St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1881-12-17
INTENSIVE VS.. EXTENSIVE
FARMING.

The Atlanta Cotton Exposition i.
already bearing its expected fruit il
exciting attention TO defects of tn.
old methods AMI in puttiny in .
strong light the merits Of new ones
There are in every immunity, even
the most unprogressive, !. few mer
who. applying their minds intently
TO the business in hani, think on.
improvements which bring fortune.
to the inventors, and would result il,
widespread benefits il farmers gen.
orally could be brought to give them
the consideration thes observe. Tn.
conservatism natural to the agricul.
tural mind makes it difficult to IN.
tro.lics 81 new fsnyle idea" unless
it be done upon some great &C.
casion and in striking and impress
sive manner. Fairs, expositions,
granger society meetings, &c, have
the M crit Of pnttius the mini of
those VIII" attenl them iu u recep-
tive condition, and thus furnishing
attentive listeners to more progress
sive men. 1t has long been the vice
OF Southern farming to att.mpt
to plant too many acres, and by
consequences to cultivate them badly.
When a once fertile field il *.
hansted by continual cropping with
ont rep!enishing the soil. the
planter has preferred to discard il
and inclose another equal area Of
freshly cleared land IN his plantation
aud proceed as before The "old
field" becomes scanned with gullies
and the thin soil disclosed tells the
story of radical error in the "exten-
sivs" system of farming. The
problem of the present and future
FIR Southern farmers is COW gradu-
ally to reclaim these old fields and
preserve the produc' ireness Of the
new by substituting the intensive"
for the extensive" method. That
this may be done with profit is
demonstrated by an exhibit made
at the exposition by Maj. J. +.
Jones, a small planter Ut Troup
county. Ga. Of cotton, corn, wheat,
oats, rye, caue. honsy, etc, pro-
duced on his "three horse iarm."
He began several years ago with a
q horse tarm. aid, rs usual
with SD large a force under one di-
rection. everything was loosely man
eyed. At the end of every year he
was in debt. and when he decided
to cultivate fewer acres he was
$1,000 behind hand. His neishbors
advised him to buy more stock
and cultivate more land. On the
Contrary he planted but twenty-on-
acres in cotton and hired three buys
with three nurses to assist him. He
superviseI everything. and what
was done was we'll doUe. His help
Cost Lim $l72. his fertilizers $l5J;
other expenses of picking. etc. m:s,ir
the total cost of his twenty Oh.
acres of cotton, 1891. He gathered
ii, 404 lbs. Of cotton, making twenty
eight bales of SIS pounds each. for
winch he got 81, 44U. lesvin. = profit
OF 1919. or near.y $i4 per acic.
This Was 10 cents a pound for cot
ton which j. had cost him but q
cen.s pound to grow. Tie average.
cost Of raising cotton in Georgia IL
estimated by good authority At nine
cents per pound. 50 that by inten-
sive tanning Maj. Jones made as
profit more than + cents per pound.
which under the extensive" plan.
would have gone as expenses. His
however, was but one AID
q third bales per acre, while
brother Of General Toombs has
grown as many AZ live bales. But
with the same help that was EN-
plOyed on the twenty-0ne acres of
cutton. Major Jones raised also 100
bushels nf wheat, 800 bushels Of
corn, 500 bushels Of oa:s. and crop
of cane and garden products. With.
in FIVE years lac has paid off his debt
of 100p incurred in extensive farm
ing, and by growing his own SUP
plies has escaped the clutches Of the
merchant. to whom.
uuder the credit system. he would
have paid for supplies advanced
over IS per cent more than cash
y ,uld buy them for. He has. in
short solved the probieR 0f cotton
.ruwing.-0Drgis PapeT. 1