The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-02-04


needs demonstrator 10 show him
how to farm with a two-horse culti-
Vator. l know farmers who have
used the tWo-horse cultivators for al
most generation, and they do not
make failures, for they would con-
slider anything less than rs bushels Of
; corn an acre nearly a failure. And
these men not only take a farm pa
per, but half a dozen Of them, and
read them, and if any one told them
that a two-horse cultivator would
make their crops failure they would
! think he should be in a lunatic hos
pital.
Going back to the old way, rob-
bing the land and gambling on the
chances with a little fertilizer, put
ting a hand to every mule and taking
: more time to cultivate a field than
one man would need who rides on a
two-hcrse cultivator and does the
work letter. Going back to the old
way with ono mule to Boy Dixie
plow TO break the land; going back
to the old way and ceasing to study
anything about his business going
back to the old way and having an
empty pocket in the spring and hav-
ing to borrow money to start a cotton
crop; going back to the old way and
getting bale out Of half a dozen
acres; going back to the old way and
leaving his outbuildings without white
wash or repairs; going back to the
old way and raising no legume forage
and feeding no cattle. May Heaven
help such a man; we can not.
There are more real lessons pub
! lished in the Progressive Farmer than
in any other paper / have ever read"
What a contrast Here is a man
who reads and studies his profession.
i wonder if a two horse cultivator
ever ruined his crop? l will wager
that every member Of his family takes
an interest in reading The Progress
i've Farmer and other farm papers.
and l would like to See the two farms
Of the man whose family takes no in
terest in the paper and the man who
finds real lessons in it. On the one
l would, doubtless, find a man who
thinks that farming does not pay, and
on the other would find a man en-
deavoring to take every chance to i'm
prove his land and develop it's produc-
tiveness. l would expect to find an
intelligent family, all Of whom read
the paper, and good books and take
and interest, not only in them, but in
the improvement Of the home and it's
surroundings. l would see no thought
Of going back to any old way but a
hopeful looking forward to growth on
the farm and intellectual improve
ment in the family.
What would be the state Of affairs in
the South today if we all went back
brains and energy who have left the
old way that are making the new ag-
ricultural South today. 1t is the men
who are reading and studying farm
ing who are carrying forward the
wave Of progress in the South.
| hope that some intelligent neigh
Dor will buy that two-horse cultivator
from the man who has gone back to
the old way, and show him what a
good implement he abandoned, and
! how much he needs to learn about
farming. We can not Of course, be
of any help to a man who takes no
interest in reading the paper and
drops it because he has no interest in
1t, but we hope his class will soon dis
appear from the South and cease to
be lmpediments to progress The Pro
gressiVe Farmer, as its name indicates,
is the advocate of progress and not of
the "old way" That old way has
been tried, and it led to poverty and
debt. The new way leads to indie
pendence and plenty, and it is the
way for the progressive men on the
farms and their progressive families
Tor whom we are working. Those
that go back to the old way leave us;
Tor we have left the old way and are
looking forward to South that shall
lead the Nation in productiveness and
In all that makes for permanent pros
perity and indepcndence.-Pro
i've Farmer.