The Southern herald., 1885-01-24
Food for Thought for Farmers.

many Gay was the record OF the con-
tests for the gossypium-phospho pre-
miums, which appeared yesterday. A
home company manufactures a fertilizer.
1t offers $500 in gold for the best yield
made on ground enriched by that fer
tilizer, and four Jersey bulls for the best
yield made by clubs. So that the COM
petition has the effect Of fair.
There were seventy-fve farmers who
contested for the cotton premium accord
ing tO'the rules. The highest yield was
,545 pounds of lint cotton to the acre,
or q bales of 45O pounds each. The
lowest yield was 4SO pounds, or a bale
to the acre. The average of the seventy
five farmers was TIA, or nearly two bales
to the acre. To secure this yield he
used on an average of SSS pounds of gos-
sypium, which cost at this depot SIS 54.
AT nine cents his cotton brought 500 66.
Deduct from this the cost of the fertil-
izer, and we have S44 II net profit to
the acre. The fifty bushels of cotton
seed from each acre will about pay for
the cultivation. At one bale to the acre
above the cost Of the fertilizer any farm
er can get rich. Here are seventy-fve
farmers who have more than made that
average. The returns show that through
out the entire State, $4,000 bales of cot
ton were raised on 8, 100000 acres, or
less than one bale to 81 acres. So that
the average farmer in Georgia prepares,
plants and cultivates seven acres and
gets from that large surface just what
these seveuty-fve farmers averaged from
one acre.
Here is the secret Of farming. 1t is
labor that eats up the profits of the farm.
1t is labor that exhausts the treasury,
that forces the mortgage on the land OF
the lien on the crop, and that gives the
farmer anxiety. 1t is feeding and cloth
ing and paying for the labor, for plow-
ing, for sowing, for fencing, for hoeing
that keeps the farmer poor. Now, 1t is
plain that the profits must increase just
in proportion as the cost in labor is re-
duced without reducing the crop. The
fewer acres needed to produce bale Of
cotton, the less there is of labor to charge
up against that bale. Now here are
seventy-fve farmers who average, prac-
tically, two bales to one acre, while the
ordinary farmer takes seven acres to gel
the same amount. In one case to get q
given amount of cotton, one compact,
rich acre is prepared and cultivated, In
the other seven acres are fenced in,
ploughed, planted, hoed and picked
and no more cotton is obtained thar
comes from the one acre. Can it be
doubted which plan will make the farm
er rich, and which will keep him poor
Especially when we consider that thc
fertilizer which makes this one acre d.
| the work of seven, and which leaves i
richer at the end of the season, only
costs SIS 542 That amount in good fer
tilizers put on each acre OF the sever
acres, would soon make each acre yielC
as much as all now yield, and woulC
give the farmer fourteen bales of cottol
with which to pay for his labor, instead
of forcing him to pay it all out Of two a
| he now does.
The corn premiums show just as graf
Fifying results. There were sixteen con
testants, and the average yield was s
bushels to the acre. The first premium
was taken with 116l bushels, and tn
last premium with 103 bushels. Thes
results are gratifying. Taken with tn
cotton yield, they show that the farmer
of Georgia are making rapid progress
We doubt if everbefore a hundred farm
ers in the State could have made up sue
an average. Itshows that they are rap
idly coming to the intensive system {
!, farming. 1t shows that they are abar
doning the loose, old plantation meth
DDS, and are beginning TO see the prof
J and the comfort in small farms we
titled.
Peck's Sun says all great men hay
some eccentric habit, and now that Si
ting Bull is becoming civilized he
not an exception. Whenever the gre'
chief appears at dinner he carefully III
folds his napkin, spreads it on his cha
and sits uponit.
BY confning his diet for twenty seve
weeks strictly to stale bread and skin
med milk, says. the Alta Californi'
Major Ben Perley Poore has reduce
liz ose,L4 g1 ,,o,,,,d AZ AL ,.o.r, ovsoS