The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-08-29

because We can exercise some con
troll over our capital aud direct the
operations OF the farm. But il
ought to be manifest that neither
slave labor nor salaried labor can
be profitabiy employed on land de-
prived of It's fertility by continued
cropping.
You Will observe, that have
condemned the coLrsn u ned by
nearly every farmer IN u neigh
borhood.
Now it may reasonably be en-
ouired, what's to be done:
| hesitate to advise for the reason
that | have been and am guilty of
all | condemn. have been strug-
Cling very hard against the prevail
ing system and have only partially
succeeded in practice, but pretty
fully in theory.
would recommend however,
what has been recommended, very
often by members of this club, to
cultivate less land, cultivate it bet
ter. and make it richer. All that
every body agrees to but only few
practice it. And why: Because
we saw we are not able to make u
lands rich, and we also say that we
are not able to cultivate poor land.
Now. if we are not able to do either
of these things, there Is no alterna-
tive left us, but to abandon the
farm.
But why can't we make our
lands rich !? Because We haven't got
any money. How do we manage
to cultivate poor land Do we do
it without money? 1t is impossible
to carry on any business without
money or its equivalent. Our slave
hands and Il hired hands are all
paid by us, whether we cultivate
f rich or poor land, and the only
question for us is, which can we
pay most easily with, the produce
from rich or poor land:
+. The farmer who pays his labor
0 from the products of his poor land
$ and is not improving it, soon re-
: duces himself below the paying
points-the farmer who pays his
: labor from the products of rich
/ land and Is increasing its futility
s soon finds himself growing rich.
e The farmer who has no more
q land than he cultivates and all thai
$ poor is already broke. tn only
? capital he has Is drawn uron every
/ year and in a short time he haI
l. none. The farmer cultivating les
: poor land than another farmer i
"a the best off and simply because poo
u land don't pay a profit.
=, The only way to manage a poo
, farm that | know of is to graize i
:. with stock except a portion Of it Sc
apart for cultivation, and upon thi
portion, pen stock during the gras
growing season and feeding in win
ter and haul out the n fror
them IN the spring. Thus it wi.
be seen that the uncultivated Ian
is more profitable for IA few veal
" than the cultivated. After Il fe,
years, a judicious system pursued
the cultivated will beat the uncu
tivated, and when that is the cas-,
prosperity is assured.
These reflections look to a chang
in our system Of farming.
ID 1t is conceded that our soil an
,se climate are well adapted to IL
growth of all the grain crops. cl
ad yer. grass and root crops. 1t gro,
also tobacco and cotton, the form
OF as good quality as any other pc
lis ton of the world. \ large vie
ion of any of these pays a handson
profit, as has been demonstrate
ad, But it behooves us to look
hat those crops which tend to impro
t to our lands and at the same tin
J at produce profitable crops.
hat We have o knowledge of t
ice, art OF farming and We have me