COTTON OPECIAL.
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CTltle Rerlitered in v latent Office.)
A FARM AND ( HOME WEEKLY FOR THE CAROLINAS, VIRGINIA, TENNESSEE, AND GEORGIA.
Vet XXIV. No. 5. RALEIGH, N. C, MARCH 11, 1909. I j Weekly: $1 a Year.
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More Profitable Cotton sis a Guide Post to "$500 More a Year"
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HERE is a cotton field which made
over two bales to the acre the
kind of a ' cotton i field thousands
of our readers have often dreamed about'
and longed for, only to conclude at last
that longing was vain and that such cot
ton fields were only to be found in
dreams. . j - '"::' ..V'
Longing is, of course, vain when un
accompanied by earnest and persistent
effort; but fields that make two bales to
the acre may be made a reality in a
hundred cases to each single ; instance
'now tor-be f found. '" Such yields clo:notr
come as the result of chance or of any
startlingly new method of doing things.
They are the result of close attention
to all the details of the established es
sentials of good farming. This particu
lar cotton crop grew after crimson clov
er, was from carefully selected seed,
was liberally and yet cheaply fertilized
as no nitrogen was bought for it and
was cultivated thoroughly and econom
ically. It is quite likely that it cost less
to the -acre than many crops making not
one third as much, simply because the
firat reauirement for a srood ctod a
rirV nronerlv mannered soilwas there, and because the Browing of the crop was done in an up-to-date manner.
The man who makes crops like this will not need to go into hysterics or bankruptcy; next fall, whatever the price of cotton may be.
We believe in good prices for cotton, and we believe with all our hearts in co-operative effoi ts by the farmers to secure good prices; but
just so long as the farmers depend upon the cotton crop to supply them with all the necessities of life so long will they be at the
mercy of the cotton buyers and the speculators. All the organizations and resolutions and speeches in the world cannot take the
place of economic independence. The time to control cotton prices is not next fall but now. 1 Besides, as is said on our next page, what
we as farmers are primarily interested in is not prices but profits. There is more money in selling cotton that cost six cents at ten
cents, than in selling cotton that cost nine cents at twelve cents. The thing that each one of us needs to do this spring is to arrange to grow
his cotton at the lowest possible cost and to have it his own when it is made. To do the first we must regard the essentials of good
farming we have so of ten stressed before, (1) good soil properly prepared, (2) good seed, (3) rational fertilization. (4) thorough and econ
omical cultivation. To make our crops our own we must grow more of our bread and meat, -our fruits and vegetables, more of our own
stock and more feed for them. ; I: , . ,
While we are doing this we may be at the same time improving our soils so that we can; each year grow cotton at a comparatively
smaller cost and each year be financially stronger and so more able to control the price of our product. j. , .
We want, of course, to prepare our land in the best manner, to plant the best seed, and to reduce the expense and increase the effici
ency of our cultivation by using better tools. and more horsepower; but we must at the same time prepare to raise more of our home sup
plies arid to build up our soil by the growing of legumes and the feeding of stock. : L . , ,
Cotton is, as Professor Massey says, the best money crop in the world, and the South might grow it for a thousand years and both
her soils and her people grow richer all the time. This will not be the case, however, while it takes three acres to produce one bale of cot
ton; while we cultivate our crops with one-horse plows; while we spend millions of dollars for nitrogen which we might get from the air;
while we send our cottonseed meal abroad and buy, not only our stock and feed for them, but our own daily food; while we are at each
seasons end waiting for the sale of our crop to pay for the fertilizers which we put on it, the stock and machinery that worked it, and
the clothes we wore but and the food we ate while making it.
Courtesy I. W. Mitchell