Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1905-03-04
THE COTTON SITUATION.
A Limited Area Under Good Culture
IL Again the Proposed Remedy.

Is Again the Proposed Remedy.
While the present condition of the
cotton market is serious and discour-
"a iCS. perhaps tie most serious prob
lem is yet in the future, the prospects
for the next crop. l believe the farm
ers who have sold part of their last
years crop could stand the present
prices for the remnant still in their
hands and would let the same go to
sale il assured in regard to the market
for the present years prospective crop.
What should be done to cause reac-
/ ton and give assurance Of paying
prices next fall is the vital question
now awaiting an answer, says II. J..
Redding in Atlanta constitution, and
his own answer is as ,ollows:
After considering I evarious schemes
and plans for bringi about reaction
that Will carry price to or 10 cents,
the willingness of bakers to advance
money to farmers or warehouse re-
ceiptS, etc, it seems obvious that all
plans whatever will fail-must inevita-
bly, fail-that do not include settled
determination on the part of cotton
growers to very materially limit the
area of the next crop. Such determine
! ton should take sole, tangible shape
and not end in mere talk and viva voce
resolutions. The cotton men who ham
die the crop, the manufacturers who
work it up and all concerned in the
trade must have substantial reason to
believe that the farm ers are going to
do what they (some of them are ready
to swear they will do. The danger to
be feared i'm case the market shall
again be quoted at or 10 cents before
planting time needs hut to be merely
limited at
The Per Cent of Reduction.
l believe the reduction should be
greater than - per cent-not less than
33 per cent Indeed, / am not so sure
that one-half the area of last year will
not yield more money next fall than
any larger proportion. At a reduction
of % per cent it would be a compare
lively easy thing to reproduce the total
output of last yea~ by throwing out the
outlying poorer soils and concentrating
skill, labor and fertilizers on the small
er area. The very much more liberal
use of fertilizers last year was more
largely responsible for the big crop
than anything else within the farmers
control The good seasons pr; ably
had more to do with it than fertilizers.
and seasons and liberal fertilizing to-
gether We're far more influential than
the increased area compared with pre-
viouS years
The Strength, of IL, - pronos,fi,r
What the farmer Should do is to
largely diminish the area-say, 80 per
cent on the acreage-plant only good
land, fertilize literally and make a bet
ter yield per acre, thus reducing the
cost of production, while ct the same
time reducing the total amount pro-
duced and widening the margin be-
tween the cost of prediction and the
market price on m sides. The
strength of this co ation is largely
in the fact that any can ADOPT
the policy, as has been shown
III n Svions snrsf,iv ioLI waiting
for the cooperation other farm
er. Another stron ,ture is that
such policy is alw order-at II
times and in all place. il is the fri
damental principle that underlies scien-
titic intensive farming.