The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-10-11
C0TIM GROWING n the GAIA.

: the course nf a private conversation
recently gave some interesting views
says the Delta Register, as 10 thu
cotton growing situation in the Del
ia. Some Of bis views are in accord
with local traditions; others are sur.
prisingly at variance with them
AS Prof. Fox has made good as a
farmer and has the greatest influ-
ence with the planters about Stone.
vile, his views are we'll worth
quoting.
u am convinced of one thing
said the professor, in the course Of
his conversation, "apd that is that
we shall not have any great changes
in the labor situation in the Delta
for many years, and that our general
methods of cotton growing will re.
main practically the same for a long
time to come, The negro-and re-
member that | am a native Missis-
sippian-is not so bad as he is
painted. On the whole | think he
works pretty well, and when you
stay behind him and give him a
good chance be will make some
thing for himself and you too.
THE great trouble today on the
large farms is that they are not in
the hands of men who will get
things done. This eternal procas-
tlnatlon on the part of managers
accounts for a great many bales
shortage; and the managers as a
rule are SC anxious to stand in with
the negroes that they don't carry
out your instructions unless YOU
keep right in behind them and see
that the thing is done.
II am wholly unable to see WHY a
we'll drained plantation containing
good land and well farmed should
ever lose money in the Delta. We
always get enough good weather to
make a fair crop always; a cotton
crop in twenty days of fair weather
can take on enough fruit to make a
fairly good crop, and if Won watch
closely, you will find that | am
right. A careful investigation has
convinced me that the larger part of
our August shedding is caused by
ploughing deep around the roots of
the matured plants. 1t is only in a
very few extreme cases that a turn
plough can be used after the plant
is twelve inches high.
But the main trouble in the Del
ia today is that the planters, al
though they know its value, will not
use enough peas. Good land, that
is the secret of successful cotton
growing after all, and l don't call
any man a good farmer in the Delta
who cannot average three-fourths of
a bale to the acre. There are a few
who are doing this, and they are
making money every year. But a
planter ought, on this Delta land,
to go after a bale to the acre.
I'VE must not lose sight of the
fact that it takes capital to grow
cotton-capital, and good mules and
tools, and plenty of scraper bitches,
and plenty Of day hands-day hands
at a dollar a day, too. They will
pay so long rs cotton is 10 cents a
pound! and the planters around
Stoneville are now convinced that
on good drained land, day hands
will pay handsomely. The planter
who has the labor, and who keeps
right after his crop from March I'M
September win always have a
crop to show for his work and
trouble.
1T takes a very remarkable man
to manage well one of these big
Delta plantations, and as a rule
they are far from managed. Ny
opinion is that a farm ranging in
size from 200 to 500 acres when
well managed, but | never saw
many men who had the capacity to
run a 500 acre farm we'll"
That the professor is right in all
Of his contentious, there can be no
As one rides over the big
plantations, one sees, even in the
very best years, crops which are
badly spotted; here a good CROP,
there a crop which will not pay rent,
lesc a stora account And ~