The Tupelo journal., 1906-07-20
FARMER AND PLANTER
4 TRIP THROUGH THE SOUTH.
eome o. the Things Seen BY the Way
side-Thoughts Suggested
Thereby.

Mrs. Farmer, some weeks ago ILLS
old hayseed took a ride over all the
cotton states east Of the Mississippi
river. Went to see about cotton and
other crops SO that could tell you
Just how things are.
saw the mother and little !
dram in the field at work. just as we
see 1t in our state. saw the un-
painted house with the window glass
out and the dilapidated barn or pole
stable and fence down. | saw the
farmer In town or on the cars dressed
in his cheap suit of clothes.
As l noticed these familiar sights
I thought the do~wn-south folks do
not make any more money raising
cotton than we do; anyway, they
have a mighty poor way OF showing
their prosperity.
Oh, yes, I saw some fine places,
and when possible. made inquiry
about them. Usually I learned that
the finest farms with good buildings
belong to farmers who believe IN
mixed farming-grains, grass, corn
cotton, hogs, cattle, etc. Such places
had a home-like "heartsome" look.
(Your home will look that way, too,
when you shake old hayseed away
from "allcotton.")
I saw very few strong negro men
ut work in fields. The blacks that
I saw at field work were old Uncle
Joe. the women and children.
I saw great crowds of strong negro
men at railroad building, saw-mill
plants, at sewer jobs, or other city
work. They are paid $3.50 to $2.0o
per day.
70 induce that labor back to cot
ton farms will require cotton to sell
ut % cents per pound.
Railroad building, cutting down
grades, Strengthening crooks in roads,
and double tracking can be seen
everywhere. And the town and city
building is something big. Every
village town or city has a hustling ap'
pearance.
Saw-mills, one after another, with
great stacks of lumber, are found
wherever there is timber.
And cotton pays for all these in
dustries. Does Old Hayseed get his
share of profits?
am n Of these inquisitive kind
Of fellows. l ask questions OIL rlch
and poor, farmers or bankers. men,
women and children. BY so doing l
learned that more oats had been
sown and more corn planted than In
any year since the war. These crops
were fine, pats being harvested-and
what pleased me was to see so much
Of the crops being cut in the dough"
to make hay.
Invariably, every town or city mar
who talked to me about cotton said
there was an increase in acreage over
19O5-some putting it as much as
IL per cent. Every farmer or farm
sr's wife, said there was scarcely any
Increase, or said there was a de-
a Who should know about this,
the town people or the country peo-
pie?
The prettiest sight I saw Except
the pretty women) was on Mr.. Walter
Olark's farm in Cohoura county,
Miss.,-ffty acres of red clover
twenty inches or more high and thick
as it could stand. Just across the
road from the clover was a field OF
1870 acres in alfalfa-one crop cut
and gone to market and another
growth of fifteen inches ready to cut.
Mr.. Clark told me he made a great
deal more clear money from his al
falfa acres than he did from cotton
acres, even at eleven cents per pound
for cotton.
When one farmer begins to sow
grain, grass and grow pigs and calves,
1t Is catching. Neighbors e the ad-
vantage of the mixed farming and
they take the disease. I found this
to be the cast about in spots in every
state.-Charles Cotton Moore. in Pro-
gressive Farmer.