The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-02-11
Diversified. Farming.

Cotton always works out best on paper
"Every one" says that all the successful plan
ters and farmers he ever knew made their own
supplies, so that all experience is that way, and
YET one can figure out more on cotton than in
any other way This discrepancy puzzles
many minds We think it can be made plain
on. paper. There is nothing mysterious about
it, but all the conditions and facts are open to
our senses and observation.
| atThere is nothing more deceptive than fg-
ures," says Sidney Smith, "except facts" This,
however. isl because our problems have not
been stated rigght., ,s.;, .., -..s.: /,
/. The principal reason explanatory is, that
he who cultivates cotton exclusively must &C.
tually waste much time and labor. A farm, to
make. maximum results, must, like any other
investment, be worked up to its capacity: Now
there are parts of the year much buster than
others, and parts in which the cotton requires
no attention; but the land, the hands, and the
mules. are nevertheless all on hand, and the
two latter on expenses, the hands also drawing
wages. In pitching the cotton crop, the limit
of possible production is found in the picking
capacity Of the hands engaged i'll its produc-
ton, and of the extra hands who can be,hired.
These extra hands consist mainly of the nom
workers women and children) on the farm, Of
drones about the town, and of some who quit
household work and go to contemplating to the
great discomfort of ~house.keepers. Certainly
the two latter classes are not to be encouraged.
Another pinch in cotton making, il in the time
of hoeing, when the same classes are brought
into requisition.' We have here no great re-
servoir of laborers, usually engaged in other
pursuits, from which to draw at these seasons,
as they have in other countries The hoelng
season is to some extent embarrassed by other
crops, but by good management, even with the
drawbacks these occasion, q farm can be made
to produce as much as the available labor can
pick. ,,......... ...,,..t
2. A second reason is found in the compari-
SOD Of money made per acre: AS the land con-
stitutes but one of q number OF necessary ele-
ments of production, mere acreage Is not test.
In the view heretofore given, we supposed az
MANY acres of cotton as the hands, including
extra hands, could gather. There was, there
fore, no loss of cotton, or little loss in making
the other crops and attending to other work.
The number of days work needed upon an
acre of cotton, from the first to thelast, great
er than upon any other crop, and the other ex-
penses bestowed upon it greater. The hand
power, horsepower, fertlizing, ginning, haul
ing, freight, marketing, are all elements OF cost.
Probably in estimating the cost of cotton there
are more uncomputed items than in any other
crop-becahse they are more numerous. Its
share of the general expenses, and the necessary
conditions it imposes at seasons when labor is
high, are not set high enough in our calcula-
tions.if The relative exhaustion of land IS
another element uncoHsidered, but which the
old red hills of Georgia attest, and with their
SCARED and quilted faces, utter q mute protest
to heaven and to man. For while cotton takes
less into itself than other crops, clean culture
ccnsigus our soil to the river-bottom and the
sea. .a--.s.. ra.
8. A third reason is found in the imaginative
income it bestows greater than the real There
is some intoxication in handling more money,
though it has to be paid out again. 1t aptto
enlarge the scale Of expenses, unless due con-
sideration is given to the difference between
gross and net results. The farmer feels richer
than he really is, and it is hard to anticipate all
the items ofoutgo-just as in building house,
it is safe, after computing all you can think OF,
to add so per cent for what you have forgotten.
In accordance with this view an observant old
commission merchant once told me that all his
customers who did not make their own supplies
would, ABOUT March, or earlier, come to town
to see their factors, remarking that they wished
to make "some arrangements" which always
meant to bUrrow money.
Three millions of bales at 20 cents, would
Weld the same gross sum as four million would
at Is. or az five millions at II cents. Would
not the crop of three millions sell at 20 cents
and over? Would crop of five millions prob
ably bring an average of IL cents9 The gross
sales of the cotton crop amount to toleraby
uniform sum. Mankind gives us as much or
more for small crop as for large, without
the smallest reference to what it cost us. This
is: a fact of huge significance the full impor-
tance of which it is difficult to realize. That
it is q fact is demonstrated, however, by expe-.
rience, and the reasons are not abstruse. Were
FIVE millions of bales made the present year.
1874, we do not believe it would bring an aver
age OF. .l2 cents. For the lower, qualities there
would be scarcely any demand. Probably the
gross sales of three millions would excel those
of five. Let us consider the effect upon cost
of the odd two millions Of bales.
Not only would the FIVE millions cost more
in the aggregate, but the actual cost OF produc-
tion per pound would be greater:
For to make the odd two millions we must
call into requisition much poor land, scarcely
paying for cultivation. Again, the character
of the cultivation would be poorer: Much ex-
ira labor would have TO be paid for in hoeing
and picking, the picking would be prot,r;act;ed
and gin an inferior quality. We would also
have extra ginning, baggng, rope, freight, com
missions aud other market expenses and with
this policy pursued more than one year, usury
on the means Of production. To all this we
must add the cost of the supplies we might
have made, and we see that the hardest of work
and of anxiety enter in with the enhanced cost.
More land, more work, more care, enter into
each: added pound, after we pass the proper
limit.-Ertract' from Prize Essay on Diversi-
fed Farming, BY Mr.. Samuel Barnett, tn qeor-
gia Grange. r..... -...t ...s...
FAKE AWAY THE SwoRD."-The Savannah
Aa,.s6ser SAYS chord was touched in the hearts
Of the bandits at New Orleans on Monday last
when Mr. Lawrence Barrett opened at the Va.