The Kosciusko star. (Kosciusko, Miss.) 18??-1898, 1895-07-12
~ So - =
SECRETARY MORTONS TALK
ON THE AMERICAN FARMER.
of the Best, the Cleveland A%rl
cultural Adviser and He Ought to Know, for
He Is n Farmer Himself.

~. 4-ys-,-~, ~1-,9s-> - s~s>s.
gagged land. | remember one farm
in which pillow stood in the des-
ert near shaekly shanty, and up
on it the farmer had hung a card
which read:
.......... ....'''.''
Take the Damn Plow, Too. :
...........- ''.''.''
"In another part Of the sand
hills. where the soil was misera-
hlv poor, | saw shanty on wheels.
| asked my driver who could poss-
IDLY live there, and who would be
fool enough to take up such land
as that He replied that all The
land we could see had been enter
ed and'proyed. and that that house
was wheeled from place to place,
and that one man after another
had lived in it for short time in
order to swear that he had had a
house On his land.
As soon as they got any evil
dence of future title they borrow
ed the $500 from the agent, paid
this to the government and then
took $500 for a mortgage on the
quarter section representing 500.
do not mean to say that many of
those who took advantage of the
homestead act were not honest
men and good farmers, but the
principle was bad and it encourag.
ed pauperism and fraud. If, for
instance, rent could be charged
for these lots equal to, say one
tenth oftheir annual taxes--a mere
nominal price-thc people would
realize that they were paying for
them and they would not lose their
self-respect.
Chow about meat, Mr.
Points Secretary? Is not that
llldlhCl Wcll CdlCu III
on "No," replied Mr.. Nor
ton, "the meat market is
Hogs. not half worked We
ship great quantities to
Europe, but we do not get the best
prices. Take our bacon. 1t brings
9 cents a pound in England. The
Danish bacon sells for IA cents a
pound, and the famous Wiltshire
bacon is worth IS cents a pound.
Had we gotten the best prices oul
bacon would have been worth
nearly $40, 900, 900 more to us thar
it was last year. The English like
lean bacon, and the packer:
, there buy hogs according to th(
, thickness of the fat upon thei
bachs. A hog that has fat two anc
onc-fourth inches thick brings ;
shilling more per 20 pounds Of it.
| weight than a hog whose fat On thc
back is three inches thick. .Th,
+ English want lean swine. The,
t will not buy any hogs that weigl
more than $40 pounds, as the,
/ know that bacon from such hog
t is not in demand. Here our ambi
ton is to raise fat hogs, and | hay'
seen car loads of swine which vii
r average 400 pounds in weight
A Still we have great trade in farm
A farm products with England. Full
, ly half of all our foreign exports g
g there. We send more than 100,
g 600 tons of hay and more tina
1000 tons of cheese to Grca
e Britain every year. We send onl
@ 1000 tons of butter, and Denmar
beats us in this article alone b
!. As, 900 tons yearly.
@ The trouble us, the Secretar
d of Agriculture continued, ''is thu
:. we are to luxurious in our mctl
r. DDS. We have been making nor
g ey 50 easily that we can't apprec
n ate the change in conditions tn
:. world over, and we have not trie
q to adapt ourselves to them. O,
V farmers are machine farmers. The
;. raise practically nothing that Cal
J. not be raised by machinery. TAX
!. the matter of wheat. The farm,
a now rides the pillow as he breal
q the soil. He rides az he harrow
l. and he plants his fields with
h sulky drill. The crop comes up {
d itself and when it is ripe the ia
!. mer again takes ride on reapin
v machine with an umbrella over h
=. head, and when he is finished II
% machine has cut and bound h
If grain.
v "a steam engine does II
" thrashing, and small part of tt