The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-12-21
II CUT OF DEBT.
PrOgresSiVe Farmer.l

the ten banks in Halifax county N g
have one million dollars on deposit.
o Halifax is a county with no large
towns, and most Of this money prob
ably belongs to farmers. 1t has been
comparatively a few years since Hall
lax had even one bank, and it shows
we'll for the increasing prosperity in
North Carolina that she now has ten
banks.
What is true Of Halifax is true near
1y every county in North Carolina, and
In many other parts OF the cotton
country. North Carolina has been for
tunate this year in having rather q
better cotton crop than most OF the
other cotton States. The country
banks everywhere in the South have
large deposits belonging to farmers
and this being the case, can there ever
be a better time for the farmers to
get out of debt and on u firm cash
basis?
The mar who now clears off his
debts and goes to work to farm right
ca easily keep out of debt. He may
not see Il great profit in feeding cat
IL in winter, but the cash in spring
will make him independent Of the fer
tlllzef man, for he can get what he
needs for a lower price than the man
who has to go in deb for it, and he
VIII nave the manure to enrich his
land and make him still more indie
pendent OF the fertilizer man.
I have no quarrel with the manu-
facturers of fertilizers. They are, and
will always be, necessary; but what we
want IS to see our Southern farmers
and the slaviSh devotion to fertiI-
iZers merely for the ri Of squeez-
ing q little more sale crop from the
land II leaving it worse than be-
fore. We want to see them use the
cheaper forms OF plant food that they
must buy in a more liberal manner
for the increased production OF legu-
Ininous forage and the ma king,
through the aid Of his, OF more ma
nure from well-fcd cattle. We want
to see them having something to sell
all the year through and ready at
all times to pay cash for labor and
everything else needed to make crops.
I know a prosperous section where
the banks are full Of the money Of
m and where. when a town mer-
chant wants to borrow money, he goes
to the farmers for it. And these farm
ers have nice homes, big barns, fine
stock. and buy less fertilizers than
the cotton farmers do. while their
lands have steadily increased in pro-
ductivcness. Here, on land that was
in my m considered about
. worthless. a farmer made this wear
over 1900 bushels of corn on thir-
teen acres of land from a tu~rned-down
crop CT crimson clover, and that farm
er invested some of his profits in a
farm in another part Of the county
for $4,000 cash, and all made at
farming.
Tibet farmer is a money-lender and
makes a small fortune every year be-
cause he farms and does not go in
debt. He works se~venty-five hands
on his various farms all summer and
twenty III winter. and if you should
talk to him about a tWO-hOrse farm or
q fOur-hOrSe farm he would not know
what you mean, for he works all the
horses he needs all the time and fig
ures on the amount of work to be
done rather than on the number Of
acres to a mule.
Now that prosperity has come to the
Southern farmers, why should they
stay in debt and let their money lie
in the bank bringing no interest? II
you have gotten out of debt. now is
The time TO stay out. Instead OF add
Ing more acres. put your means into
t@.e Improvement of the acres you
have, be they many or few. What we
Eeei Is not more land i'll cotton. bu'
more cotton on every acre and fewer
acres in the crop and more in the
auxiliary crops that will help us gee
more money at different seasons and
thus keep out % debt. A farmins
community that remain in debt these
times is a community that has no
risen to its opportunities. When l sec
a farmers WACO backed up to a sup
ply store and loading bales Of hay and
bales of c~OttOnSeed hulls, / knOw tina
there Is q man in debt, q man who il
simply growing cotton for the mer'
chant and who belongs to the mer
chant and fertilizer man as much q!
IF a bill Of sale had been signed fo1
him. I do not need to see that mans
cotton nor his corn, for / know tha
the man who buys feed for his stocl
has little stock to feed and little ma
nure to enrich his land, and that ma,
nurc OF the poorest quality, like hi
stock.
~ A.InH I meet q man on the Road