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JF t ’ '■7- v> Established 1866. THE FARM. FARM ECONOMY. To th? Editor of the Rural Southerner and Plantation : Ask ninety-nine farmers out of one hundred this question : “Is it not to the interest of the farmer to raise his own supplies, and make the farm self-sustaining ?” and the answer will be invariably, “Yes.” And still, in the face of such knowledge and admissions, eight-tenths of the farmers are planting large cotton crops and small provision crops, and buy provisions to support their farms ; and this is done, admitting it to be a wrong and ruinous system. In a word, it is persisting in error knowingly. Let us now diseuss it, and try and show that by making tlis farm self sustaining, we may make less money, but what is made will go farther, and our success is in the accumulation of property representing solid wealth, which is the only wealth worth having or striving for. This cotton mania proceeds from this idea, that it brings ready money, and the more cotton made, the more money had. All such is true, if there was not a debtor sheet appended to the cotton account. But when cotton money has to meet all expenses, even to the buying of bread and meat, and everything else re quired, when the balance is made, we seetheaccount stands against the far mer—the debtor side too large for the credit sheet—the result is, in debt: and the next year's operations begin with debt added to all supplies needed, and have to be bought on credit, enlarging expense account against cotton hc cont. Now, let me say to all my broth er farmers that farming under such a system insures the same ruin as it would to a man whose whole capital was in money, and his family expenses exceeded the interest income, and yearly he had to draw on the principal to support his ex travagances. which would be consuming the capi tal in addition to interest. The judicious farmer should manage his farming interest as a good financier would his money. As in all business, no matter of what kind, one principle must govern it, and that is, the cost or expenditures must not exceed the income or profits accruing from it. That is a rule that holds good and must govern in all business matters. As such, the farmer who loses sight of making all his supplies and necessaries in his power to make on his farm, is only adding so much to expense and cost account, which absorbs his money. PITBLISHEID E3T THE SOUTHERN ETJELISHIKG COMPANY. I know several fanners who were a little ahead this year, and not satisfied with letting very well alone, must go into cotton speculating, buy ing futures ; their chances for losing the profits of their farming proceeds are very promising. Such is all wrong, for I hold that no farmer should go into speculations of that kind. If he has money ahead, let him put it into factories, or lend it to some solvent man, secured by a mortgage on valuable real estate, where, in all probabilities, his investment is safe, and at the same time helping to build up the country. But the question may be asked, Would it not be a more judicious investment for farmers who have nk CT milk I* E Wftll ''ws- IB ~ " BROWN LEGHORN FOWLS—PROPERTY OF ATLANTA POULTRY HOUSE. moneys on hand, to invest it in sheep and other stock, and raise stock for market, a* well as wool for our factories ? I would recommend farmers to stick closely to the farm ami its pursuits, and to let outside speculations alone. Ail the money they have can be safely and judiciously invested for the improvement and profit of their farms, in which there is no risk or loss, if properly attended to. Here is but one instance, of my own. I will recite : I raise colts, and as my old stock wear out, I have young horses to replace them with, instead of having to pay out $l5O or $175 to the drovers. What it takes to raise such colts you never miss ; and they come in most oppor tunely. saving an outlay of so much money for stock coming from other Statee. ATLANTA, GEORGIA, MARCH, 1875. There is this thing, now, the farmers must bear in mind, and that is, as the manufacturing and other pursuits haze multiplied, all are to be supported by the consumer ; consequently, the less a consumer the farmer becomes, the better for his interest. To show’ how remote from us other pursuits are looking to the interest of the farmers, a few days ago an agent for an organ and piano manufacturing company happened at my house ; he seemed very anxious to know if a stand of cotton had been secured. So anxious he was, he asked me several times. At last, I asked him why he was so interested in the cot- I ton’s coming up. Says he, “My dear sir, the very prospect of a crop will enable me to sell more organs and pianos !” Hence it is, so much cotton is planted to meet the requirements that temptations lead us all into. In a word, this wonderful extravagance of the age has set aside all caution and prudence, and made us a reckless and speculative people. But rest assured farming cannot support all such, unless the farm is first made self-sustain ing, and its management directed by judicious economy. The plain truth is, to make farming profitable, farmers must return to first princi ples. which is, undived attention to their busi ness, live within themselves, pay as they go, and build up their lands by rotating crops, plowing under vegetable matter, and have stock yards and save all manures. Jxo. H. Dkmt. Terms, SI.OO a Year. For the Rural Southerner and Plantation. Corn as an American Staple. In good seasons we raise something over one thousand million bushels of corn in the United States ; and allowing as high an average as twenty bushels per acre, more than fifty million acres are planted to this crop. In the South and West very little pains is taken to prevent the washing of corn ground, when the crop is growing, or for several years after, if allowed to rest. This is a great error in farming. At the last working of corn, a fine tooth harrow should be used to make the soil fine, clean and level, to prevent water running between the rows. Instead of permitting the ground to lie naked, or grow up in weeds, it should be seeded at once with clover and grass seed in the standing corn. The new crop will not grow to do any harm before the corn is ripe; while the Fall growth will shelter the otherwise nakedness of recently-tilled land, prevent surface washing, and recuperate the depleted soil. All know, or at least ought to know, that clover is a j enovating plant, and that ntar y all corn ground needs some amendment. By running fifty million acres, more or less, in corn every year, with much washing and little or no restitution, we most certainly fill our country with sorry-looking old fields. The intelligence and good sense of every farmer should condemn this practice, and try to change it for the better.— A great deal of Southern land is planted in corn which is too poor to produce more than from seven to ten bushels to the acre. What is to be done with such ground, to double its fruitfullness ? We answer let it rest in clover and Herd’s grass, with one or two hundred pounds of gypsum to the acre. Plant much less surface in corn and cotton, and manure that. We have so many fields in the South that re quire additional fertility that, instead of doing our best to make corn and cotton at once, we should do our best to raise the raw materials out of which these great staples are formed.— To perform all the work on a field that ought to give a harvest of thirty or forty bushels of corn per acre, and gather a little crop of less than ten bushels, may be honest farming, but it is hot wise farming. Some of the essential elements used by Nature in forming corn are lacking in the soil, in an available form. If these cannot be supplied by the cultivator, he should try to find something better to do than 3