Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1913-11-28
THE ONE HORSE FARMER.

friends referred to him the
other day, half in jest and per-
haps the other half in earnest,
as "a one horse farmer" The
designation as Zone horse" APP
piled to farmers, merchants,
preachers, editors, lawyers and
all is used as term of derision,
applied to people who do but
little and do that little not well.
The expression, originated some
where in the misty past, per-
haps after the war, when there
were so many white and colored
men in the South compelled to
farm with a single horse, mule
or in many instances an OK, and
not very good OK at that. Many
of the best farmers of the present
day in the South, made their
start with lone horse" They
did the best they could, and de-
serve praise. The Southern
Planter and Progressive Farmer,
have had a good deal to say, first
and last, deprecating and berat-
ing the lone horse farmer" of
today, a few of which class still
remain Ito remind us of the
past" There is a difference
however, between the lone
horse farmer and farmers with
one horse. Many of this latter
class are doing good farming to-
day, and many farmers with
two or more horses are doino
mighty sorry farming, living a
slip shod, hand to mouth ex-
istence. The number of horses
seem to make but little differ
ence. Now, the editor of tbs
paper acknowledges that he is a
farmer with one horse, but not
"a one horse farmer. If Il man
with only one horse, makes 100
bushels of corn on one acre of
land, and the man with two or
more horses makes 100 bushels
on d or 5 acres, then which is
the lone horse farmer" The
number of horses on the farm is
no index to the rating. We know
of a number of farmers whose
horses are eating their heads
off" all the time. Scarcely corn
and oats enough are made to
feed them. These farmers are
pursuing the old methods. Truth
is, they have no fixed methods. "
They go it blind. They never
read. They do Just as their
fathers and grandfathers before
them did, and are making not SC
much, for in those ola days the
land was fresh and strong. We
know of fields which have been
planted regularly to corn for
years, with little or no manure
applied, no green crop ever
turned under. One of these
1.-TWO horse" farmers throws
the stable manure out through a
hole into the stable lot and
scatters lime over it heavily,
which, he says makes the
manure rot, "the lime eats il,
and pulverizs it and rots it,
Along in the spring he will rush
it out on the stalk land, turn il
under with a shallow running
pillow. harrow the ground once
with an old, dull, snaggle-tooth
"a" harrow, plant corn, Just
any kind of corn that looks
sound, pillow his corn with long
bull tongue or shovel plow two
or three times, "lay it by"and
in the fall gather about 20 or 2E
bushels of corn per acre. He is
doing the best he knows how,
but we insist that he is a type
and forceful illustration of the
real lone horse farmer" His
neighbor, just across the fence
the same kind of land, hired one
horse broke his land and harrow.
ed it properly. After that he
didn't need but his one horse.
With an adjustable cultivatol
ne ran once In q r0W-only now
and then had to run twice
plowed four times as much corr
in a day as his two horse neigh.
Dor and did it better, and had
only one horse to feed When
his corn was laid by" he soweC
crimson clover or rye or both in
front of his cultivator, or sowed
wheat and clover. His one horse
with one-horse disk, did tho
work. A one horse wagon haulec
his corn and fodder to the barn.
and he had only one horse tc
feed during the winter. Now,
which is the lone horse farm.
err" We don't say that he could
not have done much better with
two horses. We only mean tt
say, that good farming. success.
full farming. as it goes, does moi
6depend solely upon equipment
rs it is called. Good teams
Millinery, tools etc., are moi