The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1913-06-28


ton. For .25 years the writer has been
citizen of the State of Missouri. At
the present date he farms in Louisi-
ana, in Missouri, and in Wyoming, and
believes he is pretty we'll posted on
farming conditions in the different
parts of America. We cut out Wyom-
ing because there our business is main
ly cattleraising, using government land
for summer pasturage, and too far
from the South to apply. In Missouri
we practically cannot plant an oat in
the fall at all. 1t will winterkill so
many seasons as to make it not worth
while All of our oats there must be
planted in the spring. We must rush
into the fields before they have gotten
dry enough to pillow and content our
selves with the meagre preparation
that little disking will do and this
only on land that has been cleanculti-
waited the year before, planted in corn
| for instance We plant these oats with
drill According to the latest sta
| tistics before us, an average of five
years shows cost of $500 an acre to
grow a crop of oats, and we think we
are very fortunate when we sell the
product for $500, our yield being about
% bushels to the acre, and our land
being worth nearly $4,000. AS mat
ter of fact, we do not believe the oat
crop in the United States is much of
paying investment for it's present grow
ers. 1t is simply matter of allowing
the farmer to swap little time that
he could not very we'll put in on any
thing else for a few hardearned dol
lars.
1t is a well-known fact that oats re-
quire and take more water out of the
ground than any other small grain.
Now, what do we find when we get to
the South? We find heavier rainfall
than in any other part of the country.
We find land worth from SIS to $50
an acre. We find practically all of it
bearing subsoil of such nature that
even the poorest can be wonderfully
improved by a few years of proper cul-
tivation. We believe there is scarcely
any land even in the poorest hills of
the South that will not yield 80 bush
els of oats to the acre every year If
properly cultivated, and the longer ii
is farmed the more it will yield.
We ourselves have grown 30 odd
crops of oats in the State of Louisiana
each crop covering from 100 to 300
acres. In the entire 80 odd consecu
tive years we have never had one sin
gle crop failure. We do not believe
that this record can be paralleled any
where else We are not now, and new
er have been, fancy farmers. We sim
, ply take the old red clay hills as Goo
made them, and as man with the acme
of abusive cultivation has left them
that is, pretty well denuded of all hu
mus. We take the much-abused negro
and we take two mules and the ordi
nary two-horse plow 1t has always
been our policy to take the mean.
that we find at hand and make sue
cess of them before we attempt radi
cal changes. We have not for year.
seen oats in the South sell for less
:, than 40c per bushel. They general.
sell higher.
:, In other words, while in the Yves
the cat crop is precarious crop cost
. ing $500 an acre, and at best sellin,
, for only $500, in the far South it is
i, crop that is almost absolutely certain
costs no more to raise than in tn
: State of Missouri, really less, and al
| ways oclto lOi IlOlO. pSoiuCS ello "
have an advantage in the South tina
. is possessed nowhere else. We cal
reap fair oat crop off this cheap Ian
and each year get reasonable Lespe
g deza hay crop off the same laad a
; very little additional expense.
+ There is no doubt that farming i
g the South even at the present day pre-
t sents the best financial opportunitie
v of general agriculture anywhere on tn
e face of the earth. BY general agricu
i ture we mean to except such farmer
n as the princes of the sugar estates c
l. Hawaii, or even our own sugar baron
G. of Louisiana, and irrigated farms. {
3. course. We are not speaking of thes
d gentlemen in derogatory sense, BIT
g. the advantages and opportunities thu
If they have enjoyed so far in the cours
t. of civilization have certainly been g
q exceptional as not to be considered a
u applying in the rule at all. What "
v have said about raising oats and LIE
s. pedeZa hay on Southern soil undt