The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1886-03-19
A WORD TO FOOLS AND TO FARMERS.

i"sS Je"' eAPerehce make auy changes
for the better? Experience is a dear
school, but fools will learn in no other.
Now, would ask, in the name of reason
and common sense, have We not been fools
long enough? No farming community in
any age or any country ever got along and
did we'll who depended upon one product.
Virginia tried it with tobacco aod failed
South America tried it with indigo and
failed. The cotton belt tried it with cot
ton and failed, and the all cotton plan of
farming, if continued much longer, will
eat up the plantation, dirt and all. A good
deal, Of late, is said and written about the
inef6ciency of labor on the farm still the
farmers stick to cotton, which requires
more labor than anything we grow. Cot
ton will not do to eat. Labor follows meat
aud bread, and when the farmer makes
cotton to exchange for all tho necessaries
Of the farm, which must be hauled thou
sand miles or more at his expense, aud
often sold on time at one hundred per cent.
over first cost, is it strange that the cotton
crop fails or is exhausted before all the
bills are paid? We have farmer in the
Republic of Columbia as plucky and ener-
getic as can be found anywhere, who has
stuck to cotton through evil and good re-
port for seventeen ycars-he was strictly
an all'cotton man. Last year he made fif-
teen bales to the plow, but failed to pay
out by TWO or three thousand dollars, and
now offers his farm for sale. 1t is to be
hoped that some one will purchase who has
better farming sense to begin with.
Another neighbor tried cotton for two
years and declared that he got nothing but
the seed. He did most of the work and
pulled through, until three or four years
ago he changed the schedule and began
making his own supplies. He is now able
to declare small dividends every year. All
that saved him during the cotton mania
was, he run on cash, and, as he described
it, cut close and squinohed his thirst
Another farmer 10 an adjoining county
sm0stgagcd his farm to merchant to get
supplies, at Sc per acre. He was also q
cotton man. In two years he ate up tho
farm, besides all the cotton he could make,
aud was badly iu debt besides. spe,k of
these things to show how foolish it is for
of farming-which makes the credit sys-
tenn necessity and then leaves him at the
mercy of the merchant, forgetting that
there lis policy in war, but no friendship
in trading No legitimate business known
to civilized man can live to pay the credit
prices Tor meat and bread and almost every
thing used upon farm. Better rub out
and begin new, and, in case of death, will
what we have to the merchant, and recon-
mend our families to mercy. In fact, no
man is exactly free who either bcgs or buys
his bread, and when bought at credit prices,
he is slave indeed. 1t is not surprising
that our Southern farmers are slow to
catch on to the changed condition Of labor.
The change was very great, but still the ne
gro as wage working people is the best
labor VIC can get. What race Of white
people would work for thirty or forty cents
day, peck of meal and three pounds of
meat q week, and retire to his cabin at
night happy and coDtented, the year round.
IF the farmers Of Georgia would leave the
old rut this spring and plant plenty Of
everything which can be raised on the
farm consumed by man or beast, aud then
plant enough cotton to keep all hands en-
ployed when not engaged with the provi-
sion crop; and then resolve that, all, both
white and black, who are able TO work,
must 20 at it and stick to it until the crop
is made and gathered, it would almost raise
Georgia farmers from dead level to liv-
ing perpendicular. l believe the old adage
is: "A wise man sometimes changes his
opinion, fool never 1t would appear
that, after twenty years sad experience in
cotton, we might learn to be wise. 1t is
confidently believed that cotton is now be-
low the cost Of production, even for those
who can run the farm for cash, soil, labor,
&c., considered mean now the all-cotton
men aud for those who are trying it on
time farewell vain world
did want to say few things on the
subject of intensive farming, and although
my letter is long, will risk one or two
thoughts, and, to begin, let me say that
farmers are not agreed upon this subject