The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-01-31
What the South Needs.
Memphis Avalanche.

What the South Needs.
Memphis Avalanche.
What we know about farming il not as
many others know; but 90 our farmers will
soon begin preparations for the next crop,
we deem il not amiss to express some
thoughts Oh to their best policy. These
may not bear fruit now. but they may
take root and blossom hereafter.
The south needs people-industrlous.
thrifty, intelligent people; and we can get
them only from the north orfrom Europe,
But. to do 40, the south. especially the
cotton growing parts of Tennessee, Mis-
sissippi, and Arkansas. must consent to do
what they have nes heretofore done.
They must subdiYids their large bodies OF
land into smaller ones, and sell when
immigrants come to buy. Nine-tsnths OF
these, especially from the north, want to
buy homes as soon rs they come, As
ruls, they done want to rent. Ii they
cannot buy hsrs. they will 20 to Texas and
Northwestern Arkansas. where lands are
cheap. where the price per acre, in fee il
not mere than the rent psr asre in the cot
ton section. Farms i'm the south are too
large. In New York they do not average
100 acres in sizs: In Illinois not 400. But
this makes the farms NIL ths more produc-
tive and valuable. a belt OF 10000 acres
divided into farms of 500 acres each, will
have, say, 20 families. Another belt Of
10000 acres, divided into farms or 100
acres each, will hays 100 families, In
each case the same number OF acres may
DO cultivated; bus. in 10 years. the differ
enos would be very striking between the
two farms. In cultivation, skill. thrift.
orchards. vineyards. Improvements. schools.
Intelligence. one would be far more in
advance OF the other. The farms of 100
acres each would DO probably cultivated
solely by those who own them. The others
would be cultivated mostly by tenants;
and nowhere do tenants care for property
or crops as the owners do. Tenants never
plant orchards. and never take oare Of
them if planted by the owner. Fruit
trees are neglected or destroyed By ami
mails, and such thing as thrift 10 seldom
seen on rented land, Briar patches and
thiekets grow up. fences rot and 70
down. stock invade the fields. and the
repairs often eat up the landlords part OF
the crops. One never sees or hears of
fne fruits or stock on o rented farm.
because the tenant has too slight an in
tersst in them or their increase. Let him
own the farm himself. and all this is
changed. Hence the man who has 1000
acres of good land will do better to sell al
ternate farms of 100 acres each than
to rent it. By getting thrifty tenants on
these. his own alternates. il he chooses to
keep them, will soon be worth more than
the 1000 acres were.
The present winter has been one of
unusual severity so far. It opened here
on the 10th of November with q snow
storm, such as has not been seen for
years, and ct time when our Indian
summer is seldom gone. But as unsx
ampled as it has been here, in its early
appearance and its severity. the suffering
it has brought home to the north, gener-
ally. the distractions to business, and
the loss Of life have made o profound
impression upon the northern people
ton. They seem to continue from week
to week, one snow storm following another
with ever increasing fury, and multiply
ing disasters and distress. In some OF
the northwestern states, farmers living
on the prairies sometimes dare not ven
ture from their dwellings in a snow
storm without rope or. twine around
their bodies One end il fastened to the
house or porch. and thus they feel their
way to outbulldings. the rope or twin
guiding them back when ready to return
Those terrible snow Ii storms are called
"'blizzards" and the fins powdered slset
and snow are 80 thick and dense that
often a man cannot SEQ his barns or
stables, though not 100 feet distant.
Cattle must be fed and attended to; but
the man who ventures out in one Of these
bizzards, is almost sure to be soon lost,
as the fury of the storm blinds and
&0@AObS AAh1 ~ aDy tAAAk SI5Cs %4S6S1
rope or Irvine is his only safety in such
an extremity. What climatel What
q country! l. there no remedy for this
sad state of thirgs2 But one Let the |
people subject to such trials emigrate. |
Let them come to this warmer climate |
of ours There they are often unable to
do any farm work from November to |
April-fve long dreary months. No
production on those farms, ID al! that
time. but mending agricultural imple-
ments. All consumption. Fuel is often
dearer than food, for it has bsen proven
that in many parts of the vast prairies of
the northwest it is cheaper to raise Indian
corn by the acre for fuel than to use coal
where the railway transportation is long
and the wagoning from the depot is ditto.
w have had some snow storms all through