The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-07-04

grower myself, will not be positive abou
what the cost of production was, but Woult
suppose the cost greatly exceeded the prict
realized. L base this conjecture on thu
statement of a host of our best cotton farm
ers, who agree that cotton cannot be grown
! to profit at less tnau about 20 cents pc
| pound, consequently this brings the grea
| army of cotton growers in Tennessee in deb
! to the tune ofone to two hundred Thousand
dollars But this is only part of the los
sustained, for q, l0l acres of lane had to be
| plowed, pulverized scratched, and hoed
from the first of February until the last Of
July, well preparing it for the expensive
process of teaching, as well as the forming Of
yawning gullies, those great eyesoreS thai
now meet the eye in almost every direction
In many of our cotton farms these gullies
might well be mistaken by an inexperi-
enced observer for some of those unwelcome
traces of the late unpleaSantness in the
form of bitches and parallels. In vertical
ton of what / have just advanced, you
have only to look around you on the farms
that have been dedicated to cotton for a
number of years; there you may see the
red hillsides, cut into frightful chaSms,
some sufficient to hide ploughman and
team, laying bare the solid limestone rock,
enabling the geOlOgist to read its dip, char
aeter, and age without difficulty. But
gladly dismiss this branch OF the subject to
enter upon one more congenial to my taste.
Now suppose the %, I0l acres of land Guilt
waited in cotton in 1859, had been sown to
grass? 1t would be a low estimate of its
production to say it would have produced a
ton of hay to the acre; then we should have
had q, lOl tons of hay worth S562,020, that is
at $40 per ton. Thus we see that the hay
crop would exceed in value the cotton crop,
all taken from the same land and same
number of acres, by S37, 46S. These are the
see about the net profits, and see if the diff
ference is not still greater. Suppose, as l
have before stated, that IT costs 70 cents per
pound to grow cotton in Middle Tennessee,
consequently there was no net profit in the
crops of lS69-70 whatever.
Now for hay and its net profits. l shall
is only occasionally done, and therefore
would amount to but little annually; nor
have said anything about the occasional
pasturage of meadows which may be done
a few days at a time at intervals without
damage. This would more than offset the
expense of seeding. But it is worth say 81
per acre to cut, cure, rick, etc. Then "a talk
en- from $40, the price of a ton of hay, the pro-
duce of one acre, leaves SIG exactly, as a net
profit, mean leaving out interest on land,
tools, stock, ETC., which l have done in the
cotton crop. Quite profit should say
when compared to the cotton crop. But
ii it should be urged that we cannot get sale
for our hay should we turn our attention to
that, let me say it will be time enough to
make that objection after we have supplied
the market, and cease to pay to the Nash
Vile & LOUISVILLE IL. X. to transport us hay
that has cost US, as learn, over $50 per ton.
Aside from this, beg you to remember that
the highest prices ever realized for hay has
been by feeding it to well bred animals,
thereby retaining much of the hay to the
soil whence it came in the form of manure.
This brings me to the conclusion designed,
that is, that Middle Tennessee is not a cot
ton growing district, but is by nature adapt
ed to the raising of live stock, and of course
the growing of the different grasses. Then
let us gradually diminish the area allotted to
cotton, and as rapidly as possible stock our
farms with we'll bred stock of the various
kinds, Let us diversity a little at least, and
we shall surely, l believe, enter on career
of prosperity permanent in its nature. Yes
we should leave the long cherished practice
of killing the goose to get the golden egg"
Just think for q moment how New York
and the New England States fodder cattle
and sheep about eight months in the year,
on hay worth often $50 to S35 per ton, and
grow rich at that. What might we not do
here in Tennessee where we have to fodder
four to five months in the year on hay that
we can produce protitably at $50 per ton, on
meadows that may be moved annually for
ten years without perceptibly reducing the
fertility of its soil. The truth is, il we
would bestir ourselves, New England, and
even New York could not compete with us
in making beef and mutton, And remem-
decomposition is dangerous thing in ag-
riculture-we have tried it. In 1910, L be-
IieVe, Tennessee was the star State in the
production of corn. Then we defied the
world on the production of pork, but since
that Illinois and other Western States have
driven us out of the pork market, because of
so the cotton grolOers of Tennessee have been
for some years attempting to compete with
the rich cotton lands of Arkansas, ETC., and
with what success leave you to say.
In conclusion we have only to resign our
selVes,to the dictates of reason, and be gov
erned by the experience of enlightened ag-
and our efforts to achieve some
thing for ourselves and our children, in
stead of being met by defeat, will be crown
ed with success. Our agricultural destiny is
in our own hands, and it is ours to decide
what we will be in the future. 1t is for US
to decide whether we will remain an army
of slip shOd, HrittJcs8 cotton groluer8, whether
we will aspire to the standard of good farm
ing, which is that course of agriculture
which is rewarded by fair net profits, with
our farms constantly increasing in fertility.
w. II. TIMMoNs read an essay, which
we will print next week,
DANIEL j. ESTES exhibited two fine
cotton stalks, upon one of which was a
large, well opened cotton bloom.
STEPHEN JoRDAN-A large number of
young colts have died in Maury County
this spring and summer, and I think it
was caused by their dams having the
epizooty last winter during the period
of CESSATION. L have lost several myself.
The only symptom of illness discernible
in the colts was costiVeness.
PREsIDENT-Ifyo your opinion as to the
cause of the death among the colts is the
correct one, would it not have been best
to have doctored the mare?
MR.. JORDAN lost eight Jacks and
iennies by the epizooty, although tried
every remedy recommended to me, ex-
cept that proposed by DIR. Cox, which
was, 20 treat tn0 animal TO regular
course of medicine, just like it
was a human being. One of my jack
colts took the disease, and was so bad
off, that would not have given a nickel
for it's chance to recover A negro on
the place suggested that l pour some
sweet-oil down its ears. 1 did so, and
also drenched it with sweet-oil and tur-
pentine. The colt got well, and this
remedy was the only thing found did
any good in epiZooty cases.
d. J. ESTEs-There is general COM
plant among farmers that their colts
are dying.
PREsIDENT-It was evidently caused
by the epizooty in the mares, and
think there will be no further manifes
tation Oft, unless we have recurrence
of the epizooty.
CAPT. G. w. GIFFoRD-My team had
epizooty last winter, and | cured them
by giving them tar.
W. S. RAINEY was appointed by the
President to write an essay and read it
before the next meeting of the Club.
STEPHEN JoRDAN-The question,
''what will destroy lice in cattle?" was
discussed in the Club last year, and l
am now acting on some suggestions
then made by experienced farmers.
On motion the Club adjourned.