Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-12-27
DIVERSITY OF CROPS.
Tho One Thing Needful to Agricultur,
Success in the South.

Tho One Thing Needful to Agricultural
Success in the South.
That the prevailing system Of agri-
culture in every civilized country rests
on basis more or less rational, will
not be controverted. There is reason
why some sections should be specially
devoted to the production of the
grasses, including the cereals; in other
words, to farming, and others to what
is termed planting. A controlling in
fluence is also exercised by the species
of labor employed in the cultivation of
the soil. The order and exactitude re-
quisite in conducting the operations of
planting are thought to be best pro-
NOTED by having a sufficient amount of
labor at the absolute control of the
planter. This is especially true in re-
gard to the management of cotton,
sugar and rice; and partially, if not
equally so, of tobacco. On the other
hand, the successful production of grain
and grass admits of a change of opera
lions from year to year; and. indeed, of
a reduction or increase of the number,
temporarily, during the progress of the
season. A few steady laborers, with
such succession of force at busy times
as the occasion demands, are sufficient,
under intelligent superintendent, for
the general work of the farm. But the
conditions necessary to successful
planting are of a more stringent nature.
The loss of few days at a critical
season might involve the failure of the
crop, or at least make all the difference
in the result between profit and loss.
Hence the planter must provide him
self at the beginning of the year with
the amount of labor requisite to meet
all contingencies. With this under his
control he is able to carry on his opera
lions with all the precision of ma
chinery.
1t was under such conditions as these
that the planting interests of the South
grew up and flourished, and attained
an almost unexampled prosperity until
rather a recent date. Those who had
not the opportunity of witnessing the
manner in which these industries were
presented, can form but faint idea of
the skill, judgment and capital neces-
sary to success, 1t is owing to the alb
sence of these conditions during some
years past, more than to any other
cause, that almost every attempt to
continue the culture, on large scale,
of the leading staples of the South has
resulted in disastrous failure. The eli
mate and soil are the same, the planter
has lost none of his skill. the former
labor of the country still remains, and
the difference in expense between free
and involuntary labor is not so import
ant anselement as to affect the general
result; but it is the difficulty, or rather
the impossibility, of regulating this
labor in the most efficient manner,
which now constitutes the greatest i'm
pediment in profitable planting. In
this course of remark, it is
not my intention to express any opin-
ION on past public events. They have
passed into the domain of history. 1t
was deemed necessary, however, to
state present facts and difficulties ex-
actly as they exist. for the purpose of
drawing the deductions to which they
lead, namely, the absolute
necessity of abandoning, in great part,
the old system of planting, and of SUBJ
in its place such diversity of
crops as will enable the cultivator to
derive from several smaller sources an
equal or greater amount of revenue
than was formerly derived from the
cultivation of single leading staple,
to which every thing was made SUBJ
servient. For though it may take years
TO convince the Southern planter that
what was formerly the source of so
much profit must still continue, under
favorable circumstances of season and
prices, to afford him handsome in |
come, he will be convinced at last, and
the sooner the better, that the planting |
business can never flourish again in |
the South under the altered conditions |
Of the country. even if it were desira-
Bile that it should, which. indeed, may
be well Observation-Disclosures Budget
Origin of Electrical Terms.
The technical terms used in regard |