The Henry County weekly. (McDonough, GA.) 18??-1934, December 16, 1892, Image 1

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THE HENRY COUNi'Y WEEKLY VOL. XVII. moj j:ssio\a 1, VAiti>s. |jic. U. t*. dentist, Me Do not oh <»a. Anv one desiring work done can :>e nc eommodated either hy railing on me in per «on or addressing nie through tiie mate-. Terms cash, unless special arrangements made. Geo W. Betas j W.T. Dickkn. It It Vll A l)I( Kll^. attorneys at law, McDonOcoh, Ga. Will practice in th.e counties composing the Flint Judicial Circuit, the Supreme Court of Georgia and the United States District Court. apr27-lv TA .B. UIvU.AA, L, * attorney at law. McDonough, D a . Will practice in all the Courts ot Georgia Special attention given to commercial and Dthercollections. Will attend all the Louits *t Hampton regularly. Office upstairs over The Weekly oirice. ■yy a. Know*' ’ attorney at law, McDonoiioh, Ga. Will practice in all the counties compos ing the Hint Circuit, the Supreme Court of Georgia and the United States District Court. juil-ly TJ A. PUKPLBS, attorney at law, Hampton, Ga, Will practice in all the counties composing the Flint Judicial Circuit, the Supreme Court of Georgia and the District Court ot the United States. Special and prompt Atten tion given to Collections, Oct 8, IbSb Jno. D. Stewart. j R.T. Daniel. sii iiWAit r &. i*a.\ii:j„ attorneys at law, Griffin, Ga. | Oil A 1,. TI E. ATTORNEY AT LAW, Gate City Natioal Bank Building, Atlanta, Ga. Practices in the State and Federal Courts. g I’. WEEMS, ATTORNEY AT LAW, Fayetteville, Ga. Will practice in all the State and Feder al courts. Collections a specialty, and prompt attention given to all business en trusted to me. THE—' ■ > R'Y. IS THE ONLY SHORT AND DIRECT LINE TO THE NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND WEST. PULLMAN'S FINEST VES TIBULE SLEEPERS UET W E E N ATLANTA & KNOXVILLE MACON & CHATTANOOGA BRUNSWICK & ATLANTA without ch in direct Connections at Chat tanooga with Through TRAINSAND PULLMAN SLEEP ERS TO Memphis and the West, nt Unoiiille willi IMilliiiiin Sleeper* lor WASHINGTON, PHILADELPHIA, AND NEW YORK. FOR- FURTHER INFORMATION ADDRESS, B.W. WRENN, CHAS. N.KICHT C.en’l. Pa**. As-, A,<i. P. A. KNOXVILLE. ATLANTA sot Tn. Leave McDonough 7:00 a. m. Arrive Greenwood 7 .'27 “ “ Louella 7:25 “ “ Griffin ... 8:05 “ NORTH. Leave Griffin 4:00 p. m Arrive Louella 4:40 “ Greenwood 4:48 “ “ McDonough 5:05 “ M. E GRAY, Sup’t. j / * r f_> -t r cure* scratch on IVlLL’lj fLil Ji horses, mange on dogs with one or two applications. Fo* safe by D. .1. Sanders. revusti * DS. TAFT'S ASTHXALENE 4f' HWIA CURES , CREE THE 08. TAFT 6SOS. M. CO .SOCStSUI.H.I.a “ COMMISSIONER NESBITT His Monthly Talk with the Farmers of Georgia. Department of Agriculture, Atlanta, Ga. Dec. 1. 1891. The year of 1892 has nearly passed away, and as we take a retrospective view of our labors, our successes attd our defeats’for this year we find much food for earnest thought. It is our duty to consider and weigh well the grave responsibilities which surround us, and in making our arrangements for another year to ask ourselves if our efforts have been conducted on the right lines? Have we conducted our farms on common sense, business principles? Have we managed in such a way as not only to reap the largest yield from the smallest area at the lowest cost, but have we realized the full benefits of this result? In planting our various crops did we consult the ever important condition of “supply and demand,” and in disposing of them did we exercise the business acumen which enabled us to market i them to the best advantage? Is it not too much our habit in the hurry, and often perplexity of arranging our busi ness at the beginning of each year to overlook these important questions? In our anxiety we are liable to forget that the farmers obligations are not confined to the narrow circle of his own farm and home, but on each one rests, in part, the duty of feeding and clothing the world. A failure in this can but bring disappointment and suffering to the busy toilors in other occupations and trades, and also those who, while helping us. are not pro ducers, whose daily wants have to be supplied. It is to the farmers that these teeming millions turn, not only for their meat and bread, but for the clothes which they wear, and the farmers alone can produce them. This is their supreme right, and tints to them belongs the lever which moves the world. Do we realize the magnitude of the undertaking? Is it not onr duty not only to supply onr reeds, but to meet this demand which the world makes upon ns, and are we pursuing a system which will accomplish this work? To understand this question more thoroughly let us go back thirty -years. At that |ime there were fields in every section of our state that, without fertilizer, yielded large returns. With ordinary preparation and fair cultiva tion we reaped abundant crops of our staple productions. We had wide ex panses of woodland pastures, which furnished our meat at an almost nomi nal cost, and a contented, thorouglily controlled labor system. Prosperity and contentment smiled on every side. Then came the devastations of war and an entire change in our system of labor. After this, from necessity often, but as truly from mistaktuv Harm meth ods, the tenant and Minting system began, and also the &grnici(V.