The Greenville times., 1889-01-26
SUCCESSFUL FARMING.
What Bill Me sars Of Cotton Farming.

exhaustion and ultimate sterility. Ig-
more the sheep, the hog and the cow,
and the land viii grow poor inevitably.
The condition of the most of the up
lands Of the South present a striking
illustration of the wisdom contained in
the foregoing extract. Long aud con-
tinued cotton culture and tho deple-
tion which naturally follow close crop
pings has already made fearful inroads
upon the fertility of our light lands,
and its effects are to be readily seen
upon the rich prairie and alluyial lands
which were once thought to be mex
haustible.
The press has teemed with advice to
the farmers, urging them to diversity
their crops and not place their depen-
dance upon the uncertainties incident
to the cultivation of a single crop.
The success which has attended all who
have "gotten out of the rut,n so to
speak, has been held up in the most
attractive manner; the disastrous fail
ures of the exclusive cotton planters
have also been freely discussed, yet
with each succeeding year we find the
average planted in Gotten growing
larger and larger and the price recciv-
cd for the staple, often bringing the
producer out behind.
1t is matter of rejoicing, however,
that the disposition to embark in stock
growing is gradually increasing in this
State, and the wonderful adaptability
Of our Southern soils to the growth of
native and many imported grasses, has
given a most wonderful impetus to
this valuable agent in restoring our de-
plcted lands.
There is an old Spanish proverb
shat the hoof of sheep is gold to tho
owner of the land" and no lands in tho
world are better suited to growing
fine wooled sheep and fine mutton than
the uplands of East Mississippi. Ber-
muda grass catches readily on even
clay hill sides, and where the land is in
anything like good heart, 1t grows
with luxury.
Fields planted in Bermuda, with
clover, will afford the finest pas
turagc; the former in summer and the
latter in winter for every kind Of stock,
and particularly for sheep. There are
thousands of acres of land in Lauder
dale county which could bo made re-
muneratve in sheep raising, which are
now literally producing nothing.
The, truth is, land cannot be perma-
nently improved without stock and the
farmer who tries II will find his soil
"grow poor inevitably"
In addition to the Improvement in
the soil which actually takes place in
stock raising, there Is fine margin Of
profit in the sale of the surplus stock
grown.
The amount of money annually OK
pended in this city. in the purchase of
stock for farming purposes would
startle the average thinker, and tho
greatest wonder of all is, how the East
Mississippi farmer can do as well as he
does when he produces comparatively
little else than cotton and buys almost
everything,
Now that the New Year has opened
and our planting friends are striking
balance sheets with their merchants,
and have most frequently found them
selves in the wrong column, would II
not be well for them to consider the
propriety of making q radical change
in the system heretofore followedY
Plant less cotton, grow more corn
and grasses, more fruits and vegetables,
and more stock; make the farm as near
self-sustaining as possible, and the de-
gree of success which will follow this
change will be most astonishing and
most gratifying to all who adopt this
plan.
Follow these latter suggestions lit
orally and the farmers OF Mississippi
viii not be subject to such criticisms as
the following from the observant eye
and humorous pen of Bill Nye who says
in recent letter describing scenes in
and around Montgomery, Ala:
"Most all the cotton planters in the
South are engaged in raising crop to
pay for the grub and good clothes Of
the past. They do not appear to en-
Joy 1t, but they have formed that habit,
and they cannot overcome It now. 1t
IL one of the drawbacks of cotton plan
ting that the planter gets his goods on
credit at enormous prices, aud then
gives a crop to the merchant at the end
of the season. In this way he is really
only kind of hired man for the one
who furnishes him with supplies. lie
is wearing out the soil and barely
keeping his soul and body inside the
same suit of clothes. That is the rea-
son his gate hangs by enc hinge and
the winds sigh through the vcrtebr@
of his horse and carriage. That is the
reason why you donot smell new paint
around his premises, and the carpets
on his floors are never hung on the line
to be chastised."
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Clerk OF Ihe Arkansas House.