Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-02-22
a miLllosA,aE 4ARmIa.
ssHew Col. James N. Smith, OF Georgia, has
Shown What May be Done In Agriculture.

y lHarry H1ouBsOu, III Ln6 WOflQS Work. !
Millionaires who have won their
wealth by farming are few, for men
are rare who can make a farm an in
stitution. 1t is therefore not strange
that Col. James M. Smith, of Georgia,
is considered, perhaps, the most re-.
markable man in the State. He
began to grow corn and cotton in
Oglethorpe county directly after the
war. The result of his first years
work was loss OF $400. Now his
net earnings are more thar SlJ0, 900
a year. Yet this is hn5 one measure
afa singulariy successful life. For
= lol. jim" or sMarse Jim," as he is
affpctionately called, has shown what
may be done nSouthern agriculture,
and he has made Smithsonia, his
farm, monument 10 an individual
kind Of unusual efficiency.
His first years farming, on sixty
five acres, about ten miles from
Athens, resulted in a yield of two
bales of cotton and fifty bushels of
aorD-an Improbable crop, though
cotton was then worth az cents a
pound and corn So bushel. That
was in 1866, when the land was de-
pleted and drought had blighted
the crops so that many farmers made
no attempt to harvest the little that
grew. Last year there was produced
on his $4,000 acres, much of which is
in timber and pasturage, 5000 bales
of cotton, $4,000 bushels of corn,
10000 bushels of wheat, $4,000
bushels of oats, 5000 bushels of
= cowpeas, 5000 bushels of sweet
potatoes, 10000 bushels of turnips
and 500 tons of hay and forage. But
this is not all. On his highly diver
sified farm he raises great numbers
of hogs, beef cattle, etc., and his
dairy turned out last year more than
10000 pounds of butter.
Facts like these tell the story of
his achievement. He has wrested
prosperity from devastation. He is
now GA years old. His life has been
one long struggle, and the habit of
fighting through difficulties has so
fixed itself upon him that he cannot
shake it off. Though possessed of
great fortune, he still works as if his
very life depended upon it. On his
front porch, all through the day and
often until after midnight, Col. Smith
receives couriers with reports from
all parts of the farm, and here he
gives them his orders to carry back.
For several years Col. Smith has re-
ceived more than 100000 for his
lint cotton every year. His cotton
seed also yields him very large re-
turns. And when other products are
to be bought or sold there are always
a number of traders on hand. Large
sales of farm supplies Of all sorts are
made to him at frequent intervals,
and in nearly every case the seller
has many trips over the country
roads before he closes the contract.
On the farm itself one of the note
worthy features of administration is
the treatment accorded the laborers.
His are among the freest and hap
Spiest laborers in this country, and
yet they are like the ante. bellum
slaves in their dependence upon their
employer. He directs their work
with fatherly kindness. He keeps
them busy and provides them with
comfortable homes and clothing.
They seldom leave him, but stay as
his tenants for long terms of years.
Col. Smith maintains on the farm six
schools, three for negroes, three for
the white children. During the
echool season every child is encour-
aged and given every opportunity to
attend.
Another notable feature of Smith
onia one finds in Col. Smiths meth
ods. Some seem wasteful of time
and labor. One sometimes sees forty
women and children failing seed
from amber cane, when two men and