The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1898-08-13
FARMER ANDP PLANTER.
crop that is Sadly Neglected by South
ern Farmers and One that Would
Pay Better than Cotton.

ern Farmers and One that Would
Pay Better than Cotton.
;. southern farming has many pecu
harities-some that it is impossible &c
understand. For instances: Hav car
oe raised In Georgia as well and a.
cneaply as in any state In the Union.
Inere is q market here for more than
i'oOO,OOO tons year at $40 ton to the
grower. Georgia farmers in 1895 raised
only ls9,735 tons; but that on 1877. 4sa
acres. They also raised 1000, 900 bales
OF cotton on 1900, 0OO acres. They can
make - q ton profit on hay, Thev
said they sold their cotton for what
~ cost them to raise it, and made no
profit on it. Why did they raise
cotton at a loss. instead of hay at
profit? II every southern farmer
{ would thoughtfully study that ques-
ton for one month, the farmers hard
times wouldn't be so hard. The -trou.
ole 10, he won't study at all. He has
got 1t into his head that farming is
nothing but manual labor. and that
Drains and intelligent thinking don't
count in the business If they don't,
then farming is the only business in
the world that they don't tell in, and
That at the ratio of 10 to1.
The true answer to the question
asked above is: Because the average
farmer has never really thought itout.
he has hauled his cotton to town, and
sold 1t ct what it cost him, the
merchant keeping part of
what it brings in payment for
nay which the farmer bought the
spring before at SIG ton.
And 1t seems never for one moment to
nave occurred to him that he could
nave raised the hay himself on a part
OF his cotton field st less than one.
fourth of Whist ne had to pay the mer-
Chant for it. There is not a white
farmer in the south who can not raise
crao-grass or pea-vine hay at cost of
less than four dollars a ton; and vet he
raises cotton to sell at what it cost him
with which tn buy hay at Sl6 ton. If
this transaction doesn't show a lack of
business sense, then it shows a want
OF all sense. 1t seems matter of inn
possibility that any man who gave the
matter even one moments considera-
ton could be guilty of such an act. He
would be more foolish If he paid his
neighbor for water instead of cleaning
out his own spring.
We are not now urging reduction
IN tie cotton crop, though that would
increase the price of cotton. Neither
are we now advocating an increase in
the number of live stock kept on the
farm, though that would pay. What we
are urging is for the southern farmer
not to buy hay with cotton to feed the
Few cattle he raises, when he can raise
the hay for one-fourth what he has to |
pay for it.
But is 1t not enough that he raise all |
the hay he can consume. That would |
stop the outgo of money, and would |
be better than he does now. There is
money In hay, and southern farmers
should not limit their crop this side of
what their state consumes. Raise
every pound that the home market
will take. See to it that not a bale of
outside hay is shipped to your market.
The state of Iowa is about the same
Size as Georgia, 1t raises 8, 200, 900 tons
of hay year, and the farmers there
only get a ton for it; the rest of that
ZIG which we pay for it is added by the
railroads for hauling and by the three
'r four middlemen who buy, handle
Inc sell it. Georgia farmers raise only
100, 900 tons year, and they get lit
lie over I'll ton for it. If an Iowa
armer can afford to raise hay and sell
for ~ ton. can't a Georgia farmer
lford to raise it when he han get SlI
on9 The question answers itself.
Though Georgia holds about one
orticth OF the population Of the Unit
d States, it raises only one-three hun
lredth OF the nations hay crop
'ur share being 1,50O, 900 tons. And
parsely populated Utah and Idaho,
'either of which can grow grass with
ut irrigation, each produces almost
hree times as much hay as Georgia.
wen Nevada (every foot Of whose soil
} part of the ''Great American Des-
rt'), with only $4,000 population,
acks onlya trifie of producing twice {
ne crop that the Empire State of the {
outh does. IL
These facts are startling and are a
srrible reflection upon southern agri-
ulture; but unfortunately they exist.
1t any wonder we are poor? Is it
trange that with this condition we
nd our stock have worn out and eaten l
p the entire cotton crop before it is c
licked, ginned and sold? The only '
range thing about it is that these are I
let's, and that we allow them to con-
nue. such.
Several years ego there lived about
We miles from one of the small towns
middle Geor1ia lszxz s,;<adl;.- | Y