-i and false, and I should say, p .... ‘t -curing a.it an.'.4 MaWCriti'.:* and often more than fuU j-oim of the crops under cultivation. These mis takes have tended to bring about a spec ulative system of farming. The ease with which credit could he obtained on cotton and the impossibility of securing it on any other crop, and the cheapness of our lands have influenced many farmers to produce a money crop, or rather what they hoped would be a money crop, to the exclusion of those food crops so absolutely essential to the success, comfort and, and I may say, perpetuity of our calling. Granted that this system is the result of our losses from a most destructive war and the wiping out of old established customs, it is equally true that it has established temporary methods which have well nigh bankrupted us. Time has effectually demonstrated the folly of continuing an agricultural policy which has brought us only dis appointment and defeat in the past, and yet in some cases from apathy, in others from a spirit born of despair. We see our farmers plunging each year deeper and deeper into the whirlpool of ruin. Seeking and gaining the consent of their patient and hopeful creditors, they brace themselves for their new work, and by increasing cotton, their only money crop, vainly trope to retrieve their failing fortunes. This new work is only new as far as the season is con cerned. It is a new year, but it is the same old methods, the same old hopes, the same old efforts to produce a cotton crop on credit to pay old debts. No mathematical proposition was ever more easily demonstrated than this; that a farmer cannot purchase supplies on time to make cotton at present prices. In nine cases out of ten the losses are so great that he finds his obli gations have been increased rather than diminished by the honest but mistaken effort he has made to release himself from the relentless grasp of debt. Let us resolve on different methods. Ours is an honorable calling, and farming is just as much a business as selling goods, or mining ores and requires far more study and preparation. Let no man think that he can successfully embark in it without some previous preparation or knowledge of even its simplest duties. To the man who farms because he loves it and not sim ply because he can gain a hard living by it, who studies business as well as the most enlightened agricultural methods, who applies the knowledge gained from the brainwork researches of others as well as that gleaned from his own observation and experience, who uses brain force as well as physical strength—to this man, nature opens her store house and pours out her rich treasures. In studying her laws we 6hall realize that each year we owe a duty to our land as well as to our fami lies and ourselves. We shall find that we cannot continue indefinitely to draw plant food from the soil, and expect that soil to remain in fruitful condition Taking even a small quantity each year wears ont and depletes, and while this depletion may not be noticeable at the start, a gradual reduction both in the plant growth and yield of fruit must take place, and each succeeding year marks a larger decrease in the produc tive power of the land. Let ns illus trate. When a cotton planter puts his usual 200 pounds of fertilizer to the pere, he has among other elements put m 4 pounds of ammonia, and when he realizes his usual acreage of one-third of a bale to the acre, he has removed from the soil in the seed alone, 12 pounds of ammonia. In other words he each year tal es off in the seed alone 8 pounds more of ammonia than he supplies, and the land has to make up the deficit. Could there be stronger argument against our present methods. Our McDonough, ga., Friday, di-xt mbfr kj, tsoa. fathers, with a perfect system of labor, j trained and disciplined, pushed the ex hausting process to such a degree, and the consequences of our following this destructive policy are so serious that today we find ourselves confronted by conditions which we must meet and conquer or own ourselves defeated. These unsatisfactory methods do not meet the demands of our more enlight ened age. They are wrong from any standpoint, and with hired labor they are absolutely ruinous. If we are in debt is it possible for us to lessen that debt by taking on us obli gations to make a cotton crop, which, as I have already stated, costs under our present methods more than it will bring ia the markets. Let us study this ques tion thoroughly, consider our surround ings, examine carefully the condition and requirements of our lands, count the cost and then apply ourselves dili gently to the task of ascertaining which methods, which