Louisiana capitolian., 1881-10-06
why PLANTING DOES NOT PAY,

not pay III Ile cOtCoH OtateS' Ilt say
before the war the cotton fields dur.
ing picking time were clean of grass
and weeds, did not look like grass
pastures and hay fields; next wheI
asked how many acres to the hant
were cultivated, not planted, the an.
swer would be from twenty to thirty
counting his hands women and chill
dren not under fourteen years old
next you discover one half cotton
was planted, balance in corn, oats
and potatoes, peas in the corn, and
the CON field filed with peavines in
stead of weeds.
Compare now what the hand made
then with what is gathered at this
time, and what do we find =? Every
good farmer now living who planted
then, viii tell you he made from five
to ten bales of cotton to the hand,
one hundred to two hundred bushels
of corn, and oats enough to feed all
the fall, saved not less than one thou
sand pounds of fodder, ten bushels OF
peas and over one hundred bushels
of potatoes, raised and killed five
hundred pounds of pork, besides
other necessaries for man and beast
What do we find now 2 Five to ten
acres planted to the hand (none cul-
tivated) with but few exceptions,
one to one and a half bales of cotton,
five bushels OF corn, five bushels OF
potatoes, aud lots of grass to the
hand. In uncivilized, So called, days
it was the custom to haul into the
horse and COW lots, and fill up pens
in wet times. with wood manure, and
trash; scrape up the lots in piles;
commence to prepare land in Decem-
ber and January, generally plough
ing it twice before planting, manure
poor spots, and work from December
to December, from sun up to sun
down, six days in the week; little
whisky drank come to town seldom;
went to church every Sunday, and
was ready and rested for work Mon
day morning. Preachers were scarce,
good common sense sermons the rule,
pure devotion and little sensational
ism, no fanaticism, little suing, less
crime, bat little litigation, plenty to
eat and wear, stock well taken care
Of, no mortgages, debts easily paid,
and money plenty at legal interest.
The present method No manure
raised, a little stuff called fertilizer"
bought, which, like whisky, leaves
its patient in d worse fix after taking
than before, but little work from 0c-
tober until March, commences then to
plough with half-fed stock, scrapes
over again, quits plowing m June,
curses the weather, stops work on
every Friday at twelve o'clock, comes
to town on every Saturday, drinks
whisky, carouses until Monday morn
ing, commences to work after din
ner and works until Friday noon.
The tieldsgr up in grass and weeds
commences to pick cotton in August
out of the grass, finishes picking by
October by hiring help, corn eat up,
d few potatoes and plenty Of grass
left; commences TO gather grass
out OF the cotton field in October,
hauls it to town to buy whisky and
d little to eat, sells his cotton seed,
stock nearly starved or dead, mort
cages close in the fall at one fourth
OF cost, no meat, no corn, no money
Now is it not easy to see what is the
matter! Work is not commenced
soon enough and kept up constant
enough, nomanure raised, five months
lost in commencement, land not put
in order before planting, not cultiya-
ted after planting, only four days and
o half work done in one week, too
much coming to town, too much
whisky drank, too much preaching,
too little devotion, too much 4 Dach-
ing, too littleness, too much waste
and extravaganza.
The main evil is whisky !: let our
State stop the sale of it; landlords
will have to take greater control Of
their farms. encouraging industry,
cultivate more land to the hand, and
let the cultivation be better raise
more manure. sell no cotton seed. |