The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1917-03-01
Food, Feed and Fertility.

Whenever the greed for money
crop unbalances the wisdom of hus-
bandry, the money crop is curse.
When it stimulates the general econ
omy of the farm it is the profit of
farming"
These words were written by the
late Henry w Grady many years ago.
They are true today. You are face
to face with a great question. Are
you going to permit the agriculture
of the South to again become an un-
balanced husbandry or are we still
topush forward toward safe farming?
High prices of certain farm pro-
ducts may tempt farmers to pursue
an unwise course. Now is the time
to take stock, to make an inventory
and consider the situation.
Think back to 1914 before thewar.
when cotton was around l3 cents a
pound. How much did you pay for
meat, -four and other food products
at retail? Go back in the nineties,
when cotton was still lower in value
and what did you pay at retail for
food products? Then compare the
present prices of food products with
the present price of cotton, the test
is the exchange value of cotton. How
much will pound of cotton purchase
in food and feed products? By grow
ing all cotton and exchanging it for
q living you are simply swapping a
high priced product produced by your
labor for high priced product pro-
duced by the labor of the other fel-
low. When you follow safe farming,
however. you produce your own food
and feed at cost and sell your cotton
for the other fellows dollars.
The South has made great progress
and has enjoyed wonderful prosper
ity in the past year because it pro-
duced so much of it's own living.
What do we mean by safe farming?
Here are the items which should con-
stitute your program:
l. A home garden for every fam
ily on the farm. From one-tenth to
one-fourth acre, we'll located. we'll
titled and tended as carefully as any
other crop on the farm, planted in
rotation to time the vegetable crops
80 as to have q continuous supply for
the family table as many days in the
year as possible. To this should be
added one-fourth of an acre of pota-
toes, either Irish or sweet or both,to
be used as food for the family. An
acre of sorghum or sugar cane should
be produced to supply the family
with syrup. if means can be found
for grinding the cane and making
the syrup.
2. Produce enough corn on each
farm 70 last the family and the live
stock with certainty for one year.
With 9 little excess for safety.
8. Produce sufficient oats and
other small grain to supplement the
corn as food for one year with Ger
tainty, remembering that these small
grains conserve the soil in winter and
provide some grazing for livestock.
4. Produce the hay and forage
crops necessary to supply the live
stock on the farm for one year, with
a little excess for safety, not forget
ting the legumes which add fertility
to the soil and produce the best hay.
5. Produce the necessary meat,
eggs and milk for the family. The
ulea. should be produced by increas-
ed attention to poultry and hogs be-
caus, of the rapidity gith which
these can be produced. Every family
should haye at least two cows. 80
that one of them can be in milk all
of the time. A sufficient number Of
brood sows should be kept to pro-