Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE SOUTHERN WORLD, MAY 1,'1885. 187 It U an easy matter to provide an abun dance of one sort and another of the va- : rious crops Bui table for soiling, and there is no excuse for feeding all through spring, summer, fall and win ter on dry corn, fodder and oats, except ^ the few days when the stock can go to pasture. War vs. Cotton. As we write,war between England and Russia is imminent and already wheat and cotton markets are affected by the future. Yesterday flour advanced one dollar per barrel in the city of Atlanta, the result of the combined influences of a poor condition of the growing crop and the probability of an extraordinary demand for export in the event of a European war. The same cause will doubtlesB put up the price of com, bacon and other provisions. The Western farmer will get the benefit of these changes in the markets, while the Southern farmer will hare to pay the piper,if he is not careful. While it is too late to plant small grain, there is yet time to enlarge the area in provision crops of several kinds, and diminish the acreage in cotton. If it could be certain- t ly foreseen that the price of cotton next fall would be as much as two cents per pound less than the average of the past ten years, it would be the height of folly for a large number of planters to plant any cotton at all. With most farmers the margin between cost of production and market price is too small to admit of any considerable reduction in the latter without involving absolute losses. Cultivating Poor I.and. If one had a field of ten, fifteen, orfifty acres of land that, by no skill of prepa ration and culture, and with most favor able seasons, could not be induced to yield more than ten bushelB of corn, or one hundred and fifty pounds of lint cot ton per acre, what ought he to do with it? Does it pay to cultivate such land? Gan a farmer afford to thoroughly pre pare and carefully cultivate an acre, and gather the crop therefrom, that will yield, under the most favorable circum stance, no more than seven or eight dol lars’ worth of corn, or nine or ten dol lars’ worth of cotton? Suppose the value of the crop just equals the cost of the labor, interest on investment, and taxes, where is the profit? But we have calculated on the basia of the most favorable seasons. What if the drouth, or other frequently occurring casualty, cute ofl the yield by one-third or one-half? Now, are there not thousands of acres annually planted and cultivated in the South that yield even lets—one year with another—than the figures given? The first solution to the problem is to fertilize such land up to the production of at least twice as much. If two dollars’ worth of manure will give an increase of three dollars’ worth of com or cotton, it would certainly be well to buy the ma nure. Three dollars’ return for two in vestment would be just fifty por cent profit on that investment, and would bring up the yield, which would other wise result in loss—if no fertilizers were applied—to a point of profitable produc tion. BuFwhat if the fertilizer be not attain able, or there is a nook or comer of a field that cannot be brought up, even with the aid of fertilizers, to the point of profit? Then throw it out—don’t culti vate it. Certainly do not plant in any crop, like corn or cotton, that requires so much labort" Put it in peas or Bermuda grass, or let it lie out and come up in wild growth, What folly to do ten dol lars’worth of work for five dollars in come I Atlanta, Oa. A subscriber in Natchez, Miss., would be glad to hear from some one about the “Moseley Oreamer,” or some other similar device; how the creamery sys tem is doing in the South. Georgia State Agricultural Society. Sicbstaby’b Officb, ) Macon, Ga., April 18th, 1885.) To the Secretaries of County Societies and Clubs: Dsab Bibs—President Livingston di rects me to call your special attention to the rale requiring Secretaries to send in their annual reports at least thirty days prior to the meetings of our Con ventions, and to state that the delegates of County Societies and Clubs that fail to make their reports in time, or whose Clubs fail to hold regular meetings,can not hope to receive railroad passes to the Conventions. I' am further instructed to say that hereafter—beginning with the next Au gust Convention—during the Experience Meetings, at night, the roll will be called, and the delegates of each Coun ty Society, or Club, will be required to answer the following questions: 1. How many active members are there on the roll of your Club? 2. How often does your Club meet ? 3. What is the average attendance at your meetings? 4. Is there much or little interest manifested on the part of members? 5. If your Club is not in a growing and healthy condition, why? This investigation will be continued until the entire roll is finished. The questions and answers will be published in the Transactions of the Convention. E. C. Gbibb, Secretary. Chattanooga, Tenn., appears to be keeping up the industrial boom. The Times reports six new factories starting there, a planing mill, ice factory, saw works,cooperage and horse collar works, which will employ some three hundred handB. We are glad to see Southern nursery men waking up to the importance of issuing catalogues in the highest style of art. Dr. Samuel Hape, of the Hape- ville, Ga., nurseries, has set a good ex ample of this kind the present season. He ought to do still better next year. Farm Implements. Better Implements for Culture. The very great majority of the South ern farmers confine themselves to the familiar shovel and scrape, and sweeps of various patterns, to do all the work of cultivating their crops. In this respect the difference between our methods and implements and those of the North and East is very marked. In the originally free States,where la bor has always been comparatively high, and at the same time all of it prepared by less ignorant white men, it has long been a foremost object to expand imple ments of culture and harvest so as to se cure the largest results from a given ex penditure for labor. In the South, where labor was suppos ed to cost nothing but the keep of the laborer, we have been slow to realize the importance of labor-saving plans. There has, however, been considerable ad vance made on this line of late years. We remember very well when it was the almost universal practice to put three furrows to each three-foot cotton row at each plowing; and not unfrequently four, and even five furrows, became necessary. The late David Dickson contributed very greatly to stimulate the expansion of cultivating implements,but confined himself almost exclusively to the “winged sweep,” which, with its long point and wide expanded wings, came to be known as the “Dickson Sweep.” Snch a sweep is a good implement of its kind, bat certainly inferior to some of the “cultivators” now being intro duced to some extent in the Sonth, and which have long been used in other parte of the country. The desideratum is a cultivator that will stir the surface effectually from one to two, or even three, inches in depth, and that will “clean out” a three or four foot row at one trip, or a six-foot row at two trips. Some seek to accomplish this