The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-07-31
BIG PROFITS IN FARMING.
sa7,O 900 Net from 800 Acres of Land Near
Norfolk-The Prices of Land That Yield
Such Returns.

N NORFOLK, VA, July 4.-N NothlpS
surprises a Northern man more when
making his first journey into the South
ern States than the enormous profits
which come Southern farmers reap every
year. He had read frotl his earliest
youth up about the run. down appearance
ofSouthern farms, their bush grown fence
rows, the dilapidated buildings, The lazy
nigger farm hands, and the slouchy
owners smoking their pipes on the great
house porch while the weeds grow up
and all but bury them-and he cannot
conceive of any profit being made by
such farmers Moreover, be has read
about the crops morigaged in advance OF
the maturing and the enormous interest
paid on the loans thus obtained, and so
he looks upon his own neat home, his
well-rolled meadows; his sleek stock,
aud his full grain bins and hay mows,
and thanks God that his lines have been
cast in pleasant places, and perhaps that
he is not as other men, even as the poor
devil of typical Southern farmer.
But let the dairyman from Orange
County, the hay grover of the Mohawk
valley, the corn grower of the Ohio val-
ley, and the wheat grower of the Dakotas,
not to mention the boomers of Nebraska
and Kansas, and Oklahama and Texas,
come to Norfolk, and then, after looking
over the Chesapeake Bay farms, take a
run through North Carolinn, and get
knowledge if not wisdom.
There are farmers and farmers, and
some of the Southern farmers cen make
more money smoking a pipe on the
porch on the shady side of the great
house than others can grubbing roots,
loading hay, husking corn, or riding a
reaper in the heat of the afternoon sun.
For instance, there is Farmer Ballentine
of this County. His farm is 400 acres in
extent, but be has been farming only 300
acres, because the other hundred was
only bought last year and it is not clear-
ed up yet It lies about mile from the
city limits. 1t is level piece ofgrouud,
although ii rolls enough for good drain
age, and the soil is mixed, being partly
clay and partly sandy loan. Farmer
Ballentine runs that farm not from seat
on the porch of the gfeat house. but from
his Office in the Ballentine block, one of
the handsomest brick structures in the
city, built by the farmer out of potatoes
and kale and spinach and Strawberries aud
cabbage. The story of Farmer Ballen.
tine will serve to illustrate what c!ner
Southern men have done.
He was q Tarheel by birth, was ma.
tive of Currituck County, N. O., but has
lived in this County so long that people
here count him good enough Virginian.
As young man, having no rich inheri-
lance, he went North and learned the
machinist trado, remaining there fur
eight years, the greater part Of that time
being passed in Albany. Then he went
back to North Carolina, and short time
before the war moved to this County.
He brought here, including farm imple.
ments, household utensils, and cash, a
capital of about 81 ,500,if liberal value
be allowed to the outfit. He bought a
part Of the land which he now owns and
set some colored hands to work. They
were slaves, of course, and therefore less
profitable than free help, as everybody
down here now admits; but Mr.. Ballen.
tine prospered so that when President
Lincoln freed the slaves he took $27 900
worth of human chattels from Mr.. Ball
entine. The war left Mr.. Ballentine
with nothing but land; still he might
have been much worse off, He kept on
cultivating the land, hiring the darkies,
where he had previously owned them,
and making money faster than
ever. It is commonly said by 30
cialistic speakers that 10 man
can make million of money in the span
ola lifetime save my speculation that is
tainted with unrighteousness, but if Mr..
Bsllentine lives ten years longer he will
have the Million. having made it out of
the soil and by investing the profits in
such real estate as vas offered to him at
what seemed reasonable price, and in
Improvement ON the land. He is now
worth S5OO,OO0, and his income this year
from 300 acres of land alone is about
$4,000 according to his books, which he
willingly showed to Sun reporter.
The process by which 81, 500 has swol-
len to :s500,O00 is as simple as pulling
weeds. Mr.. Ballentine confines his crops
to round or Irish potatoes, Eale, spinach,
cabbages, and strawberries. These crops,
are chosen because found we'll suited to
the soil. They are rotated thus: Be-
ginning say with spinach, a crop that
natures late in the fall, be cuts and ships
it along through the winter as the market
New York and Boston will take it until
April. In the spinach fields he plants
potatoes in rows four aud one half feet
apart, with rows of strawberries between
the rows of potatoes. The potatoes are
ready for the market the last of June
and are dug and shipped, leaving the
field To the strawberries until the next
year, when in May the strawberry crop
comes on and is picked. When picked
the field is ploughed up and kale follows,
the intention being to put in another
crop of something as soon as one
crop has been garpered. The idea OF
allowing a field to lie fallow is considered
ridiculous in this country.
In the matter of fertilizers Mr. Ballen-
tine is liberal but close buyer-liberal
to the land and close with the dealer.
This last year he paid Sc, ,702 O2 for guano
and 1892 for fish scrap. In Norfolk
euano sells for $50 ton cash down, or
$55 to be paid after the crop Is sold.
Mr.. Ballentine buys in such large
quantity that by paying cash with the
order be gets fair per cent. off the $50.
The amount purchased WIS spread over
100 acres of potatoes, 50 acres ofkale, so
acres of spinach, 20 acres of cabbages,
and 80 acres of strawberries. Just to
show what he could do he gave little
extra attention to one four acre bed OF
spinach, aud in consequence gathered
and sold LILO barrels from one patch,
making the neat sum Of $500 an acre.
That, SO far as learned by the reporter,
was the largest profit made by any far
mer from similar extent of land about
Norfolk.
The chief advantages Which Dir. Bal
lentine finds in this vicinity as location
for farm arn lis convenience to the
markets of New York and Boston, the
abundance of good cheap labor, and the
kindly climate. Spinach cut on Mon
day morning is on the market Tuesday
night in good condition. 1t is shipped
either by the Old Dominion line oi
steamers, the Boston line, or the Cape
Charles route of the Pennsylvania Rail.
road, a road not long since built down
the length OF the Virginia peninsula for
the express purpose Of catching the truck
trade of the Chesapeake Bay country