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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, DECEMBER 1,1881
Agricultural Department
Farm Work tor December.
western Georgia we have known good
crops as the result of late December
sowings. In suci case the preparation
and manuring should be extra good, and
the seeding heavy.
Where oats have not been sown it is
hardly advisable to sow now, as little
would be gained over January or Feb
ruary sowing, and the risk of winter
Under our present system, and with
the Christmas habits of the rural popu
lation, December is a sort of Saturday
afternoon to the year. There's not much
work in darkies or young people after
Christmas is so near as to put them toj more than counter
counting the days intervening until b ‘‘ lanc i e the little thus gained In this
Santa Claus is due. With many people, rem8r) < ™ hav ® reference to the upper
December seems to be rather an extra P art of th « cotton belt. Lower down,
month thrown in between to make up <f 8 “ a 7 be sown at any time during
the round dozen. To the thoughtful, tbe winter with comparative safety,
industrious farmer, it is a time to close Where 8eed ° Burt, or other very quick
up the old year's business and make ar- e"ly varieties of oats are
rangements for the new. With the ^bte spring oats are almost as r^
average contraband and most of the “e-though rarely making as good a
young people the December air is »ag- the fal1 80 ™- We cons.der
gestive of frolic and fun, parties and the Bur oat a very great acquisition,
pleasure, good cheer and good company, ® 8 P eciaI ^ to the northern portion of the
and a “good time” generally. The Sunn y.South. Sown in February the
first part of the month is employed in "°P Wl11 mature b y the middle to last of
anticipating the last week. Christmas, I May-according to locality. A very dry
at the South, is what Thanksgiving day Ma J* however, is much to be feared even
is, in the North. Well, we are not go- h 1 * 8 «ch a variety.
ing to moralize on the time honored • Tb ® “ 08t characteristic job of the
custom of merrymaking and handshak-1 ?, r8t C0 J d wenther in December, is the
custom <
ing and social enjoyment of the season.
‘ hog killing.” At least half the whole
If*not carried to excess in any direction I n “ mb er should be ready for the knife at
it is well to relax from our cares anden- tb « approach of the first good “ spell.”
ter with hearty zest into the business of " 18 P oor economy to stint food to hogs
being happy and making happy-once n P lea8ant weather and then seek
a year. The occasion has long since lost to “ ake . Up * 0r , il L by overfeeding in the
its original significance (in this country “ ud a “ d ®° ! ? of December and January
at least) and in the minds of a large f u4 8tdl 14 18 comparative economy to
majority of the people there is not al feed them ln «° od condition for
thought given to the great event the por ' even lf J ate December, or Jan-
celebration 0 f the twenty-fifth day of I T/'n u* ™ hogs in eight
December was originally intended top “ cn B *
commemorate. As the cold weather and the wind and
„ . . . .. „ ram storms of winter approach it is in
But,-“to return to our mutton,'-L he intere8t of economy not less than
what can be done on the farm during humanit to provide comfortab]e rain
December? When actually engaged in and wind proo{ ahelter8 for a „ the farm
farming we long practiced the: plani of animalfl . What is lacki . Q Bhe , (er
making December the fir-t month of the mU8t be made up jn food A foU ^
y ear “ B « f " “ ~ rns trough in an open lot, or under a leaky.
Indeed in the South the work o the old open sided make Bhift of a stftbl igju J t
yew may generally be completely closed M wifle and d fooli8h S RB&
up by the last of November. The crops roaring fire of C08tly wood or CQal ^
° corn, cotton, potatoes, etc., should the comfortof your famil in a room
all have been housed before that time. with all the doorB and window8
Nothing need prevent the progressive, lhe roof full o{ hole8 . A com £ rtable
wide-awake farmer from going ngh on bU1 , for each horae and CQ and
in the work of preparation for another dry ahedfl for the Bmal]er
crop, if the weather be at all suitable rep ay their C0Bt fa one hard wint b
for outdoor work Larly plowing of the Bavin g 0 f food, and the health and
stubble or grass sod lands, usually the vigor of the auimalB thu8 protected to
first plowing of the newyear, may just 8ay nothing of the d con8ci ’ ence
“ wel1 commence right now. Let the which attends the ma8ter - 8 enjoyment
clean cotton fields and bare land* stand L f the ^ comfortable fireside and
untd spring, but those tha are covered warm couch during the storms of win-
with dead grass, the stubble of a small to when he know8 that hifl dumb de .
