Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1903-09-17
FARMERAND PLANTER
DIVERSIFIED FARMING.


The Evils of Single Cropping Coma
pared with Business1ike d.
versfncation.
Realizing the evils which Lave come
in all sections of the country, from the
wheat fields of Minnesota to the t
ton fields of the south, from single
cropping year after year on the same
land, writer's have urged farmers to
practice a more diversified agriculture.
Inis is all right, II it is a proper nj
systematic Investigation designed
primarily for the improvement OF the
soil, and the increased production OF
the staple crop. But there seems 10
have grown up, in the south at least,
a class OF newspaper writers VINO urge
that the farmer should grow something
of everything that his soil and climate
will produce, and that he should buy
nothing that can be grown on his mi
his would be Investigation with a
vengeance. But would it be
like farming? The adaptability OF SOIL
and climate to certain crops has made
them the staple money crops OF various
sections. In the beautiful valleys OF
southeastern Tennessee and north Ala
bama men are growing cotton on
lands and under conditions which point
to wheat, grass and cattle. They can
grow cotton, it is true, but could 40
better by making wheat and cattle
their specialities, as here and there
some are doing. Then in the true cot
ton belt. the warm, sandy soils OF the
South Atlantic and the gulf, we n
men scattering their energies IN grow
ing some cotton, some anu
some market garden crop, n yet no
one of them sufficiently specialized TO
get the best that can be made from
them. What we need in every part OF
the country is o to produce some
thing of everything we can grow, but
specialized farming, in which the whole
rotation is devised for the purpose OF
increasing the production OF Whatever
may be the best money crop In that
section. If this is wheat, then farm Tor
wheat, not sowing vast areas year after
wear in wheat until the land Will no
longer produce a paying crop, but farm
Systematically, and make the land pay
its way to the production OF Increased
yields of wheat. In like manner, II
the money crop is tobacco, do not fail
into the old notion, common In some
sections, that you can get your lano 100
rich for the production of the best TO-
bacco. but farm for ar increased pro-
duction of tobacco, and you Will ma
that increased production per acre VIII
90 hand in hand with improved quail
ty. It is seldom wise to have two hoed
sale crops on the same farm In addition
to the corn crop which we all u
have in this country. If in addition 10
the corn we also try to grow cotton n
tobacco, one or the other will be apt
to be neglected and the Improvement
of the soil interfered with. The tobac-
co growers of the middle and northern
states will naturally be a wheat grow
er. since there is no hoed crop that
repares such a fallow for wheat as to-
bacco. But he will be unwise If he
adds another hoed sale crop to his to-
bacco. Corn and tobacco can readily
form the hoed crop shift In MS rota-
ton, alternating each other on the LAND
in each round of the rotation. But a
third hoed crop, as a sale crop, Will
require the frightening OF the rota-
ton. and a longer time between the
humus-making crops of legumes, and
hence smaller yields of both money
crops. Local conditions here and there
NAV make it profitable, as in the long
seasons Of the South Atlantic states,
to vary somewhat from this rule, as
the W of early vegetables there
that find that on their highly MANFRED
lands they can grow large crops OF cot
ton after their early vegetables have
been shipped north, and can multiply
crops on lands through the long grow
ing season. But it is not OF the mar
ket gardner and his intensive methods
we write, but of the farmer whose IN
terests lies in selling wheat OF other
grain. cotton or tobacco. Each should
be a specialist with his money crop,
and yet not a single cropper. he
should feed cattle, Of course, as much
for the aid they will give in the in
| creased production of his sale crop as
for the profit direct from the cattle.
II he neglects stock feeding he will in
variably fail to get the best results
| from his wheat. tobacco or cotton. In
short. he should make a profession OF
farming, study his crops, study his
land and farm in a business-like way.
Practical Farmer.