The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1908-01-09

man the idea Of farming has taken a
firmer root possibly than even in the
mind of the city man. II her nerves
have not heard this call to the coun-
try, she at least has listened enviously
to the stories of the success other bus
mess women have made by investing
in farm acres.
The number of Chicago women who
actually are going into farming is
growing SO rapidly as to turn the at
tention of every other business woman
to the project.
Two professional women-one of
them a doctor in the Marshall Field
Building-have just secured a farm in
Michigan which they are going to take
possession of this summer and upon
which the initial experiment Is to be
pigs. They are giving up good in
| comes.
A young resident of Hall House
lately has invested in a New Hamp-
shire farm and lives there eight
months in the year.
There is an insurance woman who
AWAY Ida ulduc d 6OOu ltFAbS III ShA
cago who has just left for Idaho to
take up a claim. She is going to live
there and work six months in the year
until her claim is established, COM
ing back here to work at her insurance
the other six months.
A high salaried secretary Of a piano
house has been reading and planning
and saving for 10 years to go and build
and live on 20 acres of land. This wo-
man is exceptional, having had the
property left to her as an inheritance,
while the others have bought with
their own savings. She has read and
dreamed of it while still afraid to
take the plunge. She set the season to
start several times, but drew back as
the time approached and put 1t On a
year or two more-it was SO hard to
give up a comfortable job with city
comforts and a coy, steam-heated.
| bachelor girls fiat in which she had
kept house with a friend for farming
uncertainties. But all the time the
idea has been growing.
Finally, two years ago, she put In
drainage tiles and began planting small
fruits and berries. This coming
spring enough bridges will be burnt
behind her so that there will be no
drawing back.
How may you begin to get form out
of the chaos of the farming movement,
if you are a possible woman investor!
First, are you investing with the aim
of doubling a little money, or are you
looking forward to it as. an ultimate
business?
From the first point of view not
even mines or wildcat stock schemes
offer better chances of loss than farm
lands. And yet there are many bust
ness women who double a few hundred
dollars by this form of investment.
The owner of a 2O-acre Illinois farm
near Decatur last year bought a quar-
ter section on the border line OF south
western Kansas at S. an acre and this
year sold it for Sc. The same land
three years ago sold for 81 an acre.
1t is this money that is going into
more irrigation and planting of straw
berry beds on the Illinois 20 acres. A
little Of 1t has been reinvested in an
other Kansas county.
What she reads, no matter how up
to date, however, is not enough for
the who wishes to invest in a
few acres of land. She must know
something of practical farming, enough
to be a judge of 1t when she sees the
soil, and must see it-"with a spade"
This is what the farm-bred city man
who, by the way, is one Of the strong
est in the procession of the farm land
movement-will tell you.
''The sandy Soils" said Mr.. Clar-
ence A. Shamel, editor of the Orange
Judd Farmer, ''easily are worked and
| are called warm soils, and are val
liable for vegetables and root crops,
| potatoes, carrots, turnips and the like,
| and also for melons. In the west.
| where irrigated water is available,
soils that are sandy often can be util-
lied with profit. There is nc danger
of drought, but in buying look out that
the water, supply is adequate.
Many more points are given by this
expert, Of which these are only the
beginning.
Another feature of buying land
right, said Mr.. Shamel, lis to pay a
fair price for it. OF course, all the
good government land as been taken
up by settlers. Occasionally an Indian
reservation is opened and If land can
be obtained here 1t is all right. There
are a few places where land still can
be humesteaded, but this land ordinar-
lily is poor in character or situated in
a region deficient in rainfall. In my
| opinion, there is little government
land worth taking up, that is to say,
outside OF irrigated regions. Under
the new reclamation act it is possible,
If one has some money to get hold of
land which, although comparatively
high in price, because of the artificial
water that is supplied, has large pro-
ductive capacity. In the arid region
| there are several sections where COM
paratively cheap land is still avail
able"
The loneliness and the narrow inter-
ests of the ordinary women in the less
populated country is the drawback
which first is put to every woman who
thinks of working her own land, eth
err taking up a claim or buying 1t
cheap. The 20 acres owned by the
young Illinois woman are just out OF
a thriving Illinois town and are prob