The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-06-04

| to clear up; and nave had fouf
DAYS help in blowing corn. Be
sides this, they have a garden,
melon and potatoe patch: have ted
the mules, hogs and sheep; hauled
and cut all the wood; hauled rails
and built fences.
The fact is, Bro. Gilmer, there are
blows now made to cultivate corn
with, that / doubt if you have seen
or used them. This country is
growing at tremendous pace; and
old men like you and are apt to
be left behind.
With this introduction of myself
to YOU and the readers, / will try
to calculate the difference in the
cost of cultivating corn and cotton.
Forty acres Of corn at so bushels
per acre is 1000 bushels, which at
90 cents per bushel, is $1,000; then
lie land planted in peas at last
blowing and fed to hogs will paw
5000. or $1,000 for one hands work
for s months; which, at $40 per
| month, is SI6o, which leaves a
prOnt or 9I,O4O
To make 1900 TBS. of lint cot
ton. 600 bushels of corn, 5000 Tbs.
of fodder, worth, as you estimate,
81 o5o, will require the labor of six
| hands for 10 months, which at $40
per month will be $1,000, leaving
the farmer a net profit of $3.50 for
his land and mule, or difference of
about 5000; but if put the corn at
So cents per bushel, the difference
will be $3.50 in favor of corn. Or,
we will take your estimate of land
in Red River bottom, say, 25 acres:
1900 lbs. Of cotton, 500 bushels of
corn, 5000 TBS. of fodder, worth
| 81. 200. To make this will require
three hands, at $500, each, 5000,
leaving 5000 rent for Is acres of
land, or $24 per acre for the use of
the land and mules.
To cultivate e acres in corn and
gather it will cost $50, at so bushels
per acre is 1890 bushels, which, at
Soc per bush, is 81, 900, to which add
peas, $I25, and it makes $I,I25, less
cost of cultivating, is $I,o45, or $40
per acre for rent of land and mules.
| would rather you would not say
anything to the people up North
about raising hogs on the droppings
of mules, because they might not
understand it.
Now, Bro. Gilmer, let us see about
the sheep and hog raising:
Last year was the first time since
1866 that | tried to raise hogs. We
made 1900 pounds of nice pork; the
pigs were pigged in January and
had little corn; then they raised
themselves entirely on grass; after
we gathered the corn, they had the
cleaning and three acres of peas that
were very poor, as a freedman's
mule had nearly destroyed them;
then we fed them two bushels of
corn each: they did not cost : cents
per pound; then they kept fat last
winter on grass, nuts, etc, and are
fat now. The labor of one good man
with plenty OF team will raise
enough peas to fatten 400 head of
hogs; the same labor will raise prov
ender enough to feed 90 young
mules, which will pay a profit of
$1,000 per year for three years.
Cotton is now selling for s cents
net for good cotton, so it Just takes
ten pounds of cotton to purchase
one bushel of corn, and if the corn
raiser will exchange his 1000 bush
els of corn for cotton at ten for one,
he will Just get 40 bales of cotton
weighing 500 pounds each, or what
requires the labor of eight men to
make.
Bro. Gilmer, you say you have
made IS to II per cent. on your in
vestment VIII YOU please make
out balance sheet and publish it in
THE PATRON, so can learn how
to do it? Doyou make cotton with
hired labor, or do you rent your
land to colored people? if so, how
many bales per hand do negroes in
your county make? Make out an
account of what it costs you to make
a pound of cotton. If YOU can
make it for less than s cents YOU can
do more than any one I know of.
There is another thing, Bro. Gil
mer, about cultivating cotton with
negroes. They are hard to get.
mighty hard to keep, require a heap
of watching, destroy about as much
as they produce, have a bad habit
of borrowing things and forgetting
to return them.
You say that the people of the
South are getting rich. Maybe
some are, but no cotton pl ,er is
getting rich; and no Poop, ever
did, or ever will, get rich with the
use of the hoe and plow The stock
raisers of Kentucky have plenty
of money to lend at per cent; the
cotton planter of the South pays X
to 25 per cent and then has to beg
hard to get it; and no one except
cotton factor will lean him money
at any price. If the cotton
planter of the South IS getting rich,
why does he go every year and beg
for advances from the factor? Go
ask the cotton factor if the planter
is getting rich, and he will tell you.
to his sorrow, no. His books
show too many debts, they owe
him. There are people in the South
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