The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-06-22

We have long recognized our good
the Board of County Commissioners,
as one of the most prosperous and sue
cessful farmers of Vance, but did not
really know how we'll fixed he is.
Passing his house one day last week
and being a lover Of fine stock we
stopped to take look at his cows and
hogs of which we had heard before. He
has thirteen head of Berkshire-Po Poland
China hogs, pure and mixed blood, and
finer lot we have not seen anywhere.
They are all in splendid order, sound
and hearty, and large for their age.
Mr.. Amos told us he had no trouble
with cholera and always raises his
meat. He has demand for more pigs
than he can supply and if he charged a
higher price for them could realize a
considerable revenue from this source
alone. But he wants to give his
friends and neighbors the benefit of his
improved stock and asks no more for
his pigs than the common "piney
woods rooters'' are sold for in Hender-
son. This is certainly very COM
mendable spirit in him. We were no
less interested in Mr.. Amos cows than
his hogs. At present he is milking
five, all beautiful animals. They are
grade cattle and are fine mixers. He
has thoroughbred Jersey bull and is
improving his stock each year. From
these five COWS Mrs. Amos sells IS
pounds of butter a week besides sup
plying the family with both sweet milk
and butter, while the buttermilk fed to
the pigs must receive credit on the
meat account as an item Of economy
also. She looks after this herself and
no department receives closer or more
careful attention. It is not surprising
then that she finds ready sale for her
product at 25 cents a pound. These
cows beside having the benefit of good
pasturage are stalled and fed regularly
the owner finding that the returns both
to his cash account apd to the farm are
greatly in excess Of the cost. The idea
is that anything worth having is worth
taking proper care of, that the cost Of
keeping good COW is no more than
that of poor one, and the way to
keep a good cow is to give her proper
| treatment.
A visit was also made to Mr.. Amos
barn and stables. He has tons upon
tons of sweet clover hay, oats, rye,
&C., besides large quantities of fodder
| and shucks-more than enough for his
own use-yet he finds poor sale for it,
our people preferring to buy Northern
hay and Western prairie grass it seems.
His horses are fat but worked hard as
his crops show. Altogether we were
much pleased with the looks of things
and the methods Of farming and living
of our friend He is one man that
"lives at home'' in the fullest sense OF
the word. However low the prices OF
tobacco and cotton may be, and how
ever grinding monopolists may Cypress
the farmer, he who makes his own
supplies as does Mr. Amos can not be
starved out. What a glorious and
prosperous condition the country would
be in if this could be said of every far
mer throughout the land. They would
then be independent-absolutely mas
tiers of the sItuatiOn-able to dictate
terms and fix their own prices for thei
surplus money crops. But to come t.
this the farmers must cultivate fewer
acres, manure more highly, use les:
commercial fertilizers and give more
attention to the barn yard and compos
heap, raise more hog and hominy'
and not so much 6 cent cotton and II
cent tobacco. Let the motto be
''Homc supplies first, money crop
next Then there would be money i,
our so-called money crops sure enough