Newspaper Page Text
ESTABLISHED 1879
AMERICUS, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1887.
Ms Lower!
-:) I (:
GEORGIA AND OHIO.
METHODS AND PROFITS OF FARM
ING IN THE TWO STATES.
!ir*en (try* and Sweet-Scented Hay.
Atlanta Confutation.
AMKRicrs, Ga., Nov. 11.—{Hpeci-
al.]—La»t summer after a visit to
Ohio, I published In the Amekicch
Recorder
full with sweet juices and its leaves
wore their brightest hue of green.
And this same crab-grass hay is
better than any timothy that ever
grew in Ohio, for wjilch our farmers
used to pay thirty dollars per ton
What has brought about this
change?
Well, continuous preaching
through the oolumns of the Be
t'order, aided by the spur of ne
some comparative figures as to the
profit of farming in Georgia and
Ohio, which article was extensively
copied, and excited such favorable
comment that I thought a series of
articles, giving more extended com
parisons, might be productive of
some good, both north and south;
and when to this thought was ad
ded your request that such articles
should be prepared for The Consti
tution, I saw an opportunity for
reaching many more farmers, both
north and south, that could not be
resisted.
Being a native of Ohio and hav
ing spent eight years on a farm In
that State, I have had ample op-
|>ortunity for aequaiuting myself
with the methods of farming In that
section; while a residence of six
years in Southwest Georgia, the
richest agricultural section of our
State, has familiarized me with the
methods pursued by our farmers.
In writing these articles I have a
double purpose in view—to show
our farmers, if I can, how they
may improve their methods and in
crease tlieir profits, and to call the
attention of northern farmers to the
many advantages jiossessed by
Georgia in soil and climate, and to
show them that even with our poor
methods farming in Georgia, as an
investment, is more profitable than
in the most highly cultivated fields
of the north, Being more familiar
with its soil, climate and methods
of farming, my comparisons, so far
as Georgia Is concerned, will be
drawn from Southwest Georgia,
Sumter county in particular.
About the first question which an
Ohio farmer asks when he gets into
Georgia is:
“Can you raise grass?”
And the almost Invariable answer
by the Georgia farmer is "»o.”
Standing In the midst of a cot
ton-field, where it is a debatable
question as to which is the high
est, the grass or the cotton, with
the chances a little in favor of the
grass, both the question and the
answer are ludicrons. And yet the
question and the answer are lioth
natural.
The Ohio farmer has been accus
tomed to the meadows of his Htate,
wherein clover and timothy are
carefully cultivated for hay and
pasturage.
The absence of these grass fields
in Georgia prompts his question.
The Georgia farmer understands
him. He also understands grass to
mean clover and timothy, from
which is made the hay he buys from
northern markets. The “crab”
grass and “crow-foot," which sur
rounds him, he considers only as a
noxious weed, that threatens the
ruin of his crop. He has been ac
customed to fight them early and
late, as the most deadly foes to his
pros|>erity, and be can see no good
in them. Ho deadly is his hatred
of this grassy foe, he will not even
allow a sprig of it to grow in bis
door yard, which dazzles the eye
with its white sand.
As the Georgian hates grass, so
did the Ohio farmer's ancestors
hate trees. Having to bew their
farms out of the forests, they so
hated the sight of a tree that they
would not allow one to stand within
sight of the house, and their tree
less yards were as uninviting as the
grassless yards of the Georgian.
Tits < I hi oar I of ta-dajP^ants trees in
his door-yard and In hjs fields, and
the farmer of Southwest Georgia is
beginning to realize the value of
grass, and It will be but a few years
when the clover fields of Hamter
Always study the interests of their patrons, and appreciating
the fact that the increase in the price of cotton conies a trifle
late to benefit a majority of the producers, the consumers will
realize large benefits if they will make their purchases at the
old reliable
New York Store.
The heav iest trade of the season is doubtless over and we have
entirely too many goods on hand to suit us. We are deter
mined to reduce our stock very largely during the next six
geeks, and to effect our purpose, large profits shall not stand
in' our way.
WE OFFER THIS WEEK:*
20 pcs. double width Oashmeres at 15c; regular value 20c.
10 pcs. Wool Plaids at 25c, reduced from 30c; very pretty for
children’s dresses.
Splendid quality 36 inch Cashmere at only 25c
All wool Tricots, yard wide, at 50c; you are asked to pay 60c
tor same goods at other houses.
We hare a few fine Combination Suits left, which we will part
with at reduced figures.
Another Extraordinary Bargain:
25 pcs. 32-inch Dress Cambrics, extra heavy, at 7c; very pretty
patterns; good calicos cost you that much, you know.
