The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-15
WOMAN FARMER IS SETTING NEW PACE
  Wilder Place" Near Decatur Making Experiment WANTS DEMONSTRATION Mrs. Wilder Maintains That It Is Unfair for south Alabama to Have All the Government Experi-
 ment Stations
WANTS DEMONSTRATION
BY WALTER HARPER


 valley is woman.
 She Is Mrs. Leila Seton Wilder of Wilder Place, near New Decatur
 She is not only a successful farmer but she is broadly philanthropic. She has the interests of the entire Ten .nessee valley at heart. She wants to improve the conditions not only of the farmers of this great valley but of the | tenant and farm laborer as well.
 She Is showing the way on her own plantation and her excellent work serves as a most valuable object les son not only for the farmers in this valley but in all sections of the state where there are large tenant planta- tions.
 Mrs. Wilder's farm consists of 1900 acres of the finest land In the valley Wilder Place, her home, is one of the most beautiful in north Alabama. It Is on the plantation and here this pro- gressive and fssinating little woman makes her home.
 The house, one of those magnificent ante-be bellum homes, stands on a slight elevation and in the midst of beau tiful grove. The house was built 6s years ago. The clinging wisteriA that
 
 50 years ago.
 Conveniently distributed over the plantation are the tenant house. They are not grouped In quarters" as is the case on many of the large plan tations of the south. All the tenants are negroes.
 About year ago Mrs. Wilder asked the officials of the United States de- 1an rtr nf o.fo fo ance of a farm demonstrator to assit her in the improvement of farm work and conditions on her place. Dr. S. A. Knapp, head of the demonstration de- partment, expressed his willingness to cooperate in every way possible but at that time all the men had been as- signed to Alabama that could be fur nished. He, however. agreed to have one of the three men stationed in the state to visit her plantation once each month J. T. Watt of Talla- dega was assigned to the work.
 "It is not fair to the people of the great Tennessee valley that all the gov ernment men assigned to Alabama are located in the southern part of the state,' said Mrs Wilder a few after poons ago as we were walking over her plantation.
 " best of everything. I do not think those people are any better than we of north Alabama. They may be smarter and know better how to go after things but we must have fair treatment.
 "The lands of the Tennessee valley are as fertile and as productive as any in the state and our farmers are just as eager to improve their condi- tions. We must have some of the de- partment experts located in this sec ton and I do not propose to stop talk ing and working till we have some of them.
 "Mr Watt Is one of the best men in the service and he has done a won derful work on my plantation this year but most of his time Is taken up in middle and south Alabama. We need men in this valley who can devote their entire time to the work in this val ley.
 q cannot understand why our pub lie officials who have the power and are in authority. whose interest is to take care of the people in this sec ton are negligent of this matter. I'm proved agricultural methods mean more to this country just now than most any other public movement and none of the means should not be neg lected.''
 "The large plantations of Alabama are largely dependent on negro ten ants The negro tenant is not pro- gressive farmer and his own initia- tive. He knows how to grow cotton indifferently but knows nothing of the value of diversfcation and intensified ton. He must be shown. He must have practical demonstration. He is good imitator.
 show one negro tenant how to dou- ble his yield of corn or cotton and his neighbor will initiate his methods. The spirit of rivalry Is strong with most of them.
 Our plan here is to teach the ne-