Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-12
THE STATE CROP REPORT.

We publish In another part of this AP-
ZEAL the State crop report for June, as
furnished to us by Mr. J. B. Killebrew agri-
cultural commissioner. On the whole it is
cheering report While the wheat crop has
been cut down nearly one-half the oat crop is
the best we ever had, and though tobacco
does not promise more than two-thirds of the
annual average the hay crop has been exceed
in2ly luxuriant As to corn, the commits
sioner says: Never in the history of the
State have there been better prospects for this
great cereal." Cotton will be under the av-
erage, taking the whole State through,
and the peanut crop will only be two-thirds
what it usually is, the low prices
prevailing lettering farmers from going
into It's cultivation as extern
sively as last year. Still there will be
more than enough for the boys who resort to
the pit and gallery of our theaters. Their
interests have been looked after. Nature has
been bountiful to us, and still continues to
come to us every day full-handed and flow
ing over. In every part of the State there
are to be seen and felt the evidences of the
prosperity that is sure to follow upon such
rich harvests, and we may be sure that we
have passed the hard times, and left it so far
back upon the road that it will never again
be able to overtake us. One of the best evil
dences of prosperity Is furnished by the COM
missioner in report on what he terms
smaller industries" and which comes to us
as a supplement to the regular monthly re-
port. From it we learn, in the words of Mr..
~ oil 70 oft ba
is a disposition manifested by our farmers
to supplement their income from standard
crops by adding others heretofore deemed
unimportant and insignificant, but which are
now proving sources of considerable profit.
This tendency to diversity crops is a good
omen, and with proper effort it is possible for
our farmers to have something to sell every
week in the year, and so keep working CAP
ital on hand. The secret of success in farm
ing Is ready money, intelligence and indus
try. Labor cannot be controlled without
prompt payments, and prompt payments are
only possible with the farmer when the pro-
ducts of his farm command a ready sale, and
are sufficiently diversified to give him some
thing to sell throughout the year. All expe-
rience has shown that when only one or TIVE
crops are sold during the year, the farmers,
as rule, fail to reserve money enough for
the necessary running expenses of the farm.
1t is just as essential for a farmer to have
ready money as for the manufacturer, and
under the present system no man can conduct
his farm or factory successfully without a
reserve fund to pay the daily accruing ex-
penses. In my opinion, the most serious
drawback at present to our agricultural
prosperity is the want of working capital
among our farmers. Diversified agriculture
will supply this" Proving his words, the
commissioner appends tabulated statement
of the shipment in April, May and June of
small fruits and vegetables from stations in
this State on the Louisville and Nashville and
Great Southern railroad. From it we quote the
names of the articles and the total of barrels
or boxes, the aggregate being something to
make farmers who have the cotton craze stare
the eyes out of their heads. Here it is: