The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-16
what Every Farm Might Be.

Sia nnqs farm of which there are num-
| erous counterparts in this state, but Ger
tainly not as many as there should be.
We had occasion not long ago 10 spend
few days on a plantation of Dekalb
county, Georgia, that was an object les
son to all of the surrounding country. Sill
uated In what is known as one of the
best farming counties in the slate, it
showed what could be accomplished by in
telligent handling and treatment of soif
Most of our readers are familiar with the
appearance of the quilted, red hillside
farms of that section. That was the be-
ginning but the hare, red clay is no long
er visible in these fields A thorough sys-
tenn OF terracing has stopped the wash
and instead of u surface of red, a soamy
top soil has covered the face of those red
hills 10 a depth OF six to twelve inches
and the crops show that there is plant
food to sustain them, and this has been
accomplished by use of little commercial
fertilizer. The owner is a firm believer in
COW peas as a soft builder and as a stock
feed n thirty-ftve acre field that produc-
ed wheat early in the season, was follow
ed by reas. These stand nearly waist high
and are almost ready for cutting. AS soon
as cut, the pea stubbe win he turned UNI
der and followed with wheat again Cow
peas are rampant in the hundred acre corn
feds, and all doing the work of adding
humus and nitrogen to The soil for succeed
ing crops.
Cotton cuts but little figure on this plan
tation Corn wheat and peas have de-
throned King Cotton. The fodder is not
stripped, but the corn stalks are cut and
shocked in the field, awaiting the action
of the shredder TO make ii all available in
the farm manufacture of meat. The own
er's view of the situation is this The grain
is go per cent of the value of the corn
crop feeding value) and the stalks 40 per
cent. Under the old system of corn har-
vest.ng 40 per cent. of the feeding value is
wasted. Our intelligent friend intends 10
put this 40 per cent. value into marketa-
bic form in the shape of god fat beef, and
reap the financial benefit.
Not the least interesting portion of this
plantation is sixty-aore pasture of Ber-
muda grass. This part is too billy for
cultivation and this wise man is not
afraid to let grass grow on his plantation,
and unless we are much mistaken, this
sixty acres of grass brings in as much or
more net returns as any similar acreage
on the place. The cows. horses and Essex
hogs show their appreciation of it in flesh
and the dairy house, with its pans of rich
milk and cream and pats of as good
yellow butter as mankind ever got out
side of show the possibilities of Bermuda
pasture. There are thousands of Southern
farms in the red hill country that have
five, ten twenty. or more acres that are
too hilly for general cultivation. The wise
man will put them in pasture, and will not
delay in the operation.
The sight of such farm and plantation
and the knowledge that it has been
brought to its present condition under ad-
verse circumstances, SO far as conditions
and capital are concerned, gives substan-
tlal encouragement to all who see 1t, for
there is nothing that has been done there
that cannot be done anywhere else In the
South by any farmer with ordinary in
telligence and industry. The fertilizing
and soil building has been done with what
nature has provided the South with as a
soil renovator-the COW pea. The owner
of this plantation is not a man who sneers
at book or paper farming. He is always
on the watch for new ideas in the agri-
cultural press. He recognizes the fact that
methods that might be of great benefit
10 other farms, may not be just the best
for his. but it is the idea that he seeks.
He takes those ideas and uses his brains
in applying them to his own local condi-
lions. He cultvateS his farm with brains,
and that is just the cultivation that every
farm In the whole country needs, not only
in the South, but in the East, West and
the North.
one of the strong points about this plan
tation is the extensive family garden. From
one 10 two acres is devoted to this imnor-
tant feature every year. The diet on this
place is not confined to fat meat and corn
bread He sets table, that for good sub
stantial eating is not equaled by many
wealthy city jewellers. We know this. for
we have partaken of his hospitality. This
is as it should be. The fact that we wish
to impress on our readers is this what
this man has accomplished is within the
reach of every reader of this paper in the
Central South 1t rests in your own hands
as to whether you will improve your OPP
portunity.
The Southern farmer. as a rule, despises,
or is at, least Indifferent to small things,
and, with that frame of mind, he loses
the profits. We were talking recently with
a gardener in the vicinity of Atlanta, who
had a half acre of strawberries. He told
us that he sold from that half acre last
spring S2S worth of berries We asked
him why more of his neighbors did not
take up strawberry culture He replied:
They thing it beneath them to fool along
with little thing like berries. They pre-
fer to cultivate ten to twenty-five acres
of cotton to get the same cash returns that
1 do from the half acre.
We know this statement to be true. It,
or the results of il, are shown on almost
every average" farm in the country. The
vegetables. fruits. poultry and stock are
neglected or dispensed with so that a
greater acreage may be worked into sta
pie crops that barely pay cost of produc-
ton, and in the meantime the farmer and
his family go on short or inferior rations
and are i'll clad, and ne may spend his
leisure time in cussing the governments
trusts, etc, for his hard lot. The real
trouble is not with the trusts or admins
tration. but with the Individual farmer in
his neglect of small and apparently insig-
nhcant things.
We saw a quotation from Benjamin
Franklin the other day with lots of hard
solid facts in IT, 1t was as follows;
Friends and Neighbors The taxes are
indeed heavy. and If those laid on by the
government were the only ones we had TO
pay We might more easily discharge them