The Opelousas courier., 1907-11-09
Strong Plea to Farmers to Diver"
sify Their Cr0ps-Adv0eates
Education of Children-There
Are Many Factors to Accom-.
plish Desired Results. o

candidate for the Senate and whose elec-
ton is therefore a foregone conclusion,
recently made a public address to his
friends and neighbors out in Grand
Prairie. This address was replete with
sound, hard, common sense, and was
clothed in words so simple that all his
hearers could understand The Farm
ers' Union, to which it was addressed,
should have it printed in circular form
and sent broadcast all over the country.
The following extracts from it will show
that the doctor is not only man of
ability, a clear thinker and good rea-
soner, but one who is desirous of better
ing the condition of his neighbors and
fellow-men Let these extracts, at least,
be placed in the hands of every farmer in
the parish, or read and explained to those
who cannot read or VINO cannot under
stand the English language.
Among the golden words" uttered by
the doctor are the following:
take the broad position that every in
terest in the South should be interested in
maintaining fair price to do this, you
must stand upon the bedrock of sound
business principles and you must outline
the most reasonable policy for your MEM
bers to follow. To my mind the way is
clear and the course of duty distinct. You
must learn to look out for yourselves and
mix mind with muscle you must under
stand that while the country is spending
millions on agricultural colleges, expert
lment farms and in distributing pamph-
lets, yet, the large raassef faimers remain,
unaffected by new discoveries and that If
you wish to compete successfully with
scientifically trained farmers, you must
learn the fundamental principles of the
hature Of the soil and conditions Of vege-
liable life. You must learn that if you
wish your farm to feed you, you must
feed your farm.
1t is absolutely necessary for you to
live more attention to drainage and fer
#ilization. Above all, you must diversity |
kour crops raise more corn, hay, peas,
potatoes, sugar-cane and all other foods
That you need, and then all the cotton !
You can. A small reduction in the acre
&ge Of cotton will mean better cultiva-
ion and as much cotton. You must
Atudy and experiment with cultural
methods of dealing with the boil weevil
kpblem. An abundance Of food prod
ss upon your little farm will mean hogs,
spws, horses, sheep and mules The only
ason why you are not better off than
Y pu are today is because you are spending
h your cotton for meat, syrup, corn,
rses and mules and things you could
ise yourselves. Stop the current Of
ID Id which flows continuously to other
ctions for these, things, and in ten years
u will be the most Independent people
the face of the earth-in other words,
II your motto be sell more and buy
81
Reduce as much as possible the old
edit system which has been SO long one
8 the unfortunate legacies of the Civil
ar. Under our present system of buy
! from strangers all those things which
# could grow at home, when fall comes,
4 owe all our cotton, and If the condi-
h Of the market is such that we decide
hold, we are in duty bound to borrow
pney to settle our business, because
nlers must pay the merchant before
merchantean pay the bank or the city
hi. The manufacturers, knowing that
time is limited, say, we will run from
nd to mouth, or in other words, we
wait; they are bound to sell. My Il
ends, # you diversifYtNaHr, crops, live !
RE 80 home and reduce your credit, the
e will come when you will owe only 9
OF your cotton, and then you will be