The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-13
whst May gs Grown - ]. P':ss zee of

what May Be Grown in Place of l Part of the Usual Cotton Crop.
 Cotton is and probably will always be the mainstay of the agriculture Of Alabama. We would not and we can not sudden displace 1t nor ever de- throne 1t, but we do need such grad ual change as will make us less de> pendent on this one article of sale. All widespread changes in agriculture come to pass slowly. A gradual change for the better is taking place by which our agricultural industries are being multiplied and our exclusive depend ence on cotton slowly decreased. But the tendency toward diversihcation of crops received a severe check wheR about a year ago the price of cotton rose to sixteen cents a pound. With an easy optimism the south planted cotton last spring on a scale that showed that expectation of permanent high prices of cotton was widespread. In recent months we have been ex- periencing the natural rebound of the pendulum.
 The low prices of recent months following the higher prices that had brought some measure of prosperity and of financial independence gave to southern farmers an unexampled op- portunity to unite their interests and | fairer prices for the 1905 crop and for the unsold portion of the 1904 crop. This movement for united action and for a uniform policy was voiced by the New Orlenas convention in It's cali for reduction of 25 per cent both in acreage and in fertilizers for cotton. Already the general determination to reduce the cotton acreage has raised 1 the price of cotton several dollars per l hal a quite a number of millions of dollars to the value of cotton still in farmers hands.
 The success of this movement. the price of the next crop, and the price that the unsold cotton will bring all depend on the general adoption of the recommendation of a greatly reduced reducing the cotton acreage under present conditions there can be no question.
 The practical question is what shall farmers grow in place of cotton on the acres from which we are advised to exclude cotton. It Is no small matter to find substitutes for cotton on seven or eight million acres of land. Indeed at the outset we should face the fact that 1t would not be advisable for all of this area at once to be devoted to substitute crops. Much of 1t is now too poor for profitable cultivation. Indeed if no substitute crops were | on a single acre of this area, the | throwing out of cultivation of one- fourth of the poorest land now in cot ton would result in great profit to the i farmer by reason of the increased av- craze yield per acre and the conse- quent cheapening of the cost of pro- duction. not to mention the effect of such a reduction on the price of cot l ton.
 But use can be made of the greater part of the seven or eight million acres on which the New Orleans convention has recommended the temporary dis continuance of cotton culture. We may simplify the discussion by classi- l flying in a general way the uses to which this land may be put somewhat as follows:
 CD For the direct production of ! salable products.
 l (2) For the production of home sup plies or indirectly for the production of products ultimately salable.
 (s) For the improvement or renova- tion of the land and the increase of | future crops.
 Each of these uses of the land might be again divided into intensive and non-intensive methods according as the outlay in money or labor is large or small. Large outlay should mean large or quick results; small outlay slight or slow and inexpensive re- suits
 Those who have ample working cap- ital and labor will be most interested in intensive methods, others in slower methods.
 Among the crops which afford sal able products worth considerable per acre are most horticultural crops, as Irish and sweet potatoes. canteloupes. strawberries, peaches, etc; sugar cane, pop corn, broom corn. All of these rec quire more skill and experience in working than the group below. One acre of the above might well take the place of two to five acres of cotton. Among the crops which can most easily be grown on the displaced cot ton areas and which afford products l easily salable are corn, oats, wheat, cowpeas for hay or for seed, peanuts for sale, Johnson grass, alfalfa and other hay plants.
 From this list can be chosen crops that will suit every soil and method of farming, and to this latter class of crops especially corn, small grains and cowpeas. several millions of addition al acres might we'll be devoted. A still larger area should be given to crops for home consumption, since in this group are included the pasture and hay plants grown for the produc- tion of animal products. and the whole subject of animal industry Foremost among the animal products of which we in Alabama need immensely to in- crease our output are pork. mules, beef horses. eggs and poultry. butter, mutton, wool, and honey and wax Foremost among the crops needed to supply the domestic animals with sus- tenance are peanuts (for hogs) cow peas, sorghum, alfalfa, Johnson grass, and other hay crops, and pastures of Bermuda, carpet grass, lespedeza, etc. There were never before so many in- centives for farmers to engage in stock raising as are now presented in the present low price of cotton, the relative low price of thoroughbred beef cattle for breeding purposes. the high prices of valuable hogs, mules. and horses, the growing scarcity of labor, the increasing impoverishment of the