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<% JMjjtrtt Agriculturist
NOVEMBER..........1872.
Notice.
As twenty-five cents docs not pay
the cost of paper and printing, wc
will, after the first of January, 1873,
charge fifty cents per annum sub¬
scription. All who subscribe before
that time will be furnished at the old
price—twenty five cents.
Notice to Subscribers.
Any one sending subscriptions or
communications tor the Southern Ag¬
riculturist from Florida, Middle or
South Western Georgia, Alabama, Ten¬
nessee, or the States west, will address
us at Savannah, Ga. From North and
South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia
north of the C. R. K., M. A W. R. R.,
and Atlanta & West Point Rail Road*
will address us at Augusta, Ga. Remit
by registered or P. O. order, for Clubs,
for single subscribers, by mail at our
risk. See our premium list. Those
who have not renewed their subscrip¬
tion will please do so, and we hope each
one will send one new subscriber, or
more.
Correspondence Wanted.
VY r e desire correspondence from all
parts of the South, upon Agriculture,
Stock raising, Manufacturing, Emigra¬
tion, &c. Reports of the condition
of the crops from time to time will
be particularly interesting; short
articles on these subjects will always
be appreciated, by us and our sub¬
scribers.
To Subscribers.
As the Post Office regulations for¬
bid our putting the “Red Cross” on
our paper to admonish you of the ex¬
piration of your subscription, wo take
occasion to state that all in arrears ou
the first of January will be suspended.
Call ou your Post Master who has
a revised list of our subscribers, and
will receive and forward the amount
of your arrears and subscription up to
January, 1873.
We hope you will pay up at once,
and get a few new subscribers. We
are giving you a paper for less than
the cost of paper and printing. Our
object is to give every planter souie
thin°* to read for the least possible I
cost* cost-, putting put u.g in our own labor as a | I
contribution for the public good.
Read the article headed “Buy
Early,” on fourth page.
“Why are we Poor?'’
Mr Editor.—I hear the question
at the top of this page frequently
asked during the year, by persons
who, seeing our great natural ad¬
vantages as an agricultural people,
wonder how we are nevertheless poor
as wc are. We have the finest cli¬
mate in the world. We can raise
successfully a larger variety of pro¬
ducts than any other country, ami
“still wo are not happy,” because we
are poor as Job’s turkey.
I do not take into account the losses
caused by the war, which swallowe d
up at one gulp the accumulated cap¬
ital of three quarters of a century, i
look for a more proximate cause than
that, and confine my inquiry not so
much as to why we are poor, as to
why wc are not richer than wc are. I
should be ashamed of myself if I
came out of the war rich. I could
not have done so and at the same time
have done my duty to my country
and inv countrymeu. Rut seven
years have passed since the sad morn¬
ing at Appomattox Court House.
Most of us went to work like men,
and did not spend an hour in whining
or groaning over our “fallen for¬
tunes.’’ Worthy of our proud record
we looked our misfortune in the face,
grappled with it, and resolved to re¬
conquer prosperity by our own toil.
Rut notwithstanding ail our efforts wo
are all poor, and many of us in debt.
A number of causes combiucd to pro¬
duce this lesu't; but the greatest of
them all, in my opinion, has been the
effort to cultivated, greater number
of acres than we could cultivate well.
This lies at the root of the trouble.
All cotton and no corn ; buying wes¬
tern corn and bacon and northern
hay, running in debt to our factors
and merchants, lien receipts, mort¬
gages and sheriff’s sales are the off
shots from the main root—the plant¬
ing a large number of acres of poor
land with hired labor aud borrowed
money, and making crops that did
not. nearly return the outlay. Let
me suppose a case by way of illus¬
tration : Neighbor A B cultivated
300 acres of open land, 100 in corn
and 200 in cotton. Suppose he
raised six bushels of corn per acre,
and made 000 bushels. Suppose be
raised a bag of cotton to four acres,
or 50 bags of cotton. The corn was
worth, say $1 per bushel, or 8000 ;
the cotton sold lor lde per lb., or
$3750. Total—$4250. Now for the
expenses :
Interest, on investment in laud, sto k,
implements, etc., say $10,000at 10per
cent.......................................... each......... 2i<><>.00
Wages ol20 liamls, atf120 at l
Meat tor 20 hands, 4000 lbs., 'c per
...................................... 600.00
Bread corn for 20 hands, S00 bushels.
at $1 per bushel...................... 000.00
Corn ami fodder for mules and horses,
eay 10 animals, at $100 each.......... IOuO Oo
Loss bv death aud depreciation of stock,
Implements, &e., say.................. 350.00
Incidental expenses...................... lt>0.00
Total..............................$5*00.00 4350,00
Value of crop...................
Lose.....................................
l have fixed the price of the crop
^bove thc average of the seven years,
and I have made ho charge forthe
cost ofsa i e j n freights, warehousefex
penscs, commissions, insurance, Ac. ;
nor have I made any charge for
wages of an overseer or domestic j
servants. But it may be said I have
estimated the crops too low. 1 know
I have not. 1 know, and so do you,
Mr. Editor, numbers of farmers who
are working land to-day who do not
make a 500 lb. bale of cotton on four
acres, and who do not make an aver¬
age of six bushels of corn to the acre.
