The Tupelo journal., 1904-01-08

piouuccu Hedrly twice Re- much per
acre as the rich lands of
Lowndes county. waen cuiti-
waited mostly by negroes. Nox-
ubee county with more thar five
blacks to one white. having 26.146
blacks and 1863 whites, requires $50
acres to make a bale Of cotton. while
Union county, with three whites to
one black. having 1880 whites and
4.142 blacks. requires only 2.5G acres
to make a bale. The farm lands of
Noxubee county are valued at $7.12
per acre, and the lands Of Union are
valued at $4.81. Kinds county, with
three negroes to one white man. hag-
ing 1851 blacks and 1907 whites,
requires 81 acres to make a bale.
while Perry county, with more than
two whites to one negro, requires only
1886 acres to make a bale. The farm
lands of Kinds are valued at three
times as much as are those OF Perry.
In the counties of Lefiore, Bolivar and
Washington. where they have about
eight negroes to one white man, but
almost without exception the negroes
are d white managers they make
one bale to every acre and a half:
while in LoWndes, NoXubee and Mon
roe, where not many white managers
are employed, they make on an avera-
age about one bale to three acres.
While this difference is partly caused
by a difference in the fertility of the
two groups Of three counties. yet the
principal reason is due to the supe-
rior intelligence used in the manage
ment of the first group. This is
proven by the fact that in every COM
parison made between a white county
and a black one, the black was the
most fertile, yet the white was nearly
twice as productive.
| claim, therefore, by improving the
character OF our labor, we can greatly
increase the production of cotton in
the South. Should conditions demand
1t, the South can greatly increase her
cotton production by reducing her
corn area, and depending, as she form
erly did, upon the North and West for
corn, mules and hogs. This course
should not be thought of. except to
meet certain conditions that might
arise at some time in the far distant
future. 1t is interesting to note that this
was one OF the methods used by the
South from 1850 to 1890 Except dur
ing the war period when the markets
OF the world We're cloSed) to increase
her production of cotton. In 1850. the
cotton area Of the ten principal cotton
producing States was 6,764,030 acres,
while the area devoted to corn was
1887 sos acres. Beginning at this
time, there was a decided tendency
on the part of the Southern planters
to increase the area in cotton at the
sacrifice OF that in corn until 1889,
when the cotton area of these ten
States exceeded that of corn by L..
145,56l acres. But under the intelli-
gent leadership OF the agricultural
colleges and experiment stations dur
ing the next ten years, stimulating
diversifcation. and the raising OF
more and better live stock, the corn
area was greatly increased until in
1898 it exceeded that of cotton III
these ten States by 2,094,316 acres.
Should circumstances demand it. this
process can be reversed, as it was
in 1850.
The area of improved lands in the
United States is increasing at a more
rapid rate than the national popula
ton, even though the urban popula-
ton is increasing more rapidly than
that OF the agricultural districts.
The last census shows that had the
area of improved land increased at
no greater rate than the population,
it would have been 1926, 1871 acres
less than it actually is. This fact Is
due to use of improved agricultural
machinery, by means of which. one
man in man instances is able to do
the work of from five to twenty. The
South has felt the influence and eff
fects of this machinery less than any
other section of the country. But TN
der the teachings of the agricultural
colleges, the experiment stations, anil
the farmers Institutes, this condition
is being rapidly changed, and it il
only a question now OF a few years
when the cotton farmers will be USING
as many improved agricultural nipple
ments as any class of farmers in the
land. With a few more improvements
that are sure to be made, the cotton
picker will be an entire success. Say-
eral pickers have been in operation
this season. and our Textile School
has demonstrated that the cotton mill
machinery has no trouble in removing
the extra trash gathered by the picker.
The cotton picking machine can rul
at night as well as in the day time,
which will enable the farmer to oper-
ate a double force OF hands and save
the great loss OF cotton caused by pad
weather. With the improved disc
plOws that are now being made, by
which n man n team can break
six acres a day, with the improved
cultivators by which one man can
do the work of three, and with the
cotton picking machine a practical
success, by which one man can pick
six bales a day, there is no limit to
IL increase in the production of cot.
ton, even though our industrial de-
velOpment along other lines calls for
a larger number of additional men
who are now doing agricultural work.
The South can increase and will
increase her cotton production not
only by more intelligent selection of
seed, not only by improving the fer
tility of her soil by every scientific
and available method, not only by the
improvement of the intelligence and
skill of her laborers, not only by the
use of more and more of improved
agricultural machinery. but by the
opening up of new lands to give en-
ployment to thousands who are COM
ing from other sections as well as 20
our fast increasing population. To
realize the vast possibilities for ex-
palsion along this line one has only
to examine the census report, which
shows that less than so per cent of the
farm lands of the South are improved.
The report shows that is Mississippi
only 41.6 per cent of the farm land is