ITEMS ABOUT FARMS AND FARMERS

Small Farms In Florida.

It seems strange that farmers of the North will purchase land for farming purposes at $100 or more per acre when in the South there is an abundance of land at from $5 to $25 an acre, from which, acre for acre, a larger revenue can be derived. Because of the variety of products raised in the North no farm of less than forty acres is regarded as sufficiently large to maintain a family.

The tendency in the North is towards larger farms, and many farmers are not satisfied with a farm of less than 160 acres. Make the acreage only forty, and the farm is worth $4000. On twenty acres of land in Florida that can be bought at $25 per acre, one can get a larger annual return in dollars than he can from the $4000 farm in the North.

This statement needs no proof. It is being demonstrated year by year all over the State, and only needs to be understood by the great army of home-seekers of the country to bring such an influx of them as will make Florida one of the most populous portions of the country. Thousands of people in the North want just such homes as are within their reach here. They have not money enough to pay for a satisfactory home at the high prices of the North, but they possess enough property to be able to secure a good home in Florida. If they could only be enlightened as to what awaits them here, they would come in force.—The Citizen, Jacksonville, Fla.

Improved Methods of the Southern Farmer.

The Savannah Morning News sees cause for favorable comment in the improved methods of the Southern farmer. It says: “Contrasted with the average Southern farm of fifteen years ago, the average Southern farm of today presents a striking object lesson of the New South’s progress. Plows, hoes and other agricultural implements are no longer left in the fields, or without shelter in the barnyards, overnight, or for weeks at a time, according to the whim of the user. Wagons and carts are not left standing, covered with mud, at the most convenient place to drop them. Harnesses are not thrown on a fence, or a peg, or a hitching post, exposed to the weather, until wanted. These things now have their orderly places under shelter and are properly looked after. Rainy days are no longer spent in loafing about the kitchen, but employer and hired man put in the time of the rainy day in the barn mending harness, oiling machinery, tightening wagon bolts, etc.”

All of this goes to show thrift and economy, and partly explains why many a Georgia farmer has surplus funds to loan at interest.

Condition of Georgia Farmers.

At a meeting of the Georgia State Agricultural Society, held at Brunswick, Ga., February 14, Col. Waddell, the president of the society, said, in an address:

“The condition of the farmers of Georgia is not really understood. The view entertained by the optimist being too rosy, that of the pessimist too depressing. They are nearer out of debt than they have ever been, they have more home-raised supplies than for many years, and they are managing their affairs with more judgment and prudence than ever before. But they experienced the pinching scarcity of money, and some of them are burdened with debts which would have been cancelled but for the shrinkage in the value of their lands and the products of their farms. You who are practical farmers know there is no money in raising cotton at seven or eight cents a pound, and that our only hope of success is in producing every possible article of necessity at home. Fortunately, we are not dependent on the cotton crop, for in variety and diversity of products, and in soil and climate, Georgia produces unequalled advantages, and these advantages are being recognized and utilized more and more every year.”

Texas Tobacco Growers Organize.

The tobacco growers have formed an association for mutual benefit and for the promotion of this branch of crop cultivation. It is to be called the Cigar Leaf Tobacco Growers’ Association, and intends publishing a paper in the interests of Texas tobacco.

O. A. Smith, of Willis, is president; H. F. Malone, of Willis, vice-president, and J. F. Irvine, secretary and treasurer. The executive committee is composed of the following: Clark Arnold, of Galveston; J. M. Buckley, of Willis; T. G. Wools, of Hondo; J. H. Bruning, of Galveston; J. J. Strozier, of Willis; C. F. Rhode, of Galveston; O. A. Smith, of Willis, and H. S. Elders, of Willis.

The by-laws of the National Tobacco Growers’ Association, as adopted at Washington, are adopted by this association.

Profitable Rice Culture.

The New York Journal of Commerce, in an article on rice growing in Southwestern Louisiana, says: A couple of years ago the crop was excessive, but the last crop is well sold up, and there is little doubt that the consumption of rice will vastly increase in this country. Scientifically and practically it is one of the best of foods, and the taste for it is growing. Portions of this section of Louisiana are sufficiently watered by natural overflow, but a good deal of it is artificially irrigated. Some of the farmers say that it is a little more work to cultivate rice than wheat or corn, but most of them think it is less; there is no great difference in the cost. The general testimony is that it costs $5 or $6 an acre to cultivate it, exclusive of irrigation, which, as already said, is not always necessary. A dollar for seed, two for cultivation and two for harvesting is the estimate of many farmers, though a few put the cost at a dollar or two more, and some go as high as $10 or $12. Ten barrels in the rough is regarded by many cultivators as a fair average crop, but yields of twelve and fifteen barrels are common. The farmers generally get from $2 to $3 a barrel, and sometimes a little more. A rice cultivator at Lake Author, La., writes: “I can say honestly and positively that a man can make a big fortune in four or five years raising rice.... I know a number of farmers that have for the past three years averaged fifteen barrels per acre, and their net average price per barrel for the three years was $2.85.” These figures give gross receipts of $42.75 per acre.

Fruit Growing in Louisiana.

At the recent annual meeting of the Louisiana State Agricultural Society, F. H. Burnette, the horticulturist of the State Experiment Station at Baton Rouge, read an interesting paper upon Southern fruits.

Prof. Burnette has given much time to the development of the fruit industry of Louisiana, experimenting upon the different varieties of fruit indigenous to the climate, utilizing his knowledge of foreign horticulturing and experimenting at the station. He gave a full report of these experiments. The paper was of especial interest to small fruit growers, dwelling upon the varieties of peach, pear and orange which can be grown with success in Louisiana, and of the new variety of Japanese and Chinese plums and persimmons which he has grown at Baton Rouge with success.