Of course they lose money every
year, but just as long as they can get
a merchant to credit them they keep
on trying, hoping that they will do
better next year, attributing their
failure to the dry spell in July, or
the wet spell in August, and never
dreaming that il they had planted
two hundred acres well, with good
preparation, careful planting, judi¬
cious manuring aud improved culti
tivatioo, that they could have raised
thirty-five bushels of corn to the acre,
and a heavy bale of cotton to two
acres, and that too with a third less
labor of negroes and mules. 1 allude,
of course, to upland planting, nut to
the fortunate few who cultivate allu¬
vial lands. I a'hide specially to my
own State, Georgia, and I leave it to
any intelligent and impartial observer
of the crop operations on our upland
plantations for a number of years, to
decide whether the average yield per
utimanured acre is higher in corn and
cotton than I have stated it. If tlmn
this be so, is there any wonder that
wo are poor ? How can wc expect to
be otherwise until wo learn that we
must not plant any more land than
wc c m manure well, plow deep and
cultivate thoroughly ? Depend on it
that this knowledge is the corner¬
stone of agricultural prosperity.
One of Les Miserable*, in Ex.
Madison (jo., Ga , July 21), 1872.
Practical Hints.
Food for Fowls .—A change >f
food, Summer and Winter, is just as
essential in the management of fowls
as any farm stock. Oatmeal and
middlings contain a high per centage
of flesh-forming material, gluten, Ac.
Indian corn possesses the greatest
amount per cent, of oil-iuaking or
warmth-giving qualities of any of the
grains. Oatmeal, one of the best
Summer foods, in Winter should not
be tod alone. A change of food
frequently is desirable, aud we prefer
for the morning meal during the Win
ter season alternate moves of mixed
oat .and corn meal and mashed pota¬
toes. Middlings may be u*ed with
equal piutit in place of the oatmeal.
Mixing Soft Food .—In mixing
soft foods for fowls, they should not
be made very wet, but kneaded up us
dry a« possible ; for forcing an excess
of water into the crop is very liable
to cause diarrhea.
Drink ing Water for Pou 'try .—
Fowls should nevei' be left without
water, but we would advise letting
them take it in such quantities demands. and at
i-ucli times its their nature
Give fre>h, clean water, ami sec that
there is no snow in it in Winter time.
Experience has taught that permitted fowls not j
supplied with water, but to j
peck snow to satisfy their thirst, will
greatly reduce in flesh, and be re
tarded in their spring laying. They
should always be supplied with fresh,
clean water for drinking.
Statistics of the Egg Trade .—
The yearly importation of eggs into
England reached in 1861, 203' mil¬
lions; in 1861,335.1 millions; in i860,
430,878,880; in 1868,about600,000,
000 ; and it is presumed that in 1870
the sum total reached nearly three
quarters of a billion.— Cauvlian
Poultry Chronicle.
llow Little Land will Keep a
Cow .—On the first day of June last
I commenced cutting clover fur owe
cow confined in a yard enclosed by a
high, tight board ft nee, with a stable
attached, in which she has been fed.
8he had no feed but fresh clover from
the first of June to the f i f lee nth of
October, and all taken from one fomth
of an acre of ground. She strained has
averaged eighteen quarts of
milk per day, from which my wife
has made eight pounds of butter per
week, during the four and a halt
months. The cow is live years old,
and a cross of the Ayshire and
Durham. She has given more milk,
more butter, and of a better quality,
than she has ever done on pasture.
On one eighth of an acre I have raised
one hundred aud fifty bushels of
sugar beets aud carrots, which, with
the two tons of hay, will keep her
handsomely the balance ot the year.
The labor of cutting clover for the
cow is less than driving her throe
fourths of a mile to pasture. In the
dairy districts, the usutl estimate is
four acres to the cow, on the hay and
pasture system ; whereas, by soiling
and raising roots, five eights ot an
acre is found to bo sufficient. I will
state further, what i believe from
nearly thirty years’ experience is, that
there is no crop so valuable for selling
ns clover—no crop, so many pounds
of which, and of equal value (or milk
and butter, can be produced Irom good an
acre of ground. Sweet corn is a
crop for late feeding, where clover
will not grow, but not profitable for
Winter leeding.— Ex.
7 he Strawberry lied .—Keep the
beds intended for bearing next year
free from weeds aud grass, and cut off
all runners, and by the last week in
the month, give them a liberal dress¬
ing of a mixture of woodscaitb and
ashes This is an excellent month to
make ii< w beds. 1 be best laud for a
strawberry bed is a sandy bolt >m.
where the soil is moist aud deep, and
where there are no trees to absorb the
moisture. L t this be thoroughly
broken as deep as possible—sixteen
cr eighteen inches at least. W hen
this is done, apply plenty of well rut¬
ted stable manure, fully an inch thicK
over the entire surface. L> t this be
well mixed with the surface soil by
lurking it in with a . j ado fork. Then
level the surface aud aud lay off for
planting in rows Irocn two to three
feet apart. 8et the plauts eighteen
inches apart in the row. Wh n the
plants arc set out. mulch the wh«dc
bed with a thick layer of straw,
leaves er pine straw. A i cd planted
now in the above manner will b* ar a
good crop next Spring.— Ex.