Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1919-02-04
SAFE FARMING IS
PLAN FOR YEAR
Must Consider Soil Fertility and Prot.
Its For Those Engaged in
Planting.

BY Bradford Knapp, Chief States Re.
lation Service, South. U. s. Depart
ment Of Agriculture.
In considering the program for the
Southern States In 1919, we must con-
slider a safe and enduring system of
agriculture, which will maintain soil
fertility and be as permanently and
rs universally profitable as possible
for those engaged in it.
While this is the principle to he
applied, we must remember that no
radical changes took place in Ameri-
can agriculture on account of the
war. Each farmer was urged to do
more OF the things he knew best how
to do. The great accomplishment of
the past two years were the result of
every farmer working a little haroer
at his regular job. With abundant pa.
triotism they did what was necessary
and helped greatly in winning the
war. The food produced in the South
released food from the Western
States for the Army and for the AZ.
lies.
A Balanced Agriculture.
"A we'll balanced system OF asricul.
ture has been the ideal held up to the
South for many years past. The safe
ty and security OF the Southern peo-
pie depend greatly upon the produc-
ton of the food necessary to feed
the people in ample abundance; upon
a reasonable livestock industry to bal.
ance the farming by economizing la.
Dor and consuming otherwise waste
products, and upon a sufficiently ,di-
versified cropping system TO guaran-
tee an increasing in place Of de.
creasing soil fertility. Such g. sys.
tenn is nothing more or less than the
system of safe farming which has
been taking such a strong hold in the.
Southern States during the past few
years. All agricultural workers in the
South have agreed that no One-crop
system ever made a people prosper
GUS. The speculative chances are
too great when the eggs are all in
whether the disaster be war such
as We have just been through. the
boil weevil, the pink boil worm or 9TH
err insect pests, plant diseases, fail
ing transportation, excessive rain,
drought, or whatsoever it may be,
that system is safest which adheres
religiously to a plan of farming suf-
f1ciently diverse to produce always
the food for the people and the feed
for the livestock, to utilize the labor
upon the farm the maximum number
Of days in a year, and to produce for
marketing more than one product Of
the farm for it's cash income.
In considering program forN the
should give earnest consideration to
few fundamental principles:
First: Speculation in abr, ormally
large acreages in any one crop unbal-
ances the type of farming, makes pro-
duction expensive rather than eco
nOmical, and forces the entire section
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kets and upon other sections and
transportation facilities for subsist-
ence.
Second: Each farm, each commu-
nifty and each section should produce,
as far as possible, it's own food and
feed for the sake Of economical pro-
duction and to save transportation
costs and intervening profit where
the purchase must be made from dis
tant sections. In other words, the
food and feed of the South should be
produced on the farms of the South.
Third: In stimulating any increas.
ed food production the emphasis
should be on the non-perishable sta
pie crops which should be increased
beyond local needs in communities
where they can be produced profita-
bly,.
Fourth: The production of perish
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