The Panola weekly star. (Sardis, Miss.) 1882-18??, 1886-02-13

the r1ipillieH II agaifs Hfa Fbfh b.
e. create E ~naaossity ~ ns.n.
nmmefsial iaHlllzers lIoft M.
ground hH lHtn ioalefed fm
I famayeIv s.rfila Ny the maai VI.
eIous aml daflmablo iadnstf,a.
sys'am ilai probably ever euro
mi Q land certainly the sufst Thai
ever cursed q syil For long year.
tho grund has boon titled with
Ffimliive implements III N,
bands u ignorant lalofers and
Kept year after year in exhaustive
crops without ihe application oI
manurr The result had to bc
what " s-unprcductivc, brier.
growing fields that can be- render.
Ell romnnerative only by the uso
10 commercial fertilizers The
Weld Of corn In The best corn pro.
ducing States Of tho West has
shown W. that even there com.
n%iercial fertilizers may well be
uscd..; and II we consult the statls-
tics relating 10 the other princi.
pies crops Of that section, we shall
find only mot iamnable1 iteration,
an augmentation Of testimony to
the same point. II we consult the
statistics relating to Southern
crops, we are convinced not only
that commercial fertilizers may
well be used in the South, but
that they must be used before
Southern agriculture can be high
" productive. The condition of
affairs among the farmers of the
South is such as to warrant seri,
Gus apprehension. They are making
manful struggle 1t is true, but thew
feel each year with scarcely dim
finishing force the oppression of
debt, grown almost intolerable.
and always but one remove from
the unbearable. In the midst Of
their difficulties the Southern
planters have decried the verv
thing which alone can save them
greater production. Those who
have set themselves up as teachers
of the people are loud in their cry
that too much cotton is being pro
duced. The trouble is that too
many acres are being devoted to
it. Tho Southern planters can
double the yield Of cotton per acre.
by the use OF commercial fertiliz.
ers, etc, and when they have done
this they can produce one,half
more cotton on threc,fourths the
number o. acrcsdevoted to it now.
They need not fear that they will
not find a profitable market for
fifty per cent. more cotton than
they now produce. The worll
will need that quantity /; and on
account Of the decreased cost Of
production the planters can afford
to sell their crop at n less figure
per pound than that received now,
and yet realize n large profit.
The cry Of too much cotton is
true just this far, that now cotton
receives too much attention and
space, at the expense of food crops.
IL is this, and not that the South
produces too large n quantity Of
this staple article, which makes
and keeps the Southern planter
hard up" financially. 1t would
be strange indeed if nan were
poor because he had muca; if he
had little money because he had
much to SELL And yet this is
just what the cry Of too much cot.
ton, az popularity understood,
amounts to. 1t is simply saying.
"The more you have the less you
have {; the richer you are the poor
er you are IF it were true that
large production led to poverty
and small production produced
wealth, then the smaller the pro.
duction the greater the wealth,
and no production would produce
the greatest wealth. This is pri.
ma facia absurd and because IL If,
the popular theory that the de-
preston among Southern agricul-
tural industries il due to a large
production Of cotton must be in
correct. The very opposite must
be true. II is owing To a produc.
ton too small-pcr acre. And
what is true of cotton is equally
true Of tobacco, sugar cane, rice
and corn to be prosperous the
South must produce more. not less.
But this greater production must
be upon a less area, 10 make room
for food crops ; and to make fewer
acres to produce more, the South
must depend mostly upon CONNER.
cial fertilizers.