The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1899-12-27
TILE COST OF RAISING COTTON

"A recen; issue of The IorJoj
SouHterHer had this item
"tOtt"n does not cost 10 cents
pound TO raise, nor 5 cents, for IN,
matter. Farming with cotton at
cents pound, or even little less, is
most profitable Investment. We hay
IN our mind farm in this county -,
Ooo to 500 acres, valued Tor taxation q
80, ,GOO--which last year ne,ted i
round numbers So 900. This is no es
innate; 1t Is the sum which the tw
conducting the farm divided as p,olits
They will 90 better this year.
The State$rillo LUudmork copics ,h,
above and comments upon it lhus
'Thcre is no sort of question al
though the fact is frequently DISPUTED
'hat cotton can be raised at proG
even when sold at Il very low price
1t all depends upon the men and then
method of doing business. Some
farmers, doubtless, would raise cotton
at a loss if it sold for Is cents pcr
pound, while others will make pr' ii,
even when it sells for 5 cents. Our
readers will recall that year auu
there was much discussion anent
the statement of Mr.. f.. w. Brawlcv.
or THIS county, that he raised his crCD
OF cotton that ycal at cost of 2 cents
pound. That Mr.. Brawley did thus
no one who knows him will Tor an i'm =.
stanl doubt, bat no one VIII assert that
all cotton can be raised for 2 cents a
pound, even if an effort is made.n
Cur contemporaries lad better have
a care. The OJScrccr had Il good deal
TO say, about a year ago, alb nlt the ex.
perience of Mr.. B:awey, referred to
above, in the raising of cotton, gave
details OF his method in flaming and a
statement OF the expenses of his crop
all this as an encouragement to 9th
ers and t. show the possibilities in cot
in North Carolina. For
our pains we had it said that Mr..
brawlcy dld not do anything of the
KIND that he profcssed, and that if the
ObSerrer were not an enemy of the
farmers it would not be printing such
stun, which was done, it was said, to
make out that the farmers were get
ing too rich and TO give the spccula-
ors an excuse for reducing prices. -
)bSerrcr, Cha~lottc, ~. G..
All OF which goes to show that grow
ng cotton is just like growing other
'rOpS. The man who is content to 90
long in the ruts of his grandfather
mt plant cotton year after year on the
anne lurrows his grandfather planted
in when the soil was fresh, and who
low flnds that it takes four acres or
more to grow what his grandfather got
rom one acre, and what men like Mr..
'rawlcy get from less than an acre,
sec how cotton can be grown
or less than to S cents per pound.
here are men all over the South who
re 50 ignorant of the laws of trade
hat they imagine that If it was gen
rally known that it does not cost an
farmer y cents per pound to
row cotton, that right away the spec.
lators would put the prcc down still
,wcr. We admit that there is too
luch gambling IN futures in all of our
'rm crops. But the movements of
he buyers of futures are pretty well
Indicative of the probable demand for
he staple. They are merely spccula-
ing on demand and supply, and the
avs of supply and demand govern the
rice Of cotton as well as of wheat and
orn. 1t is only when some great
ombne like the American Tobacco
company gets the entire control of
roduct that the laws Of supply aud de-
nand do not govern the price of the
roducL. But what we want to get at,
nd what the extracts we have quoted
how, Is that good farming with cotton
'ays as well as good farming with 9TH
r crops of the farm, and that even
Turing the era Of low-priccd cotton
here are men all over the cotton belt
Who have made money in glowing cot
on. AS lately remarked in these col
INNS the South needs good farming
more than visionary schemes to force a
cuuctiOn of cotton acreage. The ,
creage should be reduced, but it will
lcvcr be done by conventions and
grccmcnts. 1t will only be done when
nen find that they can grow more cot
on on onc-third the area by good farm
ng and can at the same time grow /
'thcr crops enough to pay all the cx-
lenses of the farm and more and leave |
he cotton a real money crop, 10 mat
er what the market price may be-
Practical Farmer.