The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-12-05
The Best Agricultural System.

If any Of our readers have their
doubts about the superiority Of the
diversified system Of farming over
other systems, they should get a
few pointers from the Mormons in
Utah.
The Mormons stick to Brigham
Young S agricultural teachings. They
live on small farms of from twenty to
fifty acres, organized on the village
system. In these villages the farmers
live, with schools and churches at
their very doors, and keep their barns
and storehouses on their farms, not
more than three miles away at far
thest. Their wives and children have
plenty of society, and each village has
a store, established by the community,
where goods may be purchased at rea-
sonable prices.
President Woodruff, Of the Mormon
church, has lived in such a farming
village for forty-seven years. Du-
| ring all that time he has cultivated his
farm of forty acres with no help out
| side of his own family. The women
raise poultry, keep the dairy, preserve
fruits, make pickles, dry apples and
peaches and earn directly enough to
pay for their music, books, amuse-
| ments and vacation expenses. This
has been the rule with Woodruff s
daughters and granddaughters, while
his young sons and grandsons have
made their pocket money by raising
hogs or calves, or by some special in
| dustry in connection with their gen.
eral farm work. This forty-acre farm
has produced everything needed by
the family to eat, except tea, coffee,
sugar and other groceries, and occa-
| sionally fish or meat, for which the
| products of the farm are exchanged
at the village.
Speaking of Woodruff and his farm,
the Chicago Record says:
"He has five acres for his barns,
| pens, lawn and flower garden, with
| plenty Of large shade trees that were
| planted with his own hands, ten acres
Of alfalfa, from which he has usually
| taken three crops and never less than
two-about six tons to the acre. This
| has fed his horses, COWS, sheep and
hogs, and a good deal has been left to
| sell. Ordinarily he has planted five
acres to wheat and oats, which have
| furnished all the -four his family has
oon.,mod ond left q considerable sur
| plus for the market. There are five
acres in fruit, with large variety, and
one acre in berries. The remainder OF
the farm has been planted each season
to what Mr.. Woodruff believed to be
the most profitable crop, sometimes
one thing and sometimes another, but
usually a sufficient variety to catch
the demand from the cities and the
mines. He has never had crop fail
ure during the forty-seven years, and
has always had sufficient butter, ba-
con and garden truck to sell to meet
the general household expenses. F"
Utah is the only agricultural State
in the West that is self-supporting
! ana prOQuceS SUI pluS VI Aoou AoA 20
port, and she has fewer mortgages on
her farms than any other State. No
Mormon farmer is ever sold out at
auction, and no Mormon farm is ever
sold for debt or taxes. The farmers
are all prosperous, and they owe their
prosperity to their patient industry
and their good sense in sticking
to diversified agriculture on small
farms.
The farmers of every State in the
Union will have to adopt this system
if they expect to be independent,
comfortable and prosperous. Here in
the South especially village farming,
diversified and intensified, cannot fail
to produce the best results, and we be-
lieYe that it can be made attractive
enough to draw back to the rural dis
tricts thousands Of poor people in the
towns and cities who now exc out a
wretched existence. We must turn
over a new leaf. No State can afford
to go along for generations producing
only one crop and purchasing its food
supplies from markets thousand
miles away. Such policy leads to
1xn+o, dt1ou}1 Inn stitutiOn