crops will pay the largest dividends. Having determined these let us use our best judgement and energy to produce the best results Select some good agricultural publica tion, nothing better than “The Southern Cultivator" and its contemporary “The Southern Farm,” both published in At lanta, and as you sit around your fire sides these long winter nights read and study tiie results which are being obtained in every section by live and wide awake farmers. The day with us is passed when we can do superficial work, because the elements once so abundantly supplied by our soil are from unwise anti careless management greatly exhausted. Any one with ordi nary intelligence and energy can on rich land dig a support from the soil. Only intelligent and properly directed skill can wrest success from our changed condition. But here science comes to our aid, points out the trouble and sug gests the remedy and common sense tells us that we have the conditions for success in our grasp if we will only con trol them. Science pays there are cer tain elements necessary to tiie grow'h of your crops, supply these in greater qualities than your crops require and you keep up the fertility of your lands Common sense says you have a monopoly on a crop which is absolutely necessary to the world, keep it in proper bounds and your independence is secured. Build up a small acreage each year by a careful system of rotation, green crops and manuring. Take a few acres and every spare moment haul out the scrap ings from lot, stable and fence corners, also from rich spots in your woods. Now and during the winter months is the time for this work. It has been demonstrated that stable manure spread on the land and allowed to remain during the winter has produced 70 bushels of corn per acre. The same quantity plowed under in the spring the same season yielded only 50 bushels per acre. Purchase your acid, cotton seed meal and potash now, and during the bad weather mix these ingredients on a tight floor in the proportion of 000 pounds meal, 1,200 pounds acid and 200 pounds German kainit. You will save front $4 to $5 per ton. have a first class fertilizer and know just exactly what “you are IHfihg. Or you can take acid, cotton seed meal and stable manure ia the following proportions and have a fertilizer equal, if not superior to any on the market: Acid, 650 pounds, stable manure, 675 pounds, cotton Reed meal, 225 pounds, or green cotton seed, 675 pounds. When land is deficient in potash add 200 pounds of kainit, In this formula deduct 75 pounds each, of green cotton seed and stable manure and 50 pounds of super phosphate. Again let me warn you not to be led into the mistake of raising too much cot ton. Don’t be tempted to leave the only true plan to success, that is plenty of food supplies, and then all the cotton y<m can cultivate without having to borrow more than it is worth to make it. Tiie present condition of the cotton market is sufficient proof of the unalter able laws of “supply and demand.” The theory that we cannot produce too much cotton is entirely exploded by the ex periences of 1891 and 1892. In '9l we produced the biggest crop on record, and the price fell far below the cost pro duction, and many farmers, more especially those who bought their pro visions are yet struggling to pay off the obligations incurred in making that crop. In '92 by reason of reduced acreage and unpropitions seasons, the yield has fallen below the average, and now that this fact is established beyond controversy, we see the price bounding up in spite of speculative effort to de press it, and notwithstanding the fact that we have no more money in circula tion than we had one year ago when there was a popular theory that scarity of money and underconsumption, and not over production depressed the market and was the cause of the disas trously low price. Had' the majority of farmers by pnr sneing a sound agricultural policy been able to hold this year's crop, that is the crop of ’92, they would now be reaping the golden harvest over which the spec ulators are rejoicing. It is true there are farmers who by raising an abun dance of provisions, reducing the cotton area and by careful methods increasing the yield while lessening the cost, are today reaping the benefit from their wise forethought. But unfortunately they are the exception. The bulk of the cotton has gone out of the hands of the farmers, and they are compelled to see their crop, the result of much anxious thought and weary toil, enriching others instead of themselves. Let me urge you in planning your crops for ’93 to remember that when we glut the mar kets of the world, we have to accept such prices as the buyer sees fit to give, but when we have our supplies and a cotton crop just sufficient to meet the de mands of trade, we can, to a certain extent, dictate the price. Don’t allow yourselves to be allured into false meth ods by the present high price of cotton. This will be my last talk with the farmers before the opening of the new