The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-09-10
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE EDITORS FARM.
- Prominent Southern Editor Re
saees Some os& His Experienced 40
Agricultural Progress.

we would like to have description
OF Your Individual farm, its size, cul-
are, yield, etc, year after year. AS
sue interest il Your teaching is grow
~, some insist that it is only theory,
While others are proving it by practice.
~ US how you do, what you make
sAo now many failures you have in
sletual experience. We would be glad
70 naSs you &Drne to south Georgia
o9rlng the present summer this montt9
aho see how we do and also tell lie
now to do better. o. ". r.
- anSsS9r to the above request, the
ea1tor desires to say that he was born
alfa raised upon a poor farm in CoEeta
county, Georgia. HIS father Waig a, good
physician, but not success as farm
er Owing to the death Of his mother
ana the III health of his father, he
zane lnso Charge Of the farm when he
was abort IA years old The land was
poor, the sS9ck poor, and many debts
mad accumulated, and the crib and
smohehouse were empty when he took
. charge. By dint of extraordinary labor
by himself and younger brother, the
sInokehouse and the cribs We're filed
ane debts paid, the stock aattened and
Inc farm PUT in good fiji, for those
oays- By hard work and borrowing 9
4ittle money, he managed to graduGae
az Emory college il 1853. In the mean
tinle MS health had been wrecked by
ede measles, and has remained q wreck
20 THIS day. Leaving school, me start
60 again 60 teaching and farming. I'll
aeaiR2 Soon compelled the abandon
ment OF the schoolroom- He then gave
more attention to farming, but took on
. merchandise as a side issue His bust
ness grew and his farming grew He
made money at both, especially On the
farm. BUT owing to too much credit
ne was wrecked and ruined financially
By the panic of '73. Having las1 all
ne made o ground start with a one
morse farm. Like others, he met with
successes and reyerses. He often spread
out too much and undertook more than
ne was capable gf managing, and some
times ran as many as 40 plows and fed
as mans as ESQ negroes.
After some years, becaming con-
WINGED that this was not the best plan
TO farm upon, h@ cut his farm down
10 40 acres. On this 40 acres, with
thTee ploWs, he commenced and pur
sued al experiment farm Of his own
Here he began his experiments in high
er and better farming, beginning with
deeper aIssl more thorough blowing
lie abandoned ditchfng and adopted
terracing. He adopted deeper blowing
and shallow cultivation as the main
line OF his new plans. He often broke
his land from Is to 16 inches deep. By
years of patient and industrious at
Iention to Che development of new and
better plans, and by reading everything
that he could find on the subject of inn
proved methods of agriculture, he slow
Iy but surely learned the lessons that
he Is now trying to teach. There is
no form of farm labor, from the weed
ing hoe to the se1f-binder, with which
he has not done his full share with his
own hands.
The farms which at the beginning OF
these experiments would yield about
ten bushels OF corn per acre and one
fourth bale of cotton, were made te
yield from TO to 80 bushels of corn, and
from two to three bales of cotton, 81
to 40 bushels of wheat, Is to 100 bush
els of oats, 500 to 900 bushels of tur
nips, and other crops in proportion
. The laad was made to pay its way II
working ofss all these Improvements
. The farm always paid a profit on The
labor, fertilizer and ouher expenses.
Before leaving his farm hs thorough
II tested the practieabiIity OF the re,
forms which he is now advocating. He
proved some of the possibilities OF tbs
earth, when properly cultivated, t
yield profitable and bountifIll crops. 81
our readers need not think that they
are reading after a book worm or {
book farmer.
The editor is abundantly willing
nav. s.nxlous-to have every theory
that he advocates put to the severes
test Of experimentation. II It does
not star i this test, let It go. He dear.
81 loves farm life, and firmly believes
that farming is the most honorable anf
can be made the most profitable pro
fessien. So felleW-farulers, let us al
null together Southern Cultivator.