The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1909-04-08
SECRETARY WILSON SAYS WE
CAN MAKE SOUTHERN FARM
LANDS WORTH 500 AN ACRE.


Secretary of Agriculture, James
Wilson, who has just been reappoint-
ed by President Taft, has not only
seen the usefulness of the Depart.
ment double in the twelve rich years
of his service as Secretary, but he
has done. especially notable work In
the South. Perhaps no other section
of the country, in fact, is getting
quite so much from the Department
now as the cotton belt. The South,
too appreciates this, and the South
Carolina Farmers Union and other
agricultural organizations urged upon
President Taft the Importance OF
continuing Mr.. Wilson in office-and
not without effect, so it is generally
believed When in Washington City
few days ago Associate Editor Poe
of the Southern Farm Gazette called
on the Secretary and found him deep
ly interested in all Southern ques-
tions.
THE Southern farmer" he declar-
ed, lis making very gratifying pro
gress He is going forward, and
we are anxious to have the Depart
ment cooperate as fully as possible
. in the good work.
About the biggest need of the
South, in my opinion, is to get rid of
the cattle tick so-that there will be
nothing in the way of stock raising.
You can handle cattle more cheaply
than we in the North In the first
place, you have SO much milder win
tiers; in my home State of Iowa for
example, there was seven inches of
snow on the ground last week, and
all the stock must be fed at SO
much heavier expense than in the
South. Then there is your cotton
seed, that magnificent cattle feed.
Feed it to your cattle, and you will
eventually take your half present ac-
reage and grow more cotton than you
now grow on the whole acreage.
The Southern farmer should make
it rule never to let anybody get the
nitrogen away from his farm. Let
the lint alone be sold off, and wise
farming will make and keep your
lands fertile forever.
The rolling lands of the South
ought to grow more sheep. Put some
woven wire "a to 80 inches high
around the pastures and not even
dogs can bother them And hogs,
of course, can be grown with you
everywhere; there should be plenty
of them.
Your cowpea is great advantage,
and should be used more largely III
tilted than it already is in building
up the land. Better drainage also
holds out much promise for the
South. Thing will give life to many
an acre now sour, soggy and unpro-
fitable / should also like to see
farmers give attention TO utilizing
rocky, steep or untillable lands of any
kind in growing wood. Wood and
lumber are bound to become increas-
ingly valuable with the rapid exhaus-
ton of our virgin forests, and few
lines of endeavor will pay better than
judicious forestry work. Put your
abandoned fields to growing timber.
Another phase of agricultural wor
in the South that interests me espe-
cially is the new interest in dairying
Whenever the people set about orga-
niziHg a central dairy, the Depart
ment of Agriculture will send a man
down to help about the building, buy
ing the out fit and getting the work
started. Our dairy division is at the
service of your people.
That the South ought to raise it's
own colts instead of sending to Mis-
souri, for mules goes without saying.
Here, again, you can raise what you
need far cheaper than we in the
North. With your mild winters, long
er growing seasons, and greater vari-
ETY. of crops, you can beat us every
time
eyes, the South is making progress.
and it has great future-there is
no doubt about it-and it is going to
make astonishing progress in these
next ten years. With proper atten-