year. May they realize the grave re sponsibilities which it brings, and by a wise and careful policy, use its oppor tunities to their own best advantage. R. T. Nesbitt, Commissioner. General Remarks. As this report will be the last issued from the department for the year 1892, we desire to thank the correspondents of the department who have rendered us such valuable aid in their preparations, We are glad to note that the estimates made from the reports sent during the growth and gathering of the crop are proving substantaly correct, while we regret that in some mistakes they are not so gratifying as we would wish. The large increase made in the number of reporters has rendered the result from the compiled figures much more certain as inequalities in the crop in different localites of the same section were mos t acurately ascertained. COTTON. In regard to this crop the present in dications and reports are that it will hi under rather than above previous esli mates of the department. Whilein nearly every quarter thorrop l of 1891 for the state has been placed at 1,100,000 bales, the department from the best information at its <m antand has never regarded it as in excessof 1,000, 0ut bales, and of the two great crops tn actual production in 1890 as he greater. Taking therefore 1,000,000 bales as tin yield for last year,os per cent. or 650,000 bales or near that number will betheerov for this year. These figuaes were given in the November report since issuing which reports have been received whicu might justify a reduction in thee l im t and which assures us that the yield wnl: certainly uot exceed the amount given. PICKING. The gathering of the crop, in nearly every part of the state has been com pleted and the quantity remaining in the fields is hardly worthy of comput t tion. While the crop wits late, the total absence of a top crop concentrate : the picking ’within it short time usd gathering was finished at an earlier da: than usual. MARKETING. As soon as ginned and packed cotton has been carried to the markets and a much larger percent of tile crop ha been sold up to this time than for several years. PLANT LESS. Let every farmer remember what \v have so ofted said on the r 1 notion > the cotton acreage and plant less in tl year 1893 than in 1892, with more gran, and forage crops. CORN. The total yield of corn in the stab exceeds that of last year. The avers, yield is not great, especially in nort h Georgia but the loss in this respect i more than compensated by the increased acreage. We hope to see alttrgeiuore-t-. this year arid for succeeding years until our farmers are for the production ot this crop independent of the grain field of the west. SMALL GRAIN. The season for sewing full crops of small grain has not been so propit ion as we might desire, but we trust that our farmers have not been deterod from increasing the acreage in their crop. In those portions of the state adapted t. wheat culture, we would urge upon our farmers to study the ho st method of fertilizing and cultivating until a!) failures in this crop will b* entirely due to the seasons and not inproper methods. Farm Value*. Governor Northen in bis last in augural address gave the figures show ing the large increase in Ihe taxahh value of tiie property of the state (lut ing the past decade. These flu ires wri gratifying to all who have the interest of the state at heart; but their jdD was mared by the fact ttHttSSjavly the entire increase was urban, .;qltt the per centagp of increase in the 'value of farm lands was very smal 1 I’"Cures ar.■ particularly striking wTn-ir it e consider that otf state is classod as Agricultural, and th.it upon the farm a majority of our people depend for their livelihood and our state for its financial and com mercial standing. In arriving at the causes that have led to these results 1< us consider upon what tiie value of on farm lands depend. The land it ■- does not constitute the farmer’s wealth, but the constituents of the soil are hi capital. If these constituents serve for the nutrition of plants his land is pro ductive and valuable, otherwise it yields but little and is of small value. Outside of the productive features a the basis of the' value of our lands, other things are to be considered a forming a part of the valuation. For however valuable the products, if the cost of making approximates or exceed-! its worth, there being little or no not earning from the soil, its value will not be enhanced by reason of its produc tiveness. The three great questions therefore to be considered by the practical and theor etrical agriculturalist are—how to in crease tiie productiveness of the soil, how to reduce the cost of making, ami how to obtain the highest price in the market. “Rational Agriculture,” says a writer “in contradiction to the spoliation sys tem of farming is based upon the prin ciples of restitution.” The farmer each year with tiie gath ered crop takes from the soil a part of its actual value. This must be restored, or to that extent