The Opelousas courier., 1882-12-09
Important Facts for Farmers.
ASTOUNDING REVELATIONS.

Gle signed I'll. w. IT,, puDIlshed I'D the
Atlanta, Ca, Constitution, contains
facts which may be of more practical
value than we have yer seen publish
ed in any article on enriching poor or
worn out lands. We wish to present
the marrow of the article to our readers
regardless of the space it may occupy
in our columns. Every farmer and
gardener and horticulturist should cut
the article out, and never lose or mis-
lay it. We have every confidence that
what is said in it about fertilizers and
poor lands, and the way to become a
prosperous farmer, is strictly true:
Atlanta, Ca, Sept. 3d. suppose
there are few readers of the Constitution
who do not remember Parish Furman.
He was a bright and brainy Senator
in 1876 and led the capital campaign
against Atlanta; was mentioned for
Congress, and I always esteemed him
as one of the best equipped and most
capable of Il r young politicians. A
few years ago he quit politics and went
to farming. I heard that he had set
tied on a thin piece of land with poor
prospects and, in common with many
of his friends, thought he had dropped
out of affairs.
At the last agricultural convention
he electrified the older farmers of the
State with the details of the most as
founding five years farming ever done
in a Southern State, and is to-day more
talked about in the State than if he had
served in Congress twenty years.
/ have heard the record of his won
derful work several times within the
past few months, and the comment with
which it is usually greeted 10: "Idon't
believe it, I simply say that I have
the authority of at least three excellent
gentlemen for the truth of the following
main points:
Furman started work with sixty-five
acres of the very poorest land in Middle
Georgia five years ago. The first year
he made eight bales of cotton on the
sixty-five acres, or less than one bale
to eight acres. This shows that it was
the poorest of scrub land.s
TIE second year he put 500 pounds
of compost to the acre, and made twelve
bales of cotton where he made eight be-
fore.
The third year he used 1000 pounds
of compost to the acre, increased the
yield on sixty-fiye acres to twenty three
| bales.
The third year he used 1000 pounds
Of compost to the acre and increased
his crop to forty-sevsn bales on sixty
five acres.
The fourth year he used 1000 pounds
of compost to the acre, and his crop is
certainly above eighty to the sixty-five
acres, and may reach 100 bales.
He has done all this work with two
plows and eighteen days extra blowing.
His official and detailed statement shews
that the total expenses we're $4,000, and
his net profit 1925, a fine record on a
two-horse farm. In addition, the land
that was worth $5 an acre five years
ago, is now worth 300 an acre. So with
two mules this year he has raised at
least eighty bales of cotton, 1000 bush
els of oats and 400 bushels of corn.
Isn't that a better record than he
could have made in Congress? Hasn't
he done the State more good By this
demonstration than he could have done
by ten years of political speeches?
WHAT Mr.. FURMAN SAYS ABOUT 1T.
l had a talk with Furman to-day. He
is the very picture of health, prosperity
and intelligent enthusiasm. With a
perfectly independent income, and the
secret of a better one in his hand, he is
truly a happy a He SAID to me:
"When / determined to go to farming,
five years ago, | saw that it would not
do to farm in the old way. | saw farm
ers around me getting poorer every
day, though they worked like slaves.
saw them starving their land so that
each year their yield was scantier, and
their farms less valuable. | saw that it
was still the plow following the ak, and
that as fast as a farmer starved one
piece of land he cleared out q new piece.
With 100000 immigrants pouring into
this country annually, and the public
domain virtually pre-empted, I realized
that this Wasteful system must stop
somewhere and soon. Worse than all,
| saw that my own land rented to small
farmers was Is per cent poorer and less
valuable than it was a few years ago,
and chat it would soon cease to pay
me rent. | knew that Georgia was
blessed with the best conditions of sea-
son and soil, and that if properly treat
ed it would yield largo results.
" ! therefore selected sixty five acres
of the poorest land | had and went to
work. The first thing, of course, was
to enrich the soil. To do this there was
but one way, to feed it and to give it