The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-03-14
BACK TO THE FARM
Il q Proposition That is Loaded and
should Not be Handled Too Care
i%Southern Pines Tourist.)

sjnce the remarkable land boom set
in in this section.
Back TO the land is a good scheme.
Too many people go to the towns and
too few of them take to an intelligent
effort at making IA living and a home
in the country. But, unfortunately,
it is not every man who can go 10 the
land and command success.
TO own and operate a farm means
. certain capital to invest. A farm
Of q hundred acres cannot be bought
with buildings and equipment, for less
han two or three thousand dollars
and from that away up into the thou
sands. Most people who WGuld go
hack to the land do not have that
money to invest.
Then. when the farm is bought, the
question of subsistence until a crop is
made is Il very persistent one. You
can't go to a farm and begin to draw
3our wages at the end OF the hrst
Week.
Paw day on the farm in most cases
comes at the close of the harvest.
Some farms are SO conducted that pay
,4av comes at all times of the year, but
such a farm must be a dairy farm, a
poultry farm, or sometnlns OF that
sort. which requires a higher order OF
ability and a greater capital. A dairy
farm means a number Of cattle, and
it takes time to build up such a farm.
with a lot of costly experience, and
a lot Of failure along with what sue
cess is achieved.
fruit plantation is another alluring
form of farming, but it takes money
and time to establish. and ability to
make it a success. Truck ar1nln
is another specialized farm that takes
experience, money and time.
All of these forms of farming are
profitable and satisfying when estab-
1i1ta1 onJ f3y IN no nrpfarrp6 10 ANY,
thing that can be undertaken in the
city for the average man
have always cOntended that the
same amount Of effort expended on
the farm will bring a greater financial
return than it will in the city or town,
and an infinitely greater return of
happiness and ~contentment, which is
the chief factor in existence. But the
trouble is to get the farm and to learn
the trade Of farming, for to own and
operate a farm takes money and
knowledge.
AS yet farms are not out of the
range Of the man Of modest means
il he will work, for in my section
lands are to be had for seven or eight
dollars an acre, and in some places
FOR less money. The man h will
buy himself q lot and put up his
buildings and who cares to work Tor
his neighbor until he can get his
land into shape stands a pretty talr
chance to get ahead on q farm, and
with children to help him and to grow
up with the farm the prospects should
be pretty good for him. Later they
will be less attractive, because and
will go higher steadily and rapidly
from now on, for the free farm lands
Of the country are exhausted while
the need for farms is increasing faster
than ever.
In this section cotton is the chief
staple, and it is a good crop to raise.
for it is always ash and with intel
iigent work a good yield is quite GER
tain. But cotton. like an other good
things, takes capital. A cotton farm
needs tools, horse or mule power, and
work. The man who is willing to
learn how to raise cotton, who has
money enough to buy his farm and to
equip it, and who can tide himself
over a season until he can harvest a
crop is probably safer in embarking
on cotton raising than on any other
line of farming, for cotton is raised
on the cheap lands, and is a staple
crop that is always in demand.
Ii the North understood the cult
Walton of cotton as it is understood
by the people Of the South this State
would be overwhelmed before the END
OF another Year by Northern farmers
coming this way to open cotton pianta-
mons. L know OF no other crop thai
As 50 satisfactory to cultivate on a big
scale in an intelligent manner
L do not know Of IN other crOp that
IS as sure to max something as cot
ton. A failure Of the crop is a rarity
The return from an Indifferent crop
may not be big, but it is quite sure
TO be something. A corn crop or &
wheat crop may be 4 practical failure
put a cotton crop will always try tc
give some return. A little starved, lear
stalk, six inches high, will put forth
us blossoms and riDen a boil or tive
with the same hopefulness that a -four
loot stalk ripens its score Of hollis
ana the boil on the little plant makes
prime cotton just as the bolls on the
oig stalk Will.
n discouraged corn stalk will make
d hubDln, or nothing, but the hopeful