The Tupelo journal., 1906-06-22

tuC ulOSJ SuCCCSolul dhO PidSIASoi "a
ers in the State, furnishes the following
excellent articles on Investigation and
rotation. They are well worth a care
full peru.al by all:
Observation-Disclosures the first farmer
you meet what is Investigation. 1t is
dollars to dimes that he can't tell. Ed
itors who have undertaken to pull the
farmers out of a hole are to blame. Di-
versify, they say then they will with
the next breath say that Investigation
and rotation are the salvation of the
farmer, and / doubt if one out of ten
could give an intelligent $ Diver
siication means a division of crops. We
piney woods farmers are diversified
farmers. Probably we do not go far
enough with the division; that is, we
do not divide up the crops as equally
as we should. To be a diversified farmer
in every sense the word implies, we
should divide our crops something like
this: Twenty acres is enough for any
one man; maybe twice enough. Plant
five to cotton, five to corn, five to oats,
to be followed by five to peas, and five
acres to be planted to cane, Irish and
sweet potatoes, garden, orchard, etc. For
ME. tWtutH dCtCS AZ " AbN HA>AA
twelve, and am fool enough to try my
hand with twelve next year, divided as
follows: Three acres to cotton, three
to corn, three to oats, to be followed by
peas, and three acres for sugar cane,
sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, melons
and orchard. This is Investigation; it
means division of crops-divided, if you
please.
"Rotation.-You need not talk to any
but diversified farmers about rotation,
for no other can rotate. Rotation fol
lows or goes with Investigation. We
diversity to make farming profitable
to keep from putting all your eggs in
one basket, and we rotate to keep up
the fertility of the soil. We will take
. wheel; place four cards upon it. On
the first we will write cotton, On the
second corn, on the third oats and on
the fourth truck. We begin to turn the
wheel at cotton; when the wheel Is
turned one-fourth aroun we arrive at
corn, and when we have rolled the wheel
over one time we arrive at the card la
beled cotton, where we began. These
cards, as you see, do not lose their place
on the wheel. Each one represents n
wear, and a turn of the wheel repre-
sents four years. This represents a
four year system of rotation. In France
the farmers practice a four-year system
Of rotation, but one year the land re-
mains fallow; that is, it grows up to
weeds and is not cultivated at all. Here
in the South, a three year system OF ro-
tation is more practicable. Corn, oats
acres would run it thus: One-third of
each of the three crops named, and each
to occupy the LAND one year in three"
Mr.. Herrington's article is plain and
to the point. He is gifted with the fac
ulty of making himself understood. He
doesn't say whether the pea crop should
be cut or turned under. Conditions
would likely settle this question. If the
soil was in need of the replenishlng
power of the peas, they could be turned
under; otherwise the crop could be har-
vested, making four from the land In
three years. ,s'r
In speaking of the fact that nearly all
of the Southern roads are preparing to
double track their lines, the Birming-
ham Ledger says:
"The truth is, the productiveness OF
the South has increased so rapidly of
late years that the railroads find it hard
to meet the transportation demands
with single tracks. Complaints of the
i~nadequacy of shipping facilities are
growing more numerous every year.
Thousands of dollars worth of straw
berries and other trucking product had
to be thrown away last year because the
cars were not available for shipment.
The fruit season opens almost every year
with complaint of the shortage of cars.
The double-track system will greatly
facilitate the shipping, and will remove
much of the difficulty along its line.
Not only is the freight traffic on all of
the principal railroads increasing stead
lily, but the passenger traffic is very
much heavier, so that it is not unrea-
sonAble to look for the double tracking
of nearly all of the large railroad sys-
tens in the South in the next few
years."
The United States governments ac-
c~eptance of Gulfport harbor, together
with the %refunding to Capt. Jones of
$3.50, 900, a portion of what has been
expended upon it's construction, means
a great deal to Mississippi. 1t means, in
the first place, that we nave two recog-
nized deep water harbors on our coast
line, Pascagoula having been so recog-
nized for years. and the subject of fairly
liberal appropriations at the hands of
Uncle Sam for improvement and mainte-
nance. 1t means that in the future
years of great business prosperity
brought about by the construction of the
Panama canal and the detection of trade
through Southern ports, Mississippi will
have two for the handling of this bust
ness instead of one. Il means that on
our coast line there will be more than
one large commercial center and other
benefits too numerous to mention. All
Mississippi is to be congratulated upon
this victory.
Lexington has organized and put into
working order one of those town and
community building organizations known
as a building and loan association. A
number of the best and most enterpris-
ing citizens of that excellent town are
interested in the project and it's success
is assured. There is no factor in the
building of homes more potential than
an association that Will lend those in
moderate circumstances the money to
build homes and accept its return in
small payments akin to The regular rem
tails of similar property. Mississippi il
fast becoming a homecoming State, and
the work done by local building and loan
associations is highly commendable.
y =
It makes no difference whether the
Frisco has bought the NJ, J. & X. G. or
mot, the road is finished, running and