Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1910-02-23
HOW TO VALUE FARM LANDS.
Advance In Next Fivo Years will he
Equal to that of Past Twenty.
augusta Chronicle.) }

\<hu6uoCtt SuiollClS.)
Newspapers throughout the South
have joined with the Chronicle in ad-
vising Southern farmers against SELL
tng-givlng away would be the bet
ter term-their lands. The Green's
boro, N. c., Record. referring to the
Chronicles editorial on this subject,
has the following to say:
THE Augusta, Ga, Chronicle wants
to know why so many farmers In that
State are advertising their lands for
sale-most Of them at very low fig
ures. 1t says that 1t carries many
OF these advertisements and has
never understood 1t. 1t Is strange,
FOR the farmer who knows how to
farm Is making money. One case Is
cited by the Chronicle where a Geor-
gia farmer raised, this year, 147
bales OF cotton on 1870 acres, together
with so bushels of corn on 10 acres
Here was gross return Of not less
than $4,000 from lao acres of Geor-
gia land, or an average yield Of APP
proximately $G5 per acre. Why a
farmer who Is farmer, fairly we'll
situated, wants to sell out we are
unable to say, unless it is that he
wants to move to town'-the very
last place he ought to go If he wants
TO live. OF course not every man
knows how to farm. Some Of them
are untiring workers, but they do not
know how to work. They take every
thing from the land, and then won
der why 1t Is unproductive. Land
must be fed just as a horse or COW.
one man In this county last fall rails
ed 720 bushels Of corn on ten acres,
but he knows how to farm"
The day Is near at hand when the
farmers Of the South will regret hay
ing parted with their lands-but it
will then be too late. Lands that
they now let go for five and ten dol
lars an acre will be worth forty, fifty
and sixty dollars an acre, or even
more.
Sundays Chronicle carried the
'three-column advertisement OF a we'll
known local real estate dealer, Offer
Ing for sale just so farms in Geor-
gta and South Carolina near Augusta.
Two-thirds Of these farms were Offer
ed at an average price Of $40 per
acre Some we're offered at as low
figure as four and five dollars per
acre. Think Of it-four and five dol
lars per acre for farm lands. when
white sand is worth fifty cents per
two-horse wagon load for building
purposes.
We are, Of course, not trying to
interfere with this real estate mans
business. or any other real estate
man S business, but We do say that
the farmers Of the South are simplv
giving away their lands. We would
go even further and venture the as
with which to buy every one Of those
81 farms, and should take them all
at the price placed upon them with
OUT looking at them. he would more
than double his money on the entire
purchase within the next four or five
years.
RlSnt mere let lis cal! the Southern
farmers attention to the Western
farmers method Of valuing his land.
Land is worth, according to the West
crn farmers and real estate man s
way OF valuing it, whatever it will
pay ten per cent net on---that Is to
say, II he gets $50 net from an acre,
mat acre OF land Is valued at $500
II ne gets 500 net per acre, he val
ue5 that acre at 5 200, and so on.
1t makes no difference what is on
the land, whether an orange grove. a
feld OF Strawberries, or whether any
thlng at all-the value Is based on a
ten per cent net earning basis.
On the same basis, then. what is
an acre OF Southern cotton land now
worth? If an acre Southern land
Will grow bale of cotton, worth 500
and it costs $40 to raise that bale
the net return Is $40, or ten per cent
on 5000. so that the land is still
worth 5000 per acre. II it Is land
that will grow only half a bale to the
acre, making net return of $40 per
acre, then the land Is worth 500 per
acre. Surely there is very little farm
land in the South, whether cotton
land or corn land. that will not paw
net return Of s. per acre if even
:.alf-way cultivated. Then, accord
ing to :hc Western farmers method
OF vaiuing his land, that land IS worth
$40 per acre. And the truth of the
matter Is. there Is mighty little farm
ana in the South that isn't worth $50
an acrc--and Up.
we are to-day selling lands in the
South at 50 an acre that are worth
go, ana at $50 an acre that are
worth 500. while our $50 an acre
land Is not worth less than 5000 an
acre--and all Of it will be selling for
even higher prices within the next
ten years.
ms may sound cxtravagant now.
pht IL won ten years from now.
Nothlhg Is so certain to enormously
increase IN value during the next 30
years as the cheap farm lands Of the
Houth. and the increase will, in all
probability, be as great within the
I, H..
paa, twenty. 1t is foolish to part
WIN farm lands at double the price
thcy are now selling at.