The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1886-12-11

Of the clearing house, and show
us only too plainly that if we con.
tlnue to check upon natures bank
at the rate We are now doing, we
will soon have drawn all Of our
deposit from that bank. Every
square foot of our soil has q fixed
amount of capital deposited in 1t,
in the form of plant food, and
when we have exhausted it, We
are forced to abandon 1t. 1t is
true that rich soil like that here
in the Delta will resist the prodi-
gality of the farmer longer than a
poor soil !; but even here it will be
to the best interest of the farmer
to constantly strive to maintain
the fertility OF his soil. There is
nothing new in this thought, and
yet it Is so intimately connected
with the success of our farmers,
that we cannot too greatly empha-
size it.
To my mind the depressed con.
dition of agriculture in the South
to-day is as easily explained as is
the proposition that an effect is
produced by a cause. The only
surprise that ought to be express
cd it seems to me is that it is not
worse. l do not care to discuss
all of the causes at present, but
we all know that no business can
long thrive under a system like
this: Cotton seed worth to the
farmer at the very lowest estimate
$3.50 per ton as a fertilizer, and
sold by him for from % to $S per
ton-actually paying at the rate
of from 1926 to 1926 per bale of
cotton to have his land impoyer.
ished.
You may visit every part of this
great country, and in no place can
you find the farmers so ruthlessly
sacrificing their blrth.right as here
In the South. Where is there any
other section IN the wide world
where farmers will SO cody sell
their products and turn right
around and buy them back again
at an advance of from 25 per cent.
to 90 per cent. for the simple sat
isfaction Of making a trade. 1t is
only the other day that l was con.
versing with a gentleman upon
the street, when a good.natured
farmer passed with a large wagon
load of corn which the merchant
across the way took at go cents
per bushel. "There," said the
gentleman, sis good example of
the way farmers do business.
That man, / know, has not much
more than half enough corn to last
him through to the next crop. He
is selling his corn now for so cents
per bushel, and next May he will
buy probably the very same corn
at q dollar pushel."
do not think that this is an
isolated case. / will even dare to
say this: EVERY FARMER WHO
PARTS WITH HIS COTTON SEED FOR
LESS THAN IT'S VALUE AS A FERTI.
LIzER is ACTING IN EXACTLY THE
SAME WAY. They or their chill.
dren will have to buy It back at
the prices charged for fertilizers,
either now or later or abandon
the land. Let me implore you by
every thing that you esteem dear
in life to stop this waste upon your
farms for once and forever.
Having now, as / trust, shown
the value Of cotton seed as q fer.
tillzer, l shall next ask you to con-
slider 1t as a stock food. When
used for this purpose, it has a
value in addition to and far above
its value as a fertilizer. The most
careful investigation carried on
both in this country and in Europe
have shown that when fed under
the most favorable conditions,
with other carefully prepared food,
If 100 pounds of corn is worth
Gill; oats, 9S cts.; hay, 70 cts.
cotton seed is worth s2.0S per 100
pounds. Of course it is not claim
ed that in ordinary feeding OF
stock more than from the one bali
to two.thirds of this value will be
utilized, but that is true of most
other feed stuffs also. We may
fnd hundreds of farmers in the
South who will tell us, "Ob, the
South can never be a stock.pro.
ducing country; we cannot raise
the feed stuff When we have
here in the cotton seed alone 9
food value of s92, ,S51, 200 produced
this very year. Even If we sup.
pose that with the ordinary care.
lessness only one.fourth of this
value be utilized, still we have
feeding capacity in this product
to the value of s23, 3,2I2,S0O.