The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-22
FARMERS ABOUT OZARK TEACH
 THE ART OF LIVING AT HOME
The Dale County Capital is Called. Too, 'the Capital of Hog and Hominy Country'--- Something About Dale Coun-
 ty Conditions
RY MILL T. sHEEHAN.

Ozark Is the capital or the hoS ano hominy country.
 This is the distinguishing character istic, the thing of which the thought full business man of the Dale County city is proudest. The first Ozark man I talked with made the boast. The farming territory about Ozark is the territory of those who live at home. It's people have no smoke houses In the West. They have no corncribs in Illinois and Iowa. There are no wag- ons going daily out of Ozark weighted down with store-bought corn and store-bought bacon,
 They have these things to sell, these farmers of Dale. Wagons in other towns of Alabama, toe many other towns of Alabama, drive out with their loads of Western corn and of Western meat. They drive into Ozark. wagons from the country around, loaded with home-raised corn ana hsme-raiseo meat.
 Why, Ozark has shipped meat on the cars, on many cars to Montgomery and other cities. Not in one year only has this been done, but it has been done in several successive years. The farm CTS about Ozark have loaded and ship ped cars of Dale raised corn to other towns and other sections of Alabama
  of them, and they were named to me. who from years end to years end new CT found it necessary to pay money for anything their families had to have to eat or to wear. No Alabama farmer can grow cloaks and hats, or Java cof" fee and Oolong tea. But some few farmers about Ozark have reduced the art of living at homo to such sci- ence that they do not find it necessary to pay out money for these household needs, half necessities and half luxu- ries. They raise and bring to town vegetables and other products which the merchants need and for which he is willing to exchange, without the passing of money, part of tho stock he keeps for sale.
 Art of Living at Home.
 And the things he so exchanges are but side issues to the Dale County farmer. His own corn is bursting through the cracks of his crib, his own home-raised and home-cured meat is hanging by besrgrass withes from the roof of his smoke house like an array of stalactites in some dark cave, his own syrup Is barrelled and headed in his kitchen or in his smoke house. his hogs and cattle roam the hill sides and hammocks of his big pasture and in the spring | 5 two and three acre gar den is rich alike in fruit and in veRe- tables.
 The class of farmers who have to buy nothing for which they pay money is of course small, but the class who have bursting corn cribs, plethoric smoke houses. sleek and snug mules and horses, well fed and valuable cat tie, is by no means small in Dale Coun- ty about Ozark. They are numerous enough to give Ozark and this section a pride and distinction. Upon every road that leads from Ozark these con tented and prosperous farms are found. And on every farm is found a rian who doesn't permit his fences and farm buildings to become ragged or run down at the heel. who pays his debts and his taxes, supports his church. takes his County papers with some big Southern weekly and sends his chill dren to school.
 The Independent Farmer.
 He doesn't ind it necessary to have a painful interview with his merchant in the merchants office when he goes to buy his goods, nor does he have to stand the merchants telling him that his family Is demanding too many clothes and too much food. Nearly all that he has to have he can pay for from the remains of last years crop
 
 goods on a credit he doesn't have to mortgage the family sewing machine and his little daughters pet calf to get the money. And at the end of the year. selling his cotton means more to him than driving 1t to a warehouse. throwing 1t off and taking the receipt around to his merchant.
 That a condition so fraught with good for the County. so fraught with value to the State should be so rare In Alabama with all It's fertility of soil. with all its richness of aRricul- tural resources. is a thing of sorrow to thoughtful Alabamians. That 1t is pro- nounced and emphatic in and about Ozark as to call for extended notice and comment is a thing of creditabls pride to Ozark.
 But its existence means more than the inspiring sentiment of pride to Ozark. It has an undeniable commer- ciaL and financial value to Ozark. It has given to Ozark 8 substantial and continued prosperity. It has given the town a contented past and an assured future. It has brought Ozark through