St. Tammany farmer., 1906-08-11
FARMER AND PLANTER
4 TRIP THROUGH THE SOUTH.
eos,e Of the Things Seen by the Way.
side-Thouohts Suggested
Thereby.


old hayseed took ride over al ths
cotton states east, of the Mississippi
river. Went to see about cotton ane
other crops SO that could tell yot
Just how things are.
/ I saw the mother and little chill
dran In the field at work, just as We
see It in our state. l saw the un
painted house with the window glass
out and the dilapidated barn or pole
stable and fence down. l saw the
farmer In town or on the cars dressed
u his cheap suit of clothes.
Al I noticed these familiar sights
I thought the down-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, saw some flne places.
and when possible, made inquiry
ebout 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 q home-like "heartsome" look.
(Your home will look that way. too,
when you shake old hayseed away
from "all-cotton."
saw very few strong negro men
at work In fields. The blacks that
I saw at field work were old Uncle
Joe, the women and children.
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 $500
per day. :.
70 induce that labor back to cot
bon farms will require cotton to sell
at Is 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 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
austries. Does Old Hayseed get his
share Of profits?
am one Of these inquisitive kind
Of fellows. ask questions OF rich
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, oats being harvested-and
what pleased me was to see so much
Of the crops being cut in the dough"
10 make hay.
Invariably, every town or city man
who talked to me about cotton said
there was an increase In acreage over
1905rsome putting it as much as
IL per cent. Every farmer or farm
er's wife, said there was scarcely any
Increase, or said there was a de-
crease. 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
Clark's farm in Cohoura county, |
Aiss,-fifty acres of red clover
twenty inches or more high and thick
10 it could stand. Just across the
road from the clover was a field OF
l30 acres In alfa1fa-one crop cut
md gone to market and another
growth of fifteen inches ready to cut.
Mr.. Clark told me he made a great
leal more clear money from his al
.alfa acres than he did from cotton
lcres, even at eleven cents per pound
or cotton.
When one farmer begins to SOW
rain, grass and grow pigs and calves.
t L. catching. Neighbors see the ad-
7antage Of the mixed farming and
hey take the disease. I found this
o be the case about in spots in every
Cotton Moore. in Pro
,ressive Farmer.