The Columbus commercial. (Columbus, Miss.) 1893-1922, 1910-02-24
ONE ACRE IN TEN
IN STATE CULTIVATED
FIGURES ON MISSISSIPPI
WRITER IN cHIcA60 REc0RD-HERALD
POINTS OUT VAST OPPORTUNITIES
OPEN IN SOUTHERN STATES

ord-Herald presents the follow
ing interesting facts as TO th'
wonderful agricultural opportu
mites in the South.
With less than $50, 900, 0O(
acres out of a total of 612, 900, ,00(
acres now developed agricultur.
ally in the southern states, the
opportunities for settlement and
for soil reclamation work in that
section of the United States loom
up very large. 1t is only within
the past two or three years that
much attention has been paid to
the land in Dixie, and capital is
just beginning to go into these
states for the reclamation of the
vast areas of swamp lands.
which promise to furnish mill
ions of acres of productive soil.
Some of the most prominent
men in the country are either
watching or have become inter-
ested in the vast opportunities
for development in the south.
The department of agriculture is
doing some remarkable work
there in instructing the old time
planter and the new settler how
best to handle his land. The
state of Florida is spending con-
siderable money to aid in the
drainage of part of it's Ever
glade lands and if this expert
ment proves as successful as is
generally hoped for some very
productive soil should be made
available. 1t is yet too early to
say just how good these swamp
lands will prove or. what crops
will best be suited to them.
Efforts are now being made to
have the government furnish
funds for swamp drainage along
lines similar to the plan by
which the reclamation of arid
lands is carried on in the west.
There are a large number of
members of both houses of con-
gress who favor such a bill, and
favorable action may be obtained
this winter.
In addition to thesswanp lands
of the south. there are millions
of acres of good tillabIe soil
awaiting settlers. This land has
not been farmed either because
it was in large holdings and
owned by people who did not
care to improve it, or because it
was considered worn out. The
Inauguration of diversified farm
.ng and the use of fertilizers in
the south means the restoration
to production of practically all
the worn-out lands.
Some idea of the vast acreage
still open for home-makers in the
south can best be obtained by a
few comparative figures. In
Arkansas only 20 per cent. of
the land is under cultivation,
while in Iowa IS per cent. is
being titled. In Louisiana only
one acre in every seven is titled,
while in Ohio seven out of ten
are farmed. While out of ten
acres in Illinois are being farm
ed only 1000, 600 of a total acre
of SO, 900. 900 are being cultivated
in Mississippi. Out of its total
area of 169, 900, 600 acres Texas
has only $4,000. 900 under the
plow.
The past year has seen several
moves which may prove of great
advantage to the south. Most
of all these has been
the creation of organizations of
farmers in several states, and of
national organization composed
largely of southern agriculturists.
The secret of the success of the
reclamation of the desert lands
of the west has been organiza-
tion, and in forming their new
organizations the southern farm
ers have patterned after the west
erners. New settlers have in
jected new blood into the old
timers by the successes they
have made through the adoption
of more modern methods of farm
ing, and this element with the
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