The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1883-03-24
POOR MANS COUNTRY.


There is no better country on the
globe for the poor man than the up
lands OF Louisiana. We mean that
there is no better country for a poor
man to locate in; for if such man has
industry, energy and ordinary intelii-
gence, he is certain not to remain poor
very long in cultivating so productive
a soil.
Many facts have been published by
the States and other journals showing
the productive capacity of Louisiana
uplands; but some facts relative to such
lands in Claiborne parish, derived
from prominent merchants of Homer,
will not be uninteresting or uninstruc-
tive to energetic white men abroad
who arc seeking homes where their in
dustry will produce its iegimate and
full results. Conversing, day or two
since, with these Homer merchants
they gave us the following facts Mr..
J. II. Abycromby, workingman,
with his own family and a team of four
mules, on an upland farm of average
fertility in Claiborne last season made
So heavy bales Of cotton, 1000 bushels
of corn, 200 bushels OF peas, 500 gallons
of molasses from the regular sugar
cane, and raised 90 killing hogs. The
molasses was of course sort of side
crop, but it sold for rs cents per gallon
and supplied tho farmers family with
number of necessary articles not pro-
duceable on Il farm. Besides this, Mr..
Abcromby raised an abundance of veg
etables and poultry, and did great
deal Of hauling for tho merchants of
Homer.
Nor is this an isolated case. In the
same parish, on lands Of a like charac-
ter, Mr.. Is. i. NIcCasland last year
gathered IS bales of cotton from II
acres. In addition to this he raised his
own meat and corn, and has every sea-
son an abundance Of the latter to sell
to less thrifty planters. In the same
parish w. II. MorIand raised on II
acres 1000 gallons of molasses from
Louisiana cane, which he sold or could
sell for rs cents per gallon, and hence
made $50 on Il acres Of ground. Other
instances Of like thrift aud success could
be gathered in Claiborne and neighbpr-
ing parishes. In Claiborne last year
the farmers produced rs side crops at
scarcely any expense whatever, at Il
very low estimate $4,000 gallons of mo-
lasscs.
These results are not isolated or phe-
nomenal by any means, but producabIe
in any and every instance where in
telligent methods of farming are COM
bined with ordinary economy and thrift
But it may DO laid down as an absolute
certainty that the cotton growers Of the
South will never advance their pros
pcrity by producing cotton and no.
gfecting their food crops. These latter
arc tho basis OF all agricultural pros
perity they arc the mud stills OF the
agricultural fabric, and if they are not
provided, though there be seasons of
prosperity depending upon special cir
cumstances, the cotton grower will con-
tinue in his state of chronic distress
the pensioner and slave of the MGR.
chant.
We have heard II thousand calcula-
tons made that \ certain amount OF
land planted in cotton will produce
more money than the same AGRA of
land planted in corn, and that hence il
is sound economy for the planter to
grow cotton and buy his supplies. We
shall not stop to dissect and expose the
falsity of this pernicious allacy; it is
Sufhclent that 1T has failed year after
year to produce tho results predicted.
The folly of this calculation, indeed.
has been so often proved in practice
that common sense should dictate its
abandonment.
A true theory for the planter to pro-
ceed upon is this: 4 planter or farmer
who produces all his own corn and
meat and other food crops, and dcvotcs
the residue Of his force and time to
cotton, makes as clear profit whatever
his cotton sells for, be il il small or a
high price. "A farmer who adopts this
policy is bound to be prosperous on
Louisiana lands, even if he docs not
grow richly. o. States.
When a popular barkceper dies, the
country papers publish glowing obit.
uaries which recall his many virtues.