California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



SOME EFFECTS OF THE EXCLUSIVE 

 ONE-CROP SYSTEM. 



The Georgia State Agricultural Department 

 is doing a good work, in collecting facts and 

 presenting them in a digested form for the 

 consideration of the farmers of that State. 

 Geogia, like other Southern States, is cursed 

 with the one crop system, but instead of that 

 being grain as in California, it is cotton. But 

 that makes no diiference. Either cotton or 

 grain raised exclusively, to be depended upon 

 for everything that is consumed on the farm, 

 is equally extravagant. The one crop must 

 be sold to purchase every:hing else used ; 

 in California even the flour is bought with 

 ■wheat sold in market. 



The economical plan of farming, is to pro- 

 duce as nearly as possible whatever is de- 

 manded for home use. Of course the sur- 

 plus, whatever it is, should be that which 

 will bring the most money from a given num- 

 ber of acres with the least expenditure of la- 

 bor and money— everything else being equal. 

 In the Southern States, that surplus un- 

 doubtedly should be cotton, as a general thing, 

 In California it may be wheat or barley, hay, 

 stock, fruit or something else, as locality and 

 soil and climate and irrigation facilities may 

 determine, 



The effect of the one-crop system upon the 

 producer, the so-called farmer, has proved to 

 be most disastrous in the South, and so far 

 as we have observed, it is drifting in that 

 current in CaUfornia. Certainly the most 

 prosperous farmers are those who come as 

 near following a diversified system of farming 

 as their farm will admit of, and those who 

 manage to find something for themselves to 

 do on the farm the whole season. There is 

 no profit in idleness half the year, and no 

 one-crop will give constant employment. 



Besides, the one-crop farmers are generally 

 in debt, paying enormous profits to the store- 

 keepers who carry them through. Equal to 

 at least 25 to 50 per cent interest. 



As in a large measui-e applicable to the 

 one-crop system in California, we append the 

 following extract from the report above re- 

 ferred to : 



" 33 per cent of the cotton crop is virtually 

 sold to pay debts before it is made. 



" Only 20 per cent of the farmers buy en- 

 tirely for cash, while the 50 per cent who buy 

 on a credit pay at the enormous rate of 4-t per 

 cent per annum interest on what they con- 

 sume, amounting, in the aggregate, in the 

 State of Georgia, to the astonishing sum of 

 $4,250.000— /our and a (/uarkr mlltion dollars 

 paid by the farmers in interest on what they 

 consume. Is it remarkable that farming is 

 not profitable under such a suicidal policy ? 

 No legitimate business can pay 44 per cent 

 per annum on the capital necessary to con- 

 duct it, and live. 



Another instructive lesson taught by the 

 above answers is the fact that 80 per cent of 

 those who raise their supplies make a profit, 

 while 75 /)t»- cent of those who buy lose 

 money. 



"The difficulties teach their own lessons, 

 and suggest their own remedies : 



Experience and these facts teach that, Tall- 

 inn coltim to buy supplies to ra'ise cotton, at pres- 

 ent prices, leads directly to bankruptcy and ruin. 

 That those who raise their own s-upplies make 

 cotton at a profit, and are ]}rosperons. Indeed, 

 correspondents generally report that those 

 who raise their own supplies cannotlose money, 

 if they attend to their business. 



" Under the present system, six and a half 

 millions of dollars which should go to swell the 

 annual profit of Georgia farmers, find their 

 way into the pockets of others, mostly be- 

 yond the limits of our State, in consequence 

 of the suicidal policy at present pursued, of 

 buying what should be raised at home. Will 

 not our farmers make their farms self-sus- 

 taining — raise their supplies and pocket these 

 profits ? 



Discard the old habit of boasting of the 

 number of acres planted, the number of plows 

 run, or the number of bales of cotton made, 

 and look well to the number of dollars of clear 

 profit." 



THE USE OF DRY EARTH. 



AVe are requested to again call attention to 

 the importance of using dry earth to prevent 

 the bad and dangerous odors and emanations 

 from privies and other accumulations of filth 

 near dwellings. It is undoubtedly a subject 

 of more importance, than any person not con- 

 versant with it would suppose. It is not at 

 all necessary that a foul nuisance should be 

 tolerated, where persons must inhale noxious 

 gasses loaded with the germs of disease and 

 death, and which are foully disagreable as 

 well as repugnant to every delicate sense of 

 cleanliness and decency. And yet, stinking 

 privies are the rule in town and out, and will 

 be probably until prohibited by some legal 

 enactment, as they should be, for the public 

 good. It is no sign of want of intelligence 

 even, to find such a thing close to one's 

 dwelling, but because they have become an 

 institution, as it were, like many other evils 

 which are tolerated, and are too common to 

 elicit either particular thought or comment ; 

 they are passed by as a natural consequence. 

