The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-07-08
AgriCuIt re.
epATE.RAIsING, HAY. IsING, STOCK
RAIsINe--THE MOST PROFITABLE
BRANCHES OF FARMING.
Address of z. L. Daughtridgs, Before Edge
oombe County Farmers Institute.

OOm De county eTueTs 4usN1LuLes
Every farmer should be his own
Judge as to what crop he should cul-
tivate with all the lights before him.
So do men of other vocations in life.
For instance, one merchant takes the
line of hardware, another a line of
shoes, and so on, that he may not come
in direct competition with his neigh
Dor or next door merchant. Shall
the farmer act less wisely and plant
the same crop, to the exclusion of all
other crops!
The farmer should inform himself
as to the crops that are in most de-
mand, and that will give him some
thing to sell all the year round, and
that can be made and saved with the
smallest cost, and least amount of Ia
Dor. He should also learn the differ
ent kinds of soil on his farm, and
adapt his crop to the most suitable
lands for same. If we do not know
the nature of the different soils on
our farms, and the kind of fertilizers
required on them for different crops,
then we are cropping in the dark, and
will not succeed to any great extent.
When a man plants crop on piece
of land and expends labor and ma
nure, if he is an intelligent and up
to-date farmer, he knows, and has a
right to know, what to expect from
that crop if 40 unusual act of PrOvi-
dence interferes.
The day is coming and now is, when
only intelligent and up-to-date farm
ing will pay. We should no longer
adhere to the one crop system and
plant all of our best lands in cotton,
and go to the West for our meat.
grain and hay, but should diversity
our crops and make everything on
our farms, as near as possible, that
we may need at home; and we ought
also to be able to supply our cities and
towns with all the hay and grain that
they may need, without having to get
their supplies from the West and hav-
ing to pay such enormous freight
rates.
1t has been my experience that our
lands in Edgecombe are well adapted
to grain and hay crops, and stock
raising, and that these crops are as
profitable considering the cost of cul-
tivation and harvesting, as cotton or
tobacco. It requires very much less
labor to cultivate these crops and we
can utilize the most improved and
best labor-saving machinery, both in
seeding and harvesting the same,
thereby eliminating to a great extent
the drudgery and toll of seed time and
harvest.
Grain-raisings hay-raising, annd
stock-raising. go hand in hand and are
to my mind the most profitable lines
of agriculture in this section of the
State. By raising an abundance of
grain and hay, we can keep our cattle
fat, and by raising stock, we can keep
our lands rich.
Let as for a moment consider the
relative cost of production of some
Of the different crops of this county,
and as cotton is King, will give it the
first estimate:
Preparing land and planting, $500
per acre; hoeing and blowing, $4.OO
per acre; fertilizers, $4.OO per acre /;
picking G,OOO TBS. average), $500;
ginning, $1.OO; total, $500 per acre.
333 lbs. lint at Tee, $25.OO; %
bushels seed, $4.4O-$29.4O; net profit,
$144O.
WHEAT
Preparing land and seeding, $2.75;
fertilizers, $500; harvesting, thresh-
ing, $15O; total 1925.
90 bushels wheat at 80 cents, $500;
1000 TBS. straw, $5.0O-$23.OO; net
profit, $14.75.
Preparing land and seeding, S2.25;
fertilizers, $4OO; harvesting, thresh-
ing, $3.50; total $7.75.
80 bushels oats at so cents, $500;
1000 TBS. hay, $5.OO-S2O.OO; net
profit, 1925.
CORN
Preparing and planting, $3.50; hoe
ing and plowing, $500; fertilizers