The Republican journal., 1904-10-13
FARMING NORTH AND SOUTH.

NOuIU, d1u particularly CHc ocCtlOuS OC-
voted to cotton, rice and sugar, in the
production of which slave labor had been
employed, had many serious problems
to confront. Plantations had been deS-
troyed, labor was not easily obtained
and most of the planters were financial
ly ruined At this time writer in DE
Bows Review advised small farming
and market gardening, and in partlcu-
lar the utilizing of waste lands near the
cities. i'll Which a ready market might
be found for small fruits and vege
tables, poultry, etc. Soil and climate
were alike favorable, the demand for
such products was practically unlimited,
prices were high, and success certain
to those Who engaged in the work intel
ligently. l. was not toreseen at that
time the immense extent of truck farm
ing in tie South to supply northern
markets. a business which expands
each year. requiring for transportation
leets Of steamships and thousands of
1
and market gardening was engaged i'll
in tie south III the sixties We have no
means ot knowing: but writer in re-
cent issue of the saturday Evening
Post says: After a personal investi-
CATION of the agricultural situation in
the southland more particularly of the
SoutAwest-the writer is convinced that
the next few years will surely witness
a revolution in the prosperity of the
southern planter and small farmer, and
that this happy change in his fortunes
will he brought about by means of di-
versilied farming under good modern
methods.
Cotton las always been raised on
credit, the planter getting cash adj
vances and supplies based on the crop
he expects TO raise. But" says the
writer in the Saturday Evening Post,
when TWO years ago, the boil weevil
appeared in the fields of the Southwest,
coming up from Mexico, and did
work of havoc and disaster this system
received a jolt which threw the whole
ere dit mechanism out of order. When
a second year of short cotton came the
wreckage was completed to an extent
which Las made both the grower and
the merchant reach out for any meas
ues promising to mend matters and
put business relations upon a depend
able basis. Men from the North
preached the doctrine Of diversified
crops, and some of the progressive
Southern iandholdeTs, their ears sharp
ened by calamity, listened, pondered,
and began to put this new agricultural
gospel into practice"
Tie results of this change of methods
are not surprising to those acquainted
with the fertility of the Southern
county: TO all Others they must be-
For example, the writer before quoted
visited tracts Of land recently bought at
ten dollars an acre, which had pro-
duced first crop of potatoes averaging
80 bushels to the acre and bringing 90
cents bushel-and second crop was
being planted. He saw field of fifty
acres of tomatoes which yielded 400
crates to the acre, the crop bringing an
average of 80 cents crate. 'In the
past year two young men, plain farmers,
typical OF the agricultural population
of that section, put forty four acres of
their farm into Bermuda onions. Their
them return of s2S,00O The cost of
producing this crop and putting It on
board the cars was $1,000. An i'm
portant reason for the unusual success
of their onion venture is found in the
fact that the quality of the onions was
fully equal to that of the imported Ber-
mudas against which they were COM
peting.' 1t used to be thought that hay
could not be raised in the South, and at
one time Belfast had large hay trade
with Jacksonville, Florida, but now
''the hay crop is an important part of
diversified farming, and the returns are
Immensely satisfactory" Our local /
Egg Kings will be interested in this
statement; Until recently Texas i'm
ported about sixty per cent of the
poultry products consumed by her own
population; now that State holds third |
rank in the Union in the production of
poultry and eggs The mild climate
of the cotton States allows fowls to
forage for themselves during the greater
part of the year and the season of egg
laying is greatly prolonged. That Sec
ton of the country is specially adapted
to the raising of eggs and poultry, and
it is believed that this profitable branch |
of agriculture will be greatly increased
in the near future.
Agriculture is looking up in the North
as we'll as in the South The abandon
ed farms" of New England are being
transformed into summer residences,
utilized for fancy farming, or devoted