The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1875-02-26
FARM AND PLAEEAT1ON TOPICS,
HOW TO MAKE FARMING PAY.

the first thing to do is to ascertain why
it is not profitable. There is some
cause for this state of things-perhaps
many causes. It is probable that they
are avoidable or removable. Farming
does pay under favorable conditions.
We must learn what these conditions
are and try to ecure them. If Mr..
Smith makes money on his farm, why
should not MIR. Brown? MI. Brown
should carefully inquire wherein Mr..
Smith has the advantage over him. Is
it in the kind of crops he grows, in his
system of cultivation, in the gen.
eral management of his business, or
what? If Mr.. Smith can teach Mr..
Brown anything, Mr.. Brown should not
be ashamed to learn. The great trouble
with most farmers is that they do not
know what pays and what does not, or
If they know what particular crop is
improbable with them, they do not
know why. They do not farm on bust
ness principles. They do not use the
slate and pencil enough. A little ciph-
ering and bookkeepiRg-addition, sub
traction, multiplication, and division,
and the simplest form of accounts will
do-would help them more than an
extra hand and tons of fertilizers.
When we have found out why farming
does not pay, we shall be on the right
road to make it pay. Get q "Rural
Accountant" or some other form of
accounts, and try bookkeeping and
arithmetic as branches of practical farm
education, and n remedy for unproft-
able farming will be found.
ONE HUNDRED BUSHELS FROM A SINGLE
POTATO.
Mr.. d. L.. Branning, of Jacksonville,
Fla, made last fall, before the Duval
county agricultural society, a statement
which suggests wonderful possibilities
for the sweet potato in the congenial
climate of the south. In 1871, having
a specimen which he desired to null
tiply to the largest possible extent, he
first cut it into pieces, each with about
two inches of skin. These he planted
on February 10, in q rich, warm spot,
which had been occupied as a hog pen.
They grew finely, and on May 18~he
took from them two hundred and two
vine cuttings, which he planted, and
he continued this cutting and planting
till the 10Th of August, planting in all
something over ten thousand cuttings.
The crop wei not measured, but expert
enced farmers, who saw the whole in
heaps, as put up for banking, estimated
that there was at least one hundred
bushels. That will do for poor sandy,
barren Florida!
HIGH FARMING IN THE SOUTH.
In no part OF Europe or America can
sshigh farming" be SO advantageously
adopted as in the cotton states. No
other field crop than cotton will give,
under high manuring, an equal return,
unless it may be grass, in favorable
localities. Market gardens within reach
of the cities may give large results, bus
the products Of these gardens are not
field crops.
The cereals have their ascertained
limits of production. Whenever there
is an excess of manure the small
grains will lodge and fall, and the crop
be ruined. In England a single wheat
crop of q few acres has reached ninety
bushels per acre. In Georgia a single
acre has produced between fifty and six
ty bushels of wheat, the exact number
not recollected. But these r excep-
and memorable instances. The
general rule holds good, that by the
heaviest manuring We cannot push the
cereals beyond a certain limit.
The limit of cotton product from an
acre of ground has not yet been asoer.
Three years ago. while the
executive committee of the Georgia
state agricultural society were arranging
The premium list for the next year, it
was proposed by one Of the members
10 offer q premium of one thousand
for the greatest product OF
from a single acre, the minimum
10 be five bales. The proposition was
warmly debated. Some Of the mem
bers commended that che offer of such &
premium would burlesque the whole
list ; that it was impossible to produce i
i've bales from an acre. When the vote
was taken there was a tie; the casting
vote was given by the writer, then act
as chairman Of the committee, in |
Iayor of offering the premium. At o
subsequent meeting of the committee
he subject was reconsidered, and the
premium was stricken from the list. /
Juriously enough, at the next fair Mr..
Warthen produced ample and salts
certificates to the fact of his
having produced five bales of cotton
. single acre. Although the /
amount of manure was greater prob '
than had ever previously been APP
Piled to an acre of cotton, the profits
still very large. Tt wa the opin.
of Mr.. Warthen and his neighbors
that he would have exceeded this pro
1uct during the past year, but for d
which cut off his crop, reducing