Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-10-23
|IVING COTTON
PROBLEM
.,:so If Louisiana Man De-
|scribes How They Evaded
One Crop System.

,,orous plans have been evolved
Nu u,ro the problem of the small cot
~ ~ % grower, but none contains more
you sonse than a letter from Mrs.
palu pust. the wife of a Louisiana
iormer. appearing in recent issue
la liz .ha arkansas Farmer and Home
o. Oh -. The letter is not one of sug-
steaa, # is a record OF what the
s gas,s suffered while they followed
Nv one-crop system, how they got
eway from it, and how they have
aohieyed better success since. The
accommodation is pregnant with infor
o sat;on that can be used by other vic
Inns If the one-crop, hit-or-miss farm
ing mistake.
Here it is in full:
m the Editor: The editor says he
nrefers letters from those who can
p,ow better than they can write. Since
cannot write much nor pillow at all,
I suppose this debars me from this
denartment. But, Mr.. Editor, my hus-
hand and I are business partners. We
road the farm papers together, and
,nanv are the times that I am able to
helm him to decide on important issues
If farming. Until the boil weevils
came. we, like many other farmers.
mined our faith to King Cotton.
We kept scrub stock, bought sup
niles ION time," and shaved all the
year to pay the bills in the fall. While
we bought goods this way, I never
INDUCED in fnery for myself and
children. There was never yard Of
lace or ribbon or pair of patent
leather shoes on the books against me.
II never seemed consistent to me to
see children beribboned and believer
ed. while their fathers sweated be-
tween the pillow handles to pay ror
such things.
When the weevils came, we turned
our attention to raising something to
cat. Little by little we got good stock.
Jersey COWS, Poland China hogs and a
fine brood mare. The orchard. the
garden and potato patches got most
of the attention that had formerly
been bestowed on cotton.
We make more cotton now than We
ever did in those hard years, but, it
never costs anything except the labor
we put on it, so We can afford to hold
or sell it as we choose. We never use
commercial fertilizer, as this adds no
permanent benefit to the land.
We save the stable and COW lot ma
nure and pillow it under here and there
where land needs it most. Cotton is
never planted on the same piece Of
land two years in succession, and peas
are always planted in the corn.
There is more judgment in prepar-
ing a good seed bed and cultivating ill.,
diligently tina min risking money for
fertilizer to be applied to that crop OF
Chance"
We can't afford to plant much cot
ton because the children must be kept
in school, A big cotton crop means
slavery to the youngsters. We can
hundreds of jars of fruit and vegeta-
bles every year and keep the garden
growing vegetables practically all the
year round.
From one good brood SOW we made
plenty of meat and lard to do US last
year and sold $500 worth of fresh
meat. We sell from $4,000 to $4,000
worth of cows every year. In Janu-
airy of this year we sold heifer for
$4,000. A fe wweeks ago We sold
COW and calf for $4,000. In the pas
ture are two mares with fine colts.
From a piece of land that would not
grow good crops of cotton or corn we
cut eleven big loads of pea vine and
peanut hay. Every acre that was
planted in cotton this year will be
planted in rye when the cotton Is
gathered.
This we will use for winter pasture
and pillow under next spring before
planting corn. ] hove forty young
chickens that were Matched in August,
and my Rhode Island Red pullets are
laying fine. This is the way We 1--we
at home from one years end to anoth-
err
We are never too busy in the field to
take day off no wand then and go
fishing with the children, or spend
the day at the fair. Long live the
Arkansas Farmer and the helpful let
ters in Every Day DOings."
I0niSjano MpC n III RJ1SN