The Progress., 1892-07-09
CORRESPONDENCE.
WHAT A FARMER SHOULD RAISE
The Subject Well Handled by Valued
Contributor.

GRAND CANE, La, July q 1892.
To the Editor of The Progress:
Crops should be raised for three pur-
poses-for the maintenance of the farmer |
and his family, for the improvement of
the soil, and for the market. The first
mentioned is of course the most impor-
tant, as it would be hard matter to find
a farmer In bad circumstances who
raised what he actually needed, and 10
far as substantial susteuauce of life was
concerned, was absolutely independent
of the grocery man.
First Of all, you must get your farm OH
a self sustaining biis =. III farm is not
self-sustalDing, the loss has, of course, to
be made up in salable crops. Such crops
constitute that which is raised TO be
sold, no matter If it is cotton or to-
matoes. If you plant YOUR whole ground
IN one crop, and buy all the necessities Of
life, you would fiud il very hazardous
business. IL is not generally supposed
that crops planted for the benefit OF the
soil is of very ygreatimportance, but Sl.tAis
we make great mistake, and it is onfS
kanetherex example Of nickel now rather
than a dollar sftera while. The farm
ers main objeet should be to raise n
good supply Of every product which he
knows must be consumed by his family,
his hands, his teams, ana his cattle; in
fact, everything necessary to run the
farm.
But you must also raise something for
the market, as this age of civilization
gives rise to a requirement of much
which can be obtained of better quality
or at n lower cost by exchange. IL may
be cotton, IL may toe wheat or corn, or IT.
may be animals made marketable by
these products. But IL YOU can raise
thing without too much cost, there Is
certainly no profit in buying it.
There il no excuse for any farmers alb
solute necessity of buying anything in the
way of food In this State. except-well,
we will say coffee-and he don't need
that.
Then there are certain other expenses
which the farmer must meet. His family
must be cloth. d. his ch ldren must be
schooled, he must have books and news
papers, must buy his agricultural imple-
ments and pay his taxes. In order that
he may meet these expenses he must
raise salabl- products, and TO do II ut
profit he must study the demands as v ell
IA The capab lities of his soil. III he will
produce what people want, he can get
rid of food product in large quantities as
well as small, as large proportion Of ouI
population are nonlroducers.
This class of farming combines well
with the general purposes of the farm
and will therefore be found very profita'
BILE. YOU will find that everywhere art
demanded bread, meat, milk, mutter
fowls and eggs. and when produced ano
marketed in a proper manner can always
be sold at figures that will leave the pro
ducer at least small margin OF proht
The non-producmg classes also demand
forage crops, such as corn, hay, oats, etc
You must raise sparingly such crop
rs are to be removed entirely from tn
farm, rs they levy tax on the produc
tive capacity of the soil and just as sur
as over IdAatiOu Will inpo'ti'o" I" fS'
ple, will this species of taxation impover
ish n farm II continued.
No matter what you raise, there is n
immense quantity of fertilizing elemen
which can and should be returned to tn
soil Z ON whence it came.
You should not neglect crops plante
especially for soil improvement. "Fo
this purpose" says u writer In Texa
Farm and Ranch, "a variety of stoc
peas which will reproduce from stubbl'
will produce fine crop Of hay. and th
second crop may be plowed under. tn
crop removed takes very little from th
soil as its ,,itrogeuous elements are d.
rived chiefly from the atmosphere"
u To farm successfully. requires the e.
y erciss of a sound discretion, and involve
81 multitude of factors. The crop whic
sells for the greatest advance over CO.
of production Is not always the mo-
protitabls to the farmer. for it may 1
= ini,re the productive capacity of the SO
IN the los. thereon the next year ma