The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1905-04-01
WHAT AGRICULTUflSTS HAVE
DONE.
There Seems to Be a Cold Mine on
Every Farm.

Department reports arc rather dull
! readin.; as rule, but the Ancr'ca-
| farmer will be vastly entertained and
! no doubt flattered by the perusal oi
those paragraphs in the report Of Sec
ratary of Agriculture James Wilson
which deal with the wealth taken
from the soil by the mai with the
hoe"--a purely figurative term in the
| West, where farms are as large as
principalities, and sowing, reaping and
binding are done by machinery almost
as complicated as printing press.
II the farmer does not think himself
superior being 70 the mechanic and
the professional man after reading
about his contributions to the nation
al wealth, as set forth in this repor.
it will be because there is still a mor,-
gage on his homestead and he is walk
ing the floor nights in painful calcula
tion about meeting the interest. II
that is the case, he must be the own
er of q New Hampshire rock pastu!e
or OF wood lot beyond the reach of
a portable saw mill surely he can
not be one of the happy moEals md
Gated in the Secretary's Arabian
Nights tale.
There seems 20 have been gold
mine on every farm and plantation
outside New England in 1904 Tle
corn crop fools up almost ".50O,000,-
600 bushels, affording a value big
enough to LAY the national Gebt, with
lett over Cotton was an
other bumper crop. The Secretary |
estimates the value of the lilt and |
seed at 100000 900. Fay and wheat |
together represent value Of more |
han s1,o0O,0Oo,D00 1t is estimated
nat the rice crop amounts to 900,090,- /
800 pounds, and oats break all rec
ords except that of 1902. Mr.. Wills III
calculates that the princi pal crops
Will bring $3,5S3,339,GOO vnen they
re all marketed, an increase of more
han S40O,000,0U0 over 1909. There IS
!, ,l36 6,94O,2S9 worth OF horseS en- tic
arms, and of mules 9217,53:.s'2. The
American hen has done a wonderful
ears work, and if all tie roosters
we're to stand in line and crow their
riumph the salute would make
luch greater volume of noise round
he world than Englann's drumbea:.
houlder to shoulder ,Aa hens would
robably make an unt1oken phalanx
rom Cape Cod to the Golden Gate
hey lay 1,G6G.000,O09 eggs q year,
nd in the busy season two weeks OF
leir labor would pay years inter
st on the national debt. And still it
sometimes problem where to get
fresh egg, and hoN to procure the
oney to buy it.
II the Secretary breaks into the sol-
wing paean, who can blame him?- :
'rtainly net tine f.Smer: AN Occu
at;yn that has produced such an un
inkable value as one aggre eating
early $5,O00,000,0g0 within a year
ay be better measured by some COM
srisons. All OF the gold mines of the
ltire world have not produced since
olumbus discovered America great
value OF gold than the farmers II !,
is country have produced in wealth
two years; this years product is
'er siA times the amount Of ths oapi
! stock Of all national banks: il r
mes within th-ee-fourths of a bill.
N dollars of equalling the value of
e manufacturers OF 1900, less the
st of materials used; it is twice the :,
N OF our exports and imports for .,
year; 1t is two and haif times the
oss earnings from the operations OF
3 railways: it Is three and a half b,
nes the value Of all minerals pro- q
ced in this country, including coal.
n ore, gold, silver and quarried
me. Evening Sun. IA