The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-03-01
1t is our custom to speak oul

IL Is our CUSTOM u Speah Jul
thoughts, however crude and unpol
ished, honestly and candidly. We
denounced the Civil Service bill a. a
fraud, and undemocratic because, We
believe it to be such. We denounced
and still denounce the Tariff system
for protet ton ilti6eLtal Or other
wise, as undemocratic, oppressive
and unjust in its o ;eration. uncon-
stitutional and the meanest villiany
and robbery ever practiced upon al,
intelligent and free people.
And we now propose, with the
same cantlor and honest purpose TO
speak our mind to the farmer. not that
we can impart to him new ideas and
thoughts on the subj ,cr of tilling the
soil, but to jog his memory or bring
to his mind thatwEat he already know :.
The lawyer, doctor, merchant, me
cLanic, shoema ker. manufacturer and
even the street loafer or dead beat
can quit, each his calling, and take
10 farming. if he finds small divi
dends or no dividends at all coming
in as the results of his labors. Not
SO with the farmer. He must con
tinuc 10 sweat and pillow, because he
is not learned in the science OF the
law or medicine. mr. skilled in the
art of the mechanic or blacksmith
and artisan. So the farmer must
from necessity follow all the days
of his life the dignified and honored
profession on which all others are
dependent Then what ought to be
the farme. s first thought and care
when he starts out to dig ar honest
living from the earth as God has
commanded him to do ? The first
farmer of which we have any record,
had, given to him by his father,
very large plantation. 1t extended
from the North to The South pole.
and in longitude it reached from the
Western to the Eastern horizon.
And that gent eman was unable to
cultivate all his posse and he
discovered that fact. and at once
to divide his farm among
his Children, and from that day until
this his descendants have been cut
ting up his plantation into smaller
ones and the same process OF divis
ion and subdivision is going on an
will continue to 90 on, notwithstand.
ing the efforts of man to resist the
foreorda:ned DEGREES of heaven itself.
Yet strange as it may seem, there
is in man a deep rooted desire to OWL
and control large tracts Of land
when wisdom has taught and expert
ence has established beyond contro
versy that no one man was ever en-
titled to more than very small part
of creation, and that mans capacit.
was Insufficient to deal int lligently
and profitably with even that
email portion.
Now the unvarnished truth is this.
any man cah live more comfortably.
happily and profitably on fifty acres
of land than ON five Thousand. One
acre we'll cared for in the way of ma
nure and proper GUILTY. alton, will be
worth more than four acres poorly
manured. poorly cultivated and
carelessly Housed.
Experience and common sense
prove this to he true, and yet we find
the farmers striving to enlarge their
farms and to cultiva ate larger fields.
at greater expense with less profits.
and, nine times in ten, At loss.
A common sense view of the mat
ter:
Take A., with his Eve hundred acres
of land, he runs Eve plows, he works
ten hands. he plants 100 acres, his
labor costs him 81, 1900 his mule rem,
and their feed cost $500; his fertili.
zers cost him, on his 100 acres, All
other $500 his farming utensils cost
500; his Contingent expenses
amount to $500 interest on his Ian
together with the interest on tue
money paid out for labor. omo ,nts to
$500, making total expenditures S.,
500. Now if he makes corn, &c.,
enough for his home supplies and
sixty bales Of cotton, he has done
we'll. His sixty bales of cotton will
ordinarily net him $2,4O0. You see
he has lost $l,lO0.
Take b., with 100 acres of land,
he runs one plow, cultivates 80 acres,
30 acres in cotton and 10 acres in
corn,-he works three hands ana
himself; his labor costs him $3.50;
his guano costs him $3.50; contin