St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1921-01-29
Interesting Article Show
ing Things That May
Be Overlooked.
WILL PUT PARISH
- ON FEET SOLIDLY
Undrained Lands Bring Di-
sease Into Stock. Drain
age Pays For Self.
.(By A. E. Briggs)

(By A. E. Briggs)
II by any chance there should be
/ big OIL strike in this parish, this
course of consequent prosoe t1
would be like that which happene..
| IN the tim ber Industry few fever
.sh years and all would be over. To
strike oil would be luck. Possibly
ome day a great deal of money win
be spent here drilling for oil, but
counting the losses and the gains to
gether, offsett;ng the losers agains,
the winners, there would be no grea,
development Of wealth even if some
big gushers were brought in, and in
any event the prosperity would be
merely temporary OF course, the
oil speculator wouldn't care about
that, for that is what he expects.
But to drill for oil is nearly always
sheer gamble. In agricultural de-
velopment, on the contrary, we can
be absolutely certain Of profitable re-
turns here Let us sum up some oil
these certainties.
In the first place, reforestration
has its best chance as feature Of
Farm development, in the farm tim
berlot. A few acres, fenced in, pre-
tected from fires, and kept clean and
vigorously growing by thrifty
farmer who has an interest in MAX
ing his poorer acres yield income
along with the best of his farm, will
provide fuel, fence posts, shelter aud
shade for cattle, and wood to sell
for paper pulp or to the sawmi-l.
Only the farmer will stop the fires
which destroy growing pines and
other timber.
It is the farmer who alone viii
take care to make a carpert gras.
pasture, and this thrives only wher
there is freedom from prairie fire
and where sufficient stock are kept tt
Craze closely. Carpet grass will set
Itself here when given chance, and
on the general farm it is fortune,
the most valuable one thing on it.
What is a general farm, and what
s the profit in it? 1t is one which
IN a measure combines every kind
of farming: agriculture, horticul-
ture, and livestock raising. The cot
ton farmer, wheat farmer, sugar
plantation, poultry plant, dairy farm,
cattle farm, any one-crop or one
product farm goes under whenever
hard timss" come But the genera
farmer who feeds crops OF his own
making to his OWN cattle, who ra's-
es something to sell every month III
the year, succeeds and makes money
all the time, and is never panic
stricken by the ups and downs of the
market. ..--
Usually we do not think Of truck
crops as belonging to or being part
Of the general farm. OF course, the
home garden and home orchard are
a part of every good farm; and for
that matter every residence lot
ought to have its garden and fruit
trees, to supply the home table II
this wonderful climate with the best
fresh vegetables and fresh fruit
every day in the year. But the local
cannery makes truck growing a
profitable source of income to the
general farmer l quote the follow
ing from a practical and experienced
horticulturist, Prof. M. g. Kains, in
Farm Knowledge:
"The advantages of cannery to a
locality are that it offers a ready
market at a fair price for number
of perishable crops. It enables the
farmers to grow cash crops, possibly
n small areas, but which neverthe-
less add materially to the farm in
come. BY careful arrangement OF
the acreage Of different crops suited
to region, that regions income can
be very greatly increased, In fruit
growing district they are of great
service in conserving that which
might be wasted, and they frequently
offer very profitable outlet for
large quantities of fruit, thus en-
abling the growers to avoid glutting
markets. The production Of canning
crops, since it more nearly approach
es gardening, raises the tone OF the
agriculture of a region. Car
merry crops encourage the develop
ment OF new methods. By
products, such as peayines and corn
cobs, are returned or SOLD back to
the farmer for stock feed. Usually
they are made into big stacks from
which the farmers haul. loads dur
| ing the winter as they need them,
each grower being allowed l IA tons
of the 'silage' for each acre Of pea
grown. Such an industry therefore
encourages the raising of livestock
and the practice Of mixed farming;
indeed the growing Of sweet corn
almost necessitates the keeping OF
livestock to eat up the stalks. <
Again, growing crops for canneries
involves cooperation. Furthermore,
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