The Bossier banner., 1894-02-15
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE BEST MONEY CROP.
Few Thoughts for Intelligent Farmers
to Ponder.

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 l
raise that will give me ready money
in the fall?" When it requires prac-
tically all that he gets for his cotton
to produce it, it is certainly a poor
money crop.
We have, in several articles, urged
the advisab bility of a change in our sys-
tenn of almost total dependence upon
cotton, and resort to a system of
combined stock raising and cotton
farming, whereby a larger yield of
cotton may be produced upon 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 can
not compete, so far as the supplying of
| our home demand is concerned, with
the rich 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, we can not
compete, in the raising of cotton, with
the rich lands of the Mississippi bot
toms 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 pro-
duce one bale of cotton. At present
prices, this gives a gross income, in
Guiding the sale of the seed, of S127O
per acre. After deducting feed of the
horse, labor, tools and fertilizers, this
must necessarily leave very little, if
any, ready money. Twenty-Five acres
of land, we believe, is considered one
horse crop of cotton. To each horse
will be required at least two good
hands to properly cultivate this num-
ber 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 requir-
ing twenty-five acres for its produc-
tion, should be grown upon eight acres
to be profita BILE. 1t is of no use to say
that it can not be done. 1t has been
done, and it 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.
We assert, without fear of successful
contradiction, that there is more profit
to-day in raising pork than there is in
cotton. Let US suppose, for instance,
that any of our farmers should de-
~
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 expert
ence that one acre of land set in clover
and that none of the best-will main
tain five hogs in full growth, without
any other feed, from the 1st of April to
the 1st of September. 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 fat
ten them. We believe that the labor
of one man and one horse will grow
and fatten fifty hogs per year on this
! plan, that should average 200 pounds
each, and worth, at present prices,
$500; sum OF money equal to twenty
six bales of cotton, at present prices,
as against eight bales of cotton, as at
! 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 condition
| than on grain. In fact, their keep will
cost very little, as they are good scav-
engers and will eat much that other
wise would go to waste on the farm
We hope our farmers will think seri-
ously about this stock question, with
a view to making 1T a part of
their farming operations, and not
dismiss the whole thing from their
minds as improbable, without giving
it that consideration which any propo-
sition that proposes to bring about an
improvement in the present system de-
serves.
You can not point to single country
or section, either in the present or past
history of the world-and this is cover
| ing d POOu uedI u space anu Time
where the farmers have been perma-
nently prosperous when engaged in
the growing of a special crop.
The one-crop idea has, sooner or
later, resulted in disaster, either
from over-production, followed by
low prices, or from gradual impover,
ishment of the soil which necessarily
follows, when no rotation of crops OF
stock raising is practiced. In proof OF
this fact, we may cite you to the pres
ent condition of our southern cotton
farmers, the tobacco regions of North
Carolina and Virginia, and to the
wheat growers of the great northwest
where. from reproduction, the price
of wheat has fallen lower this season
than ever before in the history of this
ountry.-Rowland Black, in York
vile Is. c. Enquirer.
THE FERTILIZER INDUSTRY.
1t Is an Indispensable Adjunct to Success
full Farming.