grain crop, and especially those tci be pendentB are al80 comfortabl hoU8ed
reclaimed from broom-sedge, should be again8t the weathei . R
turned over as early as possible—the ,, «
earlier the better—in order to give time „
for the large amount of vegetable mat-
ter to moulder and decay, and get out I During a recent
of the way of the cultivator. While not Georgia, we met up with an old ac-
much may be really accomplished, it is quaintance, who fifteen years ago, was
a point of 'vantage gained to get the surrounded by a modest competence and
work of preparation started—to get seemed to be doing well. He appeared
things straightened out. The work of now to be in rather a needy condition,—
the last four months has been almost I broken in health, spirit and fortune,
exclusively that of harvesting; and on I The following short dialogue occurred
most farmB a good deal of hunting up Wk—Well, John, how are you getting
and repairing and fixing up will be nec-1 on ?
essary, now that the harvest is ended, Ha—Mighty poorly. My health is
and a new crop iB but a few months | bad and I can’t make money when it
ahead of us. If new hands are to be costs ten cents to raise a pound of cot-
engaged let contracts be made at once, ton and I can get only nine cents for it
“ move them ” in at once, and put them Wx—Ip it true that it costs you more
to work—if possible. If tenants of the to raise cotton than it will bring in mar-
past year have made other arrange- ket? If so, why do you continue to
ments encourage them to depart in plant cotton ?
peace, as soon as practicable, so that He—Well, I can’t get any supplies
laborers for the next year may move in from the merdi into unless 1 make cot-
and become settled before New Years ton. They won't credit me only on the
day. pledge of my cotton crop.
The fall just passed was remarkably Wx—Why, my friend, that is a bad
unfavorable for Bowing small grain, and state of affairs. But hadn’t you better
we opine that a smaller area has been soil one of your mules, or part of your
sown up to tbiB writing [the rain is now land, lay in what you are obliged to buy
descending—November 19th] than in I for next year—paying cash for it, and
many years—take the country over. In I then go in for makiug a living for your-
the css* of wheat—in the cotton section I self and family instead of working for porous farming is the practice of a sys-
—the crop may yet be planted—it must nothing and “ tindimr yourself?” If it! tern that will constantly add to the pro
be sown now or not at all. In South- costs you more to raise cotton than it ductiveness of his soil and the saleable
will sell for in market, the commonest
kind of sense ought to teach you that
you are obliged to get deeper in debt and
grow poorer every year. The more cot
ton you plant the greater will be your
losses, and the less the size of your cot
ton field the more money you will make.
Hx—Well, I don’t know, but I reckon
you are right. But somehow I have got
into that way of farming and can’t get
out of it.
And the passing conversation was in
terrupted and brought to an end.
Now, we fear that thousands of farm
ers are just in the fix of our friend, of
whose condition a mere glimpse is here
given. Such men know how to plant,
to.sow, to cultivate, to reap; they are
skilled in the use of the ordinary im
plements of culture—sucti as they and
♦heir fathers have been accustomed to
use. They have good work done, and
much of it. They work early and late,
and live hard and close. Yet they grow
poorer every year. They but add to the
great aggregate of the cotton crop and
help to give cheap cotton goods to the
world, while they and their families are
actually indebted to the merchant for
the clothes they wear and for a large
proportion of the food they consume.
Is there no help for such ? Is there no
way to put them again on their feet and
give them afresh start? We wish we
could solve the problem; but we cannot.
We fear such men do not read much—
except the Bible, and maybe they skip
the injunction “ owe no man anything.”
