The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-03-31
FARMER AND PLANTER.
LIVING on POOR LAND.

n AhAOT6lnG Question
OF Many Farmers.
With a large number of farmers the |
absorbing question is, how on a poor.
rum down farm, without capital, TO get
enough supplies to last through the
ycar,and the little money absolutely
necessary. This question is often MP
PANTY answered by the advice to move
TO better farm, as tenant, or to go
west, etc, but this is generally imprac-
tica bic, as in most cases the farmer Is
too poor to changc.and he and ms fan-
lily are neither able nor willing to do
the large amount of rough work which
such a move would necessltatc. he
sides :. foothold Or home of your own,
with all its accompaniments of old
friends. local attachments and fixed
ha bits, is IA gift of God not to be light
ly abandoned.
Having to face such conditions. the
first thought should be economy; not
seeing how the family and animals
could be fed the proverbial one
straw Il day of which the old horse
died, but the management OF the land
in such a way that the greatest net in
come could be produced from 1T with
out injuring it.
If any farmer who feels hopeless of
his ability to support his family will
| sit down and figure up the supplies a b.
| solutely necessary, he will be surprised
at how small part of the products of
the poorest farm it takes.
| My experience has been that the
| largest waste on the average farm is
| from unproductive stock. ] mean the
| keeping of two or more poor. ill-fed an
| ima]S when one good one would answer
better. DO not sell what you have and
buy fancy stock, but keep the best you
have, and feed and care for them bet
| ter. even if this reduces you to one
horse, one COW, and even one hog. 1
] put this waste first because it actually
wastes something in hand, viz: crops
already secured.
The most important waste comes in
| trying to work too much land. This
means i'll preparation and i'll cultiva'
| ton, the working of poor land which
might be Lett to rest and rccupcrate
the taking of what little profit might
be made on the better parts of the LAM
to pay the poorer. having to provide
pay, board and labor for-which you moi
only receive no reward, but draw or
| yourself veXation and loss, the fOrcine
of your dearly-bought crop on a glut
| ted market, with the 1aborers waiting
, at your door for all the money received
| Farmers are prone to denouncc spccu
lators. All men are spectators who
| by hired labor produce more of any
article than they need for their owl
SPECTATOR who speculates will
not only the probabilities bu
the ccrtainties against him, a.
: any man does who attempts t.
make sta pic crops for sale from poo
land, and with hired labor. And jus
how many men, knowing this, plung
from the frying-pan into the fire, b.
!; buying manipulated commercial fer
" tilizers. From an experience datin;
back to the conclusion of the war. as
market gardiner farmer and travelling
salesman of agricultural implements
. / Y ,.,,1 4 VT r1a
to use for staple crops manipulate
fertilizers on land originally poo,
either for the crop to which it is al
| piled, for the future benefit of tn
land. ! do not mean to decry the us
| of commercial fertilizers for specis
crops, or for giving tobacco a goo
start. or for getting stand of clover
but for the last two. it is nece'
sary that the land shout
have been originally poor I ais
| think that there is no way so cheap
easy to improve land as by the free us
| of pure bone flour and potash sa IT.
but this is like saying that the hes
way to improve poor land is to bu
good. for less than 400 pounds of bon
q and 200 pounds of KANT has no al
precia bic effect on poor land, and lie:
than 100 pounds of each has no Yer
marked effect. Another waste is IT,,
ing to do more than your own labo
a money on command and supplies q
. hand will allow you to do a the prope
"a | time and in tho proper way. An
last, but not least, the making of
debt of any kind is to be avoidc,
. Men on good farms may sometimes
right in anticipa ting future incon
= from their property, but on Il poo
h farm this is never justitia blc.-Co
Home and Farm.
CLEAN UTENSILS.