The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1882-03-02
AGRICULTURAL FACTS.
Small Farms. Dairy Farming
Bermuaa rass.-$1o,ooo
aYear from Thir-
ty Acres.

|
his reputation as a man of fine prac
tical sense, and as farmer of ex-
tended and successful experience.
In conversation with him on mat
ters of farming, he gave us some
ideas which we briefly give:
own about one thousand acres
in Burke county The land / have
divided into a number of small
farms, placing tenants on each.
One hundred and forty acres l have
reserved for myself.
Forty acres were planted this
year in corn, peas being planted be
tween the rows; forty acres were
planted in oats, and after that peas
on the same ground; forty were de
voted to cotton, and the remaining
twenty to melons. You will see
from this that l am not an advo-
cate of large crops of cotton the ex
clusion of other things. l think
our farmers give too much atten
tion to cotton and too little to 9th
er products. My plan is much the
more profitable from several points
of view. In the first place there
are other things which pay better
Take watermelons for instance.
My twenty acres of watermelons
have paid me as much as my cotton
this year with less than half the la
Dor. During a previous season
they paid more than twice as much.
l have a cousin farming in the same
county-Dr. w. B. Jones-who de
votes great attention to them and
makes a fine profit from the seed of
the melons. They pay him an av-
erage of from ten to fifteen cents a
head in that way. He runs farm
OF thirty acres, devoted solely to the
raising of seeds of various kinds,
which pays HIM a profit of about
800 a year.
"But is there not trouble in find
ing a marketP' we asked.
'None, whatever He finds a
ready market not only in the south,
but in the north and west. OF
course he advtrtises, but outside of
two or three agricultural journals he
does little in that line.
There is nothing that keeps back
our southern farmers more than
this idea of cotton. Ny plan is to
raise everything l need at home, as
far as possible. 1 have followed this
plan, and have tried to impress it
upon the negroes who work for me.
The result is that some of them are
more independent by far than the
majority of white farmers in Geor-
gia. had one man with me who
stayed on my place until he had ac
cumulated about 5000. This he
put into piece ofland. By follow
ing my plan he is to-day worth
$4,000, and is out of debt. He
bought his place five years ago.
This man lives as well as l do my
self
There are many ways in which
our farmers can make more money
than by devoting their whole at
tention to cotton.
One thing l have great faith in
is dairy farming. l expect to give
it a good deal of attention hence
forth. 1 am starting to clear 100
acres of swamp land and put it in
Bermuda grass for that purpose.
Men of experience in that line say
it will maintain from five to ten |
head of cattle per acre. At n low
estimate this much land will main
tain 500 cows. But suppose you
put the figures down to one COW
acre, it will keep up a herd of 100
COWS. Say that each of those will
give three gallons of milk or a
pound of butter per day. At TWEEN
ty five or thirty cents a pound, you
have twenty five or thirty dollars a
day. 1t may take four years to
its full capacity, but l expect the
time to come when it will net me
about $4,000 a year.
Then a good deal can be made
by the manufacture Of cheese, if one
chooses to 20 into that line. 1t is
one of the most profitable industries
of this country; and you always
have a good market. | expect no
difficulty in getting a market for
anything on my farm / can easily
dispose Of every pound Of butter i
make to an advantage. As to labor
very little help is needed. -Four or
five men and about ten girls will be
ample. But / don't expect to stop
at that. Each COW will give say
two gallons of sour milk. Let that
be fed to pig. Give the pig pint
of meal day, and at the end of
twelve months you will have about
300 pounds Of net pork. At seven
cents a pound it will bring S2l.
Then take the calves Of the hun
dred cows. They ought to ing
$40 a head in beef at a year old.
Then you have four or five tons Of
manure a year from each COW This
manure is better than any CONNER
cial fertilizer you can get"
According TO your idea then the
much abused Bermuda grass may
be made a blessing after alp
"Oh, yes. And it not only makes
fine pasturage, but you can plow it
up and use the roots for hay. Sup
pose you have fifteen or twenty tons
of roots to the acre. If you plow
it up and put it into a barrel Of wa
ter, or a small stream, the dirt will
readily sink TO the bottom, and you
can dry it and lay it by. When you
do this you have all the hay you
want. Then the blowing up Of the
land will do it good.
1 could go into greater details
and give you figures TO show my
system pays in other ways.
What l said, however, will give
you a general idea. The farmers
around me begin to see its advan-
tage. Several have tried my plan
and will testify to its good results.
NY theory is summed up in few
words. Cultivate a small quantity
of land, and cultivate it well, raise
your own supplies, and keep out Of
debt. In my opinion this is the
truest secret Of successful farming"
Il CCrawfordville (Ga.) Democrat
Why Not?