by a cultivator that will “straddle” the row and stir the soil, on each side, to the center of the middte. Others, like most of the expanding cultivators and har rows, are ran altogether between the rows. The first side the row of plants more perfectly, while the last, perhaps, do more perfect work in the middles. Whatever the implement, or its pe culiar method of operation, it will not perform satisfactorily unless the land be comparatively free of trees and stumps. This is now getting to be the condition of most of the lands in the older States— east of the Chattahoochee—and farmers cultivating such lands, are no longer ex cusable in following the old, slow methods. The same remarks are also equally ap plicable to harvesting implements. Grain “cradles,” hand rakes, scythes, etc., should give place to the horse-pow er reapers, mowers, as fast as practica ble. It is only by the use of such im proved implements and machinery that the Western farmer can afford to pay high prices for manual labor and grow wheat and corn at the current prices. Think of an Illinois or Kansas farmer paying twenty to thirty dollars per month for a laborer, cultivating.com according to the methods still in use on many farms in the South I R. J. Redding. An Old-Time Plow. The railroad men of this city, says the Charlotte (N. C.) Observer, of a recent date, yesterday had a curiosity to talk about in the shape of an old plow that was going through from some place on the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Rail road to the New Orleans Exposition. It was a specimen of the farming imple ments of seventy-five years ago, the plow having been made in 1810. In shape it slightly resembles the ordinary plow of the present day,-having straight handles and a straight Block. The plow-share, a diminutive piece of iron,is nailed“flat- footed” on the beam, and a wooden fly is provided to throw the dirt aside. It will get to New Orleans rather too late for the present crop, but will grace the North Carolina exhibit during the re maining days <jf the Exposition. I^abor-Savlng: Appliances. A Northern farmer, traveling through the South, is struck with the lack of la bor-saving appliances used in the South ern agriculture. In many localities the most primitive implements are used. This must be changed before Southern agriculture can be truly prosperous; but in the way of the change there are sev eral obstacles: First, the character of the Southern laborer. Farm laborers are mostly negroes. A “don’t care” spirit 1b characteristic of the negro. He of all men considers that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, and it is rare that he can be accused of borrowing financial trouble. If his im mediate needs are satisfied his future has no concern for him. This is undoubt edly partly or wholly the result of slav ery. The slave was blissfully free from responsibility. He had no care for the morrow. He worked, as a machine works, for his master and his master took care of him. I am inclined to think that, while this developed the don’t care spirit in the darkey, it only developed it, and that it is inherent in his nature. Anyhow, it has stuck to him, and to day, he is so careless and reckless, that to trust the operation of the intricate machines used upon Northern farms into his hand, would be to court disaster,and the immediate fate of the machine could be certainly foretold. The darkey is also ignorant as well as careless, and while, gilted with a large amonnt of that lower natural intelligence just above instinct, his mind fails to grasp any conceptions of the principles of mechanics; if he were careful enough to operate a ma chine, he would have to be taught every point; he could not reason out for him self the use of that part or this, or the principles upon which it worked, and should anything go wrong he would be altogether helpless. Fancy half of the Southern negroes operating a self-binder with five horses attached, or even get ting a check-row corn planter to work ing perfectly! Herein the North has always had the advantage of the South. Its common la bor has been careful and intelligent. We have no better class of young men than our farm . hands. A majority of them are the* sons of well-to-do or wealthy farmers, gifted with good natur al faculties, given at least a thorough common school education, and often an academic or collegiate training, earnest, with an object in life, and of good moral character. Such men can set up and operate the most intricate and delicate piece of agricultural maebinhry we have. They drive three and four horses to a riding sulky plow, pulverize the ground with spring-tooth or revolving disc har rows, cultivate the corn with riding cul tivators, cut the small grain with the self-binder, and turn engineer and ma chinist to IhreBh the grain with a steam thresher. The common labor of the South is un equal to this, and I am afraid that labor- saving appliances will make but little progress upon Southern farms until that labor is changed in character or else re placed with that of a better quality. This will require years. Already labor- saving machinery is being used to a con siderable extent in some localities, but it has had to contend with this obstacle. Another reason why there is not more siich machinery used is, that it has not existed, and even now machines adapt ed to Southern crops are not so far ad vanced as those adapted to Northern crops. This arises from the fact that there was no demand for it during the days of slavery. The planter had an abundance of cheap labor and did not feel the need of labor-saving machinery; and, though he might have felt its diair- ability, he was confronted by the un suitable character of the laborera at his command. Thus there was no demand in the South, and, therefore, no supply. Inventors may be geniuses, but they are mortal and look at the money side of the question; or if they, should not, their in vention will lack development, for capi talists do not engage in enterprises that promise no return. The person who has made a study of agriculture the beBt understands what influence labor-saving appliances have upon it; he will understand why the lack of machinery in Southern fields was and is a serious drawback to pros perity, and why the introduction of ma chinery is a hopeful sign. As long as the negro plows with an eight-inch plow and one mule, he cannot be as prosper ous aB the Northern laborer who turns four acres per day with a sulky plow. As long as a heavy hoe in the South com petes with a two-horse cultivator in the North, the greater prosperity will be in the latter section. The agricultural papers of the South should pay more attention to this than what they do, and should devote more space to showing the ad vantages of la bor-saving machinery. First, there is the time gained and the labor saved. If a man can plow four acres per day with a sulky plow,while a man with an eight- inch plow can plow only one acre, it is plain that in the plowing of four acres the labor of three men is saved. The labor saved by improved machines for seeding, cultivating and harvesting crops is yet greater. It is this saving of labor that makes all the profit of Northern fanning; take it away, and the Northern