The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1903-11-04
Fertilizers and Cotton.

The meeting of the farmers on Nov,
8, to consider the fertilizer question
may do good and, as said In the call,
can at least do no harm. THE ADvER-
TisER hopes that it may be well at
tended. 1t Is always a good sign when
farmers or other business men show q
lively interest In affairs pertaining to
their work and with it n disposition to
cooperate.
The farmers may at least reduce the
consumption of commercial fertiliz-
ers. Last spring the grass crop man
OF the national department of agricul-
ture lectured here and the principal
point that he stressed was that Lau-
rens farmers can make their OWL fer
tilizer. He insisted that this is o cat
tie country, that cate can be raised as
cheaply here as anywhere in America
and that the lands can be drought
up" by animal fertilizer while the cat
tie are being produced for market. We
believe that this man knew what he
was talking about. 1t is ever possible
that putting such prices ON commercial
fertilizers that they cannot be used by
farmers would prove o blessing in the
long run. When our farmers are
forced to conclude that they cannot de-
pend on cotton alone, they will discover
that their lands are equally as good for
other products as for cotton.
The difficulty In the way Of the aver
age farmer is that he cannot change his
habits. A man who has been raising cot
ton for twenty years must necessarily
find it hard to change. This is nat
ural. 1t would be hard for an eye doc
tor at the age OF forty to become a
throat doctor. Nevertheless, farmers
should try to look the situation squarely
in the face. Some day circumstances
will compel a revolution in farming
methods. No aggregation of farmers
can force down the price of guauo ex-
cept by refusing to use it. They can
lot afford to refuse to use it except by
making good the withdrawal of the
guano from the land in some other
way. The people who sell fertilizer
r going to ask for it all they can get.
We sincerely hope that they will not
get all that they ask, because we be-
lieye the farmers eau do better with
out depending so much on their goods.
AS for the price of cotton, the staple
brings as much here as 1t does else
where. Sometimes the price may be a
little lower in Laurens than in Clinton
or Greenwood or ~Spartanburg and the
next day it will be a little higher. The
averages are about the same and must
be about the same thing. Every farm
err should hold his cotton until he
thinks he is getting it's value. He
should SO live that he cannot be forced
to sell at the opening of the season.
He should establish his credit so that he
can wait until spring if he wishes. Elk
cepting those who suffer peculiar mis-
fortunes, the farmers who do not
reach q cash basis or such a basis as
that that they will be free from the lien
merchant under present conditions will
never reach it. The farmers who run
from year to year in debt and never
grow stronger financially will always
be at the mercy Of money sharks and
they will have to take what they can
get for their cotton as soon as 1t is out
of the field. On the other hand, the
farmer who has freed himself from the
credit bondage can sell his cotton when
he wishes. Cotton is now worth about
ten cents. Suppose Farmer Blank who
is out of debt believes that 1t will be
worth thirteen next May. He eau put
his cotton in a warehouse, borrow
money on it If necessary, and hold fol
the rise. If he sells at ten cents and
the price goes up, it is his own fault
If he does not sell and it goes down,
he is paying for his fun out of his owl
pocket. But the well-to.do farmer
cannot complain II he takes less thar
his colon Is worth because he sells i,
too soon. In other words, any farmer
who is not in the hands of his credi' ORE
is as able to speculate on his own five
or ten bales OF cotton as Brown OF
Hayne of New Orleans were able to
speculate on hundreds of thousands OF
bales.
We believe that talk about a COM
bination among the farmers generally
to control the price of cotton is fool
ishness. the combination cannot be
effected. We would all like to see the
farmers form a cotton trust in these
days when other trusts have been
formed but 1t lis out of the question.
There are too many farms and farmers
and they are too widely scattered.