Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1893-01-19
FARMER AND PLANTER.
sEAsoNABLE THOUGHTS.

inc iuTlHtI NlSiOu udS DScH ulISSlSu
forward; now It should be turned back
ward, and the field gone over should he |
reviewed, His whole years work may |
be regarded rs an experiment; he has
prepared his land, fortified It and cul-
tivated it in particular way, and the
gathered crops tell the results OF the i
experiment. Has 1t been successful |
one? Has the plan pursued been different
from that followed the year before, and
has the change been for the better or
worse? Perhaps some will answer, the
seasons have been different in the TWO
years and can't tell This is difficulty
we admit, but not rs great as many sup
pose, for a skillful farmer is very large
ly independent of seasons-not of tor
nadoes, frost, etc, which no vigilance
or skill can circumvent, but of drought
and heat and other ordinary constitu
tents which make up what we term
seasons See how nearly the sand is
the annual cotton production. We
talk about making half a crop, but,
when farmer counts the bales he
packs, how rarely, if ever it is the case
that he makes only half what he did
the year before
A little discount on q bad season Is
allowable, but it will not do to let a
farmer hide entirely behind bad sea-
sons. 1t is an old trick, but it will not
answer Bad management is oftener
to blame than bad seasons. We insist
that the farmer must be candid with
himself, If he has made mistakes let
him own up like a man
1t is very important that these an
nual experiments should be scanned
and studied very closely. One cannot
make very great many of them in
life time-it virtually takes whole
year to make an agricultural expert
ment; perhaps it wolld be more accu-
rate to say that an experiment can
rarely be repeated in one year. How
important, therefore, that these yearly
experiments be most carefully planned
and results most closely studied. Let
us ask ourselves some questions and
answer them to ourselves impartially
and truthfully. In pitching the crops
of the present year, were we guided by
principles about the rotation of crops;
or did we have regard only TO present
gains? Did we plant land in cotton
which had been run in that crop for
two, three or more years in succession,
till it had become exhausted Of humus
and rendered an easy prey to heat and
drought? Did we plant corn after corn
without change, till a large per-
centage of the crop was blasted by smut
or rotted? Did we plant nearly the
whole farm in cotton and far too little
grain to supply the need of the farm?
Was corn the prominent grain crop, or
did oats, rye and other grain constitute
the chief reliance? Was there suffi-
cheney of drilled corn planted to fill
barns and silos, or must western hay
be bought? We're there any colts foaled
upon the farm, or must western stock
be purchased to keep up the supply of
pillow animals? We're there any arrange
ments or efforts made to raise the pork
required at home, or must western meat
| still be bought? In short, was the old
story repeated of raising cotton to buy
bread, meat and stock? Does any one
believe after the experience of the last
twenty years, that such policy as that
is a sound one?
Now is good time to hunt up all the
leaks and stop them. Unnecessary la
bor-manurc injudiciously applied
workings not given at proper times,
necessitating deep blowing when it
should be shallow-time lost by put
ting a good hand behind poor mule,
having a poor, shacl1ly pillow and old
dull hoes-having no place to keep
tools which are scattered and time lost
in hunting up when needed these and
many other leaks may be found on
most farms. Hunt them up and stop
them.
The greatest drawback on southern
farming since the war, has been the
lack of working capital, and conse-
quentlv the getting Of supplies and fer
tilizers on time. The farmers being
in debt to the merchants, the latter vir-
tually dictate the kind and amount of
crops to be planted. In short the mer-
chants run the farms of the country.
They have no interest in the farm be-
yond the immediate crop. If the soil
washes away, or its humus is de-
stroyed or its productiveness decreased,
it matters naught to him so his bill is
paid at the end of the year. 1t is
this state of things that has
caused the over-production of cot
ton, and the too large use of CONNER
cial fertilizers. In many instances the
farmer is virtually the merchants over
seer; he simply carries out the behests
of the merchant. Against this thraldom
we would urge rebellion with all our
might, not by reputation of debts, not
by anything unworthy of honorable
manhood, but by contracting opera.
tons abandoning the cultivation OF
poor landD, diligcnt saving and &C,
cumulating of manure on the farm, the
strictest economy in expenditures
both farm and family-the raising of
home supplies and the rearing of horses
and mules. In many instances selling
off a part of the farm would be advisa
bic.
The farmer must operate his farm or
sound principles; he must regulate his
expenditures according to strict econ
omical rules; he must look after little
as well as big leaks; in short he mus
work on strictly business principles
He ought to keep books just as regu
larly as merchant or manufactures
does. He ought to be able at the enc
of the year to say whether this
field or that crop, or that COW
or that hog has paid profit OF
caused loss. Why, of all business
men, should the farmer alone go on from
year to year cropping in the dark? l.
you have not kept any books the pres
ent year think over the matter--recal
as well as you can from memory, from
receipts and the books of your mer
| chants what won have epopt-it will