The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-01-20
The Dairy.

! The annual value Of the dairy products OF
this country Is SlO,0OO, GOO greater than mat OF
the entire wheat crop, and Sl4,0OO,0dO greater
than that of the cotton crop; the amount IN
vested in COWS for the dairy Is said to bc $O,-
900 OUO more than is invested in bankS These
| figures may raralyZe The lalth of many peo-
pie at the South where so little attention IS
given to this industry. .Dairying In this sec
! tiOn, has been retarded as very small buSi-
ness when regarded at all. We. Of the South,
have become so engrOSscd In making cotton
| that all things else seem small in comparison.
| TO our towns and to our doors, If not to our
very boards, butter and cheese come from
, New York Ohio and bleak and barren Maine,
produced upon lands worth one hundred dol
lars per acre; when we could get the same
product from lands equally adapted to grazing
and hay and costing from five TO ten dollars
per acre. If dairymen, North and West OF us,
can make profits raising their products upon
such expensive Investments and shipping to
us, why can we not realize large per cent.
upon their income, as we can obtai II the same
, yield from much smaller outlay? with
them the home market has not averaged high
the past season. notwithstan nding. their appli-
anceS and The high character of their pro-
ducts. With us this amount is readily re-
ceivcd for u very interior quality, IN the dull
, est seasons. Small matters and details 10 not
strike some men as profitable, nor are they
deemed worth the consideration of a calcu a.
ton. 10 such men, only large bulky products
and broad acres promise protit-lnlk, butter,
cncpSC llOllCy tllu DN 10 dlc StILttp'S'
entertainment for women and chill dren and
nothing more. Yet, here Is al industry grown
up In our sight, bringing l20 millions OF mon
ey more than our entire cotton crops, and We
have little or no part in Its profits.
Why not change this policy and make Mt
least, the products necessary for home con-
SUMPTION? Our cities and towns and all our
non-producing communities should draw up
on adjacent firms and their immediate heigh-
bors for needed supplies, and not depend utI-
on distant markets for what can be so easily
made at home. With the incoming year, we
may do we'll to consider the profits to be de.
rived from this industry.
1t will, Of course, require some little time to
prepare dairy farm grasses are to tie culti-
waited; barns Tor storing forage vii be needed,
and the immediate appliances, T C, OF . the dalry 1l
ually, while the farmer Is learning something
of the proper management of COWS and the
science of butter-rnaking. In the me,
vice of thoroughbred bull-Jersey, Holstc Gin
or Ayrshire, as the preference may be. Here
will come In again the value of our bermuda
grass, and we can make virtue OF Il necessity.
AS we have been unable to Kill 1t, we can
turn it to advantage, and convert it into milk
and butter and live stock.
Like everything else, the business will not
become profitable until It's details are under
stood. It's necessities must te studied and It's
demands must be scrupulously and exactly
mel. The farmer, who has teen sending his
cotton to market one-tcnth trash and dirt.
cannOt nope ~ H'lN IileSe coliliouiIlee Mutii NJ
his milk and butter as successfully. the
market now, more than cver Is alive to the
purity Of the product. and, by system soon
to be established. only pure butter OF excel
lent quality will be allowed to compete for
the prices that are remuneralivc. If the Cnt.
tiuat0r can build up our waste places BY cover
ing their unsightIineSs with Il beautiful green
sward, and rest our worn, tired lands with
small grain, and divert the attention of our
people, somewhat, from old methods to the
81 udy Of profits from honey, poultry and the
dairy, we will he pleased ut the results OF a
! nnnd Sar1:ica md the nrQftS will bring.