The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-04-16
Cation on the Brain.


A correspondent of the New
York Sun, who thinks there is too
much attention paid to raising cot
in the South, says:
"What the white people of the
South need is little more sense.
They ought to quit raising cotton
and raise what they want to eat and
eat it, and not toll twelve months to
make cotton to buy meat and bread
which they themselves can produce.
The farmers of the South have, for
the last fifteen years, made cotton
to purchase all that they use until
it has brought them to the verge of
ruin. While it has enriched the
merchant and those who live in cit
les. it has made them poor indeed.
To give your readers an idea of how
farming is conducted down South,
will make comparison of the
profits of cotton and corn raising,
taking the river bottom of the Miss
issippi. The labor of first-rate
working man who will put in all
his time in making cotton will be4,
900 pounds of cotton the average
of the South is less than 1000
pounds( worth now about $500, less
ginning, shipping and selling, say
$50, leaving him as his profits for
cotton $3.50, and 200 bushels O corn,
yielding a profit of 500, in all $3.50
for years work To do this will
require his whole time, leaving no
time to produce what he eats. The
same labor applied to raising corn
with improved tools now in use will
produce on an average 1000 bushels
of corn, worth here now sevenyfive
cents per bushel, and if shippedto
Orleans will net theproducer fifty
five cents per bushel, or 81 900. Be-
sides the corn peas can be sown at the
last blowing, which will pay to fat
ten hogs, at S. per acre, or$I, $50 for
the years work The same farmer
can take care of and feed 800 head
of sheep, which will pay 5000 more.
The trouble with the South is a dis
ease called cotton on the brain: If
they will quit that, then all will be
lovely and quiet along the South"
There is a great deal of truth in
these observations. Sheep husban-
dry in the Southern States will pay
as well as cotton, and it will not
take as much capital. There are
better grasses for sheep in the South
than in the North, and in many of
the States there is little or no winter
feeding to be done, as Bermuda
grass furnishes pasturag the entire
year. Wire grass also furnishes
throughout the year, which fully
sustains the sheep and keeps them
in good condition. In the States of
North Caroliua, South Carolina,
Georgia; Florida, Alabama, Louis
lana, Arkansas, Tennessee and
Mississippi there is an area of CO.,,
26o,44o acres of land, and the mum
Der of sheep is reported to be only
1900, 900, or about one sheep to
every ninty acres. In Ohio there is
a sheep SO every seven acres of land.
These figures show the vast field for
sheep husbandry in tse South out
side the State of Texas, and emitting
Kentucky, recognized as first-class
sheep husbandry State. Testimony
received at the Agricultural Bureau
from men in the South shows that
sheep husbandry pays from ninety
to 100 per cent, and more on the in-'
vestment. Sheep husbandry, united
with cotton and corn growing, will
undoubtedly prove far more remun
erative than exclusive cotton cul-
| ture.
Immigrants should be made ac-
quainted with such facts as these
In Kentucky farmers make from
500 to $500 an acre planting the
Burley tobacco, and our climate is
infinitely preferable to that of the
Northwest, whittier so many for
eigners go to contend with billiards
and grass hoppers.
We are satisfied that in a few
years the attractions of the South,
climatic and agricultural and pasto-
raj, will divert large percentage of
the immigration thither