Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1906-01-31
The Science of Farming.

1.-THE science of farming is in its in
fancy" so declares Captain T. J.
James, of Emanuel County, Ga, one of
our largest and most successful farm
ers, reports the Southern Cultivator.
Captain James Y Il have built and
operated railroads, ~merchandized and
am now devoting myself to farming.
While l have made a success in all
three callings, it takes more brains to
farm than to pursue any other calling:
to do it in the most successful manner.
New things and new methods come up
continually for solution, and there are
many problems to be solved yet I'M
thought of. AS an example Of how
things change, the first fertilizer I ever
used I bought from John Merryman &
Co., Of Maryland; then they COM
menced to manufacture it at Savannah,
and 1 bought it there. Now 1 manufac-
ture it upon my w farm"
Captain James makes 800 bales Of
cotton a year, and says: Il have put
it into Harvie Jordan's hands for ff-
teen cents" He also raises plenty OF
corn and feed for his plantation. We
delight in meeting with farmers OF
Captain James calibre, and We also
like to see them making a success Of
farming upon a large scale; then we
like equally as well to meet and hear
the experience Of some farmer, who.
though upon Il small scale. is making
a success and is stamping his individ-
uality indelibly upon his farm and is
making an impression for good upon
his community. The other day we got
acquainted With such Il man in the
person of Mr.. P. E. Duffey. Of Clayton
ton ran about as follows: "When I
came of age. l did like so many Of our
young men in the country. I came to
Atlanta to hunt for a Job. but they
treated me with so much Indifference
and insolence that l went home and
swore an oath that I would never ask
another man for work. l took a mule
and wagon and hauled some wood for
my first money: the next year I farned
on halves. In two years [ saved S400.
and took this money and went to school
to get a better education. Then l Went
back to farming. I have 250 acres of
land all paid for, and I am making 4
good living. I rent out a seyen-horse
farm and tend about twenty acres for
my w crop. l have my terraces set
in fruit trees and from them sell about
800 worth of fruit a year. [. used 10
wonder how it was that the people up
Northwest could raise corn at thirty
Ave cents per bushel and make money,
while We could not raise it at seventy
five cents. l found when 1 went up
there it was all in the way they ploWed
and cultivated it. BY using gang plows
and %cultiyators one man was enabled TO
do more work than three down with
US. So I got me better tools. AS an
example, I had a boy helping me last
year who cost me thirty cents a day
and board. In one day we put five
acres in wheat, and in another day we
Bowed the same five acres in peas and
sorghum after the wheat; so at all
expense of sixty cents for labor l
made two good crops on five acres OF
land" his sounds very mucn IKE
business to us. .-.
NJ Now. such as this, should give our
farmers food for thought. Though
5000 years old, u farming is in its in
fancy when it comes to the use of bet
ter methods and real scientific and
most successful operations. And
whether We take it upon a large scale,
as in the case of Captain James, or
get down close to Mother Earth. doing
with our own hands as with Mr..
Dufey, the fact still confronts US, that
there is much to learn, more to do,
and still many things untried and yet
undiscovered. So let us start in this
year for more light and better efforts.