Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1879-08-29
DIVERSITY OF CROPS.

The subject of divcrsifying
crops has been SO frequently al
luded to by the newspapers and
agricultural speakers as to be
almost threadbare, but the short
cotton and corn crop of the
present season is well calculated
to..bring the subject prominently
to the notice of farmers and in
fact all others, as in the south
the entire population is mainly
dependent upon agriculture.
There are neither mines nor
manufactures to- depend upon.
consequently failure of crops
causes a failure of the supply OF
money, and without money
times are what is commonly
known as hard. In this section
Of the state it is we'll known
that cotton is the main il not
only dependence Of a large ma
jority of our fart iers; the crop
being a failure, they as mat
ter Of course get behind. Cot
ton must unquestionab!y con-
tinuc to be the main dcpen-
dence of our farmers. but the
i great trouble now is, that they
do not raise enough other pro-
ducc at home. A farm to be
profitable should be self-main-
tanning in that everything that
can possibly be raisbd for con-
sumption at home should be
cultivated, Take for instance
the apparently insignificant ar
ticles of canned fruits and veg
etablcs, yet millions of dollars
worth Of them, put up in the
nothern states are annually con-
sumed in the south. Northern
flour, corn meal, bacon, lard
and butter find one Of the best
and mot profitable markets III
the south. If the amount of
money annually spent for these
staple and absolute ncccssaries
of life in Washington could be
accurately ascertained, many
man would be absolutely sur
prised and perhaps think he
was being told a regular Mum
chausen story. Flour and ba-
con are continually received
here by the car load. Nothcrn
potatoes, cabbage and onions
are also reserved daily. Pota-.
toes and onions can DC raised
at home; onions, it is said, can
be raised the dryest season. It
Of course would not pay for cv-
cry one to go into TIL cuitiva-
ton of these products. but if
enough were raised for home
consumption and to supply the
local demand much would be
accomplished. The question of
raising wheat has been frequent
ly alluded to. experiments have
been successfully made. yet
none seem to have beer benefit
ted to any considerable extent
bythem. If farmers only raised
few acres of wheat, sufficient
to supply themselves with bread
it would result in the saving Of
considerable amount of ready
money. AS for hogs there
seems to be no difficulty in
raising plenty of them. The
raising of beef cattle, where
pasturage and water are con-
vcnient is also profitable. When
the Santa Fe railroad is COM
pleted we will probably have
cheap freights which will give a
market for surplus corn. when
ever any is made. Oats are said
to produce as we'll here as in
any part of the country, the
yield per acre being enormous;
cheap frcights will open mar
ket for them and their culture
as a crop will become profitable.
In the old states much atten-
ton is paid TO the subject of d.
versity Of crops and the convic- |
tion is rapidly gaining ground
that the greater the variety of
farm products, the better is the
condition of the farming com
munity; the true secret of sue
cess will eventually be found
when cotton is raised by farm
ers as surplus crop, not as the
main dependence, from the pro-
ceeds of which all the farm sup
plies must be purchased.
THE murder of Dixon by
Barksdale at Yazoo city, Miss,
is being largely commented up
on by the press. 1t appears to
have been a cold-blooded MUIR
der, growing out of political
quarrel; theespoils of office be-
ing the bone of contention
Dixon was an independent can
didate and from this fact alone
ali the. trouble arose. If he was
an:improper man he should have
been metaphofically killed at the
ballot box and not actually kill
ed with a pistol.