At the same meeting Judge Lewis, of Opelousas, spoke of the cultivation of figs as a marketable crop and one which has never failed of producing remunerative results by close attention to the cultivation of the trees. He also spoke of the preserves made in Opelousas of the rind of the sour orange and also of figs, which are sold in the stores of Opelousas. The fig tree is self-supporting, and as an orchard which produces and supplies itself, being free from climatic influences. He spoke at length upon the possibilities of canning the fruits of Louisiana and shipping them to Northern markets.

The farmers of Sumter county, Georgia, the county in which Americus is located, are more and more abandoning the all cotton business and turning to the growing of fruits.

Mr. J. B. Dubose of Ridge Spring, Edgefield county, S. C., has experimented with great success in the growing of celery. It is claimed that the product of his farm is equal in every way to the best Kalamazoo celery.

The business of truck gardening around Weldon, N. C., has undergone great development in the last year or two. To accommodate this growing industry the Wilmington & Weldon railroad is putting in additional side track facilities.

The State of Georgia has one of the agricultural experiment stations established by the United States Government, which has been in existence about four years. Its purpose is to aid the farmers of the State by experiments in the preparation, fertilization and cultivation of the soil, etc. It is maintained by an annual appropriation of $15,000 by the United States government. The property used for the purposes of the station belongs to the State. This property consists of 130 acres of land with buildings, including dairy, ginnery, greenhouse, tobacco barn, laboratory, etc.

A bulletin of results is published once a quarter and is sent free to any citizen of Georgia engaged in any branch of farming. The station is located at Experiment, near Griffin. Its organization is as follows: R. J. Redding, director; H. C. White, Ph. D., vice-director and chemist; H. N. Starnes, horticulturist; James M. Kimbrough, Agriculturist; H. J. Wing, dairyman.

A number of Germans living near Axtell, Texas, have recently engaged in the apiary business with much success. Mr. L. J. Miller who lives in that neighborhood produced 1187 pounds of honey last year, and 165 pounds of beeswax. The honey brought twelve and a half cents and the wax seventeen and a half cents.

A recent bulletin issued from the Texas Experimental Station gives some interesting comparisons of the four leading crops in the State. The cotton crop of Texas covers 4,520,310 acres, and is worth $69,439,476; the corn crop covers 3,166,353 acres and is worth $28,429,125; the wheat crop covers 442,337 acres and is worth $5,244,303; the sweet potato crop covers 29,928 acres and is worth $1,503,764. According to the above statistics the value of each crop per acre is: Cotton, $15.36; corn, $8.94; wheat, $11.88; sweet potatoes, $50.24. The cost of growing an acre of either is not materially different. Here is a big difference in favor of sweet potatoes.

Mr. Jere Mabry, of Belton, Texas, reports as the result of his work for 1893, on a rented farm of eighty acres, cash receipts aggregating $1,974.91. Besides what he sold he raised, for the most part his food supplies. His total cash expenses were $506.85, leaving $964.06 as the net cash profit of the year’s work.

An intelligent farmer of Rowan county, N. C., said the other day: “The farmers in my county were never better off. They have plenty of corn, wheat, meat and other produce, and many of them have a bale or so of cotton stored away. There is no necessity for the cry of hard times among the farmers of Rowan. True, they have little money, but they do not need it, they have all at home that they can consume. Why, many of the farmers are raising everything they need on the farm. I know of men who now have plenty of meat who a few years ago did not raise a hog, so you see they are growing wiser and are prospering as all good farmers should. True, a few of Rowan’s farms are mortgaged and badly in debt, but they are generally of that sort that lounge around town in idleness the greater portion of the time and let their crops go, trusting to a mortgage for the next year.”

The “Southern Pines Orchard Co.” purchased in 1890 1200 acres of wooded land near Southern Pines, and 360 acres of this has been cleared and planted as follows: 51,000 peach trees, 5000 pears, 1000 plums, 16,000 blackberry. In that section the peach crop never fails. Last year the new trees bore a few peaches and this year they are expected to bear freely. The president of the company is Mr. J. Van Lindley, of Greensboro, N. C., who is also proprietor of the Pomona Nurseries at Greensboro.

During the last few weeks there has been much activity among the farmers in the vicinity of Oglethorpe, Ga., and from all parts of the county as well. The time has again rolled round when they must plant their crops, and right energetically are they going at this duty. Not near so much fertilizer is being used as in previous years, and the farmers of Macon county, Ga., are reported by the Macon News to be in better condition than in a long time. Nearly all have more than a sufficiency of home-raised meat to supply them during the year. Few complaints are heard of hard times.

Some advanced tobacco growers in Texas have been experimenting with the object of growing a fine quality of Cuban cigar leaf, and the results, it is said, have been entirely satisfactory. The reports from Brazos, Paris, Calhoun, Nueces, Liberty, Grimes, Walker, Montgomery and other counties show that a very fine quality of Cuban tobacco can be grown in Southern and Southeastern Texas.

The rice acreage in Orange county, Texas, will be materially increased this year, and there will be almost a corresponding increase in fruit farming, for which that section is eminently adapted.

Mr. G. W. Duncan, of Greenville, Ala., has fattened thirty-nine hogs this season on twenty acres of ground peas, and says there are enough peas in the ground now to fatten as many more hogs and to keep them fat for a month yet.