The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-06-07
TIE TWENTIETH CENTURY
AND WHAT IT HAS IN STORE
FOR THE FARMER.

Correspondence Of the Progressive Farmer.
AS Il class, farmers are a very con-
scrvativc folk. Old and tried ways are
hard to replace even when better ones
are fairly in sight This disposition
to cling to the past no doubt has its
good side. But after all, it Is
the alert man who keeps his
ears and eyes wide open, who re-
cognizcs opportunities for Improvement
when they DO come, and not "thc man
with the hoco who plods along in the
same old rut, whose face is always to-
ward the past, and whose honest con-
viction is that "book farming" and
"ayricultural collcycs' and >.bullctinsn
and "farm papers, and all such "fancy
nonsense are entirely outside of and
apart from the hard, back-achlng work
of digging living out Of the soil.
And yet, those whose mem cries
reach back to the early liflcs can see
no reason for diScOuragcmcnt. The
past half century has been prccminGnt-
ly an era Of progress in agriculture.
Artificial fertilization with chemical
manurcs, the general use of improved!
farm machinery and above all, the
successful study Of the laws Of plant
growth and hygiene, hardly date back
beyond the memory Of living men, and
there is the best o. reason for bciicv-
ing that this advancement will 90 ON
at an accelerated pace. Indeed, no
one can look out upon the century that
is Just before us with calm eyes and
clear vision, wit hout thcmost hopeful
anticipatlons. Progress is everywhere.
1t is III the very air. 1t pcrvadcs the
literature Of farming. Even the
restlcssncss and dlscontcnlIwith present
methods and results, which arc at the
same time The harbngcrs and most
potent stimulaIts to change, all point
in the same direction. Farmers can
not stand still if they would. They
must move OH, and to those OF us who
have fought our fight, good or bad,
and who are row on the reminiscent
side of life. 1t is no small source of
qualification that the kccn-cycd, bralny
young ihen vino, in Our agricultural
colleges, are now studying one Of the
Piled sciences, will find an army of
toilcrs ready 70" their leadership, much
more disciplined and tractablc than
those that we have known, and that
they will make more rapid marches and
more BRILLIANT corQucsts than it has
been our good fortune to witness.
In addition to changes already point
cd out in the farming methods of the
country, and especially of tie South
l>,.I l,l
than the utter abandonment Of the one
cop system. 1t never was good
system, and it is becoming worse every
year. A one crop country is always
on the border Of disaster. Bad seasons,
low prices, insect pests, half a hundred
open thoroughfarcs all lead that way,
while .rcccss must be fought for along
Il single narrow and rugged pathway.
The worlds experience teaches that
with this system long continued, an
impoverished soil, abandoned fields,
unkcmpt, unpaintcd houses, neglected
fences, and all the discouraging con-
comllants of proiitlcss tillagc sooner or
later are sure to appear.
The South cannot hope to reverse
this seemingly universal law, and it
would not be at all difficult to find
localities that already only too clearly
confirm it.
On the olhcr hand, diversified farm
ing intelligcntly pursued means an inn
proving country, richer soil and richer
men. a map Of the United States, Il
most interesting and instructive kind,
Colld be made, in which the prosperity
AID wealth of the farming community
might be almost exactly Saugcd by this
very standard.
When everything practicable IS pro-
duced in horticulture, fruit growing,
market garlenm" md field crops, there
the highest pre-. t,erity is found. In
lcsscnin% ratio the wealth rcccdcs
until the one crop country is found.
1t could moi well go lower, and 1t is a
hopeful sign that the "cotton bclC' is
at last awakening to its own imperative
needs. OF course, this all means con-
ccntration, less "spread ont work.