Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-01-13

/ 10 the cotton farmer, VINO mas
grown the tleecy staple all his life
and who knows the crop from A
to Il, there is no more attractive
business than the production OF
cotton at present prices and under
normal conditions there is prOba-
bly, no branch of Southern farm
ing which looks so mnch like
"easy money" as growing cotton
with the price ranging from IA
cents upward. Then, too, there
is probably no type of farming that
can be carried on with as small an
amount Of capital invested in tools
as can cotton production. Under
ordinary conditions the bulk of
the cotton crop is made with sin
gle plow and set of sweeps, the
simplest, crudest form of farm i'm
plements.
All this tens to make the aver
age cotton farmer pay little or no
attention toward the introduction
of tools or methods which will de
crease the cost of production. He
is very reluctant to attempt to di-
versify his crops and is satisfied
and content to let well enough
alone. To introduce new machin-
cry or change from the old way of
preparing and cultivating the soil
means a closer personal supervi-
sion and teaching of the labor,
and in many, perhaps it would be
safe to say, the majority of cases,
it will be necessary for the farmer
himself to devote a considerable
amount of time to the study of his
new machinery before he is cOmpe
tent to teach his labor how to
operate the same. But with the
boil weeViI within a few miles Of
us and likely to spread to the
Alabama line within the coming
wear, the farmer who is content to
keep on growing cotton in the old
way and to the exclusion of prac-
tically all other crops, is surely in
dangerous position. There is no
use trying to dodge the issue, how
ever, for with the majority a
change is going to be absolutely
necessary and it will be the height
of folly to try and persuade our
selves into believing otherwise.
We might just as we'll make up
our minds to face the issue square
ly and begin making changes NOW
if we expect to stay in the farming
business. If we put off attempt
ing any change until after the boil
wecvil is here we will find our
selves facing the same state OF af
fairs as are the farmers in sRme
portions of southwest Mississippi.
where there would have been prac-
tically a famine had they not
grown grain and food crops enough
to supply the home demand.
The coming of the boil weevil
not only means a decrease in the
yield of cotton to a point where it
can no longer be grown at a profit
under ordinary methods but it also
means demoralized labor, reduced
rent and, with many, ruined credit
unless some attempt is made to-
ward change of methods and a
general branching out into other
lines of agriculture.
If we insist in attempting to
grow nothing but cotton, and un-
der the old method, it will be but
short time before our labOrIwill
be able to pay rent and make a
living. With this condition ex-
listing it will be impossible to keep
what labor We now have. Rents
must be reduced in proportion to
the decrease in crop yields or the
labor will ''get up and go from
here and in the majority of cases
they will move any way. The ne
gro must be fed and clothed, and
if he cannot make enough out of
cotton to feed and clothe himself
he will move on to new territory.
The thing to do is to encourage
and offer him some inducement to
grow such other crops as will at
least give him something to live
on. In this the negro must have
the support of the man who is
backing him.