The Little River news., 1921-02-26
Dairy Expert Critical of
 the Single Crop Method

l Hope, Feb. 22.--F C. Russell dairy expert, addressed forty or fifty of the Hope trade territory farmers at the Chamber ofssCommerce rooms yester- day afterhoon and stressed the i'm portance of dairying as means for resurrecting this community from a seeming agricultural depression. He declared that farmers of the South are facing problems they have not had to face heretofore and that he finds them in very receptive mood. The average farmer is casting about for something that will put farming on business basis and cause the farms to yield return greatfr than the cost of operation.
 He said the cotton farmer is not the only one who finds himself in this unpleasant condition, but that it applies to any and all one crop farmers-the tobacco farmer is just as bad off as the cotton farmer" Tt is. therefore, but natural" he said, that farmers of the South adopt the course which offers the least resistance and that course leads to the dairy COW. Here where labor is cheap and where grass will furnish grazing for ten months in year should be the real home of the dairy COW. The placing of three or four cows on each Hemstead county farm will bring quickest result It would mean that the farmer will have a weekly income that will pay operating ex- penses and that cotton grown as surplus will represent the profits from the farms.
 "The successful dairyman is not the man who decides that dairying offers an opportunity to get rich quick, but rather the man who runs herd in proportionfo his farm operations It means that the man must do some work and must be willing to get out early in the morning and milk few cows. To begin dairying man should build on foundation absolutely per manent by starting with such num- Der of cows as his pasturage, time and surroundings will justify. It is easy to market butter fats. With separator it is possible to ship the sour cream once week and the or dinary COW will produce from $7.6O to $12.00 worth of cream month During the grazing season the greater part of this is profit. It is always better for the farmer to grow into the dairy business rather than go in- to it. By growing into it he can cull out the worthless cows and make his herd profitable.
 T can always tell when I enter a dairy country, whether riding on the train or in automobile, for it means better homes, better farms and better lands. The cash consideration for the milk is not the only thing to be considered in the way of profit. The man who keeps herd of dairy cows will grow more pigs and chickens and. get more eggs. Besides this the nat ural increase in dairy stock will be an item worthwhile. Many an old worn out farm has been built up through herd of dairy cattle.
 q became interested in the dairy business in little town down in Mississippi. Last fall I visited that place and asked banker about con- ditiOns The banker declared that ev- erything was all right, that that the farmers not only did not owe any, thing but had bank accounts. The reason for this was found when it was stated that the little creamery in that town paid out $23S,OOO for butter fat during 1920. Having started in the dairy business the farmers of that community practiced divirsification and had shipped eleven cars of tur- keys and chickens which netted them little better than S5,O00 car. Also thirty cars of hogs had been shipped on the cooperative plan.
 Att he close of the talk 1t was pro- posed that the county agent make ar engagements with some responsible creamery in order that the surplus cream may be shipped from Hope be- ginning at an early date. Also num- Der of the farmers proposed to in- crease their herds in order to make dairying just as profitable as possible.