Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1907-08-24

An Illinois farmer in recent letter
TO the Glarksdale Register, threw out
some hints and introduced matter that
seems to be well worth investigation.
The subject of drainage in the Delta is
an important one, as well as other see.
tions of the State, and the letter is
reproduced here talt it may be gcner.
ally read and considered
Early in the year wrote you let.
Ter, in which | stated some conclusions
of my own with reference to the Delta
and the possibilities of the Delta, and
the future of your wonderful section
have been more impressed on mo by a
recent trip through Georgia.
Georgia is booming. The farmer
there is in almost as good a fix, taking
him as a class, as the farmer in ILL.,
nois He is farming on paying basis
and is paying cash for what he buys.
Good drainage, COW peas and deep plow-
ing are making of him an independent
man. And Georgia is raising more cot
ton than Mississippi. Furthermore, she
will increase the gap the next year, and
the year after, and she will keep on
increasing the gap until Mississippi
wakes up and follows suit.
"Now, it seemed very strange to me
that country like Georgia, with its
steep hills, poor soil, gullies and large
tracts of vacant land, could make money
out of farming and support large and
growing cities and towns while the Del
ta, the most valuable tract of cotton
growing land on earth, Egypt alone ex.
cepted, should bo in debt and stay In
debt, with no prospects of getting out
of debt. II insults mans common
sense. 1t is an absurd proposition. Why
IA II so?
"To begin with: In Georgia they do
not cultivate land at loss every year.
In the Delta they do. If there is no
profit in Georgia in cultiyating a hill
top or wet land it is not cultivated. In
the Delta the people cultivate year by
year and at loss each year, wet land
which cannot be proftably farmed. This
Is serious proposition. Much more
serious than most of your people imag-
inc. To give you an illustrations A
Southern friend of mine in one OF your
lower Delta counties had on his panta-
tion wet fiat, which was farmed by
tenant who bore an excellent reputa-
ton as good, hardworkng farmer.
This man had large family, in which
there were three big boys, and together
they worked rs acres of land. In three
years this family rolled up a debt OF
$500. The land could not be farmed at
n profit, and it was not possible for the
planter to derive any profit from it.
At my suggestion my friend put a
string of tile under his land with two
lnterals. Results: The first year that
family paid their current account and
cut S562 of that debt.
"There Is one feature of drainage that
most OF the planters do not seem to
grasp. mean the enormous economy
of 1t. Replanting, for instance, is hard
ly ever necessary on tile-draineA land
And the drainage saves many extra
plowings. 1t enables the planter to lay
by his crop sooner; it makes the use
OF day hands less necessary for helping
out n tenant who is behind with his
plowing on account OF wet land. 1t en-
ables the planter to plan his work in
advance without having his plans dis
arranged. It enables the tenant to pull
verize his land sooner and get it in a
condition TO stand a drouth. 1t makes
the work easier on mules and on tenants
It does away with one of the great
sources of loss to a plantation, the bare
wet, waterkilled spots where the hard
est work is done and the least profit
derived. It keeps the plant growing and
thus hastens and lengthens the fruit
hearing season. And tile makes farm
work easier, more profitable, more GER
tain, more healthy and more pleasant
1t brings more certainty of result into
the planters life and enables him to es
cape the terrible uncertainty of an agri
cultural occupation. 1t enables him tc
know what he can count on and whit
he can afford It gives him more leis
ure and less worry.
IT saw an amusing example OF what
tile would do for piece of land in the