The Southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1895-1909, 1907-12-14

ihE PRACTICAL FARMER M SOME SOUTH
4 FARM PROBLEMS.

Two Glasses Of Farmcrs.-There are farmers
who do not think that a farmer can learn from
reading and hearing lectures. men who consider
All who would help them as theorists when the
most practical men in the world are the Station
Investigators who guess at nothing but prove all
Things IN n practical way. while the men who do
not believe In book farming are found guessing NJ
everything.
Al an Institute In one OF the dairy counties in
pennsylvania met a man OF this class. He said
that he only came out TO hear what We had to saw.
Tor no knew his business better than any profess
sr could teach him. He said that he sold more
mix than any OF his neighbors. but when | asked
him whether every COW he had was paying or
was merely n boarder. and how much It cost him
10 produce a dollars worth Of milk. he knew moth
'ng about H. He said that he grew tho roughage
and bought bran and grain and fed tho cows and
soid the milk and. In fact. he did not know
"h''hef ne was making money or losing II. We
got him Interested In these questions and he went
home with some new ideas working In his mind.
Hut tho great difficulty Is that We cannot get
this class OF men out n, the Institutes. and cannot
induce them 10 read the farm papers. Old men
Who do not want to learn how to make their
farming more profitable arc hard TO move. but
the young men of the South are waking up every
where TO tho grea, possibilities OF farming here.
and they arc TO make the agriculture of tho fu-
,ure.
\ Good Lesson Taught by Low Cotton.-One
OF tho difficulties in tho South when cotton brings
a fair rric" is tina, men will 20 on planting only
cotton and planting II on land that could not DO
cultivated in cotton IL the price was low. When
The price Is good our farmers get very optimistic
and forget that the price may drop and leave
them with all their eggs In tho one basket. The
fact In. that the low price OF cotton some years
back did more for improved and diversified farm
Ing In tho South than anything that ever hap
pened.
All Cotton IN Poor Dcpcndcncc.-Stitl there are
many farmers who learned then the value OF ro-
tatirc farming who have stuck To II. and to-day
arc tho men who would not be ruined II cotton
went down TO tho old level o. hard times. Farm
or. like Mr.. Broom would not be ruined II cot
ton wen, to seven cents. but unfortunately. there
ar" thousands of others with unimproved lands
and small crops who arc entirely dependent on
cotton. TO whom seven cents for cotton would
mean dire suffering. And yet. these are the very
men whom We md most dinfcult TO reach and to
persuade into better practices. There Is no better
money crop In tho country than cotton when
grown right. and there In no poorer dependence
for a poor man than all cotton and poor land.
Cottons"ci Meal for Horscs.-Iave you tried
feeding co,,onsccd meal TO horses and mules? We
have. and think II pays. Begin with n small
handful mixed with other feed and gradually In
crease up Ia a pound n day. Many feed more
than that with good results. And while YOU are
Mt II. do not be afraid To give the cattle some OF
III" meal also: II viii help them.
=
The Cropping System In the South.-The crop
per and the crop lien should both be abolished.
for the croppcr would be better on working for
cash wages. the land owners would be better OF
In getting him removed from competition. and the
land would be better of to grow up In pines than
to DO scratched In cotton year after year till even
II darkey will not take 1t. Or. Crawford was right
In what he said n few weeks ago about the crop
lien. The bane of the whole Cotton Belt Is the
cropping system. and tho sooner a permanent ten
ant nyatcm IL inaugurated. in which the tenant Is
made to farm the land properly. the better It will