The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-11-08
PROFITABLE FARMING.
Six Hundred Dollars from an Acre
of Land.

At a recent y reeting Of the Georgia
State Agricultural Society, Mr.. F. J.
Merriam, who runs hillside farm near
Atlanta, Ca, in the course Of an inter
esting talk made the following state
ment:
IF man will but study his ground,
he will find it to be fully as enhancing
as the study of books. Through mar
riage | became connected with small
farm. With my brother-in-law [ brok
ground in 1898 to meet the market de
mands in Atlanta. That year l mad
only $500, but the s1l5 which receiv
ed from 250 hills of cucunbers convinc
ed me that 1 was on the right track .
The next year my sales wet up to ST.
93429 l got $500 from one acre
which had planted in potatoes. The
next year, 1895, I marketed s3. 329
worth ofvegetables. This year l found
lettuce to be the best seller, getting
S79l. 40 on that article. 1t was in 1896,
however, that struck luck and gainec
the final conviction that there is money
IN the land when tile farmer studies
his surroundings. In that year | sold
s., ,06S worth of stuff, of which s764 60
came from lettuce, 1888 from turnip
salad and s404 90 from bee;s. l
keep books strictly, and fna that it
costs me exactly one-third Of what |
raise to pay the necessary expense, in
Guiding repairs. In 1897 prices were
low and the more ordinary vegetables
we're in demand, but even under this
stliogency made s4,73S6O. Of this,
1929. 55 came from three acres planted
IN tomatoes, s39590 from beans and
1929 55 from turuips. In 1898 found
he market still depressed, but | made
that year s4,7942O, of which s732. 90
came from turnip salad and 1851 from
collaIds. This year, Notwithstanding
the very bad season We had in the spring
months, up to the lst Of August | have
sold s4,l3S.55 worth, 5000 of which
came from one acre planted in cabbage,
and | intend to pocket a round $40, 900
this year out Of my little farm.
Georgia soil under system of deep
plowing and thorough tillage will pro-
duce fine crops. Our red clay subsoils
are rich in plant food. The G q,
''Cropper" has been blowing for ears
down to what he called the hard. and
this same hard subsoil has been absorb,
ing all these years the plant food from
the thin layers of cultivated ground as
it was packed down by the heavy rains
until today it is ready by the magic
modern improved farming to yield U
It's riches in crops chat will astonish tn
civilized world. We have striking ex
amples Of this in the farms scattere
here and there over the State. which apd
pear like oasesin the desert of surround
ing barrennes5. Farms where thrift is
the order Of the day, and the owner
looks personally after every detail, are
object lessons of what we rcay expect
when the community at large becomes
better educated in modern farm meth
DDS. And the fact that these success
ful men are still progressing, that their
crops are growing larger, their land
richer and their net pr6t at the close
of the year shows corresponding in
cresase, goes 20 prove that no limit can
be placed upon the productiveness Of
our soil and the wealth and prosperity,
as an agricultural community, that we
NAV finally AsUire to. "