Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1914-10-21
Observation-Disclosures. .S..S.s$.S.S.s.-s.s.s.
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Progressive Farmer.)


there arises a multitude who would
ad:ise the farmer as to the proceed
ure he must follow to lead him out
of the wilderness. The exhortations
of some of these long-range agricul-
turists are funny. and would be
more so were it not for the bare DOS
sibility that some Of their advice"
might be followed by those who do
not know. First of all come those
who would have cotton farmers
everywhere turn to livestock farm
ing as plan Of salvation; then
there are the wheat enthusiasts who
assert that for cotton farmers to buy
their flour is all wrong, aud that our
lands are as good wheat lands as
those of the North; the tobacco ad-
vocates, who assert that tobacco is
the crop to turn to; the truck grow
ing apostles, who tell us Of the won
derful profits from cabbage and DO
tatoes; and final few admonish us
to put our faith in sugar beets, gin
seng, and kudzu, would we taste the
real joys of profitable husbandry.
We hate to say it, but the truth Is,
we believe, that these fellows are all
wrong. TO use a wartime phrase.
they've made tactical blunder
Livestock farming is splendid busi-
ness, and to those already success
fully launched in it we tender our
congratulations. Their profits in the
near future are sure to be satisfying
ly substantial. But--and here's the
rub--with seven-cent cotton and
scant credit, coupled with an igno-
rance of livestock farming, in pro-
fundity only rivaled by that of some
OF his long-range advisers, it's a lit
tie hard to see just how the all-his-
life all-cotton farmer is going to
make the transition. 1t takes money
to buy pure-bred beef and dairy ami
mails and to build silos al adequate
barns, and it takes knowledge that
is growth, an accretion that comes
from years Of study and experience,
rather than overnight.
Year in and year out the Progress
sive Farmer has advocated more
livestock for Southern farms. be-
cause We are certain that no section
of the United States to-day possesses
greater advantages than the South in
the economical production Of beef
and dairy animals and pork. Along
with these advantages, however, we
doubtless possess a smaller percent
age of farmers who really under
stand the business than any other
section of the country. For the av-
erage cotton farmer, then, we don't
see how changing to livestock is to
be the solution of the problem. Like
wise turning to truck or other crops,
of which we know little or nothing,
either in production or marketing, IS
all too likely to result in failure.
What, then, shall we do? To those
of our readers who are already inde-
pendent Of cotton we would extend
Fluctuations. To those that are not,
we commend the following, and lest
we fail in the category of the long
range, ill-advised advisers before re-
ferred to, we mOdestly affirm that we
have taken this medicine, and found
it good:
A good garden, with something
coming from it twelve months in the
year; liberal patch Of sorghum or
Louisiana cane for syrup, not forget
ting this fall q liberal supply Of seed;
not less than two or three good
brood sows; yard filled with we'll
housed, well-caredfor chickens, well
supplied this winter with green crops
to augment the egg crop and the
family income; two or three good
milk cows; a liberal acreage of fall
sown oats; cover crops on all lands
in order that fertilizer bills next
spring may be cut to a minimum:
plenty of corn, planted on rich land,
to supply the farm, with perhaps a
surplus for sale; and then the devo-
ton of what lands and time may he
left to the production of a reduced
acreage in cotton. Couple with
these the most rigid economy, hold
ing this years cotton crop for higher
prices, and a fixed resolve never
again to be caught in such a fix, and
we have all the solution there is for
the all-cotton farmers present pre-
dicament.