The Colfax chronicle., 1890-11-15
FARMER AND PLANTER.
COST OF A COTTON CROP.


| A Few Facts and Figures that will Bea
Studying.
am through with the hoe on my in
dividuai crop of fifty acres. The cos
of such labor is 81. so per acre. We uss
the day labor for this work, and 60 ovel
the crop twice. The pillow goes over the
crop five times, which costs 50. 10 pei
acre. Now this cost of $500 is all after
crop has been planted. Prior to this ts
get the soil in good condition, and in
cluding planting, the cost is estimated
the same, which brings the amount tt
S7.20 per acre before picking. The pick
ing. at so cents per hundred. will bring
the acre up to So. rs plus S720. S10,95
provided the crop averages 500 pounds
lint cotton to the acre. Then 50 addi.
tional for guano, and we have $l2. 95,
not counting hauling and ginning. all oil
which the seed will pay.
This cotton in market will bring to
the farmer upon an average S22. so gross,
which is q net profit of S9.55, or nearly
43 per cent profit. Now, what is the
matter with the farmer? First, he does
not use cash money to make his crop;
second, he does not average the 500
pounds to the acre.
These are the two principal reasons.
Now let us suppose that we make bale
to three acres. We get only SIS. 90, with
expense account same. So we have
BIS. 90 minus S12. 95, which is So. O5 Only
81 05 per acre.
When it is known that the method
largely employed, the tenant or share
system, oftener makes less than the
latter figures than over them, one can
at once realize the coming necessity.
Plant less cotton and make more to
the acre. Raise all supplies at
home and keep cash money to pay
labor. The farmer who pays his
hands in trade orders, does not get the
best labor. So his crop costs him more
and he gathers less; tho proportion runs
down in accordance with this and one
other prominent feature. the personal
attention given the work. The white
men and boys who work in the fields,
and they are many in this section, are
making phenomenal crops, but what to
do with the thousands of negro tenants,
who are butchering large plantations
Is a question that strikes the thinking
man with force. The negro who is SO
favored by nature, birth and surround
ings, could make money rapidly, and
some do. In this section there are
negroes who own good stock and lands,
all of which they made right here.
They can buy more stock or land
on time and are treated from busi-
ness standpoint, with the same degree
of confidence that is awarded to other
industrious men of forethought. So
cially they expect nothing and get it.
Otherwise their advantages are equal
in all respects to other citizens. The
average negro would be lost away from
the cotton belt 1t is his glory to make
and pick cotton. Yet he needs guidance
and counsel at every turn. Those who
seek it obtain it freely and prosper.
One other thing the cotton planter pays
too little attention to: selecting seed.
Like produces like in both animal and
vegetable world. Good seed will un-
der proper cultivation, produce good
crops l mean seed that come from q
first-class crop. will produce a first
class crop, just as the progeny of thor
oughbred. 1t is better to buy seed from
a neighbor, If his crop averages more to
the acre than yours, but it is best to
save seed from the best spots and not
plant all mixed as is usually done. We
pay more attention to the selection of
all other seed probably, and yet talk of
cotton seed. One should
leave to grass all the poor places that
lowers the average, and only cultivate
such land as will make with ordinary
good cultivation two bales per acre. for
less than that will not pay.
OF course this article is only upon the
common farming as it is seen every day.
Some of US here make some fancy crops,
but we are not writing for those. IT. j.
Walker, in Southern Farm.