The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1920-01-28

f VISIT ptouuCeu llpM the soy Deans an
small amount Of corn left at lest 80
pounds of gain per acre on a buneI
Of $50 feeder hogs, and the bean,
were not yet all consumed. Thes
beans were planted rather thickly il
the same rows with the corn, by run
ning a planter shallow to plant tn,
beans Immediately after the deeper
planting of the corn had been made.
But the cotton farmer insists thai
cotton alone is profitable in the
South, or, at least, that other crop,
and livestock cannot be made profita.
bic while building up the soil.
/ Mr.. Cookies system Of farming anc
his results give the answer MOI
only is three times rs much cottor
made per acre, or as much cotton
made on one-third the land; but il
addition. the following values Of live.
stock were sold from the farm in 1919
the feeds for which, with the excep.
toin Of cottonseed meal and tank
age and a very little shorts and corn
were grown on the farm:
Cattle sold about ....... $40, 600
Hogs sold about ............ 10000
Lambs and sheep.,....... 1,4OO
Total .........S $40, 400
OF course, all this livestock was
not bred on the farm, but most of the
feeds were grown there.
Some alfalfa hay is also sold, al
though the sales Of this are not large,
most Of it is fed. The chief money
crops are cotton, cattle and hogs,
Cotton is now regarded as the most
profitable crop but only because
yields per acre have been increased
through the Increasing of soil fertil-
ity, for which the livestock must re-
ceive large part Of the credit.
BY all the tests for good farming
Mr. Cookies farming has proved it.
self good. The yields have been in
creased, that is, the soils have been
improved. The equipment has been
enlarged and improved and the
money returns, II not large, have
been good and generally quite sat
isfactory.
There were on the farm, at the time
Of our visit, about $50 head of high
grade breeding cows, 80 brood sows
$50 feeder hogs, 10 mares and an am
pie supply Of mules, 100 sheep and Of
course purebrea bulls, bears and rams
and a registered saddle stallion, a
good cattle barn which will accom-
modate 200 head of beef cattle, two
175-ton silos, new mule barn, all
necessary out buildings with flowing
wells and an ample water supply at
the barns and in the pastures.
Gasoline engines are used for sup
plying belt power, but the motive
power Of the farm is the old reliable
Mississippi raised mule, because Mr..
Cooke raises the mules necessary to
supply the requirements of the farm
Mules are not sales crops, but enough
are raised to supply the needs of the
farm.
The cotton is cultivated on this
farm by the common method of
share-cropping, and the other labor
is also mostly dore by negroes. In
fact, there is nothing unorthodox or
spectacular in the operation of this
successful farm. 1t is successful be-
cause common sense is mixed with
correct agricultural practices, such
agricultural practices as The Progress
siye Farmer and all other good teach
ers of agriculture have advocated for
many years.
TO the writer's mind the chief les
sons taught BY the success of this
farm are, that the building Of soil
fertility is essential to good farm
ing, that this can be done and the
farm be made profitable at the same
time, and that pastures and livestock
with the growing of legumes which
are grazed or fed ON the farm arc
the most economical. methods Of soil
buildin. And that a correct plan Of
farming or the growing of livestock
can only be made successful when
persistentIy followed through years of
poor crops and low prices, as well
as during good crop years and high
prices. There has been no in and out
policy Of Mr.. Cookies farming, but a
sane, common sense policy. persis-
tently followed,