Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1897-12-17
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE COTTON FIELD.
The Problem that Confronts the colto,
Planter

dition OF single pillow, to raise every |
bushel of corn, wheat and oats, every |
ton OF hay, every pound of beef, NUT
ton and pork, every mule and horse,
every pound of lard and butter. wool |
and leather that are used in those |
states; and in addition, make large |
profit out Of 7,0p0,00O bale cotton |
crop than we now get out of a 10, O0O,- |
900 one. But somehow we just won't
do It, Conventions, resolutions, re-
monstrance or advice have not sue
ceeded in limiting the crop. The
clouds only have been successful in
doing this.
The mule plows from sunrise to sun
set, and can not do more or eat less.
The plowman's wages are not high
enough to be reduced.
The land is the only other element
in the cost that we can deal with, and
unless we can lessen the cost of pro-
ducing pound Of cotton, then we
must give up in despair. We can not
blame the land, for it does the best 1t
can do in its poor, feeble, half-starved
condition. The mule is well fed, and
the plow-hand has full rations, but the
land is half-starved, but yet Is expect
ed to furnish full supplies for mule, la
borer and landowner. 1t doesn't do it
because it can't do it. We have put one
bushel of corn in the hopper and
expected two bushels to come out OF
it. That is not Gods law. Some
thing for nothing is the gamblers
rule. "Value received must be the
rule Of him who trades directly with
the Creator Himself, and receives his
crops from His benefcent hands. No
man expects skimperly-fed COW to
give her full flow of milk, or half
fed mule to do full work. The same
principle is absolutely true OF land,
and for exactly the same reason.
AS stated in former article, in its
last analysis farming is feeding. What
is the difference between rich land and
poor? Why will one field an average
year produce 80 bushels OF corn to the
acre aud another barely eight bush
els-nubbins at that? Why will
one acre produce 1000 pounds OF
cotton and another only 500
pounds? Even an ignorant labor
er knows it is because the one
field is poor while the other is rich.
Rich in what? Poor in what? In fer
tility. in available plant food II poor
because plant food is lacking, then
why not supply it and make it rich?
The only thing hungry horse needs
is food; the only thing hungry land
needs is food. Other than some of the
rich bottoms there is'hardly field in
Georgia that has not been hungry al
most to exhaustion ever since its third
year from the forest. Sometime ago /
saw in comic paper picture of an
exceedingly lean horse standing before
grocery store with this placard on his
side: coats Wanted-Inside" II we
only had the eyes to see 1t. there is not
CALLED spot ON the red hills of Geor-
4 gia, nor worn-out field in the south,
that does not bear the label: Am
monia, Acid Phosphate and Potash
Neeueu Nltnln.
The question with the southern
farmer must be not how many bales oil
cotton he can raise but how can he
raise bale cheaper. He only cares
for how much money stays in his
hands, not how much he handles. The
man who takes in $40 to-day, but mus,
pay out 80 tomorrow, is not as well of
by 100 per cent. rs he who takes in S.
but has to pay out only So. TIL,
farmer, who, to make profit Of SIS
must raise two bales of cotton, while
his neighbor makes profit of SIS IL
raising one bale, is not only the poorer
farmer, but is Internationally al
enemy to his neighbours prosperity il
crowding the market with one bale tot
many, and thus forcing down the price
Except in time of war or grea
drought in the, south, cotton viii
never sell fer ten cents again in Geor
gia, and the present outlook is tina
from now on even eight-cent cottor
will not have as many birthdays as
boy born on the Goth of February. 81,
and seven cents will be the prices il
the future, and the farmer WHO can
, profitably raise six-cent cotton hat
better quit trying TO raise cotton.
am sorry this is true. would order /
differently II could. But being
fact, the only wise thing to d.
is to look it square in the face and pre-
pare to meet it. 1t will do no good I,
complain. We haven't time to com
plain, If we meet it successfully.
Whet one man has done, another cal
do. If one-acre patch has been mad
to produce ut profit two bales of cot
ton, then by the same treatment 90
acre field can be made to produce 4
. bales with the same ratio of profit. /
this is not true, it Is only because 2
times two is not 40.
Except in the larger expense OF fel
tilizer, extra picking ginning and haul
ing, 1t does not cost dollar more t
raise two bales OF cotton on an acr
than half bale. The blowing an
hoeing and rent Of land" are the sam
in either case. At even SIX cent col
ton it doesn't take the extra bale an
half to pay the increased ca
pense. Ten dollars year pc
acre invested in cotton-seed meal
acid phosphate and kainit, will, with
good three-year rotation in which pes
vines to be turned under predominant
in ten years build up any comparative
ly level land that has a top-soil and
good clay sub-soil to where it will
make one and half to two bales c
cotton, 40 bushels OF corn or go bushel