Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-06-26
FARMER AND PLANTER.
AGRICULTURAL SINS.
The Common But Baneful Practice OF


Overcropping.
One of the most baneful practices of
Southern farmers is overcropping. In
stead of thoroughly preparing just what
land he knows he can cultivate well,
making due allowance for an over-wet
season, and then utilizing every par
ticle of manure he can scrape up about
his farm, he begins with one-third more
Land than he should, uses little or no
manure, half plows and never harrows
his land; and if the spring and summer
are unusually wet, he succeeds in rails
ing magnificent crop of grass and
burs, and but little else.
The folly of overcropping has been
repeatedly brought to the notice of the
writer; but one case came under his OBJ
servation last year which capped the
climax as the most brilliant illustration
of this unreasonable greed for large
area. A poor tenant in the neighbor-
hood thought he would make big rise
in his financial affairs in one year. He
chose cotton as the shortest road to
wealth, and cotton only. He rented
forty acres Of rather poor land, hired a
negro to help him, bought two mules,
plows, ETC., on credit, and also had his
supplies advanced under mortgage on
his crop. Even under the most favor
able conditions he had in at least TWEEN
ty-fve per cent more land than he
should have had. AS the spring
and early summer were excessive
ly wet, it transpired that he
had in fully fifty per cent more
than he could do justice to. The
man worked as hard as | ever saw one
work, and so did his hired man, yet de-
spite their most assiduous efforts, the
continued rains in May and June kept
the grass far in advance of his plows
and hoes. He succeeded in borrowing
enough money from his landlord to
hire great deal OF extra work done
also, but still the grass grew like
Jonahs gourd. Finally the crop was
declared laid byr' SHOWED under
with crab grass" would have expressed
its condition better. Our would-be rich
cotton-planter gathered one bale of cot
ton from his forty acres He could have
gathered two had he worked as hard to
harvest his cotton as he did to make
that crop of grass and cookie burs; but
the bolls were too much like angels
visits-'too few and far between"-so
he let the cows harvest the rest.
Had this man put in twenty acres in
stead of forty, he and his hired man
could have cultivated it well in spite of
the wet spring; and he would have
made ten bales of cotton, and made it at
fair profit too. As it was, he planted
for twenty bales; and lacked nineteen
of making the connection. The land
lord of course got the one bale that was
harvested in part payment for rent, but
his advancing merchant did not get a
cent! He had to return his two mules
and farming implements, and he still
owes $3.50, for family supplies and goods
advanced his hired man. This is an eX-
IRENE case, of course, but have seen
scores of crop failures in a less degree,
from the same cause-overcropping.
This blunder is almost universally made
to q greater or less extent, wherever
the pioneer plan of farming is fol
lowed. 1t will continue to be
made until intensified farming is
adopted Wherever a farmer realizes
that he can make twice to five
times as much on one acre of thorough
ly-prepared and well-manured land thar
he can on five or six acres prepared aftel
his old slip-shod way, he will change
his tactics somewhat. Yet oven in thu
face of positive proof and ocular demon
stration, it is exceeding hard to CONVEX
one of these old pioneer farmers to /;
more excellent way. 1t is to the rising
generation of young farmers that W.
must look for progress in agriculture. |
is they who must counterfeit the ba(
effects of the old, wasteful, landde
stroying way of working, and make TIVE
blades of grass grow where but one grew
before. Upon them devolves the sasl
of retaining the fertility of the lant
depleted by their fathers methods, anC
of making better use of the virgin land
yet left to their control.
Inc oVercropplng mania tenuS u
large Enclosures of half cultivated
lands, litGle or no pasturage, over
worked stock and exhausted men. Yes
it exhausts and cheats the farmer anC
leaves him no time for recreation o
mental improvement, 1t makes ant
keeps him slave with no hope o
emancipation.
Should the present season prove a
wet one as that of 'SS, we will wit
ness many failures from overcropping
Large areas can not possibly be KEEP
clean in wet seasons, and disaster /
sure to follow the man who plants twic
as much land "a he can cultivate. YET
alas! many deluded mossbacks will d
SO. See If they dom. Dick TAYLOR. il