The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-06-12
REAL FARMING IN
. GOOD0LDv VIRGINIA
Farmers Cooperative
Demonstration Work;
Results in Southside.
NORTHERN MONEY;
| SOUTHERN HUSTLE
The Combination Working Wond-
ers on Virginia Farms-Educa-
tional Work That Is Truly
Educational-Goes Right
to the Root Of Things
Let 1t Spread. !.
ny FRANK s. wooDsoN,
Industrial Editor.

Industrial Editor.
In limited number OF counties IL
Virginia there is a great deal of en-
thusiasm over the wonderful results
of what is known as the farmers CO.
operative demonstration work" but,
comparatively speaking, there are very
few people in the State OF Virginia,
taken as a whole who know what
this work really is and what 1T has.
accomplished for the farmers In the
twenty nine counties where 1t has been
successfully prosecuted.
The work has been done so far
without any blowing of horns or any
flourish of trumpets. In fact. the
people connected with 1t and who have
been engaged in 1t, wisely decided not
to blow any trumpets. at least not until
they had really demonstrated" and
then to be satisfied to let the good
work be Its own trumpeter and it's
own horn blower In other words the
demonstrators and the good people
! backing them with the necessary funds
| to carry on the work conceived the
| idea that it was better not to talk
| about what they thought they could
| do or what they were going TO do. but
| to go ahead and do something and
| let that something do the real talk
| ing
Real Eye-Opencrs.
The visit and the information OBJ
where 1t has been done. and in order
that the people in that part of Vir-
ginia where similar work is yet to be
done NAV know all about 1t before
hand, made pilgrimage to Burke
Vile the past week and drove out to
the home of Thomas o. Sandy. the
! State agent to obtain data and to see
| with my own eyes some of the good
1 results that have been Accomplished
i The visit and the information oh
| tanned were eye-openers to me- and L
am prepared to give some facts that
will be eye-opeuers to Tlnes-Dlspatch
readers generally
Many years ago in fact. soon after
the War Between the States. num-
Der of philanthropists in the North
anly in New York. organized ard
financed the General Education Board
of New York the object being to
raise and to spend money for better
education in the South. which was
/ then badly crippled and greatly de-
/ vastated country. This board sent vast
! sums of money from time to time to
/ the South for educa tional purposes,
the hulk of it being spent in the rural
| districts for the education of the
children of farmers,
A Progressive Change.
Some six years ago the Education
its methods. having reached the con-
/ cluson that better results would come
/, If the farmers and their sons were
| taught to do better farming. to reviva
] their Worn out lands. and make them
more productive and more profitable.
| 1t was believed that such educational
work would in short time put the
farmers in such position that they
could themselves pay for all the
book larnin'" their children called
for, and thus two educat lona1 birds
might be killed with one stone. Inn
mediately the farmers cooperative
demonstration work" was commenced
in several Southern States. About
four years ago the board made an
appropriation OF funds for this work.
In Virginia and committee COM
menced the search for the right man
. to put in charge of the work.
Where Sandy Was Found.
On what had been an old worn out
farm within two miles of Burkeville,
but which by the utilization of COM
. mon sense, methods had become a pro-
ductive and profitable farm, they found
, Thomas O. Sandy. Inquiry was made
: as to his way of making dead South
: side Virginia lands abundantly pro-
ductive, and the General Educati ton
Board of New York saw they had
found the right man, and they in
duced him to become the State agent
for demonstration farm work. Later
Southall Farrar. with headquarters at
I Jetersville. in Amelia county, was
; made assistant agent, and these two
men Went TO work with an energy that
was bound to bring results.
Mr. Sandy had to start from the
! ground up, and he had to go up
, against whole mountain of prejudice
: and Observation-Disclosures for Southside
Virginia farmers used to be. and many
i of them are yet, nightly sot in their
ways" Their ancestors had farmed on
/, those lands and they had followed in
the old ruts made by forefathers and
they were rather slow to believe that
an ex-commercial tourist could teach
them anything about cultivating the
lands they and their ancestors had
!, lived upon and raised things upon for
! so many ye-rs.
Demonstration Had Already Worked.
: However. Sandy had the goods to
show Ills neighbors knew that tina
> old Miller place, on which he was
0 living, had not been doing any great
shakes since the war. and that within
:. three years after Sandy quit selling
!. goods on the road as drummer and
: took to farming he had brought tha
old place to a state OF money making
r productiveness, and so few of them
h were willing to hear the gospel ac-
cordlng to Sandy" The start was made
!, In the demonstration work In limited
= sections of the two counties OF Not
/, toway and Prince Edward. Now itseX-
a tends over twenty-nine counties, as
d follows: Cumberland Lunenburg,
Mecklenburg, Pittsylvania. Hallfay.
Y, Amelia, AppomattoS. Fauquier. Ct}l-
d peper. Brunswick, Charlotte, Prinsa
: Edward. Chesterfield. powhatan, Rap
. pahannock Madison, pinwiddie, Erlu-
!, wanna buckingham Campbell Atbe-