The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1881-03-04
A FEW WORDS TO FARMERS.

The Macon, (Miss.,) Beacon say:
very Sensibly:
awe are glad to know that such q
large area of oats is sown in our coun
ty this season. Now if our planters
would only put in more than the usual
amount of corn, and plant, fertilize,
and cultivate the ground better than
they have heretofore done, things will
look more hopeful. Why not some
try few acres in castor beans, or pep
permint, or buckwhcat, rice, Irish po
tatoes and navy beans, all of which
grow we'll here? Then if we only had
larger and better pastures, well cover.
ed with cattle, sheep, mares, and even
goats, cotton might fail, and go down
to zero in price, without reducing us
almost to want as at present. Another
advantage i'll diversiffc,ation of crops,
is the great benefit to the soil, in rest
ing and recuperating it,"
What is here said of Noxubee coun-
ty will apply to every county in Mis-
sissippi, Alabama and the rest of the
Gulf States. Diversified crops are sad
ly needed all through this section of
the country. Stock raising is as yet
States except TeXaH. Time and again
y
have been urged not to devote their
attention exclusively to cotton, al
though of course making it their prin-
cipal crop, and time and again every
farmer has thought the advice very
good for his neighbor, but not for him
self. Thus have most of our country
people continued from year to year to
put all their eggs in one basket, with
out thinking of the smash they have
laid themselves liable to.
But these considerations have been
placed before Southern farmers so
often, that we will not enlarge upon
them, but direct attention to another
view of the subject, viz: That the
exclusive attention to cotton raising
deprivcs tho farmer of many of the
and pleasures of councry life.
Agriculture is the natural occupation
of man, for Adam tended tho .fruit
trees in the Garden Of Eden, and coun-
try life is full of enjoyment for those
who know how to obtain it. The OBJ
ject of labor is to live comfortably, and
tho more there is raised at home the
less there will be to be bought abroad.
A well cultivated vegetable garden, a
few cows and Il neat dairy, properly
cared for fruit trees, a well-stockcd
poultry yard, and a small number of
hives; all these will enhance the
comfort of the farmer and his family
tenfold. Many have these comforts to
some extent, but many are almost
without them. and few pay that attcn-
ton to them which they deserve.
a few years after the war the stran-
ger who sat down at the table of many
of our planters would have found the
family living to great extent on
bacon and greens, corn meal, and coffee
without milk. Occasionally some
other vegetable would have been seen,
but the mind of the planter was taken
up entirely with cotton raising, and
he could not spare labor for vegeta-
bic garden, as he looked upon it AS en-
tirely unrenumerativc. And yet it
would have been renumerative, not
only in improving his own health and
that of his family, but also in reduc-
ing his expenses for provisions pur-
chased. We no not wish to be under
stood rs saying that all planters lived
in this manner at the time of which
we speak, but simply that many of
them did. Things have changed for
the better since that time, but there is
still much room for Improvement.
Our country friends, for the most part,
DO not get that amount of enjoyment
out of Il country life, or save that
amount in their family expenses, that
they ought to do. They should study
vegetable and fruit culture as we'll as
cotton culture, and raise cows, sheep
and poultry as we'll as the tlcccy
staple.