The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-02
CANEBRAKE AN IDEAL FIELD
 FOR FARMING OPERATIONS
Growable Will Flourish Like Jonah's Gourd in Soil So Productive, with the
 Harmonizing Climate Accompanying.

'Our yield from the cotton lands worked by the wages system is to say the leas. very satisfactory. Now from the old Tisdale place, near here. which is the richest we have under cultiva- ton, we got last year an average of seventeen bales to the mule. From the Stollenwerck, the Pitts. the Kennedy places, we got an average yield of fif- teen bales to the blow, which Is a very rood showing for the negro laborers. We only employ four or five white men who have the general supervision of the wages hands.
 others in Uniontown who have found the same style of farming profitable are R. A. Cromer and Son and Adair Brothers. All of them have made money at st and will continue to follow 1t.
 The Canebrake Experiment Station Is only @ little ways out of Uniontown. A little over three miles out on the same road Is the fine Black Belt plan tation of Gen. T. T. Munford, where the Agricultural Department at Wash ington is conducting its well known demonstration of the advantages of di- versif1ed crops. It is on this road lead ing by the Experiment Station that the National Government is just now giv- ing a demonstration in road building. The Government will superintend the Dull01n8 Ol tnlS TOdQ ana IuTnlSu tne machinery for its construction. The planters who will be benefited by its construction will furnish the material for the road and the labor and teams necessary for its construction.
 Government Aid.
 The machinery for the building of the road has already arrived in Uniontown and the work has actually begun. Gen. eral Munford. himself. Is the possessor Df fr,~ htro with 1t he has at this own cost and voluntarily. graded and kept in excel lent condition a large portion of the road leading from Uniontown to his plantation.
 The experiment station is upon forty acres of land. on the side of what was cedar hammock. Originally the land was not as rich as that in Its immedi- ate neighborhood. and years of culti- vation by negro tenants had reduced it to a degree of poverty rarely reached by the Canebrake soil. This was con- sidered all the better by the promoters of the experiment station, because the work of the station could not be as in- structive or as valuable. If the land on which the agricultural problems were worked on was the richest in the Cane- brake.
 It is State work, this Canebrake ex- pertinent station. The appropriation from the State of Alabama for its main tenance is only $2,500 a year, but the farmers and planters in this section of the Canebrake laud the work which the station is doing. It is meeting fully the purpose for which 1t was established, the demonstration Of the possibilities of Cahebrake soil and the exploitation of the methods of farming that will bring fin the best results. It is under the general supervision of Professor J. F. Duggar, the Agriculturist at tho main experiment station in Auburn.
 The State was fortunate in securing two practical and energetic men to as sume charge of the Uniontown station.
 The Director Is J. M. Richeson. Mir. Richeson was practical and success full farmer in the Canebrake before he was called to the head of the station. A course In agriculture at Auburn had put him in touch with both the theory and the practice of agriculture. His management of the station has been successful and of value to his section.
 He has a most valuable assictant in
 the veterinarian of the station. Dr. J. F. Conner, a graduate in veterinary science in one of the largest colleges of the North. Dr. Connor, twelve years ago came to Uniontown with the expressed purpose of remaining only a year. He became so impressed with
 
 pie that the twelve months grew into twelve years he married one of the fair daughters of the Canebrake, and has settled down for his life work in this rich agricultural section of the State. pr. Connor has materially assisted in the growing movement in the Cane | brake for high class cattle of every
 sort. He not only gives instruction in veterinary science to the numerous farmers who come to the station for in-
 struction by which they may combat | the more common diseases to which
 horses and cattle are heirs. but his services are to be had without cost to | the farmers for a wide radius about Uniontown. Numerous hurry calls are
 made upon him for miles out in the
 country. and in every case quick re-
 sponse Is given. .:'.... u The Experiment Work. On the forty acres of land with its at | tractive farm house and modern, spa | cious barns and lots in the center very
 nearly three hundred experiments are now in course of being worked out. Al | times in one year over three hundred
 experiments have been conducted. l The experiments deal with the adapt l ability of the soil of the State for all | manners of crops. with especial refer l ence to the soil of the Canebrake. Ir
 the past the large number of expert ments have dealt with the growth ol l cotton, its proper fertilization, its cul | tivation and the reliability of l that are advertised for sale. The ex
 periments have been worked out witt | a view, too, of ascertaining what wa! | lacking in some of the favorite soil | of the Black Belt whenever such de | ficiency was found
 The experiments made at the station | in forage plants have been especially l valuable. The station has done per | haps more than any other agency 70. wards arousing the great interest 1T alfalfa now manifested around Union. town. It Is said, too. that in Alabama | the JTniontown station was the first tc ascertain by practical experiments that alfalfa was very near perfect sration | The experiment station people were first to demonstrate in Alabama that work animals on the farm could be fed throughout the entire working season ] upon nothing else but alfalfa. Since 1 April 12, the work animals on the ex, periment farm have had no other feed than alfalfa. The demonstration of the possibili- | ties of alfalfa made at the experiment farm have had a quickening and in snirine effect upon It's status in the | Canebrake. Take, for instance. the showing that three-fourths of an acre of alfalfa has made at the station farm. From this three-fourths of ar acre, 6,s50 pounds of alfalfa hay has been taken and 1t has been sold in the other cuttings.
 They are doing something, too, at the exreriment station in the way oi arousing an interest in truck farming This year they had one acre of cab baEe from which $40 worth of cabbage