The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-02-12

Let us then reduce our farms cultivate only
such iAnds and crops as we find profitable, en-
Courage immigration, get rid OF the tenant
system as rapidly as possible, and in its place
substitute that OF small farms. This can be
done by selling 20 enterprising tenants on easy
terms much OF the land wa cannot now cultf-
vate successfully. In these bona dds land
owners we will have a class that will
soon feel and appreciate all the
attachment which the word home awekens
IN the human heart. To illustrate: Contrast
france, the country OF small farms and small
industries, shouldering and paying a war debt
which would hSvs staggered slouter hearts and
ireland, suffering Ireland. at the mercy Of alien
landlords, and with n tenantry almost without
hope. Coming nearer home let us take lesson
from Dooly county, in our own state. / quote
from recent publication as to its resources:
Her farmers are noted for their prosperity
and responsiveness, and they furnish the most
substantial backing to Vienna. They supply
trade that never fails. They work In a business
whose importance and whose scope never dimin-
ishes Many OF them have money In the Bank
of Vienna. Nearly all of them are free from
obligations Among them the small farmer
predominates-the small farmer who Is not
afraid of work, who is not dependent on
hired labor. who pays for what he
gets when he gets it, who Is as indie
pendent as a wood.sawyer' and who IS ia fact.
the hope OF the country. This class Of farmers
accounts for the fact that there Is now a surplus
OF $1,000 In the Dooly county treasury
We want more stock farms, more fruit farms
more truck farms, more grass farms, aud,
fewer cotton farms. We have q glorious
country, but we are sadly in need OF men who
have the nerue to inaugurate different system
in our agriculture: men who realize the i'm
portance of resting their lands, rotating crops
of feeding stock we'll making aud saving good
rich barnyard manure as we'll as using liber-
ally and intelliSently commercial fertilizers.
SUCCESS IN FARMING.
To be successful in farming requires. as in
other business, thorough business methods
constant EFFORT. and careful and M
tention TO details. Guess work will not bring
the farmer any better returns than 1t does the
merchant or mechanic. When we know ex-
actly where the profits and losses come in we
can then iutellgently increase the
one and avoid the other. Friendly
legislation is good thing, but
il Will not bring relief to the farmers unless It
is supplemented by a careful and iudioious
cultivation of the soil When the farmers are
thoroughly organized, and farming Is conducted
on business principles, when emphatic" farm
ing is the rule and not the exception, then and
not till then, will we sea the farmers begin to
prosper and TO receive their share of the long
looked for profits"
There is another subject to which / would call
the attention of this representative body of
farmers, and that is the imperfection of the
laws governing and controlling the department
of agriculture and more especially to that In
regard to the inspection of fertilizers. When
this law was framed there were between 40 900
and 80 900 tons sold in the state There are sold
the ordinary man has no proper conception
To bring this subject more clearly before u.s. |
will state 1t in this way. ThEee hundred thou
sand tons is 5000 COD sacks, which Is 10000 car.
feet 100000 yards, or 40 bio miles loaded
cars.
FERTILIZER BY THE MILE.
Piled in sacks four deep they would stretch
out nearly 300 miles or across the state from
Columbus to Augusta, and considerably into
Carolina. Laid down singly side by side the
row of sacks would be !, 300 miles long, or from
Savannah TO New York, and nearly back. End
to end they would extend about 2, 400 miles. oil
from New Y ork to San Francisco. For nearly
four months in the busy season the railroads
are heavily taxed in moving this inn
mense pile, hundreds of men are EN-
ploGyed uro 10 saeRdns hauling Loading
this product Of what has become ON enormous
industry. In the limits of our own state, the
number Of fertilizer factories has increased
Now, the question arises, how shall a law be
framed which will work no hardship to ouI
home manufacturers and dealers, and at the
same time give the farmers the security tC
which they are entitled. Some of the best meT
OF our state are engaged In the fertilizer
business, but we, as farmers, know that there
have been spurious brands on the market, which
act not only to the injury of the farmers, but
by creating feeling Of uncertainty and dis
trust injure honest manufacturers as well
Farmers canaot afford to wait twelve months
to test guano. We wish to be secured in the
quality of the goods we buy. And honest
manufacturers cannot afford to compete with
those who are INSCRIPTIONS or careless
| The law should be 30 ample, SO complete
that our farmers would incur no risk in using
these goods, and the agricultural department
should be furnished the power to carry out the
Law In every particular. From what have
said it is patent that the use of fertilizers has
entirely outgrown the present law and that the
corps of six Inspectors, the same now as when
the amount to be Inspected was only about one
seventh as large, is entirely insufficient %
meet the immense increase of the work
| l have given this question much thought
and wish to suggest a plan for your attention
and careful consideration, which L will ask that
| you take home with you, and, after discussing
| it with your fellow farmers and your immediate
representatives, write me your opinion as to is
value, send few lines stating your approval OF
disapproval.
NEW PLAN OF INSPECTION.
Divide the state into as many inspection dis
tricts, say twenty or thirty, as, after a very
careful investigation, the case may demand;
have a local Inspector In each district, who will
be required to draw the samples from the sacks
as they arrive at their destination. making
a reasonable number Of drawings and
have tags applied under his supervision.
Increase the force Of the chemical depart
ment The present force is entirely inadequate,
even by unremitting labor, to meet the de-
mands made upon them, until long after the
busy season closes, and necessarily many of
the inspected samples cannot be analysed when
needed. Often, too, samples ere sent requiring
immediate analysis. This plan will perhaps
somewhat increase the expense, although all the
inspectors need not DO kept on duty the
entire year, but, as the farmers
pay the inspection fees, they should receive the
benefit, and should be protected as far as posi-
bic, and the manufacturers should also be
assured of every facility, not only in prompt
analysis of their goods. but also in preventing
any ''blockading" of the trade, 80 difficult to
avoid under the present system. The farmers,
once secured, will be encouraged to apply more
beautifully the food needed by their crops, and
the fertilizer trade, go important to both
farmers and manufacturers, will be
adjusted on an equitable basis. When we real
ize the large amount OF capital involved in the
manufacture of fertilizers, the tremendous
revenue to the railroads Of the state. and last,
but not least the large sum which the farmers
have at stake, we see that the department
should be granted every convenience and
facility, and that its power for usefulness
should be increased as far as possible Even
under the low inspection fee Of 10 cents per ton
the revenues from this source would be ample TO
support these reforms without drawing slugle
dollar from any other source; indeed, | believe
there would still be a surplus and this surplus
could not be better applied than In the appoint
ment of a thoroughly Qualified and com potent
lecturer who during The spare weeks OF the
by the experiment station. and so intelligently
explain them that the wayfaring man could
receive and profit by them.
MONEY FOR EXPERIMENT..
There will be also large surplus under the
recent law reorganiZing the inspection Of the
Illuminating oils. AS the law formerly stood,
the inspector received all the fees; the greater
part of these fees. under the new law, will be
diverted into the treasury. The law viii not be
in full force until January 1892 but whom IL