The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1886-04-16

CULTIvATING PooR LAND.-U Under the
caption, No Money in Farming, in March
number of THE Cuhiuator, u. W. o. gives
very practical and sensible article. He
insists that the main cause of the failure Of
is the planting of poor impoverished lands,
requiring from three to six acres to make 4
bale of cotton, even with the help Of COM
mercial fertilizers. AS We understand the
article the suggested yield Of such land in
cotton is simply descriptive Of its quality
or productiveness aud it is not intended to
intimate that the cotton alone should be
confined to the best soils and the poorer de-
voted to corn aud other upland crops The
idea is that such poor impoverished soils
should be thrown out altogether or sown to
small grain, and is in agreement with the
ott-repcatcd cxhortations Of Tile CUhtirdtOr
editors and correspondents during the last
forty years. j. w. O. concludes his article
with tho remark that he might write much
more upon this important subject, but a
hint to the wise ought to bo sufficient
But it is a sad reflection that so many far
mers are not wjSc.
Limo upon line etc, must be the motto
of the agricultural writer, if he would do
the greatest good Old truths presented in
new forms Of expression or under the guisc
of novel propositions often result in convic-
tions and reformation at last. The argu-
ment has finally crystaNi=cI into the express
sion, mtr"Sire .i;rmmy,' now SO popular
with agricultural writer's AMI speakers.
The article under discussion is simply a
well-put argument for intcnSirc .t;UmiHy,
which, after ALL is the inevitable result of
the exercise of common sense, guided by the
lights Of science. No merchant would be
so foolish as to buy sugar at cost Of eight
cents PER pound, when ali chances are
against realizing more than seven cents per
pound when sold again. Such man
would be called tool yet there are thous
ands of acres Of land in the South that are
cultivated at a cost Of, say ten dollars per
acre, which uniformly produce less than
ten dollars in value Of the crop. Such 4
practice is no wiser than swapping 4 dollar
for ninety-f five cents, anG will Just as incvi-
tably lead to bankruptcy, if persisted in on
u large scale. Well, some will say, what
are we to do? The answer is, first, do rs
j. w. o. says, throw out Of cultivation,
every single acre that cannot be made to
pay Il reasonable profit on the cost Of the
crop. There is no getting around that
proposition, and it is not too late even now
to carry it into effect.
Next, dismiss and dispose Of the labor
and stock relieved by such contraction OF
area, and concentrate skill, fertilizers
quality Of plant seeds, etc, on the remain
Ing land. DO It at oncc. If you have
planted q field or 4 tcn>acrc cut Of cxhaus-
ted or very poor land land from which you
cannot, on sober calculations expect Just
return for the labor that will be required
to bring it 10 maturity, let Il yo Don't
touch it, except possibly to SOW it in field
peas in May or June. As the good book
says, 'Now is the accepted time, now is
the DAY of salvation 50 nom is the time
for the farmer to do what ne knows will
be est for him to do, and cease doing what
he knows will not pay him to do.
Atlanta, Ga. II. j. Il.