The Monticellonian., 1894-11-30
The Sale of Surplus Farm Products

The farmers in many parts of the South, having followed the ad- vice of the papers and the econo mistS in diversltying their crops and raising more food products, find themselves lace to face with a somewhat unexpected difficulty, the lack of good home market; and fl is quite evident that they will have 10 solve this problem if they wish to assure the success of the fcw agricultural system out- hnefI for this section We have seen number of compIaints on this subject. but the following, from the North Mississippi Demo crat. point out the difficulty very well.
 The thing most needed by Southern farmers is q market for their home raised supplies. This crying need is exempllfed every day in the streets of our. towns. There is po definite and re fable scale of prices for anything the farmer has to sell except cotton. Ills butter, molasses chickens, eggs, vegetables and the numerous other things he brings to town 10 sell are ba,tered away for goods or sacrificed at balt what they would bring in the cities where there are staple market prices Our merchants should band together and let=it be known that they will pay the highest market prices for country produce of all kinds, and the people for miles in all direc- tons would seek our market with their supplies. This would in crease our business in aI. lines, stimulate the flow Of money and add to the imporlan Q fl our town as trading port. Every body would share in this increased bus iness activity.
 At the late farmers meeting at Monroe the same complaint was made, that while the farmer rais- ed q surplus, and had more corn. pork. or any other product, than he needed, and which he wanted to sell, he found it difficult 10 get rid of it, as there was no regular market for such products. Where the surplus is very large It is pos sible to sell t,..as was proved by a shipment of 50, 900 bushels of corn i in Alabama in one transaction, the destination being Illinois; but this was an exceptional case. When the surplus is small the Southern farmer finds it hard to sell It. be- cause there is DO one to sell 1t to if their neighbors have all they want.
 This is difficulty which will of course correct itself in time, but for the present it acts somewhat as q setback and is likely to prove discouraging 10 the farmers who have gone earnestly to work to diversity their crops and raise more food products. We can only join with our Mississippi contemporary III urging the city and country merchants to eucour- age this tendency of Southern az riculture by paying cash for all these food crops. They can find a good market for them in the cit i ies, or even for shipment North, l where the crops have largely | proved failure, and. moreover, they will be greatly benefited in the end hy helping the farmers to establish themselves on a good, solid basis Those who sell these products will buy manufactured goods in return, and the country business will he greatly increased in consequence.
 It naturally takes some little time to adapt country to chang ed conditions, and the change of the South from q purchaser to an exporter of food products, is one that we can scarcely expect it to make without meeting some ob- staeleS and difficulties. All of tlfpse interested should aid in re- ( moving these di ficultics IS far as |