The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1906-02-21
Notes From an Ohio Farm.

Ol COiellldIl ; hurdl WOrlu IuTHlSleS
each week, some interesting items. In
the last paper he takes up very COM
mon failing of the American people,
that is reStleSSnesS:
The text of this discourse will be,
SHOVE on" l have made a trip across
Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Ala
bama, Mississippi, Louisiana and 300
miles into Texas, since January 1, and
this trip caused me to select the above
text
Some people can travel from Los
Angles, Cal, to PassamaquOddy
Maine, and not find out anything, but
l think that Rural World readers will
agree that 1 am mot built that way"
for 1 never stopped asking questions
excepting when 1 was asleep. One of
the prominent symptoms of that dis
ease, "Americanitis, is a desire to be
somewhere else, and it is no trouble
to detect this symptom on long trip
by rail. "YeS," says a man to his
seat mate, Il have been to Texas, and
am on my way back to Virginia. 1
sold my Virginia farm and bought
twice as much land in Texas, and will
move about the first of March, His
l.
from Ohio to Texas ten years ago and
have lived in four counties there. 1
don't like Texas very well and am on
my way to middle Tennessee, where
think l will lOcate.'' From across
the aisle of the car another man says,
Il tell you men, Oklahoma is the land
for me. 1 have lived in ten states
and territories, and have been in ten
more, but last week | bought 800
acres i'm Oklahoma that beats any land
l ever saw And so it goes on, in
1900 miles of travel and at a dozen
hotels.
My friend and 1 became quite init
mate with a quiet sort of a man at
our hotel, who told us of his farm
home near a city of 10000, with
electric lights, water works, free de-
livery of mail and electric car service.
He told us of his stock, his crops, his
home and his orchards, and he told
us the truth, yet this man had sold
all for $33 per acre and was going to
buy in a new and undevelOped region
at 81 per acre. We heard from others
that this man had an ideal home, an
accomplished wife and but one child;
he had means, and was a leader in
church and society work, yet he was
going to give up all and move to a
new section, where crops, climate, soil
and conditions were all new to him.
In many instances the desire to
''move on is prompted by cheaper
lands and larger holdings, and this
may be justified where a man owns
but a very small farm worth very
high price per acre, but in a majority
of cases we find that the home seeker
has owned and sold farms ranging
from 100 to 300 acres, and does not
contemplate buying larger tract than
his old farm. Many of these movers
tell us of drawbacks to farming in the
section they are leaving, and of the
advantages to be had in the section
they are moving to, but as soon as
they are out of hearing some one else
tells us that man will find that he is
going to a much worse country than
the one he has left" Ten thousand
men in the South got discouraged and
moved on because 1905 was a wet
year. and they lost some of their corn
and cotton. and 10000 more moved
on because 1900 and 1901 were dry
years and they made short crops. We
saw snug little cities of 5000 to 5000,
with land three miles away selling at
$40 and even less per acre, and the
milk and butter supply inadequate to