Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1886-05-22
llorlltown, May II S..

MIR. EDlTOR.-l have reau WltilIiluCii
interest tile articles i'll your paper b!
MIR. Elicit OH diversity Of crops. |
;m not willing TO accept all the views
SET forth IN those letters still reco5-
nize the fact that MI Il. is doing good
work, in his attempts to get the farhl
ers to give more thought TO their occu-
patton. ard his invitation tothem to ell
Ter into tie discussion of this or any
other relating TO farming,that will tend
to their adyanccment-should be &c,
cepted, not as q matter of dispute and
contention, but that each aud all lnay
he benefited 10y an exchange OF honest
ideas.
Diversifying our crops is to be desired
hut it should be done with much judg-
ment. it will not do TO plant crop for
the sole reason that some one made
money ont of it last year: for this is al
most sure to be disastrous-peop!e
thoughtlessly strive TO make money that
some one else, his already made, ana IN
this effort the market with that special
crop is over-crowded, the price low. anu
disappointment the result. Nor Will 1t
do to plant indiscriminately the various
vegetable and fruit crops that our soii
;tnd climate are so well suited to; for
very many Of them require richer land,
more il.;lnure than NC are accustomed
to use, a!d ally deficiency here will
again result ira lailGrc. iii this point
our people need advancing, for until
Lhey use inanure Of Tie same quality
and amount as other truck growers,
lhey will fail to produce the crops
Again the mere production IS not oil:
It must be put OH the market, at time
when it will bring the best price, OF
loss again will be entailed. IN short.
trucking requires both thought and act-
ion; and any one possessing them Can
surely make money On the Eastern
Snore-farming. We need to adopt =
general system, by which the lean lands
can be brought to point of profit.
More feed is needed for our stock-thus
enrich the manure pile, which will give
better crops and again more money re-
turns. That there is much labor wasted
on our crops there is no QUESTIONABLE
its detail needs looking into. l will give
I'LL example o! the sweet potato crop,
which is within my knowledge, and is
the point in question. One OF the large
potato growers in this county, grew
aid sent to market last year ILLS 0ar-
rels of sweet potatoes that averaged
81. IL per barrel clear. OF this amount
500 were shipped prior TO October lst'
and brought the sum OF Sl,44l.6a or
Sis per barrel, $50 barrels were sole
after October lst and brought S343. y
OF 81 cents per barrel. Here was aproft
Oh the 660 barrels and Il loss on the 65o.
The cost of raising the latter was per
haps equal to that OF the former but No
matter what the cause Que OF two prop"
usitions is eyldent-the $50 barrels
should lave been raised and marketed
at the same time the ego were or they
should not have been grown at al. and
the time or labor should been devoted to
some other crop, which should have
paid a profit, Instead Of entailing loss
OH the $50 barrels OF II cents per baTre,
to 70 OF the $50 to make up the average
to STAG.
] shall not now name crops that seem
to me to be desired; will do 30 here aft
er. I will close this article by making
one suggestIon-that is. all farmers who
have any desire to improve their condi-
ton, write an article on farming for
your paper. No matter how short and
il it is not in the best English (but few
people use grammatical and pure Ian
guage), give your views, some idea, the
result of some experiment or thought.
and When the crops arc laid by, sug-
gest that the contributors form them
relyes in q Farmers Club, for discussing
farm subjects and nv word for 1t good
results will follow.
Very Respectfully,
OEE1s a. BRowFE.