WE RECEIVED DURING THE PAST WEEK
60 pcs. N ew Ginghams.
15 pcs. Lovely New Satines.
Braided Sets and Panels to Match.
New Embroidered Shoulder Scarfs.
OUST OPENED>
The prettiest lot of Walking Jackets ever shown here. They
are perfectly lovely and we are going to sell them at low
figures.
Too many Wraps on hand; you will save money by giving us
a call.
iousekeepers will find us prepared to show a large line of
Meetings, Towels, Napkins,
Table Damasks, Curtain Laces
and Sorims at Attractive Prices.
Best value in the city in
totton and Wool Flannels,
Waterproofs, Cassimeres,
Shawls, Knit Goods, Etc.
We intend to make this a big week in our
Carpet Department
shall offer special inducements in tlw way of prices. We
»ught very heavily in this line and rather than carry any ot
5 em 0V( t. will part with them on exceedingly favorable terms,
lave you tried the
i-P.REED SHOES?
« are sole agents for them here and call special attention to
e “he. Every pair guaranteed; they fit perfectly, are good
ape and good wearing goods. Last, but not least, we are still
uenng a nice line of
Suits.
county will rival in beauty and fra-
'do^! e ”J?" e P VerCOat,Rt eXCedin 8'T d08e fi 8 ures - WaDt r Su^lia, h .1i f at cf a load
of bay on the streets of Amerleus
was of sufficient rarity to attract j poetical tide to this view, and it is
CK RnTTnia CICHDEC Atl Ct/CDVTUINfi I general attention. And such hay of this I propose to write.
DUIIUIR rlbUntO UN t»tn I I mnu . „„ it A few doaen armfuls of It Is this green grass, these beauti-
i old dread crab grass pulled up by ful meadows, that have given to
-AT THE the roots, the dirt scarcely shaken Ohio farms a world-wide reputation
olTof it. The whole load wouldn’t i and made Ohio farmers rich, and it
weigh a hundred pounds, and there is little wonder, then, that Ohio far-
waan't enough nourishment in it to
make a meal for a calf.
Now there is scarcely a day
. passes that you can not sea upon
the streets one or more loads of hay,
And it is hay! Green, soft, sweet-
smelling and nutritious. It was
cat with the bloom aad the dew on,
when Its
short article giving was no sudden conver
sion, and by no means a wholesale
one even yet. But the seed is sown
and the crop la growing.
Is hay-ralslng profitable In Geor-
gia?
I will give you the figures, and
you can make your own deductions.
About the first lot of hay made In
Hu inter county for the market was
made by an enterprising young
farmer three years ago. I had
talked to him many times about
making hay, and one day he came
i nto my office and told me that he
had a rich bottom field from which
he had cut ofT a flue crop of oats.
The crab grass had followed until it
stood thigh high all over the field
as thick as hairs on a dog’s back.
He wanted to know how to make
hay of it. 1 gave him the necessa
ry directions, and heard no more of
him or the hay until the next Jan
uary, when I was passing In front
of a provision store and my atten
tion was attracted to some bales of
particular fine hay. Upon Inquiry
I found that it was made by my
enterprising young farmer, and that
he had sold seven hundred dollars
worth of It, at twenty dollars per
ton. Now, I don’t know how many
acres there were In that field, but I
do know that that seven hundred
dollars was all clear profit, except
not to exceed fifty dollars for ex
pense of cutting and baling.
But I can give you some closer
figures than that. This last seas:
a young farmer living near Ameri
cus had an old field of five acres,
upon which the crab grass came up
after the oats were cut ofT, and off
of these five acres he cut and cured
fifteen tons of as pretty hay as ever
went into s barn, and it did not cost
him a cent, for another young far
mer made it for him for the use of
his mower and rake. He can get
115 a ton for that hay now, and by
January hecan get$20. Three hun-
dred dollars dear profit ofT of five
acres, to say nothing of the oats, is
U what I call a pretty fair profit on
land that the owner would be glad
to sell for $30 per acre.
It is fair to say that both of the
above mentioned fields were rich in
soil and had been well cultivated,
I Hit the extra yield of oata more
than paid for the extra fertilization
and care.
Ho much for what Georgia can do
and has done in raising liay. Now,
let us compare It with Ohio’s rec
ord, remembering that Ohio is
great grass and hay Htate.
