The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-05-28
HARRY FARMERS TALKS.


XVIII.
Correspondence of The Progressive Farmer.
Here is a story told by a success
full young farmer of Columbus coun-
ty. He is too modest to have his
name published, but we will give his
words.
"Mr. S., how much corn do you
plant?"
Mr.. S.-"I plant about seven acres.
I do not know exactly how much I
make, but have plenty for my
own use and to sell"
"Do you make as much as your
father did?"
Mr.. S.-"Yes, and more. He used
to plow one horse and never made
corn, potatoes, ETC., to last till spring.
He planted just as much as the horse
could plow over in two weeks. We
boys (there were three or four of us)
used to follow the plow with our
hoes. Everything had to be worked
with the weed hoe. The land for
corn was plowed into bed by run
ming about five burrows then the
bed was split open and the corn
dropped and covered with our foot
or hoe. The next thing done was to
plow out the middles and follow with
the hoes. The corn was left this
way for three or four weeks, then
one furrow thrown on each side of
the corn and followed again with the
hoes. In about three weeks every
other middle was plowed and peas
planted, if we wanted any to feed
sheep or cattle during the winter.
The corn was left in this condition
for two or three weeks again, and
the other middle plowed and then
we hilled it with the hoes. Wemade
from three to ten bushels per acre
nothing like enough to pay for the
hoe work.
"Our potatoes had to be planted in
rows made by first plowing the
ground into beds and then finished
with hoes. The beds had to be made
perfectly smooth and as free from
trash as the mound over a grave. We
did not have potatoes later than
Christmas.
"We planted cotton and used some
fertilizer. We planted by hand and
the cotton seed scattered in a furrow
and covered with drag. We had
time to chop that cotton! The
plants we're scattered on the row in
a space from 4 to 10 inches wide.
Chopping was done about like it is
now; that is, we blocked it out and
put some dirt to it with hoe, as we
had no cotton plow. The next work
ing it had to be fiat we'd and we
small boys had to thin ahead of the
hoes. OF course we had to hill it
up. Everything had to have it's hill
ing. We made from 800 to 1,500
pounds of seed cotton to the acre. If
cotton had to be made like it was
then, there would not be any over
production.
81 make more corn and cotton
than we did then and three times as
many potatoes on less land. My
father was regarded as a good farmer.
l SOW oats and follow them with
peas. l rotate corn and peas one
year and cotton the next. Ny crops
are increasing little every year. I
do not make as much as would if I
worked more and used more fertili-
ger. My fertilizer bill is not much
larger than my fathers. l Icultivate
less than half the land he did"
Here is something for the young
farmer to think about. Mr.. S. works
less land than his father. The aver
age young farmer of to-day wants to
spread out too much. You can't
build up large farm in day or
year any easier than Rome was built,
and if you ever succeed you must
take a little at time and work it
we'll. We have "often bitten off more
than we could chew" which gave us
trouble later on.
HARRY FARMER.
Columbus Co., N. @.
THE YEARBOOK FOR 1900.