The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-03-16
COTTON PRODUCTION.
Some Thoughtful Remarks on the
Subject from Southern Field.

The Southern Field says the South
in times past has grown too much cot
ton, grown it unadvisedly, as well, in
the case of hundreds and thousands Of
individual farmers and planters, with
out intelligent cultivation. Always
the great money crop and the one
easiest to market, as well as the one
about which so many, especially the
negro farmers, know most, men have
been kept raising it to their own
detriment. The trouble was not that
the worlds production Of cotton was
too large, but that the whole atten-
tion was given to cotton. season in
season out, while the farmer had to
spend money. for hay and other feed
for his stock and for all that his family
used, instead of raising on a portion OF
his farm the farm produce and forage
which he needed, thus making the
cotton crop cost much more than it
ought, while the land was being i'm
poverishea by the non-rotation Of
crops. With cotton his only crop,
and cash OUTLAY necessary for all pro-
visions and forage, the smaller farmer
had to market as soon as the crop was
made, with the result that the lowest
prices resulted. Disaster necessarily
often followed, especially in the years
Of general panic and depression, when
the demand for cotton declined. The
past few years. however, have been
better for cotton growers. Two years
have been rich ones for him, and all
the indications are that they must
continue so.
The time has arrived when more
cotton must be grown to supply the
worlds demands. The yield Of cotton
has not increased Of late in ratio to
the increased demand and consump-
tion. Two years of short crops have
made this especially evident, and peo-
pie are heard speculating as to the
supply Of the future. Several things
have co-operated in bringing about
this change. One of the influences is
the great development of the textile
industry in the Southern States, which
has made a home demand for raw cot
ton, at the same time the manufac-
turers have been extending the markets
for their products, thus diminishing
the amount available for export,
lessening the supply Of foreign mills,
which hare not been able to find one
elsewhere Undoubtedly, too, recent
advances in textile manufacturing, by
which new uses have been found for
cotton, have had much influence upon
the demand for the staple.
The continued non rotation Of crops
has destroyed for time a good deal Of
cotton land and thus cut down the
yield. The awakening of Southern
farmers to the value of diversity Of
crops has reduced the cotton acreage.
The scarcity of labor, caused in great
measure by the leaving of the farms
by both whites and negroes for the
towns, the factories, the mills, mines
and other work, has helped to lessen
the acreage and decrease the yield.
The result Of all this has been to put
the price of raw cotton where it be-
longs and make the cultivation OF it
one Of the most profitable of all kinds
of agriculture, and also to cause wide
spread discussion as to the future sup
ply Of cotton, as well as regards the
ability of the South to greatly increase
its yield. The poorest crop of cotton
the South has had for years, that of
1908, from the high prices, meant at
least $500, 900, 900 to her people, max
ing it the most important Of all
agricultural crops.
The question as to the ability Of the
South to produce the cotton Of the
world, or the most of it, bears directly
upon the question of the value of the
crop to the producer. The South will
increase the acreage in cotton this
year very materially. This will natur-
ally follow the great profits from the
crop Of last year. Much land which
has been devoted to other crops will
again be put in cotton, but this will
not make such great difference as at
first may be thought. Many farmers
who have learned to diversity crops
have seen the profit in the practice
and will not abandon it. Many have
left the cotton fields for good. To in
crease the cotton crop to its proper
size TWO things there must be, a great
er care in cultivation and an influx OF
cotton growers, small cotton farmers,
OF of cotton field laborers. The pre-
sent situation makes fine opening
for the intelligent farmer from the
North or Europe. 1t adds greatly to
the opportunity in the South for good
farmers. These should be farmers
who will not make cotton their whole
crop, depending entirely upon it and
sending their money out of the coun-
try for their food, their forage and
even for their stock, but farmers who
will diversity their labors and make
cotton simply one Of their many pro-
ducts.
There is no derth Of good cotton
lands in the South, nor of lands for
general farming purposes. Some cot
ton lands have run down until often
they fail to yield protitably, just as
Dakota wheat fields have run down
from continuous crops Of wheat. The
South is not a one-crop country: on
the contrary, it is the best country in
the world for diversified crops. The
old cotton lands in most cases simply
need a rotation of crops and the right
kind of farming to make them yield.
instead of 200 lbs, from 500 to 500
or more pounds per acre.
There are millions of acres too
which have never had a plow on them.
When it is remembered that farm
lands in the South are cheaper than
in any other section Of the country, it
will be seen what an opportunity is