The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1908-04-01

wealth; freedom of the man that ulls
the soil will bring a prosperity such
as the south has never enjoyed, and
until the farmer is free from debt,
that freedom can not come. Diyersi-
cation will free any farmer from deOt
and nothing else will. Landlord, un-
Ill you demand a scientific diyersi-
fioation of your tenant, and permit
them TO supply the farm and home
with all things that can be grown
successfully in this state you will con-
tinue to have many acres lie idle year
after year. Upon YOU rests the re-
sponsibility of the success of the far
mer Of Oklahoma, of which you are
one and you can not escape this re-
sponsibility. This writer owns his
home and it is his only trouble to
hold the tenant down from 50 much
cotton and more of the things need
ed at home. Not one paper published
in Oklahoma but contains from one
column to a full page OF wind jam
ming about how wealthy the state,
and vast resources. Let a man come
from some north or east
state and almost his first
thought this, such wonderful
country and such poor farmers. And
the inquiry is why Is this SO? There
can be but one answer, and that is,
Too much land, too many mules and
too many ignorant farmers. AS in
dependent, progressive farmers and
as growers of diversified crops they
are as yet a failure and will DO for
some time to come. Extensive plant
ing of cotton, with acre yields rarely
exceeding one-half of the natural ca
pacity of the land, and yet enough
in the aggregate crop throughout the
south TO depress the price below cost
OF production. A mule is a hybrid.
incapable of reproduction and unfit
for the shambles; his only mission is
To eat, work and die. The mule must
eventually go in any well regulated
system of farming. The farmer must
learn that the farm animal must be
profitable in more ways than just To
work and die, the mule trade alone
has cost the farmers of Oklahoma
thousands of dollars annually, when
some of the finest horses in the un-
! Cotton must become a subordinate
crop, and mortgages and deeds of
trust obliterated from our public rec
ords ere the fullness of farming can
be realized. We have reached the
parting of the ways and must deter
mine whether We will cling to the old
! practices and become bankrupt or
vigorously grasp the changed condi-
| tions of development and grow rich
again. | said ignorant farmers-ig-
norance Of the methods of best rent
ers, and the land owners and those
who control farms among the first to
be condemned, year by year the lands
of this state are being robbed Of
! their productive values by the one
crop method; a rotation OF crops will
| bring about renewal of the soils
to that extent that one half of the
land now cultivated would double the
rental value OF every farm in the
state, a rotation can not be had with
more than one-fourth OF a farm de-
voted TO cotton, and the quicker We
come TO the one-fourth rule the
quicker emancipation will come TO all
who look to the farm for wealth and
happiness; this includes the merchant
the banker, the doctor. deacon and
preacher. Why all these classes do
not inaugurate a campaign against
the old ignorant methods | am not
able to understand.
One acre in peanuts will yield from
100 to las bushels at 75c to s1.00 per
bushel, which is a very reasonable
price: will give an income of 500 OF
more. This added TO the value of the