his capital is impaired, and, like the man living beyond the in terest on 1 is money, consumes each year a portion of his principal, thus impov erishing himself eventually. I lie rota tion of crops as a method of restitution has been repeatedly considered in these reports. When the crops are removed from the soil it should be remembered that no rotation will restore land, and that all crops exhaust to some extent certainly as to their own reproduction. The physical and chemical condition of the soil may lie improved and existing nutritious matter converted into an available form, thus compensating for exhaustion, but no permanent improve ment is accomnlisned. On the other hand if the crop’is allowed to remain o.i the land, extracting as it has certain manural values from the atmosphere, or its product in barn manure in returned to the field the soil will increase in pro ductiveness, In any elaborate consid eration of the compensation, that tiie soil for removed crops it would be neces sary to deal with each crop seperately and to go into the results obtained By scientific investigation a won: two com prohensi ves to find space in these re ports. A Btudy of these matters are however of vital importance not only where it is sought to restore land after a certain crop, but also as indicating the class of fertilizer essential to tho production of that crop. Wo would no: be under stood as in anyway detracting from the merits of rotation, but simply as sug gesting that in studying met nods ~f re storing land,or of holding them to their present standard, not only should such crops be planted and rotation adopted as will result in the least exhaustion, but the plant nutrition of the crop as often *s possible returned to the -oil. This may in a great degree be accom plished and yet the crop utilized as food for farm animals. Commeicial fertilizer while we approve their use at the proper time ami in tiie proper pli.ee have t<x> often led to a total abandonment of the manure pile, and farmers have grown lax in returning to the soil, plant food with which a little care need only lx. taken to prevent spoliation of their lan.l and which may be used to renovate and restore it. Care should be taken in saving barn- yard manure, otherwise it will loose much of its valuable and most solnnble nutritious property by evaporation wast ing I'D-. Our open farmyards too often le id toinjudicious management of mauro where efforts is made to husband their I r- .eirces and spread over a large area, | without timely saving, our manures loose half of their fertilizing- value. In j asking onr farmers in preparing and! fertilizing their land for a crop to con-1 aider not only the yield for the year but j a permanent increase in the product- 1 tioness of the soil wu would em.iha-uzo I the n "cos-ity of rotation as improving! the physieial and chemical condition of j the soil and compensating for exhaustion j which attends reproduction, ami injoin the necessity of not permitting any thing of tmtmral valu° on the farm to i wast. Do this, an l with judicous lie | of chemical fertilizer mat -rial the value of our farm lands will increase REDUCE THE COST OF M.VJvINO. In rendering onr lands pro luetive and Increasing tqe yield per acre, we have done much towards re Im-iit * t ie cott of making. As approximately the same amount of labor is involved in cultivation where the yield is small as where the yield is large. In addition to this the use of labor saving implements should be studied, and adopted where they can be a saving in this direction. Here it would not be out of place to say that fine economy can be shown on the farm by h proper care of tools, harness, etc. STUDY THE MARKET. Of all questions intermantely related to profit on the farm the southern planter has perhaps paid less attention to a study of the markets than any other. This result from the fact that our principel crop is one that has always found a ready sale for cash. It is the duty of tho farmer to study the wants of tho town, city or village near which he lots located, ftcelities for shipping to tho 1 ti-go marts of commerce, an 1 their demand for various farm products. By doing this ho will frequently find side crops which he may profitably cultivate and for which he may be able to get cash when it is much needed. The diversification that would result would noi only be of immense benefit in restoring worn land but would aid at ariving at what shoult he the aim of the farmer of tho cotton states, a reduction of the acreage in cotton and that crop as a surplus. It may be said by some that now that the cotton markets has gone up it is useless to further urge upon the farmer. Tin: NECESSITY OF A SMALL ACREAGE. To this we need only reply that the same error will again result in the same disaster, and that living prices can only Vie obtained, by a reduction in the amount made. The journey began in the right diriction, we should not turn back allured by the hope of tempo rary profit when experience Ims demon strate 1 that