Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1897-05-15
THE A. AND M. COLLEGE.
Some Facts In Regard to an Institution
That Is u Credit to the State.

MR. EDIToI: Having recently had oc-
casion to make trip to our Agricultural
and Mechanical College ask the liberty
through your columns of telling Missis-
sippi farmers of some impressions re-
ceived.
Contrasted with Appearances on my
last visit five years ago l see improve
ment on every hand. The forest trees
OF the campus have grown considerably
and its surface Is covered with beauti-
full sward OF natural and cultivated
grasses. A pretty, new two-story frame
building, containing the presidents
Office and various other apartments, is
seen. The old dining room has been
replaced by one far mere comfortable, a
large brick addition has been made to
the chemical laboratory, an artesian
we'll has been bored, complete system
OF waterworks and bathing arrange
ments has been perfected. Beside these
a general improvement of the farm as a
whole is manifest But let me speak Of
these in detail.
Waterworks.
Beside the artesian we'll $50 feet deep
there is 10000 gallon tank placed a
hundred feet high upon a tubular iron
framework, and near it lower tank OF
$4,000 gallon capacity. These are kept
filled by tho pump from the artesian
we'll. Water pipes have been laid to
the main buildings, to the professors
residences and to the barns. Thus an
abundant supply of pure water is fur
nished for all ordinary purposes, and in
case Of fire the highest OF these build
ings can be deluged. A regular fire
brigade is being organized, composed Of
officers and students. Occasional drills
will enable them to do rapid and eff
cient work if needed.
General Farm Work.
desire especially to call attention to
the manifold evidences of good farming
which saw on every side, the work Of
both the Experiment Station and the
College farm proper. This latter has
$50 acres in cultivation and is directly
under the control of the professor of
agriculture. This gentleman, Mr.. W..
c. Wellborn, grew up between the han
dies of Mississippi turning-plow in
Jones county and graduated here. The
Experiment Station covers fifty acres,
has its own cattle, horses, barns, equip
ments, ETC., and, with its own plan of
work, is directly under care Of an officer
styled director Of the Experiment Sta
tion. TO this important position Prof.
Hutchinson has very recently been as
signed. He was raised on a Georgia
farm, has had ample experience at the
Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi
stations, and my very limited acquaint-
ance confirms the recent complimentary
statements made of him. At this early
stage of tho season ono has to Judge of
theiaeming ability Of these gentlemen
by the neg thrifty and up-to-date APP
pearance of their eelds rather sh~i. the
size Of the very small corn, etc.
Location
Let me say right hero that the com
mittee who located the college at STARK
villo were men Of practical wisdom. |
know OF no other part Of the State
which demands so high order of COM
bined scientific and practical ability to
do successful farming. There is such
a variety OF soils here to be seen in
rapid succession within very short dis
tance as to excite my wonder Added
to this, the farm selected was worn out,
serried with gullies, and grown up in
spots, with varied assortment Of Sec
ond growth characteristic OF old, run
down, ante-bellum plantation. II a
high order Of ability is needed any
where to make farming successful it is
here. As result the second growth
stuff has largely disappeared, the mean
dering waterways replaced by straight
plowed-out mot spaded) ditch, the richer
bottoms reclaimed, the knobs plowed
over, and r systematic rotation Of crops
put in operation, BY this rotation the
poorest lands are turned out to pasture
and are gradually improved by manurial
droppings and by the sowing broadcast
OF mellilotus, which readily catches on
the limestone places, This turning of
all poor land to pasture and retaining
only the best for more intensive sys-
tenn OF working is General Lees hobby
in farming, if he has ono, added to the
free use Of vetch, mellilotus, and most
OF all the cow-pea. We're his example
followed by us all we would surely be
far more prosperous.
A Special Plot of Ground.
| would note particularly plot of
land Originally very poor under charge
of tho Experiment Station, whereon
now stands crop Of vetch nearly two
feet high. This dense mass of nutri-
tious stuff is now ready to be cut for
hay, or it may bo left two or three
weeks longer to gather seed from. In
either event it may be followed by the
cow-pea broadcast, to furnish in its turn
an immense quantity of most valuable
feed. Both these crops are nitrogen
gatherers, most valuable as fertilizing
plants, and their repeatedly successive
use on this piece Of poor ground has
brought it up (without the use OF other
fertilizers at any time) to where 1t is
evidently good for fifty or sixty bushels
Of corn per scre.
horticultural Department..
was much pleased with the improve
ments in this department. The devel-
opment of Seeding peach orchard, OF
the systematic irrigation of certain
truck crops from hillside pond (the
like OF which may be found over the
greater part Of Mississippi), and of the
hot-house arrangements for rapid growth
of vegetable and towering plants-these
all furnish our farmer boys valuable
object lessons, and incidentally give
them an opportunity of making many
dollar toward paying their necessary
expenses here. AT the Same time many
problems Of vast everyday Importance
to farmers arc being solved. In passing
l would say that showing the failure Of
any particular mode OF procedure in
farming is just as important often as
showing that success uniformly attends
an opposite course. The business OF the