Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-07-16
d. r,ncl Farming Pay?

Docs lFuCk -
Though it may readily be answered 0!
hundreds in the affirmative, that Is not
the way to put the question. As Wen
NAV if be asked, does cotton, corn or
sugar cane pay? All these have failed,
and do often fail to give satisfaction
That our great staple pays has been de-
MED bv numerous writers ever since the
war. and vet the cotton crop goes on IN
creaslng every year. Are facts worth
anything? The true question is, "Wt@
truck farming pay?'' We say it will, no
matter what snap judgments are taken
against it while in its incipiency. Very
few new industries ever paid at the outset;
cotton did not, sugar cane did not, sorghum
did not, and jute will not, but jate, like
cotton. is destined TO be another great
American production. Cotton has not
paid after a fair trial for half a century,
according to numerous writer's on the
subject. and yet it has furnished half the
surplus capital of the country. 1t once
purchased half the lands in the South,
built up, according to Northern opinion,
powerful .'slaveocracy'' in the fairest
portion of the Union, filled New England
present industrial character, and has
done more to distinguish American agri-
culture abroad than all other American
productions combined. Truck farm
ing will write similar
history in a less extended sphere, though
not less important in results to the vel
fare of the nation. 1t will go on increas-
Ing every year without regard TO muir
murs and disparagements, for the same
reason that cotton does, to wit: the world
demands it, and nobody can say just how
much is wanted. This great country Of
ours, stretching through many degrees OF
latitude and longitude, is acquiring an
enormous population with yearly ac-
celebrated speed, and this population
must not only be fed, but must have cheap
food. which truck is destined to fur
nish in large proportion. Beside, it must
come not in one season, but in all seasons.
No other country in the world is so blessed
with this capability, and hence no other
country can sustain the population the
States of the Union VIII sustain in the
future. Its varying climatic degrees of
latitude, under the progress of American
industry, reciprOcally sustain each other.
When the North is out of season the pro-
ductiOns Of the South are poured into her
lap in overwhelming abundance, and
when the South is out of season
| the North returns the compliment with an
| interest we scarcely have room to receive.
A few years ago this was impracticablee X-
! cept to very limited extent, but the vast
/ ..
reyolutioniZed the industries of the whole
! country. To them must be accorded the
honor of providing the ''ways and means"
| for building up the waste places and pei
forming that mighty commissary service
! necessary for the daily sustenance of our
! advancing host of 50,000,000. And
! thew have only fairly en-
| tered upon the great work.
In less than twenty years from to-day the
present existing lines of railway, numer-
Gus as they are, will be found wholly in
adequate to the service that will be de-
manded of them. 1t is probably this
/ growing conviction that induces individ-
I uals and companies, even now, to strain
\ their credit and resources to construct
| lines that neither present population
nor trade seems to warrant.
But experience proves that rail
roads bring population, and
having rendered truck farming practical
| bic in the South, they will foster it for
| their own interest as well as for that of
| the public, by such reductions of freight
charges as will encourage the industry,
| and at the same time provide fair COM
/ pensation for handling the truck. Cheaper
| and cheaper will the productions of the
| truck farm grow, as the lands are made
richer and richer by the system OF SIN
| tenseV cultivation applied to them, and,
with the skill and knowledge of eX-
| perience. the truck farmer will
| find the business as remunerative then at
lower prices as he does now at high prices
with poor land and inexperience. Cotton
| planters declared a few years ago that
| they never could produce cotton for
| less than ten cents per pound, but they
/ do, and will yet produce it, perhaps, for
! less than six cents per pound. 1t Is now
| thought by many growers that rice cannot
/ be produced in this country below the
4 present prices, which are considered
! low, and vet the rice area is extending,
like truck farming, far into the interior of
the Southern States, threatening in. the
near future to be infinitely more abund-
| ant at reduced prices. Increased pOpula-
/ ton. and, consequently cheaper labor,
/ together with lower freight rates, will
make truck or any other kind of farming
profitable even when the prices of farm
produce are much lower than they are
now.