Last June I visited Ohio, my na
tive State, and of all that I saw
there was only one thing that made
me envtoun, and that was the green
grass which grew so luxuriantly and
covered the level fields. At that
season the red clover was In bloom,
and I defy even the most ardent
grass-hating planter to look over a
twenty-acre field, the rich dark-
green foliage enlivened by the pur
plish-red blooms, without a feeling
admiration; and this sdmiration
would be heightened by the group
of sleek, fat cattle, resting under the
shade of a tree and lazily chewing
their cuds, a perfect picture of peace
and plenty. Close by is a field of
timothy, Its plumed heads envel
oped in a misty bloom and grace
fully bending before the breeze.
When the mower enters these fields
and leaves in its wake long lines of
green billows, to be rolled over and
over by the rake into winrowa o?
sweet-scented hay, there arises the
most delicate and exhilarating of
all perfumes. The poet and painter
have long made meadows and hay
making the theme of their song and
canvas, and I cannot hope to add to
the beauty of their graphic descrip-
tlon.
But there Is a practical as well as
failure to return anything to the
soil (as Georgia farmers are doing),
their successors found that It was
necessary to do something to
restore the fertility of the
land or abandon their occupa
tion. Many flelda had been
turned out as unprofitable for culti
vation. These flelda grew up in
grass and weeds, and 'as the coun
try settled up they were taken in
and found to have in a large degree
recovered their fertility. This nat
urally suggested the Idea of grass
ing lands, but as the grass grew
thinly and slowly upon the land
when turned out, an effort was
made to stimulate the growth by
cultivation. After many experi
ments and failures It was found
that deep plowing, careful prepara
tion of the ground and a mixture of
clover with the grass produced the
liest results. With good crops of
grass came good stock, which was
found to be more profitable than ex
clusive grain raising, because It re
turned to the land all the more val
uable fertilizing material, and dfcl
not require so much hard labor
It was also found that the plow
ing of grass under gave new
strength and fertility to the soil that
uo amount of commercial fertilizers
could do. All this was not found
out and accomplished In a day or a
year. It took years of patient expe
riment, and there were then as many
agricultural croakers and doubting
Thomases in Ohio as there are in
Georgia now. Nor is Its play to raise
grass in Ohio to-day, as I shall pro
ceed to show.
When it la desired to put a field
down in grass, the ground Is deeply
broken up with a two-horse plow in
the fall, after which a harrow is run
over It one or more times until the
soil is thoroughly pulverized and
leveled, the roller following the har
row, to crush the elf Is. The seed Is
sown later on, aometimea in the late
fall and aometimea on the snow,
being carried down Into the ground
by the rains or melting snow. In
the spring, after the frost Is out of
the ground, the ground Is again lev
eled and pucked down l>y passing
over It a heavy roller. If the sea
son is favorable, a good stand is the
result, and It is allowed to grow
through the summer and in the fall
Is pastured. Next summer the
grass is mown and made into hay,
and after the rains have started it
on a second growth It Is again pas
tnred. If It be pure clover.the next
summer it Is again mown for hay,
ami a aeconil and shorter crop fol
lows, which is allowed to ripen. Is
cut, put in the barn, and in the win
ter the seed la threshed out. Clover
seed is a valuable crop, the market
price ranging from $5 to taper bush
el. I know of one county in Ohio
which in one season shipped out
$ 100,UOO worth of clover seed. The
next year the second crop is plowed
under and wheat sown upon it, or it
Is allowed to lay until the next
spring, when it is cross-plowed and
corn planted u|>on it.
This la the record bf a successful
stand from the first; but such suc
cess is the exc-ptlon rather thau the
rule, for It often require* three
years to get a good stand. Home-
times a freezing and thawing March
destroys the entire crop l>y spewing
the root* out of the ground, when
they are frozen. Hometime* only a
half stand Is got, and then the ban-
anil thin spots must he sown over
again. Had the Ohio farmers been
as easily discouraged as some of our
Georgia farmers, they would long
ago have asserted that grans could
not lie grown In Ohio, and their
fields would to-day lie as bare as
ours.
Now let us see what the Ohio
farmer realizes for all bis troubles.
The Ohio agricultural report gives
an average of only a little over one
ton of hay per acre, and the aver
age price of this is under $10 per
ton. While here in Georgia we can
average a ton of hay to the acre
from our oat fields, without turning
a furrow or sow ng a seed, and the
average price la $20 a ton.
“Where, then," I think I hear
you ask, "is the profit in your
beautiful green grass and sweet
scented hay ?"
That question I will try to answer
in my next letter.
W. L. Gi.ess.ver.
E-iJJ-J: C* r r-w. . •«.**.
WEEKLY, par year, 14$.
