The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1899-02-08
MAeNoLIA PIKE COUNTY AssIssPP

~ ~ 80 W hiahS ~ ptoAON0 Niptc
food and greater profits.
Fhis same system, if lntelli-
gently planned, will enable each
labore~ 10 utilize at profit three
acres where he now loses money
on one acre. BY a proper rota-
ton with cotton, corn and peas,
oats and peas, hay grasses, and
pasture, every acre Of land might
be so eariched in a few years as
to have its capacity for produce
tion more than doubled. BY
growing stock and food for them
on the least desirable pottion Of
the farm and feeding il on the
most desirable, the fertility can
be moved where you want it.
Before proceeding further
wish to give you a little ancient
history of agriculture, and it bears
more directly than you may think
on this discussion.
Some old papers. dating back
into the 20's and 30's, have lately
fallen into my hands. They, of
course, give experiences of men
dating well back into the last een-
tury. A vivid picture Of the ds-
graded condition of Scotch and
English husbandry is given for
the first half of last century. Oaly
three bushels Of grain were made
for each bush-l OF seed planted; /;
wheat was unknown and the peo-
pie lived on rye and barley bread
entirely, having no meat of any
account. Only a very few cattle
and sheep wsre sold to the Lon
don market, and the cattle were
so inferior that they averaged
only $40 pounds in weight. while
the sheep averaged onIy Is
pounds. This was direct result
ofimpove ished land made poor
by an ignorant system of culture
that had not vet known the use
OF clover, beans or turnips. The
land was either sandy, upland or
impenetrable bogs or noors. BY
1881, under mixe1 farming that
was intro1uiei just after the
treaty OF Paris in 1853. mat re-
marlsab'e changes had taken
place. Wheat had become gem
orally cultivated. Clover, tur-
nips, beans and potatoes had all
been introduced in a regular no :
tition. Bone manure had come
70 be generally used in connec-
ton with this rotation Of crops.
AMI all grain crops had trebled
and quadrupled in yield as aeon
sequence of the clover and beans
and the dung produced from The
feeding of cattle and sheep, and
by use OF the bone manure on the
turnip crop. In 1881 the average
weight of cattle sold for slaughter
had risen from $40 pounds to 500
and the sheep from % pounds 10
80 pounds. So much for diver
sified farming in our mother
country.
When ! read Of the average live
weight Of cattle as 370 pounds,
and sheep % pounds, and OF
thousands dying every spring for
want of food and shelter, me-
thinks history repeats itself and
is undergoing repetition of these
ancient scenes here in our state
today. A traveller once said to a
Scotchman, 81 see the people in
Scotland eat oats, and down in
England see they feed horses on
oats altogether. - "And where
on airth,' said the Scotchman,
"would you 90 to find such men
and 'orses. -
The Scotchmen and English
men proved themselves men in
deed. From 1863 to 1881 they
not only increased their crops
four fold, but they drained their
bogs, improved their farms and
built up some OF the finest breeds
Of domestic animals the world has
ever seen. The Scotch farmer
on what was formerly a ri ,ged
mountain side, a sand wa To or
impenetrable bog, made himself
the worlds model farmer and
stock raiser. The farmers Of
Great Britain, with foundation
stock averaging $40 pounds in
weight, evolved the Shorthorn,
Hereford, Aberdeen Angus and
Galloway. From sheep weighing
28 pounds they have brought
forth the Leistes, Shropshire,
the Down breeds and the Dorset.
From wild hogs probably as
speedy as the south Mississippi
razor backs, they have made the
Berkshire,the Essex and Chester.
So productive did the land be-