The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-15
s.pecIalsies in Farming.

Every farmer should have some crop that
be can make a speciality of. and by studying
its requirements aim to produce it cheaper
than any one else. says the american Citi-
| tiUator. What this shall be depends upon
soil, distance from market and the farmers
individual preferences. By speciality we do
not mean merely getting into rut and de-
voting the whole farm TO the crops usually
grown in the neighborhood and growing
them in the same way. There is far too
much Of this kind of farming now. It Is
| growing less common because it does not
pay. aud farmers who practice it are being
forced out of the business. Unless farmer
| will devote more than usual skill and care
to some branch of his business he cannot
| hope to succeed. In other matters he may
follow in the main the practices Of his
| neighbors, improving on them where he
can, but not devoting his thoughts mainly
| to these outside matters. 1t is impossible TO
excel in all lines. He does well who succeeds
in one, and he must do so by making a
| speciality of it.
There is greater success where the spe-
/ cialty chosen is something outside the usual
line. But it requires sound Judgment to Sc
lect an industry that can be made success
full in localities where it has rever before
been attempted. Every once in a while
| We hear of these successes, farmers learning
| after long years OF wasted effort the passi
BILE crop to which land heretofore deemed
Of little value is best adapted. The success
of the cranberry industry on Cape Cod is
| an illustration of what may be done by en-
terprise and thought in farming. Years
| kala in MiC1inan 70
had a black, mucky soil, too wet for wheat
| or corn, and from which they only received
| poor crop of coarse hay. The possibilities
of this black, mucky land were never known
until some one familiar with the require
ments OF the celery crop suspected its adap-
| tation. The experiment succeeded. Soon
| hundreds of acres we're employed in celery
| growing, and for years these grounds have
supplied considerable portion Of the celery
| furnished the markets of eastern cities. 1t
| has lately been learned that the meadows in
| New Jersey, near New York city, can with
suitable mauuriug be quickly converted
| into celery gardens and be made extremely
profitable.
Every one knows that when once the capa-
bilities Of land in any neighborhood are
made known all the farmers in the vicinity
hasten to develop them. Thus, wherever u
wide awake, enterprising farmer settles and
| develops the capacity OF the laud in any
special direction, he makes all the land
around him more valuable What has
been done OF one farm it is reasoned can be
done on others. When grape growing began
on the borders of Lake Erie and around the
smaller lakes of w estern New York, the
land was thought TO be comparatively val
| ueless. 1t was somewhat rough for profit
able grain growing. But as soon as its
aptitude for early ripeuing of grapes became
| known, the land that was scarcely salable
before rapidly appreciated in value Even
before getting into bearing it brought prices
based on the possibilities that success on
like lands in the same neighborhood had in
dicated.
1t ought to be part of the business of
every farmer TO think during the winter
season what special crops promise most sue
cess in his locality and on his farm. He
need not devote large part of his land to
them at first. There is risk in all new ex-
periments, and by making them on a small
scale the danger of serious loss is lessened.
| BY trying one or more experiments with
new crops each year, it will tie strange if the
farmer cannot soon find something that
pays better than going on in the old ruts.
| When he makes q success he eau extend the
speciality as widely as he will, until it ab-
serbs most of his labor and thought In
this way the changes in crop system
! which changed conditions rande r
necessary may be made with least loss. 1t
| is just such adoption to new circumstances
as are occasionally required In all business
| operations, and TO continue to MAXI money
while. these are being made requires the
same qualities that insure success ia other
matters.