The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-30
nx ,xaIl r. sheehan.

r.,. Maa., Farm. three miles east of Magnolia Springs, Is a perennial az ricuItural fair for Baldwin County.
 If is a demonstration of two things, ar.t the possibilities of the climate and soil of Baldwin. and, second. the uses and advantages Of methods which nave been brought into the county py the incoming immigrants from the Nortn. It ia designed to show the new immi- rr.rt what the old immigrant could do when brains nd work are mixed in the effort to get the best returns from a good soil and a perfect climate. The circulars that are sent out from the offices of the various Baldwin County land companies in Chicago picture in glowing words the beauty and health fitness of the climate, the fertility of the soil and tho richness of the returns from the truck and vegetable farms. The Model Farm is proof to back the claims of the circulars.
 The prospective land buyer Is brought to the Foley farm and told. Cage on this picture. There is sugar cane over there, twenty-five acres of 1t. We are told that this cane Is as fine as any grown in Louisiana. Over here you see five acres of cassava. the rich. new forage plant, a food for man and beast. We raise from four to ten tons Of this forage on an acre. It Is not grown successfully in any other part of Ala hama. You can see for yourself how luxuriant and promising the peach or- chards arc here. In this land last year Irish potatoes were grown and from the crop of Irish potatoes on two acres we realized $211.44. After the potatoes were grown two other crops were raised on the same land. Take a look over the stock we are raising Now look over the COW pea hay and other forage crops we have grown and get some idea of the possibilities of this section"
 BeautifuI Piece of Scenery. The farm Ia beautiful piece of scen- cry, even in December. There Is not so much difference down here Tn the appearance of things in May and in De- cember. The sugar cane crop Is be- ing harvested and this to the Southern man indicates more than anything else that the year on the farm is drawing to a close. There Is a winter garden in front of the farm house all rich and green It Is confirmation of the state ment made by the immigrants that they have vegetables all the year around. .. The garden is fiourishing now with cabbaees turnip and multiplying onions. The house, a modern two-story cottage, sits in grove of trees, Be- hind the house are the big barns. the extensive yards which accommodate eight fine mules and two horses who do the work on the farm. A herd of cattle is there feeding eagerly on a pile | of cassava roots. Dr. Foley has not yet Introduced fine blooded cattle tn Baldwin County, although it Is an- nounced that 1t Is his purpose to do so, The cattle on the farm now are of the hardy piney woods breed which has been identified with Baldwin County for years and years. The immense barn Is now packed and damned with tons of alfalfa and COW pea hay. although the crop has been gathered for several months. What has been used in feed ing the stock has hardly made an i'm pression upon the big store of forage. The farm has produced more forage than the stock on it can possibly have use for. The surplus store will be used | to help out the immigrants who come | to Baldwin County to make fresh start with nothing ahead.
 Behind the spacious barnyard are the naturally rich and the heavily fertilized | acres which produced the crops of po- tatoes, sweet and Irish, and the string beans and velvet beans. The land has been stripped of the remains of these crops and turned over for an early start in a few weeks on the crop for next year.
 Sugareane Field.
 The sugarcane field of twentyo on e acres is an imposing sight. The field contains three varieties, the purple. or red, cane the green cane, and the Jap anese cane. The Japanese cane was planted as an experiment in sugar cane growing. The experiment has been faIr cfa if does match up with its red and green riv- als. A modern steam evaporating set , of syrup making machinery has just been installed.
 The cane yield is rich and fine. They have some negroes gathering the crop who were brought to Alabama from the sugar cane plantations of Louis- jana. and who say that this upland cane Is as good as the cane fields of Louisiana show.
 A private saw mill has been estab- lished and Is operated by Dr. Foley. The saw mill is private in that there Is no market for its output except in the colony, which its owner has estab lished. The product of the mill is used OF the model farm or by the immi- grants in the erection of their new, but modest houses.
 The predominant feature about the model farm, the thing that most inn presses the observant visitor, is the big cassava field. On first glance it looks an old field filled with sasafras bushes from three to six feet high. A closer look shows that the vegetation could not be sassafras bushes because the ground has evidently been culti- vated for some purpose, and the second look shows too that the bushes have been carefully planted in check rows equally distant, even as a peach or chard would be planted.
 The cassava bushes are still wearing about half of the leaves of their sum mer vegetation although the leaves which remain show in their red and yellow covering the evidence of some cold wind. and the trace of nipping win County.
 Richness in the Roots.
 In the cassava field that which is above ground is of little value. In fact except those bushes whose stems are cut up and banked like sugar cane for seed for the next crop all that part of the cassava field which Is above the ground is worth nothing to I-the grower. The richness of the cassava bush is it's roots beneath the ground.
 The cassava plant in it's way is boCh like the corn and the sugar cane plant and 1t Is cultivated in much the same way these plants are raised Cassava is planted in check rows from four to six feet apart. The plant when 1t is allowed to mature in & tropical climate or in a climate very near the tropical. bears a pod and q berry which containes its seed for the next year. But in Baldwin County the