Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-06-22
THE oNE.HoRsE FARM.
How II Can be Manipulated with Greatest
Proft--Go at Il Right.

ne cn1eI enemy 10 progressive
agriculture in the Southern States il
the "one-horse farm" The equip
ment of the one horse farm is gene
rally cheap mule, too weak, as usu-
ally fed, to do good work, a boy
Dixie and scooter plow provided
with shovel, scooter and half-shovel.
This primitive equipment in the
hands of one ignorant of the very
fundamental principles underlying
successful agriculture is guarantee
of not only failure in production, but
of the deterioration of the soil. The
history of Southern agriculture fully
illustrates and substantiates these
statements.
WHAT is THE REMEDY
The land owner has the matter
largely in his own hands from con-
tlnued waste, demand that he stop
the present practice of superficial
preparation, ignorant and wasteful use
of fertilizers upon land incapable of
retaining the moisture necessary for
their utilization by the plant, and
cultivation, which is destructive
rather than conducive to the best
development of plant growth and
production. The average land
owner tenants out his land to any
irresponsible person who can secure
supplies from merchant by mort
gaging crops not yet planted and buy
on credit some broken down horse or
mule, blanketed also with mort
gage. The landlord does this know
ing and acknowledging that what he
receives from the tenant will not pay
for the deterioration of the land from
which his profit is supposed to be
derived. This policy and practice
are suicidal in their results.
The tendency of the age in all
other enterprises is towards concen-
trated effort combined with the use
of the most advanced and economical
implements and machinery. The
farming industry must fall into line
and keep up with the procession.
Cotton mills are discarding anti
quated machinery and installing in
stead the most up to- date appliances
of every description. We find no
one-horse cotton or wollen mills-no
stringer and scrap iron railroad
tracks. We never now hear of the
whip saw or the upright saw of fifty
years ago, but the one horse plow is
still in evidence.
Land owners can protect their
land, increase their products and
benefit their tenants by requiring
them to unite their teams in the
preparation of the land. The writer
did this thirty-tive years ago. The
tenants complained in the spring,
but thanked him in the fall. The
best Investment a one-horse farmer
can make is the purchase of another
horse or mule. Land cannot be
properly prepared by a single team,
nor can the most valuable and eco.
nomical implements be utilized with
less than two-horse power. The
weeder, which should be on every
farm, is the only exception to this
Any small farmer can better afford
to buy the extra mule than he can to
attempt TO farm with one, provided
he will determine to plant no more
land than he can thoroughly prepare
and fertiize and will diversity and
rotate his crops, thus producing
ample food for the stock and annu-
ally increasing the productive ca
pacity of his land. With improved
implements, such as the Chattanooga
reversible disc plow, the Mallory
plow, the disc harrow, the disc culti-
vator, the mower, ETC., on all Of
which the plowman rides, better
crops can be grown at reduced cost.
BY the use of such labor i'm
plements the wages of one man can
be saved and this will buy an extra
mule, while the improvement of the
land and the increased crops will pay
for the implements.
Again, the improved preparation
will not only reduce the fertilizer
bill, but will increase the effects of
those used by enabling the soil to
absorb and retain more moisture.
For the same reason it will render
the drouths of summer less injurious.
Again, by having full team, more
work can be done, while the land is
in the best condition, in both prepara-
tion and cultivation. By using wide
scrapes and cultivators the two mules
will be able to cultivate the corn and
cotton promptly after each rain and
thus dispense with much of the hoe
work. More than twice the load
can be carried on two-horse wagon
than on the one-horse.
One man with two mules can do
more and better work in preparing
land than two men with one-horse
plows. One man riding a moving
machine con do more work and do il
better than five men with grass
scythes. BY using double team,
without increasing the area under
cultivation, twice as much soil ia
made available to plant roots, while
its capacity for absorbing and hold
ing moisture is quadrupled, thus
diminishing the risk of injury to the
crops by either excessive rains or
summer drouth, thereby insuring
larger crops of better quality at re-
duced cost of production.
Not only is this true, but instead
of decreasing in fertility, as is usually
the case with the one-horse farm,
with judicious rotation and deep
and thorough preparation, the pro-
duotive capacity of the two-horse
farm is annually increased. A three
year system of rotation in which cot
ton, corn, small grain, peas and sor.
ghum constitute the principal crops
may be made to combine profit and
progressive Improvement of the soil.