The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1900-05-19
FARMER Rand PLANTER.
INVESTIGATION vs.. DEBT.
Farmers should Not Pin Their
Faith to Cotton as a Money
Producing Crop.

Netters that have reached me from
all 9rts of the cotton growing states
convince me that there is going to be
n of the largest cotton crops in the
history of our country planted this
year. In my judgment, this win be a
great mistake. My brother and / can
plant fifteen acres to cotton, and make
all we can gather, and we can culti-
vate ten acres in sweet potatoes, and
what we sell to market, together with
the culls and waste that we feed to
our hogs, and thus turn into money,
and the seed we sell in the spring, will
bring lis more cash than the cotton.
/ am convinced we do not raise near
enough feed stuffs. Every farmer in
our section can, with profit, keep five
or six head of good cows, and have
them sleek and fat the year round,
and the milk and butter from these
cows, their increase, and the manure
they will make, will bring as much
as the cotton he can gather. With
the improved tools for c~ultivating
crops we can cultivate this fifteen.
acres of cotton, ten acres of potatoes,
four or five acres in sweet corn, and
peanuts for hogs, n or two acres
in other garden stuff, besides enough
land in corn, sorghum and pea vines
to feed these cows and five OF six
horses all they want. Sweet potatoes
that we put on the market will be off
our hands before the cotton is ready
to pick. We feed to our hogs all
through the season such as we can
not sell Or a v for seed; and the best
part about them is, we have them on
our table the year round. This forage
is also stored before the cotton needs
us, and then during the summer
months we may gather several bushels
of peas, kill the weevils in them, put
them away until spring, and sell them
at three cents per pound, a we are
doing now. Another great value in
this diversified farming is, when we
keep horses and cows and give them
all the forage they can consume, we
can gather up and haul out from 400
to 500 loads of manure a year. The
fastest way to bring up land is to have
a regular rotation of crops, planting
each field every few years in peas. We
notice Farm and Ranch told us last
week about the different ways that
peas bring us profit. We may not get
much money from this kind of farm
ing, but we are willing to have a good
living, and if God gives US health, we
will make enough money to keep out
of debt, that horrible condition that
has ruined many good men. There is
a road that leads to prosperity on the
farm, but that road does not 90 by
way of debt. Show me a farmer who
has succeeded raising cotton alone, as
his money crop, to buy everything else
with, and / will show you a thousand
who have failed. Our country is full
of men who have tried this for thirty
years and failed.
1t may bit good business at times to
borrow a little money that we NAV
pay cash for what we must buy, but
for a man at the beginning of each
year to commence to buy on time, to
be paid when cotton is gathered. is a
.ruinous custom. We ought rather to
keep a little money in the bank
for an emergency, and for opportuni-
ties to catch bargains. When this is
done we will be a more happy and
prosperous people; then we can be-
gin to see the real beauties of a farm
life. / can not afford to raise cotton
alone, and have money coming only
a year, and have to go in debt un-
til that time. We are continually buy
ing, and,must be continually selling. or
we will have to ask sorue one for credit.
If / am right about this, let some
one give us light on this subject, for
we are living in an age which not only
requires all of our energies, but we
must have the ideas of each other.
Some n may say; IF we were all To
plant a crop of sweet potatoes, we
would flood the market Yes; but we
are not all going at it. There are two
we must watch, viz: Our mar
ket, to see what it wants, and our soil.
to see what it will it produce. There
are many things that this market
wants that u soils will produce, that
will be bringing in money every month
the year, and then we can raise all
the cotton we can gather, and this
cotton money will not have to go to
pay debts that have been accumuIat-
ing since the beginning of the year,
and swallow up-our happiness and
money besides. The credit system must
be practiCed as long as cotton raising
takes the place of farming.-W. II.
Ehrhardt, in Texas Farm and Ranch