The Progress., 1892-07-16
HEAD WORK IN AGRICULTURE.
He Uses the Scissors. and IL Therefore
Destined to BE an Editor.

He Uses the Scissors. and IL Therefore
Destined to BE an Editor.
GRAND CANE. La, July II. 1852.
To the Editor of The Progress:
You will please accept this week, IN
stead of Il contribution from me. All arti-
cle from that splendid monthly Journal
the Southern Cultivator and Dixie
Farmer. as il is better than | can pre-
uare ANYWAY, and is well worth space III
vour valuablSpaper. Accept my thanks
for the exchanges you sent me, from one
ot which | clip the following:
.One Of the indications of growth IN
prosperity in the South is seen III the
fact that head work is being brought TO
bear upon the production of cotton. In
the old days W herein cotton was pro
claimed king, and, not content w IN
arbitrary power in the Southern states,
suppoIted rs it was by unpaid servltude'
extended his scepter over the Norih'
dominated its politics and bullled It's
humanity, the great plantations were
b,ndled without system. Upon the cot
ton crop all depended. Diversified az
culture and manufactures were alike
unknown. Having made specially OF
cotton and produced il with slave labor,
the people of the South magniiied the
importance of this their sole article OF
export. one of the fallacies that waited
upon ITS production i'll slavery days was
that the great staple could not be raised
in quantities that would supply the de-
mand without slave labor. 80 COM
nieteIy has this assertion been disproved
by events that we now find those inter-
ested considering the question or re-
duction of a cotton acreage as the only
remedy for overproduction, when mas
forced the price down TO figure tha'
does not leave a margin of profit to the
rrower. This is the stress that has
calle1 head work to the front Tor the
first time i'll the history of cotton grow
ing.
Practical intelligence, taking a care
full inventory of the situltion' nhd'
, that to produce cotton proiitabiy
, at present prices, intensive larh
, ing that il. farming which aims u
increase the yield per acre, Is necessary
: and further, that the large areas hereto
- fo,e devoted to cotton grow ug must b'
made to yield IA crop of some other pro
I duct for which there is Il demand pe
fore agriculture will be u paying indu'
), try III the South.
1t is pointed out that the cost OF cotIo'
rails NO varies with number of varying
| in hsl Hein
ONLY five ceuts,'it is manifest that 1t cal
! he grown with profit ony OH fields $
=, ,ich that the heavy yield will make II
a production cost less than five cents. ,
;. carele.sIy and without method hasc ito
p growing been carried on, says the Ore
. aoui,n that no one seems to know wha
" il costs TO raise a bale of cotton IN mos
a Of the territory devoted to that Industry
-, hence production hiss been going Oh fTOI
= v.ar TO wear glutting the market DllndI.
,, unmindful of the fact that labor all
money might both have been saved
!, letting large areas lie idle. Inquiry hs
=. demonstrated that this Is true ana IL
r now being pushed to ascertain at wii
N cost cotton can be produced. The II
:. .vi,able result of this inquiry Will be
# guard against over-production ana
ra dedicate the areas thus relieved Of
la Improbable crop to products lor "hic
20 there is a home market in the South TN
ID is now, and aIwa,s has been supplied,
ID supplied at all, by Northern industry.
n Ituas long been apparent i'll the moi
~ highly cultivated agricultural sections
~ the country that the day of the farm'
ID who wrung s.ant subsistence from u
reluct nut soil by main strength al
4. awkwardn, MSS is ended. Multitudes