The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-11-08
Pork vs.. Cotton rs a Honey Crop.

one. hhf.
Pork vs. Cotton as a Honey Crop.
1t is usually the case, when you are
reasoning with a Southern farmer and
trying to show that cotton, at present
prices, does not pay, that he replies
by asking the question, "What else
can I raise that will give me ready
money in the fall p When it requires
practically all that he gets for his cot
ton to produce it, it liz certainly poor
money crop.
We have, in several articles, urged
the advisability of a change in our
system of almost total dependence
upon cotton, and resort to system
of combined stock-raising and cotton
farming, whereby larger yield of cot
ton may be produced upon a smaller
area, by using larger quantities of ma
nure, made from the keeping of stock,
and at much less cost per pound.
To say that there is no profit in
stock-raising in this country that we
cannot compete, so far as the supply
ing of our home demand is concerned,
with the rich and virgin corn lands Of
the West, is a mere assertion and is
not true. AS well, and perhaps with
more truth, might we say, that with
the present rate Of production per
acre, that we cannot compete, in the
raising of cotton, with the rich lands
of the Mississippi bottoms and the
fertile prairies of Texas.
The United States census shows
that the average yield of cotton in this
State is about $50 pounds Of lint per
acre that is, three acres are required
TO produce one bale Of cotton. At
present prices, this gives a gross in
come, including the sale of the seed,
of $12.7O per acre. After deducting
feed Of the horse, labor, tools and fer
tilizers, this must necessarily leave
very little, if any, ready money.
Twenty-Five acres of land, We believe,
is considered one-horse crop of cot
ton. To each horse will be required
at least two good hands to properly
cultivate this number of acres. A
simple calculation will show that there
will be but little left for the farmer
after all expenses are paid.
The eight bales of cotton, now re-
quiring twenty-five acres for its pro-
duction, should be grown upon eight
acres to be profitable. It is of no use
to say it cannot be done. 1t has been
done and can be done again,
if you will bring your lands
up to a proper state of fertility
by the mixed system of stock raising
and cotton, as outlined in my article
upon Modified Intensive Farming" ;"
We assert, without fear of success
full contradiction, that there is more
profit to-day in raising pork than there
is in cotton. Let us suppose, for in
stance, that any one of our farmers
should devote twenty-five acres-a
one-horse crop-to raising hogs, and
should set ten acres in clover and
grass, and the remaining fifteen acres
in corn and peas, or better still, in
corn and sofa beans. We know from
personal experience that one acre of
land set in clover-and that none Of
best-will maintain five hogs in full
growth, without any other feed, from
the LIST of April to the 1st Of Septem-
Der. So that the ten acres of clover
will support fifty pigs for six months
of their life, and the fifteen acres Of
corn and peas will fatten them. We
believe that the labor Of one man and
one horse will grow and fatten fifty
hogs per year upon this plan, that
should average 200 pounds each, and
worth at present prices $500; a sum
Of money equal to twenty-six bales of
cotton at present prices, as against
eight bales of cotton as present grown
upon twenty-five acres.
Here is wide margin for any over
estimation l may have made. The
brood sows to raise this number OF
pigs, as we also know from experience,
may be wintered upon turnips, beets
and potatoes, and kept in better con-
dition than on grain. In fact, their
keep will cost very little, as they are
good scavengers and will eat much
that otherwise would 80 to waste on
the farm.
We hope our farmers will think Sc
riously about this stock question, with
view to making it a part Of their
farming operations, and not dismiss
the whole thing from their minds as
improbable, without giving it that
consideration which any proposition
that purposes to bring about an i'm
provement in present system, de-
serves.
You cannot point to a single coun-
try or section, either in the present or
past history Of the world-and this is
covering good deal of space and time
where the farmers have been perma-
nently prosperous when engaged in
the growing of special crop. The
one crop idea has, sooner or later, re-
suited in disaster, either from over
production, followed by low prices, or
from gradual impoverishment of the
soil which necessarily follows, when
no rotation Of crops or stock raisingis
practiced.
In proof Of this fact, we may cite
you to the present condition of our
Southern cotton farmers, the tobacco
regions of North Carolina and Vir
ginia, and to the wheat growers of the
great Northwest, where, from over
production, the price of wheat has
fallen lower this season than ever be-
foro in The history of .his country -