The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-14

Could. director of the Oklahoma Geo. logical survey, calls attention to the fact that in 1907 that state ranged first in the production of oil among the states or the union with 4E300,000 barrels The gas field of Oklahoma Is, according to Fro lessor Gould, the most extensive so Tar discovered in the United States, in many cases wells producing anywhere from l0,- O0o,0OO to 100000 cubic feet per day and a number of wells are reported to yield all the way from 50.o00,0O0 to 60 OO0,0Oo cubic feet. And yet not 10 per cent or the region known to be productive has been drilled, and not 10 per cent of the future known productive region has even been pros pected In addition to oil and gas, Okla homa is credited with from 6,ooo,000000 to 10000, ,000,OO0 tons~of bituminous coal
 Great building enterprises hotels and skyscrapers, an enormous refinery, built at a cost of several million dollars to handle over s50,o00, GOO worth of sugar year, are made the basis of a story about New Orleans, by MT. Albert Phenis, in which the growth of that city and of Louisiana is covered, while MT. Walter Parker, writing of the effect of con stitutional amendment in Louisiana making loans on real estate mortgage col lateral free from all taxation, points out the market effect which this has had upon attracting new capital to that city, re- SulIlnS Tn a Bredk increase III DullulHS and business operations.
 Why Cotton Is Low.
 The reasons why the price of cotton has continued low, while corn and wheat are high-a subjecA of vital interest to the south-are discussed by Henry G. Hester, the secretary of the New Orleans cot ton exchange, who takes the ground that this is larg>C due to mistaken legisla- urIi ho of ba h have suffered and from which the west ern farmers have escaped.
 No phase of agricultural development in this country is more interesting or more remarkable that that of rice-grow ing In Louisiana In a region which 20 years ago was a waste of undrained land, irrigation and reclamation have brought about a rice industry which annually pro- duces more than $l5,o0O,0O0, and which has created an estimated wealth in that dis trict of $200, 600. Land not salable at even $1.25 an acre before irrigation and drainage changed that section into gar den spot now costs from $25 to $60, and even up to $125 an acre.
 Thriving cities have grown up where few years ago there were but great stretches of wet prairie land. w. W. Duson, to whose work the initial develop ment in irrigation and rice-growing was largely due, in writing on this subject estimates that when the work began some 20 years ago the whole district, now esti- mated at a valuation of $200. 00000O, was worth approximately s1,00O,000.
 Effects of Irrigation.
 "Irrigatin and drainage" he says, "are responsible directly and indirectly for the other s199, 100000" The rice mills, the banks, the public buildings, the churches, and public schools, says MT. Duson are silent witnesses which convince capital what modern methods will do. The pros- porous and happy homes, where only the wild duck the alligator, the Creole ponies and cattle lived half century ago, plead eloquently with the homeseeker to seize his golden opportunity and come to a territory which opens such great possi- bilities through reclamation for home and moneymaking.
 Texas-mperial= in domain and in re- sources-is, according to the broad sur vey of the situation by MT. Albert Phenis, growing steadily and rapidly: "A great deal of immigration is flowing in. There is a remarkable development the whole state over, not only in enterprises, cities and towns, but in farming operations as well.
 l While Texas still produces an enor- nous cotton crop, sometimes as high as 3.500,000 bales, with value running at times to nearly s200, ,O00, ,000, there is grow ing disposition to experiment in all other feasible lines. Alfalfa growing Is being extensively and most profftably engaged