 Now it is the simplest thing in the world 

 to remedy this abomination. The old privy 

 building need not be torn down — and may be 

 even drawn nearer to the house or woodshed. 

 It should in fact be placed in a position 

 where it can be entered in fair weather or 

 foul, night or day, most conveniently by the 

 family. But instead of a vault, have made 

 one or more strong boxes that can be drawn 

 out when filled from the side or back of the 

 privy house and dragged to the vegetable 

 garden or some suitable place for emptying. 

 A board can be so fitted as to slide in place 

 when the empty box is replaced, so that there 

 will be no exposure of interior arrangements. 

 A barrel or other vessel should be p'aced in- 

 side the privy building, to contain pulverized 

 dry earth. In this should be placed a dipper, 

 shovel or scoop, to cover the excrement. 

 Each member of the family should under- 

 stand that it is their duty to always cover at 

 once with the earth. Enough dry earth to 

 absorb all moisture should be used, and it 

 will be found best to not throw liquid slop 

 into the privy boxes, but turn it on to the 

 earth outside ; have a place spaded up where 

 it will be at once absorbed away. This earth 

 will become enriched, and may in time be re- 

 moved to the garden for fertilizing purposes. 

 No family that tries this will be satisfied with 

 a foul smelling privy on the promises again 

 ever. The trouble will bo more than repaid 

 in cleanliness and comfort. 



The patent earth closets are very nice for 

 house use whore there are invalids and infirm 

 persons, and with proper care arc in no way 



offensive in any bath or sleeping room. 



A kerosene can, with top cut out, and the 

 bail of an old pail fastened to it to carry it, 

 makes a good vessel, and a box can be made 

 to contain it with a hinged top with a hole 

 through it, and another lid, also hinged, 

 which can be covered to resemble an ottoman. 

 The box should be long enough to contain 

 another can filled with dry earth, to be used 

 as required. There is no patent on this 

 piece of useful furniture, and any man or 

 boy can make one. 



Dry earth can now, before the heavy rains, 

 be obtained in any quantity in roads, fields, 

 and almost anywhere. Koad dust is excel- 

 lent. It can be stored in outhouses by the 

 wagon load in large boxes, barrels, etc. It is 

 not only good for the purpose named, but is 

 found to be excellent to use in stables, quite 

 as good as saw dust or tan back. A quantity 

 in a large shallow box for hens to wallow in 

 during the winter, will be found excellent to 

 relieve them of vermin. As a disinfectant 

 and absorbant of putrid odors and matter in 

 sores, dry earth has been found to be very 

 excellent, and medical practitioners have large- 

 ly adopted its use in many cases, where usual 

 remedies are unavailing, and with most grat- 

 ifying results. But of this we only make 

 mention. The virtues of dry earth, as a 

 sanitary agent in privies should commend its 

 use to every lover of decency, and " now is 

 the accepted time." 



AN ENDORSEMENT. 



" My faith in its honesty, candor and de- 

 votion to the interests of the farmer strength- 

 ens with every number." 



As a sample of the many encouraging words 

 we are constantly receiving in private letters 

 from our subscribers, we take the liberty to 

 publish the following : 



Emtok Agricultukist — Dear Sir : — I en- 

 close herewith. Postal Order, for .$4.00 in pay- 

 ment of amount due on subscription — the 

 balance to be applied in prepayment, after 

 deducting one dollar for "How to Paint," 

 which please forward to my address by mail. 

 I have been weeding out my periodicals, and 

 have struck several from the list, but I could not 

 spare the Agkiccltdbist. My faith in its 

 honesty, candor and devotion to the interests 

 of the farmer, strengthens with every number, 

 and I am only sorry that I cannot say that of 

 other agricultural journals published on this 

 Coast. 



You have my best wishes for your success, 

 and I remain as ever, a friend to the little 

 monthly. K. G. Dkan. 



Antioch, Sept. 9, 1875. 



"A LITTLE MORE GRANGER TOO." 



The poor "wine-growers" of California, 

 hoping to flounder out of the mud of despond 

 have sought for relief through the grangers. 

 They want to establish Grangers' wine and 

 brandy manufacturies, and to sell their pro- 

 ducts through grange agencies, etc. A little 

 grange sugar is needed to sweeten the busi- 

 ness and make it respectable. Probably the 

 " growers " think that a little grange manip- 

 ulation will make the stuff " as milk for now 

 born babes ' ' and add other virtues fitting it 

 for the use of Christian families, and making 