it can bring only ruin. We wish it was in our power to convincingly impress on the mind of every farmer, if we of the south would prosper, we must make our farmer self sustaining, utili; > every thing of value at our eomand renovate our waste land and reducing the acerage in cotton, plaut it only as an in dependant money crop. In conclusion we reeterate, let yoiir doctrin be one of restitution not spoliation, more grain grass and fruits ami less cotton. Oiiß or Two Plain Truths. BY HON. It. T. NESBITT, COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE OF GEORGIA. From tho November Southern Culivator. I know what I am about to say will not at first be pleasant, or perhaps accepta ble, to the majority of farmers, but when thinking men analyze these plain truths, they will pardon their first dis agreeable impression, for the sake of the kernel of good that lies in them. I do not claim originality in presenting them, they have been repeated hundreds of times, and the principles underlying them are as old as the hills themselves, but the urgency of our present needs demands that they should be impressed again and again upon the minds of our fanners. Farming, all things considered, is the best business on earth, and the safest, where tho farmer gives the same atten tion to his work that tho doctor, tho lawyer, the merchant bestows on his; but under our present management it is actually cheaper for a fanner to buy cotton, than it is for him to raise it! And this is the crop on which we expend all our enegies, all our means, and on which we depend for our income. To the owner of land, this condition is deplorable, but to the farmer, who rents land and borrows money, or pro visions to make cotton, it is ruinous. When wo examine into the causes whi'-h has led to this distressing and almost general agricultural condition, we find among other mistakes, two of greatest prominence. The first is, that w<‘ have depended too much on common fertilizers and too little on green crops and home manures. The history of agri culture throughout the world shows that in those countries where commercial fertilizers are relied on exclusively or even mainly to produce crops, poverty and want have resulted, while in countries where it is used in conjunction with thorough preparation of the land, that is a preparation, which puts the land in condition to utilize the fertilizer, prosperity and riches, even, have blessed the farmer's intelligent eff-arts. It is beyond contradiction that a man cannot permauetly enrich bis land with I guanos alone. They produce an artific i ial stimulus, but they do not build it up. I This “building up” must be done by ! green crops, and by compost applied broadcast over the land. The common ! practice of running a furrow, drilling in ■ a little commercial fertilizer, covering ' and planting on tiiat, is positively no benefit to the land, and often prove! of j little iiencfit to the crop. And this is not from any fa tlc of tlm tho i | failure most frequently comes from our mistaken manner of using it. A must \ import mt lesson, which we have got to Ram is. that we cannot afford to nso , i expensive fertilizers, unless bv means of the.-"-, renovating crops and deep plow ing, we put onr lands in condition to ap propriate to the best advantage that j j largo proportion of these fertilizers, I which ts now wasted Our lands once! ; brought to this condition we need not fear to fertilize heavily. The renovating j i process is "slow and tedious,” but until l we nerve ourselves to .this task, and | undertake it earnestlyand systemati- I cally, we cannot hope for agricultural prosperity. . , This process of renovation is also costlv, but it is not more so than tho present plan of planting large areas, ! hastily prepared and imperfectly eulti ; vated. And in the end the “building ; up” plan is far more certain, far more remunerative. Just here is suggested to our minds I the second grave error, that is, planting Highest of all in Leavening Power —Latest U S. Gov’t Report. Powder ABSCMJUTELY PURE large areas in the uncertain, “slip shod” manner which has characterized our methods for many years, in other words, undertaking to plant more land than wo thoroughly manage. There are thous-! ands of acres throughout tho State, which do not begin to pay for the cost of cultivation. Leave these to tho kindly offices of Mother nature, select only your best land, and apply there all tho energy, all the manure, which has here tofore been too much diluted by tho “spreading” process. YVhat we need is concentration. If onr last season’s 9,000,000 bales had been made on half the land which was used to make that crop, ami the other half had been applied to improved methods of raising corn, wheat, oats, grass and stock, how many millions of money that escapes through our fingers, would have been retained at home, and be now adding to our prosperity? The big farms of the northwest have not as a rule proved permanently profit able. Tho most prosperous communities are