VITIATED BLOOD
Scroftalomt, Inherited and Coc-
tegiotiN Humors Cured
l»j Cotienru.
nnsai
M of 0<m Ml lit. wum «T| LMi SST
WBMction with »r> -.p-W that nr.v"TrU
and this after having lM«n ur.muujicad 1 Zflt
for no»e of th. beat rhi.i.-iTn.
SCROFULOUS ULCERS.
Jsism K. Ricb.nhsn. I „Mom Has. Hf« Qa.
teft arLsa, J:hYSjnsags
tion. Everything known to the —din I L—S-
upon life a*
In 1MD I h.
them, and
,, RUi.-;L
lift lay hands to my bm
: *»a in mnatgftt |.ain, mm
Hsains. sssaa'sa
» »nd was perfect I) enrvd ’’
•worn to before l T ft Com. J. D. f’maWrom.
ONE OF THE WORST CASES.
K """WlMfWa
SCROFULOUS, INHERITED,
COTICtIffiA Sod CTTTicii
WBMl Rmolti
■edktnea fail
». «ith Loee of Hair, aad
d'LKTSSsSKS
taioraaily, whea all dhff
—-
P|||PLE.S, black- head*, ebappad aad oily dfela
■ N prevented by CVTKVIA Mmoiren
_ . UTERINE
• And Weaknwaa $■■*_
inetan taooov * add yasr,
For “ worn-out." ** run-down,"
school tractors, milliners, ■naiiMta
keepers. and over-worked women fl
I)r. Pierce's Fsvorltr* Prescription If
of all rcstorativo tonics. It Is not a M C
but admirably fulfills a etnglcnaM of |
bMnjr a moat potent Specific for i
Chronic Weaknesses and Di
women. It la a powerful, j
uterine, tonic and nervine,
end stmurth to the whole tyevn.
rum weakneaa of atomaefc, mdfcra
in*, weak back, nervoue prnetr ‘
and ftlrepleamcM, in either sex.
at tI pc Ion is Hold by driiiririate i
tit* qwimnfrt. See *
Price >1.00, or s|
A lenre t
fuaely film
meroua wood-cut*, sent for 10 c
Addrrat, Wortr.D’a Dtsraa
Amoclatiom. OH Main Street!
KICK HEADACHE. BOM
Hon. C.E4wirfsloslft
latte U. B. Consol to Italy,
author ot “The Glory end
Shame of England," "Amerioe’e
Advancement," etc., eta, ete*
writes as follows:—.
lit York, August 1, IN. I
la E. zftk st t
Ds. J. C. Am * Co , Lowell, Maas, ’
Gentlemen: — A eenae of yratitain
and the tleeire to render t service (o thf
public impel me to make the following
statements:
My col less career, at Now Haven, wm
interrupted by a severe cold which to
enfeebled me that, for ten yean, 11
Hard at niggle for life. ~
from the bronchial paaa
reiiult of almost every fresh <
For years I waa under treatment ei the
ablest practitioners without avail. AM
last I learned ct
Ayer’s Cherry PecteraJ,
which I used ( moderately and hi BMtt
doaea) at the first recurrence at n wM
or any cheat difficulty, and from vlltah
I invariably found relief. Thlfi wan
over years ago. TfUk all I
exposure, in all aorta of rHmaise,
never, to this day, had any cot
any affection of the throat or
which did not vteld to Atbs’d Cl
PanoaAL within 24 hours.
Of course I have never allowed my
self to be without this remedy la all my
voyages and travels. Coder raj own
observation. It baa given relief to vest
numbers of persons: while in ncatocamn
of jiuliBonary inflammation, such an
oup and diphtheria In children, ttfn
La* been preserved through its eweete.
I re<somamnd its use in light hwt ten.
quent doses. Properly fidauafctend, to
accordance with year dnmm, ffi ti
A Priceless Blessing
in an. boas,. I ipsak iszwsHy has—as
I feel earnestly. I bars knows BMor
rwe. of apparently mMmeJ hMSshWa
au.l tough, with loss of vole*, fortlso
larly among elorgymaa aad othw paM*
•peakaes, pertscDy cured tyffis aafV
ream, i bm a
Hemorrhage
WM
I term ed
•ooirz
TTork Store,
^ Using On (Ms KstaMi*KiU($H!V
Wed Georgia.
ULl US L. MACK, - - - Manager,
mere regard green grass sa neces
sary to successful farming. Bat
Ohio farm* were not always
I have seen the time
wore as barren at ti
gia cottoa field In
U>* early
Golden Medical Discovery”—the
great blood purifier.
A Chesterfield (Mich.) man ha
bog 26 months old that is the mother
of fifty-nlao pigs.
Ayer’s Cherry Peehrek