The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-09-27
TEN CENT CORN AND FIVE CENT
COTTON.
News and COurier.)

of Il planter and merchant from one of
the upper countless. which we printed
yesterday. but there were two which we
think should receive especial attention
from the average farmer.
One was: Il am sorry for the South
crncr who remains blind to the fact that
We have seen the last era of good prices
for cotton. Such Il thing has forever
passed away, and the dreamer who is
simple enough to hope for its return
chaseS Il rainbow. the end of which is
bankruptcy" This puts the situation
i'll Il somewhat more impressive way
than it is usually presented. Most of the
farmers who devote their energies main
~ to growing cotton do so in the hope
that prices will be high when the crop
is ready for market. They gamble on
that chance and are disappointed, but
repeat the venture year after year.
They know that cotton sold Il few years
ago as high as ten and twelve cents Il
pound. and they think the price may
get back to that point, or at least to
eight cents. Not many of them, We sus-
pcct, plant for Il fve-cent crop, and
fewer still plant for Il four-cent crop. 1t
is pretty safe to say that nineteen in
twenty plant in hope of much better
prices than they have obtained in recent
years. All then should consider carefully
what the planter and merchant has said
for their inStructiOn-that the era of
good prices has probably passed never
to return. We have made for several
years more cotton than the world can
use, and we make more and more every
year. 1t is not impossible that ten
garded as Il high price for cotton. and
it is very doubtful if it will ever 90
m~uchigher save on extraordinary occa-
sionS. w may count as the planter
and the merchant says. Ion the produc-
ton keeping ahead of the demand. which.
of course. means low prices" and it is
the part of wisdom. as he adds. to meet
the situation as we find it
LIN 'tlAN Etht l'l III HIS dlh llItI
much higher save on extraordinary oca-
was with regard to the cost of raising
corn. | have heard it said" he remark
ed, that it is cheaper to raise the cot
ton to buy the corn. but some time ago
Il planter showed me a field of growing
corn from which he said he gathered an
average of twenty-five bushels an acre
last year. After measuring it he had
made Il careful estimate of what that
corn had cost him. counting taxes. in
tcrcst OF the value of the land labor.
seed. fertilizers, farm implements. etc.
and had found that it came to a little
less than ten cents Il buShel.'
We should like to have the views of
many intelligent and careful farmers on
this point, for publication. because we
think there is a revolutionary and re-
forming lesson in it. 1t is not Il mere
question of the cost of making corn.
but of whether it. is cheaper to grow
corn, or to buy it with the price of four
or five, or SIX or ~sevcn-ccnt cotton. And
IN" question does not relate to corn
alone, but to wheat and -four. and hogs
and bacon, and lard and potatoes, and
many other farm products as we'll. Ii
might not be profitable for a farmer to
grow any Of these things. even corn at
the cost of ten cents, as an exclusive
or main crop. The point is simply wheth-
er any farmer of average intelligence
and industry cannot make all. or
nearly all. his food supplies to much
better advantage than he can buy them
with cotton. Simple as the point ap-
pears to be undecided in the minds of
most cotton growers, and it should be
decided for them beyond all room for
doubt. Their best interests depend on
ITS right and certain and final determina-
Ton, so that they cannot err regarding
1t hereafter. We shall be glad to re-
celVc and print any information that will
help to determine it.
Considerable light was thrown on tbo
subject recently by the statement of i
farmer who said that he had found
'I'' - "tS III ullllSl11HE extensive
crop. 1t might yield more money per
acre than corn or wheat or hay. for in
stance. but it cost so much for l., bor
preparation for market. etc. that il
yielded less profit, and all the f,rmor
had to show ut the end of the voar
of course. was either his supplies for
future needs. or the money to buy them
with. 1t is an important question for
him. of course. whether his land and
means can better be employed in max
ing his supplies. or in growing cotton
with which to buy them. ana 1t is a
question :iiat should be settled once for
all. We shall be glad il anyAef our