where the farms are moderate in size, highly cultivated and occupied by intelligent and industrious families, who take pleasure ami pride in their business ami surroundings, To make the cotton producers ol' the south the richest and most independent people of the globe, they have only to cultivate less land in cotton, cultivate it better, that is, bring it to the highest state of cultivation possible and put the remainder in diversified crops, cub mile 1 on the same plan. Matters of General Interest to the Farmer. The following extracts from the exchanges of the Department of agri culture, do we believe contain sound advice and information of value to farmers. CLOVER AS A FERTILIZER, SUITED BEST TO MIDDLE AND NORTH GEORGIA' The clover plant yields the nicest ma nures, and that is the stuff that must farmers most need. Clover gives good wheat, corn, meat, milk and I lie cheapest ami best, of all fertilizers. Wheat and clover should take the place of weeds ami sassafras bushes. I look back over fifty years, and make a note of the fact that the farms of this locality on which clover lias been grown with the greatest regularity, ore today tho farthest from exhaustion. Glover in such hhelp in solving the problem of available plnulfood. that I believe it, to be a work of benevolence to ti Ip ill the management of it. There is one blunder, almost universal, which I believe largely reduct - the value of clover, both for feed, seed ami fertility, and this is the universal habit of pastur ing young clover as soon as the wheat is out of the field. I do not think it is even a wise policy to pasture for a month or six weeks after harvest, and believe it better to lay down a rub- never to pasture the first, fall under any circum stances. This rule I have followed for twenty years, ami believe that I have boon tho gainer hy it. As a recepitulation of this article, or rather to enforce it, I say sow clover with all small grain, no matter what crop is to follow it. Use plenty of seed; it is the cheapest way of fertilizing ami keeping your land clean at your command Do not lie so greedy for a little feed as to pasture the young clover before it has made growth enough to cover the land,for by so doing you will in the lond run have much less feed and less benefit to the land. Re memlter that a soil densely shaded is always improved, and that no other crop you can grow will furnish as good shade, as clover. HOW AND WHEN TO SOW CLOVER. September is tho best month in which to sow clover; October is probably tin next best; if not sown before tiie last, of October it is better to wait, until Feb ruary. It is not considered the best practice, by the most experienced clover growers in the southern border of the clover-growing section, to sow the seeds with small grain. Success is more certain when clover is sown by it self or with some other grass, like orchard, blue grass, etc. If yon sow in February we would advise not to sow with oats or other grain. There is no advantage D be gained in breaking the land earlier than a week or two before sowing, nnle - it may bo necessary to break earlier it order to get it into good condition. Tin soil should be well pulverized and liar rowed smooth. Sow about twelve pounds of clover seed per acre, if sown by itself; if with orchard grass, us' eight or ten pounds of clover and otn and one-half bushels of orchard gras.- seed. While the surface is mellow am! fresh from recent liarrowing, mix tin clover seed with ashes or sift- - 1 soil, oi with a good fertilizer, and so.v half on way and half the other, so as to get a uniform distributions tln-n sow th orchard grass, or other grass seed, in th - same way. No covering, byplow,brus t. or harrow, is necessary, tho next rain will cover sufficiently. If tiie soil is not rich enough to bring a half a bale of cotton, or twenty-five bushels of r-. rie: acre, it would bo well to fertilize i‘ lif ing not less than two hundred pound of good ammoniated phosphate. FARMING A SCIENCE. Farming is a real science, and not mere plowing and dropping seed in tin ground; any negro can do that, but to sow and plow with judgement, to under stand the law of naturo, and to take advantage of these laws means success. When a farmer says—“it is too much trouble, I have not the time,” I know how to gage his judgement. Whatever will give or advance prosperity in any business, there is always a time to do that thing. A DOIN' BUSINESS METHODS. Of many remedies one worth trying is business. That old saw, business is business, contains a world of meaning; it is fully of sound common sense. Every farmer ouglxt to be a first-rate business man. In this age he must he or he will fail as sure as fate. Show me a farmer who has no head for business and yoo will point to a man who is on the road to ruin. Rut what do we mean bv first-rate 5 CENTS A COPY. ' Buminr** limn f is tne rarnier wno pro duces abundant crops, of the best quality, at the least cost, a good business man ? Not necessarily; such a man is undoubte dly a good