The Columbus commercial. (Columbus, Miss.) 1893-1922, 1909-01-17
AGRICULT LTURAuSTS
VISIT COLUMBUS
MOBILE AND OHIO SPECIAL ARRIVED IN
COLUMBUS THURSDAY AFTERNOON
WITH PROMINENT SPEAKERS.
COMMITTEE MEET SPEAKERS

The party of agricultural ex-
perts and prominent railroad Off
cials, who are travelling on the
Farmers Special of the Mobile
and Ohio and the Southern. ar
rived in Columbus Thursday
afternoon at 3:15 and were met
at the station by committee of
citizens and representatives of
the Progressive Union as follows:
E. S. Moore. prominent planter;
J. L. Cox, general freight agent
of the Southern r. r. Company
in Mississippi; w. B. Hopkins
and w. Z. Kennedy, Mobile and
Ohio Railway. The visitors
were escorted to the Court
House. where an enthusiastic
crowd including President Hen
ry Whitfield of the Industrial
Institute and College, and the
Norman agricultural class Of
that institution accom- anied by
their teachers Misses Hooper,
Peyton, Phant. Kern. Mr. E.
S. Moore, chairman of the COM
mittee, introduced the speakers.
Mr.. NJ. V. Richards of Washing
ton, land and industrial agent of
the Mobile and Ohio and South
ern r. R., spoke first and eX-
planned the object of their visit
to towns along the line of roads.
He said: that while the people
had been slow to take advantage
of the agricultural advantages
this beautiful southland offered,
he believed they were on the
eve of a great awakening along
the industrial lines" and he
prom;sa1 that the railroads
would give better service to
truck growers in the way of get
ting their products into northern
markets.
He spoke of the unrest of the
people of Mississippi and Ala
bama twenty years ago and how
they went West, but said things
have changed and migration has
turned to the South. Mr..
Blakeslee agricultural commits
sioner of Mississippi spoke next.
He told of the wonderful i'm
provements now going on in land
cultivation in this State through
the agricultural department
which was established only three
and one-half years ago. He
said the special rGn by the Mo
bile and Ohio would be Of lasting
benefit to the state. He paid a
well deserved compliment to
trof. e. r. Lloyd, director of
farmers institute. He also re-
ferred to the good work of the
Livestock Sanitary Board, which
is cooperating with the u. S,
Agricultural Department to ex-
terminate the cattle ticks
and other pests that destroy
thousands Of dollars for the
planters. He spoke at length
on the bee keepers Of Mississippi
and told of one man who had
sold 0,000 pounds of honey in
one year. He also said that
about 1000 persons We're interest
ed in bee culture.
Hon. j. A. Wilkinson, COM
missioner of agriculture Of Ala
bama and Mississippi, talked on
the value of education and train
ing along agricultural lines and
urged farmers to enrich the soil
and diversity crops.
Mr.. r. S. Wilson, whose office
is in Columbus, and has charge
of the farmers cooperative work
in Mississippi and Alabama, was
next introduced. He said he
was glad that the time had come
when practical experiments had
been made with good results.
More than 1000 farmers of Mis-
sissippi have tried farming ac-
cording to instructions of the de
partment and were pleased with
the results, He said that simple
demonstration was what the
people needed and what they
would strive to give.
The people of Columbus and
Vicinity were glad to listen to
these men of authority on agri-
cultural subjects. The distin-
guished party remained in Co
lumbus Thursday night and left
Friday morning for other points
In Mississippi.