The Brandon news., 1910-03-03
Brandon, Miss, Feb. 26, 1910.

In 1923 that portion OF HindS county
lying east of Pearl river was formed into
Rankin county, being named for Christie
pher Rankin, one of the states great con-
gressmcn in its earlier days.
1t contains TIT square miles cf land
surface and is located a little south and
west of the geographical center of the
state
1t is populated by 5000 people, who
are mostly engaged in agriculture.
The soil is chiefly black loan, we'll
wate7ed with numerous creeks and
branches; besides neverfailing springs
are to be found in nearly every sec
ton cf the county.
Along the water courses cane is to
be found that is most valuable winter
pasturage for live stock, which can be
grown here as cheap as anywhere in
the Union, owing to splendid grazing
on native grasses through the summer
and the short mild winter
A few winters ago Horn Rogers, a
mulatto, with only one mule, but ith
plenty of hoe hands, made twenty bales
of cotton and 500 bushels of corn on
twenty-five acres of land that had never
been fertilized.
Wade Patrick, stirring white farmer,
five years ago made 12o bales of cotton
and $500 bushels of corn with ten mules.
Such yields are unusual it is true, but
shows what can be done.
There has never been a year so unfa-
vorable for profitable yields, but what the
industrious farmer, who planted a va
Tiety of crops, did not make money.
Sugar cane produces from 100 to 500
gallons cf syrup to the acre, according
TO preparations of land and cultivation;
the syrup finds ready sale at so cents
per gallon.
Dairying pays we'll here, and Messrs.
Will Owen and o. L. McGilvra, who
moved here twenty years ago from Iowa,
have been quite successful selling their
product in Jackson, now a city of $4,000,
with the prospects of becoming one of the
best inland cities in the south, making a
nearby market for all the surplus farm,
garden truck, eggs, poultry, ETC., our peo-
pie raise
Mr. McGilvra has built up some very
poor land with the droppings from his
herd of dairy cattle, until it now pays
him interest at the rate of II per cent
on $22o per acre. He rents it for cotton,
getting one-third of the crop for rent.
Last year it produced 500 worth per acre.
What he has done others can do.
Lespedeza, small-leafed clover,
grows wild here, making not only al
splendid pasture, but cures into one of
the best varieties of nutritious hay to
be found in the whole Union.
The southern and eastern sections of
the country have as fine long-leaf pine
timber as any in the famous belt of
south Mississippi unequaled yellow pine.
.Short-leaf pine, and some merchantable
oak, hickory, gum and poplar are scattered
all over the country, except in the prairie
belt in the north and northeastern part.
A railroad, sure to be built, from
jackson northeast, will go I'd Pearl river
valley through the hardwood section, and
thence into the bald prairie that is not
only very fertile, but cheap land now, be-
cause of no rail transportation.
There is stcne in the southern part,
some Ct which, it is said, will not only
make grind rocks, bat whetstones and
razor homes.
The large plantations are not the
rule new. Small farms, larger plows,
1aboring saving implements, diversihcation
of crops, are working a change for the
better, but it places much lard on the
market that homeseekers would do
well to Investigate while prices are 50
cheap.
The credit system is to a great extent
being changed. The farmer who needs
assistance borrows money from the
bank and buys from the merchant for
cash. While cur banks are as liberal as
sound bu;incss would warrant, they are
not able to handle all the bushes offered,
and money lenders could do safe and
profitable business here in this country.
Our lands are divided into townships,
ranges and sections. Our laws are
plain as to titles and titles are easily
traced.
Our country schools are supported by
taxation, and are improying all the
time. The Protestant denominations
have numerous churches, and there is
hardly a ncighborhood in the county
but 1vha+ has a school and church.