farmer; but he might bo at the same time a poor business man. There are a large number of farmers in the country who year after year pro duces abundant crops, of the best qualit y and at the least cost, and yet grow poorer and poorer the longer they live, because they are not good business managers. The pecuniary success of farming, as to every other business, depends not so much upon production of abundance of products, of the liest quality, at the least cost, important as this may be, ns it does upon the proper answer to the questions. What shall we produce, in what quantities, when shall It be pro duced and how, when, whore and for what price, and to whom shall it bo sold? WHY NOT RAISE YOUR OWN WORK ANIMALS. The following from The Southern Cultivator shows that at 8 cents per pound, Georgia pays 100,000 bales of cotton for horses and mules. Can our farmers prosper and pursue this course? •‘A careful estimate reveals the fact that most of the counties in middle Georgia have for long yoars, paid, in act H* 1 cash, from eighteen to thirty ihousand dollars, annually, for mules Mid horses brought from the wpst. Striking a low average from the entire state, wo find between three and four million dollars taken from the state for stock that could be raised for a nominal sum upon our own Helds. What stup endous folly, when it is conceded on all hands that our stock can be raised at less cost than in the markets from which we buy. Grass grows as freely; our soil produces forage as abundantly; our winters are far less rigorous and the necessary onse, therefore, less ex pensive. Every thing is favorable to the enterprise; wisdom and economy urge the undertaking. Every farmer should raise, at least, the stock needed upon his farm. It greatly helps tho general good to hold annual colt shows, both as an evicence of progress and an encouragement to others. USE MORE FERTILIZERS, Tho farmers of tho south do not use enough manure, or to state it in a dif , ferent form, they tako from the soil I every year very much more than th«y. )"return to It in manure. It Is easy to show, that fertilizers pay better divi dends than any other investment on the farm. The conclusion is irresistible that we should use more fertilizers ; not com mercial or bought fertilizers alone, hut homo manures, composts, green crops turned under, marls, etc., everything that will add more to the yield of the crop than the cost of its application. To have an abundance of stable or barnyard manures there must be an in crease in the number of animals fed. This gives diversity to the farm and in creases the sources of income. A well fed cow will nearly pay for her keep in manure, besides a good profit on the butter sold and consumed. A OOOD MAXIM FOR FARMERS. Raising cotton on poor land does not pay. I cannot afford to raise cotton in lees quantities than ono bale per acre, and in order to bring my land np to that point must make manure, and the cheapest is that made from stock raised on a f irm. »#***«** The “old beaten track” is not always the h -St. The “old beaten track” is not the one that will always lead us most quickly, or even most surely, to sucres 1 1 in agriculture. New ideas and new methods have come np in every branch of farm practice during recent years, and many of them have already been tried and found good. A preju dice in favor of old ways should not keen one from being progressive. Read, study and keep up with times. * » *##*** Farmers cannot prosper as long ns they are compelled to sell their cotton or starve. The situation is an unfortunate one for our farmers, but they can improve it very much hero after by their own efforts. They can never command the situation so long as they must sell their cotton or starve. Th y can command it when they can live without selling and sell only to realize profits. The increase in tho pro dnotion of food crops on southern farms shows a tendency in the right direction. It is a tendency which no rise in the price of cotton should stop. If it con tinues long enough it will make the pro luetion of cotton again profitable and in r farmers prosperous. Hon. John Temple Graves, who for a fortnight previous to the election had been speaking for Democracy under the direction of the national committee, lias returned to the South. Mr. Graves says the most marked results of the election of Mr. Cleveland is the una nimity'"with which all eyes are turned to the South as the most prominent b-neficiary. Wherever Southern men are met they are assured that capital that has been held back is now ready to he poured into the South to develop legitimate enterprises, and Mr. Graves mentioned one iustance where $8,000,- 000 was held hack and was practically now “on call.” Mr. Graves says the facts fully justify the enthusiasm with which the South looks forward to the brightest era of industrial prosperity and development that she has ever had. The joints and muscles are so lubri cated by Hood’s Sarsaparilla that all rheumatism and stiffmss soot: disap pear. Try it.