The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-05-03
A LARGE YIELD TO TIE ACRE.

Cotton planting has already begun
in the Southern tlcr of the cotton belt
and soon all over the cotton country
the seed will be going into the ground.
1t is doubtless too late to urge any re-
duction Of the acreage in cotton, and
we fear that if the season is Il favorable
one for the crop there will be such Il
large crop grown that prices will revert
to nearly their former level. But what
We would urge on the attention of cot
ton farmers IS the fact that small
area well manurcd and well cultivated
VIII give more profit than Il large area
Oh poor land badly cultivated. 1t
shou'o not be how many acres can
cultivate per mule, but how much cot
.on per acre can average. The men in
Ine coIlon country, so far as our OBJ
serVatloh has gone, who arc making
49, crops and improving their land
are the men who have CRASHED the idea
.na' tne raising of forage and the feed
ing OF cattle lie at the Yery foundation
OF an rational farm Improvement,
Ole cotton farmer of our acouoint-
ance last year fed 600 beef cattle from
the products of his plantation, and hn
made over bale Of cotton per acrc
without the use of commercial fer.
tlllZers on a farm where the former
owner came near the starvation point
Ihls man is making money both from
cattle ami cotton, and his farm Is in such
condition that he can make money
with cotton should the price 90 back
to the recent figures when tho man
who plants cotton by the help of the
merchant in town and raises only cot
ton by the aid of commercial fertilizers,
cannot make expenses. One is farm
ing and the other is simply gambling
on the chances. BY proper farming
and the feeding of stock the one man
has been enabled to get upon cash
basis and can almost dictate the price
he has to pay for what he needs to
buy. The other has to pay whatever
Is charged him, and usually pays about
twice as much as the man who buys
for cash.
1t Is easy enough to argue in time of
good prices that It does not pay to grow
other things that you can buy cheaper
than you can grow them, but the way
III which the calculation should be
made is for an average Of series of
years and their prices. Experience
has shown that when this is done, the
farmer who raises what he needs for
himself ana animals to consume, is
always in the best condition financially, ,
and his land is in condition TO make the
best crops per acre to meet the time
OF low prices. The danger in the cot
ton country is not SO much the crop
that will be grown this year, for the
WORLDS supply Of cotton has run down
to surl an extent that fair prices may
rule another fall even with large crop,
and then growers may assume that the
prices have come to stay and will con-
tlnuc to pile up the surplus till the
market is overloaded again.
With amy money crop grown, the
man who pursucs the even tenor Of
his way, and never loses his head when
high prices come will IN the long lun
be the successful man with that crop.
The rule to fight shy of what every one
is planting very largely of and to pay
| special attention to the crops that for
the time beng are being neglected
will apply to cotton as well rs to other
crops. DO not break up a rood rota-
ton that you have commenced, and
which is improving your land, in order
to get big area in cotton. Look first
TO the permanent improvement of your
soil and the crops will come. --Iincti-
cal Farmer.