The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1878-05-17

mst,ure used to enrich the soil, and the
money and labor needed to drain it.
all seem to them to be mere expenses
to be deducted from the crop after sell
ing, and therefore to be everywhere
diminished to the smallest possible
margio It is this view which in some
sections Of the country, and among old
fogy formers. makes the agricultural
population the most prejudiced oppo-
nsnts Of progress aud improvements
in farm methods and operations.
1.-THE true view of farm economy
seems to me to be to regard the farm
a. 80 much fixed capital. aud all the
improvements that can be made on it
"a an investment, which il wisely made
adds to it's profits. In this light, the
more freely the farmer uses his money.
the faster it will return to him. 1t is
true of other things in farming besides
seed sowing, what Solomon wrote {:
sThere is that scatterth and yet in
creaseth, and there il that which with
holdeth more than is meet, but it
tsndeth to poverty It is to this last
evil that more mon in these times are
especially exposed. Money is SO hard
to get, that any use of it except to hord
it, seems like tempting loss.
"..But the very fact that money is so
nara 20 K0t, 10 t0A0OVAy Su0 1o0oOA4 WY
it may safely be used for anything
really necessary to conducting ones
business. Everything is down to its
lowest point. Whatever change there
may be, must therefore be an advance.
Heretofore the market has been con-
stantly falling. Hence whatever was
bought has necessarily sold at al
loss. This is the reason why men in
all kinds of business have been con-
stantly losing money. The farmer ia
no exception. He has for years been
growing crops at one rate of price, and
selling them at lower rate. In almost
been . decline from that of the year
before. He has each year paid higher
rate of wages than the market for his
crops would warrant, because wages
are fixed by the price products the
previous year.
1T is pretty safe to say now that the
bottom has been reached, and if so that
natural condition of things in which
there is a profit in every form of we'll
directed labor returns. Wages are
down lower than they could or should
remain, for the self-evident fact that
they are reduced by the vast army of
because no one will hire them. While
thousands are ready to work for barely
enough to feed and clothe them. it is
inevitable that any change must be to
higher wages. Hence l feel sure that
all farmers or other persons who will
employ and judiciously direct the labor
of others during 1873. will reap q hand
some profit. Prices Of produce will not
and should not reach those just follow
ing the war but tho profit of produc-
ton depends more on cheapening it's
cost than on enhancing it's price. I'm
doubtedly the tendency is all the other
farmer to be economical of) than his
money, and these are things of which
the average Southern farmer is most
reckless in his waste.
"When An agricultural implement or
q set of harness is needed on the farm,
there is no economy in withholding the
money to buy it but there is economy
in the purchase and proper use and
care for it afterwards. II. a. w. j F.
suggested, every expenditure of money
on the farm was regarded as an invest
ment of capital and appreciated and
cared for AS o part of the farm capital
on Southern farms than there now il
If mems thoughts can be judged from
their actions, how different from this
has been the Southern farmers idea oil
successful farming. Heretofore it has
seemed that the ruling idea was, that
the amount of money dug ont of the
ground was the profit Of farming, ant
no estimate has Eeen made of the wea,
of the soil and the destruction of nipple
ments, and the loss of everything els,
concerned in the making of the crop.
ut is not worth while to tell seusi.,
BILE man that no successful or profit
able farming can be done in this way
and the thousands of acres of land oil
over the South that have been entirely
worn out, will stand for years as monu,
ments of its folly. Farmers and other
producers of all kinds are exhausted
and disheartened by continued lower
prices year by year and are consequently
preparing to SOW and plough and pro-
duce less than ever before. The very
reasons which have produced these
results are the ones which should have
influenced farmers in the opposite direc-
ton. Il is pretty certain that it will
cost less to make o crop in 1878 than
it has before since 1860. and this fact