Whether this Scripture means that we
are not to buy on a credit, or simply
that we must pay a debt when due,—it
matters not,—the only absolutely safe
interpretation for a farmer is to pay cash
on the spot. We believe it was John
Randolph who once exclaimed in the
midst of a speech,—“I have found the
philosopher’s stone. It is pay as you
go!” Suppose now such a farmer as we
have been speaking about concluded to
adopt as his cardinal maxim the above
quoted quartette. If he is in debt he
must get out of debt—if he can do so
and still leave some land and tools and
stock to work with. At least he must
arrange so as to pay only a reasonable
rate of interest on that portion of hiB
debts which he cannot extinguish. The
difference between the cash and credit
prices of plantation supplies amounts to
an enormons rate of interest,—not less
than an average of fifty per cent, per
annum, and often reaching seventy-five
per cent.—and even higher 1 If com
pelled to obtain credit it is infinitely
better to borrow the money from a repu
table bank, giving any required securi
ty, and one and a half to two per cent,
per month, than pay such ruinous cred
it prices. A man with the cash in hand
trip to Southwest *" d P 088e88ed of ordinary judgment,
will always be able to buy what he
needs at the very lowest cash prices
He who buys on a credit enjoys little or
none of the advantages of competition;
he must buy from the merchant who
has agreed to “run him,” and who
holds his open crop lien note or mort
gage. Moreover, a farmer, from the
very nature of his business—the com
paratively little trading that he does, is
not prepared to cope on equal terms with
the merchant, who has been trained in
all the arts and blandishments that in
vite custom and effect sales. His busi
ness is to sell “high ” and buy “low,”
and in the end he is very apt to catch
farmer “ Jack ” and win the “game.”
if the embarrassed farmer, by reduc
ing his stock, selling off unprofitable
land, and other means, can succeed in
getting on a cash basis,—free of debt or
paying a living rate of interest, he is
then in condition to follow his business
according to the best lights afforded by
observation, reading and experience,
lie should first appreciate the truth
that the only solid foundation for pros-
value of his farm. Farmers are not go
ing to get rich or even fairly prosper,
who rely on using increasing quantities
of costly commercial fertilizers, selling
nothing but cotton, and permitting the
unaided producing power of the soil to
grow less and less every year. The
main business of the farmer should be
to produce at home an abundance of
everything needed for home consump
tion—buying only what he cannot suc
cessfully grow on his own land. The
very idea of a fa»mcr buying (as a prac
tice) food for his mules and other ani
mals, butter, eggs, beef, pork, lard, syr
up, vegetables, fruits, etc., for his ta
ble, is contrary to the order of nature
and the dictates of common reason. It
is hardly less so for him to “do without”
such necessaries and comforts, because
he is too shiftless to produce them, and
not able to purchase them. True econo
my cons'sts in producing such supplies
—not in foregoing their use rather than
to buy them.
We know we have not solved the
problem, but we have tried to present
anew some suggestions that may prove
helpful and encouraging to such farmers
as are down hearted and embarrassed.
It is quite certain that the road which
has carried one into the quagmire of
debt and despondency and failure, will
never lead him out of it. He must face
about and travel in the opposite direc
tion, noting well the familiar objects
that marked the downward journey,
that he may be able forever after to
avoid that way. R.
Our Pyramid.
The diffusiveness of the circulation of
the Southern World may be seen at a
glance by looking at the following pyra
mid of States, Territories and countries
to which every issue is sent. It is mail
ed to over 2,500 post offices: *
oaio. __
iowa. — T
UTAH.
TEXAS.
MAINE.
MEXICO.
KANSAS.
CANADA.
DAKOTA.
OREGON.
LONDON.
ILLINOIS.
FLORIDA.
INDIANA.
GEORGIA.
ARIZONA.
HOLLAND.
ALABAMA.
VERMONT.
MISBOURI.
VIRGINIA.
MONTANA.
MICHIGAN.
NEW YORK.
COLORADO.
BELGRADE.
WISCONSIN.
LOUISIANA.
NEBRASKA.
KENTUCKY.
DELAWARE.
TENNESSEE.
MARYLAND.
MISSISSIPPI.
MINNESOTA.
CALIFORNIA.
NEW JERSEY.
NEW MEXICO.
CONNECTICUT.
RHODE ISLAND.
WE8T VIRGINIA.
PENNSYLVANIA.
MASSACHUSETTS.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
NORTH CAROLINA.
80UTH CAROLINA.
INDIAN TERRITORY.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
W ASHINGTON TERRITOTY.
The highest medical authorities con
cede Anglo-SwiBs Milk Food to be the
best prepared food for infants and inva
lids. Ask druggists, or write Anglo-
Swiss Condensed Milk Co., 86 Hudson
street, New York, for their pamphlet,
Notes Regarding Use of Anglo-Swiss
MilkFood.” (See advertisement in this
paper).
Be sure the barley iB not sweating in
the bin.
Rye on sandy land is best for flour.