The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1895-09-28
FARMER AND PLANTER
ON ONE ACRE.



Intensive farming is the order OF the
day evcrywherc; the more intensive
the greater the profit. Throughout
New England, and in other parts OF
the country, the farmers are reducing
the cultivated area and concentrating
all labor and fertilizer upon it; and
the result is that larger products come
to make reward.
The crops referred to below were
raised in Massachusetts within fifteen
miles of Boston. They were not cx-
ceptional crops; the crops OF series
of years might be more and they might
be less. On one acre were 500 bushels
of onions, and were sold for dollar
q bushel. If they had been kept
awhile, they might have been sold at
Si.50 bushcl. The cost of the crop
was 1855 so. and the profit at 81
bushcl was s64A20. Another crop OF
onions yi,l led 644 bushels, and were
sold for 81 bushel; the cost was
sl9I.50, and the profit 1885,. so.
On one acre has been raised LOCO
bushels of potatoes, and 1000 bushels
from an acre has been reported often,
but such yields are exceptional They
show, however, what can be done Tin
spite of bugs). when industry, judg-
ment, soil. fertilizer and climate form
q practical working combination. One
acre produced 3as bushels of potatoes,
and they sold for Sl.as bushel, or for
$40; the cost of raising was Sl60; net
profit, $780, Another crop of potatoes
of 500 bushels sold for so cents bush
ell, or $40l. 60: cost of raising, $il9; net
gain, $2Ss.60.
OF carrots, $50 bushels. sold for fifty
cents bushel, or 1925; cost of crop,
500; profit. S2l6. OF parsnips, 500
bushels, sold for a dollar bushel, or
$500; cost. sl33; profit, S457. OF cab
bages, $500 heads. averaging six
pounds head, or As, GOO pounds, or $50
| barrels, giving one hundred pounds to
the barrel When the cabbages were
| gathered, the price was one dollar o
barrel, or $3.50; but they were kept
and sold later for three dollars bar
| rel, or for ST. The cost of the crop
was s1O2; profit, sl,24s. The cabbage
plants were in rows three feet apart
and the plants in the rows eighteen
| inches apart
The man who knows how, who has
the right kind of soil and uses the
| right kind of fertilizer, can make every
cabbage-plant produces salablc head.
| A cabbage crop is sure of sale, cspe-
cially if near the city. On one farm
where cabbage is special crop. the
heads are sold sometimes in the field
by the row. The Irish part of the
population is the great cabbage con-
sumner. A family of five put into the
| cellar last fall three hundred heads.
The Irish women go to the farm men
| toned, walk up and down the rows OF
cabbage, feel of every head, and take
| their choice; and tho Irish woman is
usually closer buyer. or has that
opinion of herself. never intending to
| pay the price asked if haggling will
reduce it. And thus in cabhage-time
| ON this farm the field resounds with
brorue and with denunciation of the
cabbagcs. which the buyers declare
are the worst they ever saw, 1.-THE
loikes av some av~which they wouldn't
throw to q dacint pig"
But the farmer gives no heed, goes
about his work and lets them walk up
and down and talk all they want to,
knowing that they will come to his
price at last. The price includes de-
| livery in the city. Some of the buyers
arc so careful or suspicious that they
demand to see the row of cabbages
they have selected on the wagon;
they hardly dare take their
eyes off it till the wagon
Gomez; literally, they sit down
upon it and wait for the team. Then
the buyers help load. Most of them
keep a COW, or at least pig, and hence
every loose head, every stray leaf is
| CLEANED, and when the row of cabbages
is on the wagon not a bit of cabbage
leaf an inch square can be found where
that row stood.
i But the crop of an acre-squashes
In some parts Of the country, in New
England, anyway, especially the firm
flesh. hard-shell kind like the Hub
bard, the squash is more and more in
favor as an article of food. 1t il
served on aristocratic tables in the city
il the shell-half shell-as il
grew, without the addition o.
aoy spices. condiments or season
irg. Some Of the modcrr
cooks proceed to spoil squash as soor
as it is cooked. When it comes to The
table no one would know by the taste
. what it was; the squash flavor has al
been knocked out of it; it is notsquash
! it is something else.
On one acre, 21,4 pounds, or ter
tons and 1,41o pounds, of squashe'
we've raised. The cost of raising wa!
s3l IS. The selling price OF squash
varies from SEQ TO $50 ton, according
, to The season of the year: they are low
, at SD ton. but usually before the
/ Writer is over bring $50 a ton. Th'
, squashes from the acre in question
wore sold for SIS ten. An acr'
, that yielded 1904 worth of early
/ potatoes produced the same season
J after the potatoes were dug. So
) bushels of turnips, sold at fifty cent
, a bushel; the turnips cost S15.35. ant
the profit was Sia9.65; with the pota
toes that acre produced $4ss.65.
From an acre came 4,5.3 boxes O
strawberries, sold for S51s,60; cost
s244; profit, s3746o- Another straw