The courier-index., 1921-02-18
". B. Mann Discusses Crop
 Conditions For Year 1927
Editor Courier-Tndex,
 Marianna, Ark.

Dear Sir:-
 I have noticed that in our county
 of Lee there is no organized effort
 to reduce the production of cotton
 or to increase the acreage of feed
 and food stuffs for this season.
 cannot conceive of a more hazardous
 gamble, if we pursue the methods,
 or lack of method, that we have af-
 ready begun for this crop.
 If statistics or the advice of men
 who speak with authority are worth
 anything, what will the reflection
 be if we are not governed at all by these factors?
 Are we to ignore our governments
 plans for our prosperity and safety?
 We have, I think, the very best equipped farm demonstrators. They are all well paid How can they help us when We are not using our land and country for the purposes for which these demonstrators were intended to guide us? It is their business to keep us out of debt, by the use of our land and natural resources; and it has been our busi- ness to use the land and the prod ucts therefrom a. basis of credit
 The established practice of our county is to acquire land, either by lease or purchase, for the sole pur- pose of furnishing the labor that tills this land, deriving the profits from the sale of merchandise which is consumed by this labor We have reached the end of this road for there is no family that can live on the proceeds of his share of the cotton grown, if our old furnishing method is continued.
 Statistics point out that we have enough spinnabe cotton on hand to last two years, if no .norc is grown.
 I recently sold to Mir. Hilton, a cotton buyer, seventeen bales of cotton at S1ac, which netted me S725. or practically S43 per bale. This cotton was grown in 1920 and picked in January, 1921. My 1919 cotton Is yet unsold and it has been impossible to get an offer for it.
 Men who are in position to know, state that cotton will sell at a still lower price this coming fall, con- sidering the cotton that will be carried over. Moreover, in view of our. unsettled attitude toward the European countries and lack of knowledge as to what the policy of the new administration at Washing ton will bring forth in the way of new alliances, etc, it is unlikely that the combination of circum- stances will culminate in any ac- complishment that will be of ad- vantage in the marketing of this crop.
 We are entering this crop season with daily receipts of carloads of ear corn at 96c per bushel. hay at s26 per ton and oats at 60c per bushel. These prices f. O. b. Ma rianna tracks, and about one-third goes for freight. There is no con- tingency about paying out this money for feed. But, HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK?
 We will have no trouble with the adjustment on small farms. They are like small automobiles-ca turn around in narrow roads. In. fact, small farms and Fords some times turn themselves over. But big delta farms and expensive organ- lzations comprise a great problem. My plan for the delta or bottom farm. where one mule can work U range that the cropper will owe and will have been furnished more abundantly than would have been possible by the old plan. If the eropper has crib of corn, hogs. chickens. etc, the other things to make labor feel more permanently at home will come and the moving habit will be halted
 Sending money to the plantation for weekly payrolls must stop. The money does more harm than good. Let the tenants get their money out of the money crops-teach them thrift and be fair with them. We have diregarded the tenants inter- ests and we mast discontinue this injustice.
 In previous years we have had one mule to twenty acres-seven- teen or eighteen Of which was plant ed in cotton and the balance in corn. None of use expected any returns from the corn. It was not worked for the tenant usually used It for roasting ears and wasted it generally. No cribs were built to store it and there were no hogs to feed it to. My arrangement this season will give the mule twenty seven acres. Ten acres will be planted to cotton on the half-crop basis, and twelve acres of corn to be cultivated for the farm at S6 per acre. This plan contemplates that all of the corn planted will also be planted to peas. The peas in the share crop will De gathered by the tenant in the same manner as the other crop. The tenant will have nothing to do with the gather ing Of che twelve acres of corn and peas The S6 pee acre on the I2 acres will be paid to the tenant in as cash prices, as the cultivation of the com progresses. This should net 70 to SO bushels of