The farmer and mechanic., 1911-05-30
KING CORN
GOING SOUTH
Continued from Page One.l


or from town They have organized
Iarm clubs IN several thousand com
munlt1eS and have caused the nstitu-
uon Of hundreds of county fairs in
the interest Of improved agriculture.
Not only the Government but the
States. counties and towns are inter-
ested in this movement and are Civ
Ing to it large sums of money The
appropriation of Congress last year
was 1850, 200. but to this $4,000 was
added from the Rockefeller fund and
many thousands We're given by the
business Org4 4niZatonS and the bank
ers. merchants and wealthy men of
the various communities. In addition
to the large number of farms or
experimental patches on farms under
the direct charge of the Government
agents and their demonstrators there
are more than 10000 farmers who
are receiving instruction from the
Agricultural Department by letter and
are reporting the results. This makes
mighty correspondence school which
is increasing each week The work
is not confined to corn alone. but to
the proper cultivation Of cotton. oats,
COW peas and hay.
Big Money in Southern Lands
I wish l could give you some idea OF
the results that have already been
accomplished. / have spent the week
DIT tIlO ASIlC luTeAl ISpdI tIIichl TAIN
ing with the agents Of the farmers CO.
operative demonstration work who
have just come in from the fields and
who are handling this enormous mass
Of correspondence. l have also talk
ed with Mr.. KNAPP, who with his
father, the late S. A. Knapp, mas
special charge Of this work.
They tell stories Of hundreds OF
farmers who within the past three
or four years, through proper farming,
have climbed over the hill OF dltlcuity
into easy street and Of a large mum
Der who are making big sums OF
money. One man. for instance, a Mr
T. Q. Sandy, bought a tract Of land
about three years ago south Of Rich
mond in NottoWay county, Va. He
paid "a an acre for it and began TO
raise hay after the rules laid down
by the department. At the end or
two years he was getting five tons OF
hay per acre from that four-doliar
land and was selling the hay at S2o a
ton. In other words his gross in
come for land that cost him "a per
acre was 1925 per acre. That man
is still farming.
One Of Uncle Sans clerks has
! bought 1900 acres within twenty-five
miles of the National Capital, and he
/ is putting it out in corn after Govern
| ment methods. The land cost him
/ SO per acre, and it is close to the
railroad, within easy access OF Wash
! ington Baltimore Philad elphia and
| New York. The scientists of the de-
| partment tell me that the land needs
| only cultivation and the right crops
| to make it produce as much corn as
| the best soil Of Illinois. Kansas or
| Iowa. 1t is within a half hours ride
| by rail of Washington City and 1t
was bought at a much lower price than
that of the second class lands Of
Texas or other States beyond tn
! Mississippi.
Another farmer was induced TO cul-
! tivate five-eighths Of an acre of cott ID
/ after Government methods. His
plantation was then producing some
| thing like 200 pounds OF lint to the
| acre. He began his experiment III
1903, at which time he could not al
| ford to send his children to school
He succeeded SO we'll that IN 1903 he
planted his whole plantation that way
and raised 1900 pounds Of seed cot
| ton per acre. He also tried corn
| raising as much as $50 bushels on a
| single acre Of ground. 1t is now two
years and that man has paid all ms
| debts and has money in the bank. His
boys are in the high school and his
! daughter has gone to college.
| Eighty Thousand Boy Corn RaiScrs.
| One Of the most important features
Of this revolution is the work being
done by the boys. At the present
writing the Government has on its
| rolls eighty thousand Southern boys
| each Of whom is now cultivating one
acre Of corn under Government direc-
/ tons These boys are in seven or eight
hundred different counties, covering
all the States Of the South.
They belong to corn clubs which
have been organized in various lOcali-
ties and are working for prizes offered
by the bankers. merchants. boards OF
| trade county clubs and publlc-spirited
-, asrrt, hEY h. dc
They are also working for the prize
given to the best boy corn raiser OF
their respective States, consisting OF
| diploma from the Department OF
Agriculture and free trip TO Wash
ington, where they may spend week
and see the President and Congress
and the interesting features of our
National Capital. The prizes given to