The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-06-25
More Skill in Farming.

Farm and Farmers Dept.) Atlanta Ga-
More Skill in Farming.
; We have more than orce insisted that
successful farming is more q question: VI
skill than ever before in the history OIL
The country Our memory runs Cack "
&he time when almost any Industrious hisin
could coin a good living out or the son III
himself and family. Our SOILS were oo'-p
atively fresh; we had trained out not shiii
ed) labor: we had a practical monopoly VI
cotton production; We had system Va
finance and taxation that was more Jus'
and equal in the distribution Oh the Dui
liens of government. But times nave cli"7
3D. and changed so rapidly that Tue Ia "a
ers have not adapted themselves Iuiiy "
rho altered conditions. We used 10 Cut
down the forests and bring lresh ianu9
into cultivation. The LABOR "aS e''
and comfortable for this purpoae'
were easy-going days, lnoeeu. ou' NV
we are confronted with revolution VI -
labor system, low prices OF tot'oa va
strong connection in its productloh' H'o
do not claim to be able 20 1ully aCeo 80
the causes that have brought 49,.
depression in agriculture; nor ID ~ No.
sary to our present purpose. ~
NAV he the causes of depreSSloll II IL
+.inlv tr,1e that skillful farming seizures
bigber nrotits and greater prosperity th'ii
unthinking, unskilled and plouuih5
Indeed it absolutely requires d c"''7iu -
BILE degree of skill in order lG iii'lNo 49,
living nowadays. To grow COTTON anu 800
meas and potatoes in quantity anu e""'
sufficient to supply the wants Oh .nu n.o
" ~eouires no great amount or lhleliiSeliNo
snd skill The most ignorant uiieu
.nd unambitious white man-noSeo 'iie "
binary, average negro-cah piouu 90
4bines His cotton will sell 1oi dpool 90
,,,rcb nor nouud as that Of the most Hhiii1"
and educated farmer. HIS corn am re" %
ond notataes will answer the uen1ahos VI
his hungry children fully as wen do w.
the products of the most hlShy
farm crafty the wants OF the owner an"
his family. But the intelligent anu III In
ing educated man. by the appHct'loti ~
SCIENCE and skill will produce larger Sleiu9
of cotton corn, peas and potatoes at INC
same or even less, cost tndA Al0 "'
and ignorant neighbor instead u PioNu
ing cotton at a cost of cents anu COIN "'
q cost of so cents, he will reduce the cost
of the cotton he produces 20 or even
cents He will either make corn cheaper
or he will rely more on a less cosby iooo
for his live stock. -
But there is a more advanced skill VI
which we wish to write. Alter the eAei
else of the highest degree Of Skill ii the
production of cotton, hay, gram and some
other crops OF the farm, these pfoHuctS
are but raw material for the mi-nuiact-
urer the stock feeder and the consumer
In the article of cotton it is not adVlsaole
manufacture further than the simple GIN
ring and baling for market But with the
other products it is different, ana tight it
this point there opens up field Tor me
exercise of the highest Skill OF the farmer
that Of stock breeding and feeding, ana
Carrying. With the ordinary methods OIL
the farm We can no .onSer compete win
the virgin soils of the great west III me
production of raw materials. ]he 1eHaS
farmer can grow cotton, and the north
western farmer can produce wheat cheaper
than can the farmers OF Georgia, or the
still more sI>illfui farmers Of Nassachu-
setts-ordinary methods being employed IN
each case. 1t remains, therefore, 1or the
eastern and southwestern farmer to bring
to bear more skill and intelligence in the
production of higher forms of value
They can use more science, higher 1ertll-
zaflon. more productive varieties, etc, ana
thus to a great extent, overcome the adj
vantages enjoyed by the farmer or the
cheaper but richer soils of the west. But
the main resource must be in resortng TO
developing raw material into more Valua-
BILE forms and products, while at the same
time the methods adopted Will be less ex-
baustive and more restorative i'll their ma
tire. The following extract from Mirror
and Farmer on the subject of Poultry
Raising in New England fully illustrates
our argument:
New England has always used the raw
material Of other states and manufactured
goods of all kinds in which her people
have eXcelled. With fewer advantages az
an agricultural country, yet she eXcels in
yield in proportion to area cultivated, in
many crops that are grown extensively else
where. Massachusetts produces more corn
per acre than any other state, but it pays
her people better to grow articles that
bring the highest prices in market. So far
as pure breeds of poultry are concerned,
New England leads all other sections, and
she derives an enormous sum from that
source alone, while her farmers also get
the best prices for dressed carcasses and
eggs.
"Of late years it has been largely adver-
tised that many farms in some sections
of New England no longer pay, and that
owners have ceased to take an interest
in them, even going so far as to abandon
them in cases that have been noticed. The
cause assigned is that farm products are
grown so cheaply in the west that our
Farmers cannot compete with the western
farmers. But farmers can use the CHEAP
FOOD, however, and change them into more
salable products. 1t may be mentioned that
so far as the quality of the soil is con-
cerned, poultry can be made a specially
on the poorest or the best, and the frozen
stock of the west has never interfered
with prices in the east Strictly fresh near
by eggs and choice carcasses cannot ba
brought east while consumers will not dis
card the good for the inferior"
what is true of New England conditions
ana farming is true to a less but increasing
degree, of the south. We must vary our
rural industries. We must create higher
forms. We must adopt more conserve tive
methods There is more profit in choice hut
ter, nicely dressed fat mutton fresh epps
fine poultry, choice fruits and melons. home
raised mules and horses than in bales of
cotton and carloads Of corn and hay The
aim of the farmer should be to produce as
much as possible of those things that tax
HrA m IyA W@N