The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-11-28

4
zens were astonished and pleased al
the magnificent showing made by ouI
home people. In fact. it was reve
| lation to them, and many now contend
| that they saw opportunities which
| they had not thought Of before, where
Improvements could have been made.
Mr.. Vests suggestions are timely
and practical, in the opinion OF his
accurate knowledge of conditions in
Santa Rosa we should judge that he
has proposed nothing that could not
be undertaken by the citizens of his
county without financial hardship. He
| says:
What 1 have said is simply prepare
! tory to this suggestion. that twenty
| men of Santa Rosa county donate 500
| each to be expended in procuring a
| trained man to conduct for one year,
| at some centrally located place in the
| county, an agricultural school and
| demonstration farm, tuition to which
shall be free, and all residents of the
county invited and solicited to attend
The Star, which is in a position to
Judge the monetary ability of Santa
Rosa people to raise the amount Mr.
West considers ample for a commence
ment fund, comedies with Mr.. West in
his opinion that there are in Santa
Rosa at least the number of men men
toned who could, without financial in
convenience, make the contribution
proposed, and who would, moreover,
be glad to make it if they should be
approached in behalf of the project.
Young farmers in Santa Rosa would
get a practical start and would be
kept from the otherwise inevitable
costly plumbers of the novice in farm
ing, while older farmers could profit
by the twentieth century ideas on
agricultural topics which would be
demonstrated by a trained and compe
tent instructor.
The eyes of the North and the West
are today more than ever on the
South, the land of superb agricultural
opportunities. We have hundreds of
thousands of rich. acres that await the |
magic touch of the pillow and the hoe
to make them the equals in value Of
any soil that lies out-of-doors. Wei
have today, as we never had before, |
the eager interest of thousands of
Northern and Western homeseekers,
who are commencing to realize that
the gateway of prosperity, once sup
posed to be the Western and North
western plains and prairies, is now
the country that lies below the Poto-
mac and the Ohio. Florida and other
Southern states, at length awake to
their magnificent resources. are sys-
tematically going after the home
seekers that formerly moved West
ward-and they are getting them. 1t
behooves the Florida farmer to pre-
pare himself, by the improvement of
such opportunities as are opened to
him by the proposed Interstate fair,
as well as by such helpful institutions
as is now urged for Santa Rosa county,
for the competition he must expect to
ultimately meet from these new set
tiers who have, in default of real farm
ing experience. the disposition to avail
themselves of the advantages to be
derived from farmers fairs and 1
farmers demonstrations.
We are glad that in Santa Rosa
county a sentiment seems to have
been aroused so strongly in favor of
the agricultural school and the demon
stTation farm. Santa Rosa is a county Il
small and poor compared with Escam-
bia. 1t would be tremendous pity if II
Santa Rosa should get her farm in |.
operation before Escambia has made a II
move to start one.