Morning journal and courier., 1882-10-14
A Successful Cotton Farm.
Nonderf0l Results cn Brohen-Doxv n
 Land.
From the Alta ta Constitution. I

From the Atlanta Constitution.l
 I suppose there are few readers of the Consultation who do not remember Parish Furman He bright and brainy Sena
 tor in 1876, and led the Capitol campaign against Atlanta: was mentioned for Congress.
 and I always esteemed him as oue of the best
 equipped and most capable of our young politicians A few years ago he quit politics ! and went to farming. I heard that he had settled on thin piece of land with poor prs spects and in common with many Of his friends, thought he had dropped out of af- fairs At the last agricultural convention he electrified the older farmers of the State with the details of the most astounding five years farming ever done in southern State and is to day talked about in the State than if he had served in Congress twen- ty years.
 l have heard the record of his wonderful work several times within the past few months, and rhe comment with which 1t is usually greeted is, q don't believe it." simply say that I have the authority of at least three excellent gentlemen for the truth of the following main points:
 Furmen started work with sixty five acres of the very poorest land in middle Georgia ! five years ago. The first year he made eight l bales of cotton on the sixty five acres, or less l than one bale to eight acres. This shows ! that 1t was the poorest of scrub land. The ! second year he put 800 pounds of compost ! to the acre, and made twelve bales of cotton ! wh+ re he made eight before. The third year | he used ,00O pounds of compost to the acre l and increased the yield on the sixty five acres | 50 twenty-thrse bales. The fourth year he used :, 900 poundsof compost to the acre, and increased his crop to forty seven bales on sixty-five acres. The fifth year he used i. GOO pounds of compost to the acre, and his crop | is certainly above eighty to the sixty-tive ! acres, and may reach 100 bales.
 He has done all this work with two ploughs l and eighteen days extra ploughing- His ! official and detailed statement shows that the ! total expenses were $2 300, and his net pro- ! fit $2, 725-a fine record on 8 two horse farm. l In addition the land that was worth S5 an \ acre five years ago Is now worth $100 an \ acre. So with two mules this year he has raised at least 80 bales of cotton, LOGO bush | els of oats, and 400 bushels of corn. Isn't ! that 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 | had talk with Furman to day. He is ! the very picture of health, prosperity and | intelligent enthusiasm. With Q perfect in dependent income, and the secret of better one in his hand, he is truly happy man. He ga Id to me:
 tWhen I determined to go to farming, five years ago, I saw that it would not do to farm in the old way. l saw farmers around me getting poorer every day, though they work ed like slaves l saw them starving theli
 
 l tier, and their farms less valuable l saw ! that it was still the plough following the axe and that as fast as farmer starved one piece of land he cleared out new piece. With ! 800, GOO immigrants pouring into this coun 1 try annually, and the public domain virtually preempteCi I realized that this wasteful sys l tenn must stop somewhere and soon. Worse l than all, I saw that my own land rented tc | small farmers was twenty five per cent poor I CT and less valuable than it few years | ago. and that it would soon cease to pay me 1 rent I knew that Georgia was blessed wltt ! the best conditions of and soil, anC l that if properly treated it would yield large ! results
 1 poorest land had and wont to work. The 1 first thing, of course, was to enrich the soil l To do this there was but one way to feed it ! and to give it more food than the crops tool ! from it-and above all to give it the proper l food. I knew that certain phosphate ma
 nures stimulated the soil so that it produced ! heavy crops for awhile and then fell off. 1 wanted none of this. I did not believe il
 l soil analysis. That was not exact enough. | "What I wanted was to know exactly what
 l perfect cotton plant took from the soil I That ascertained then to restore to the soi ! exactly those elements in larger quantity thar l the crop had abstracted from them. This i, ! the basis of intensive farming, and it will al
 l ways give land that is richer year after year
 ! 1 had cotton plant analysed, and found
 l that needed eight elements in my manure
 { of which commercial fertilizers furnish onl,
 ! three and the soil only one. 1 therefore
 determined to buy chemicals and mix then
 \ with humus, muck, decayed leaves, stabl
 ! manure and cotton seed till I had secured
 \ exactly what was needed. l did so, and a