El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-19

continued secretary Wilson, relates 10
the fever tick which has ruined the
cattle in parts of the south to the ex-
tent of something like s4O,0O0.oOO
year We looked everywhere to get
something to fight it, but failed. At
last we discovered that the tick bred
on the ground and that the young fas-
tened themselves to the plants and
crawling up them were able TO get on
such cattle as fed in the pastures. We
found that they had to reach the cat
tie very soon or they died. With this
knowledge we got the farmers TO
divide their fields in the middle and
put the stock on one side In short
time the ticks which had crawled up
the grass died Of starvation We now
had all the cattle dipped in a bath
which destroyed the ticks on them
and moved them across to the other
side of the field. Within a few days
all the ticks in the now vacant pas
ture had died the same way, and that
land was clear BY these means we
have already driven this pest out OF
between 90,00O,000 and 100,OOO,O0O
acres of pasture lands. The total area
is about $4,000 square miles 1t is
equal to three and one-hah states the
size OF Ohio"
Teaching the Boys to Farm
Tell me something about the work
you are doing for the farmers boys.
Mr.. Secretary" 1 said
THAT is a big story" replied MI
Wilson with the assistance of the
states we are establishing schools for
the teaching Of farming. and improved
agriculture is being taught in the
public schools We are also doing
great deal of practical work with the
boys on the farms"
"You may have heard something OF
the boy corn raisers Of the United
States They are numbered by the tens
of thousands The movement began
in the great corn patch of the Missis-
sippi valley, and at the st. Louis eX-
position there were about 5000 sepa-
rate exhibits of corn raised in the
older corn regions by as many thou
sand individual boys These boys had
each one acre of land. which he plant
ed and cultivated after rules laid down
by this department. Prizes were given
in each district to the boy who pro-
duced the most and best corn, and the
results were a yield which was double,
treble and in some cases even five or
six times that which was got be-
fore.
Corn Versus Cotton.
'eThat was some years ago" contiu-
ued the secretary. ''It was before the
boil weevil had begun to bite deep
into the cotton crop Of the south. AS
you know, cotton has long been the
one crop of that section The planters
have raised almost nothing else. They
have imported their hogs and homiuy,
have bought mules and other livestock
of the north and have even brought IN
the stuff to feed them. We wanted
to make the south self-supportspg. TO
diversity the crops and TO show what
! corn would do for the land This mas
been accomplished largely through the
boys. We shall soon have 100000 boy
| farmers who will each have an acre
or more to cultivate after our meth
DDS. We had more than 10000 last
year. and we have already doubled that
number. We have thousands of south
| ern farmers who are experimenting
with corn and thousands who are al
ready raising it for the morey they
| can make from the crop. AS a result
| of a few years work we have in
| creased the corn there until the south
| is now producing one-third OF all
| raised in the union, and its crop viii
| soon equal that of the great corn
| patch of the central Mississippi valley.
| The south is bound to be as much a
land of corn as it has been and IS a
land of cotton
stories of Boy Farmers.
Tell me more about the boys, Mr..
Secretary"
'I could take all day about that" re-
piled the gray-haired chief Of the agri-
cultural department. I'VE had II of
| the little fellows here last fall We
| gave them diplomas and free trip
! to Washington as competitive prizes
for raising the most and best corn. on
one acre. They took land in states
| that had been producing on the aver
/ age from Is to 20 bushels per acre
| and farmed it. They worked under
| our direction. and the result is they
have raised UP to as high as 22s bush
els per acre, and one of them has pro
duced 119 bushels on an acre at cos
of cents a bushel. We have thou
sands Of boys who have harvested