The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-01-26
Letters to The Editor.
s * < < < < as x $: $ ss iss as es @ < Farmers-Farming; Corn and Potato
 Raising.
Editor The Advertiser:

Editor The Advertiser
 Your recent article on the subject of farming was surely to the point. If our people had corn and meat now they would be independent, let cotton be any price whatsoever. Those who have plen- ty of corn can have meat. There Is less corn in the country than there has been in several years and of course less meat. The people are much worse off now than they were when cotton was low. Why? Because the low price of cotton drove all to making something on which to live. IL Is a difficult thing to upset a man much whom his barn Is full of corn and his smokehouse is stuffed with pork stuff. The price of cotton right now does not interest the majority of farmers. Why? Because they have no cotton to sell. It is the corn that is not in their cribs and the meat that is not in their larders that trouble them now. The country is in a deplorable condition surely. It all comes from poor, thoughtless farming. l may be doing violence to the spelling book, dictionary, rhetoric and a lot of other good books to dignify what we are doing in this country as farming. Some may try to argue or excuse by say ing it was the bad crop year, heavy rains and that disastrous "twister." farm CT should set his plans so as to make plenty to eat the worst years, and the good years will come all right, for people never have too much corn in this coun- try, they may burn 1t elsewhere. This is farming. that is kind hand to mouth scuffiing along, This black land belt should overflow with hog and hom- iny, whereas 1t looks as you travel through. as if Pharoah's locusts had struck it and swept 1t. I do not write this expecting to influence one farmer to plant more corn and raise more hogs. Nothing but low priced cotton has ever done this and it is probable that we will have this potent factor to make us ere long. The fact that the country was better off with cotton at cents ought 10 teach our people |. forcible lesson. Certain it Is. if poverty, corn famine, will do any good. 1t will get in its work right now. There are two customs that injure our negro farmers, one Is the landlord takes rent in cotton and noth- ing but cotton will or can satisfy. Then the negro must raise cotton. If the land lard took part corn, he and his laborer would have corn and more corn would be in the country. The other trouble is the bartering corn off to the stores and elsewhere by the negroes. This leaves the farm unable to run itself She next year, Plant too little in the first place, sell too much in the next place. Yes, give the farmers advice, all the papers, all the people, every one advise him. en- courage him. With a country full of prosperous farmers every one in the land would do better Impoverish the farmer and you injure the country. By all means do not break our farmers. Farmers do not break, you are the "backbone," "bone and sinew" of your country. It makes no difference If the polished (shoe polsh), well-dressed dude laughs at you. you are the first man of the land. Your wife Is the first woman, your sons and daugh- ters are chips off the same block Why are you the first man of the land? Wealth begins with you. All depend upon you for O living. You must furnish the practi- cal, matter of fact wives for matter of fact men. Oh, for more farmers, fewer planters. l hear much of the New South. I wish my children could see the black belt as it was in 1860. Some day I will write of it as I draw the picture now from the depths of my memory.
 J. NJ. Barnes.