption Of the farmer S
from dependence upon single staple 8
crops-6oth requiring like seasons for
their successful productiOn-adording1
Nra .aaN.s = ~ 4r