The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-09-27
LOUISIANA's PROGRESS.
Cotton Crop With Berries,
 Fruits, Vegetables, Etc.

N6W OTlSdHS SSpI. IO-1u lIlduy iC- spects the Louisiana Exhibit in the United States Land and Irrigation
 Exposition, to be held at Chicago,
 November IS to December g, will be
 unique in the history of such affairs There will be no private exhibits, no land explorations, and no boosting Of private enterprises or private inter-
 ests The State of Louisiana, in it's
 official capacity, will be in full charge and will vouch for the exhibits shown
 and the information concerning Loui-
 siana that is supplied the visitors. In
 order to carry out this idea Governor
 Sanders has named a commission, of
 which pr. w. R. Dodson, President of
 the Louisiana State Agricultural Col
 lege, is Chairman. This commission
 has full charge of the matter, and
 with liberal funds at it's command has
 planned what it is believed will prove
 hibit from any state.
 Robert Glenk, Curator of the Loui-
 siana State Museum member of the
 commission and a man of wide exper- fence in such matters, has planned the Louisianan booth, which will occupy
 the largest space allotted to a state in
 the Chicago Coliseum.
 The Louisiana State Department of Agriculture, The State Immigration League, The Louisiana Development League, The Louisiana State Fair as- sociation. The State University. The State Museum, The Boys Corn Clubs and Farmers Institutes and civic and al nj in al Qrta of the state are cooperating with the commission, and have combined their efforts to make the exhibit of Louisi- ana's agricultural resources the great est in the States history.
 In very recent years, or since the boil weevi1 opened the eyes of the cotton farmers to the economic side of diversification, the cultivation of cut-over pine lands, opened up a pro- ftable industry in early vegetable and strawberry culture, and the artificial drainage of the wet a1luvial lands inn pe1led fresh attention to the Delta country, conditions in Louisiana have
 undergone a complete metamorphosis. Six years ago Louisiana annually imported some 20,000,000 bushels of corn with which to feed her stock. Her own farmers did not know how to cul- tivate corn. Farmers institutes have now taught them how. and last year and this Louisiana not only raised corn enough for her own use, but be- came an exporter as we'll. AS a re- suit of the boys corn club movement,
 a Louisiana boy in December 1910 won | first prize at the National Corn show at Columbus, Ohio, in competition | with 46,00O other boys, with corn he | had grown on land which had never l before produced more than 20 bushels | to the acre. He got 13S bushels per l acre at total cost of 13c per bushel. Mainy other illustrations of the l striking changes that have taken place l in Louisiana during the past few years might be cited. For instance, a l single town in the pine belt in one
 season has shipped $50 car loads, av- eraging 700 crates pr car, of straw berries grown on cut-over pine lands which four years ago were held in lit tie esteem. A cotton farmer, who was | all but ruined by the boil weevil, turn ed his cotton lands into potatoes, on ions and other food stuffs and doubled 1 his profits over the best year he had ever had in cotton before the boil | weevil came. A Michigan man last | year got 50 tons of sugar cane per acre from artificially drained land 1 which the native farmers would not have paid soc an acre for ten years l ago.
 These are merely incidents in the l agricultural awakening that has oc-
 
 years, and merely serve to illustrate 1 the broad drift of things.
 ! Many old plantation estates have been cut up into small farms, and are l now being cultivated in 20 and 40 acre tracts by thrifty farmers and | their families. In this way the over | lord or plantation system is rapidly l disappearing, and enterprising inde- l pendent farmers are replacing ignor- ant hired labor.
 Louisiana's object in giving an ex- hibit in her official capacity is to 1 make such an exhibit truly reflect ac- tual conditions freed from all selfish motives. No land will be sold and none offered for sale at Louisiana's 8 l booth.
 The wisdom of this plan becomes | apparent when it is shown that the I State itself has taken the lead in | bringing about the change from leth- argic prosperity under mild climate and prolific soil, to active enterprise | in all movements looking to general l development and agricultural expansion along the most wholesome lines. By constitutional amendment, the State has exempted all money invest ed in the development of land from all forms of State, Parish (county) and Municipal taxation, and has pro- vided safe and practical way to in- duce such investment capital to come
  suance and sale of well protected dis trict public improvement bonds. The State has also provided for the des- truction of mosquitoes, for the build- ing of modern highways at the ex- pense of the State, prohibiting public drinking cups and expectorating in public, and has done many other things of an advanced character look ing to the general good.
 Tn the great scheme of Statewide development provision has been made for the opening up of five times as many miles of navigable canals as Holland, the county of canals, now has.
 The Louisiana State Board of Health will send a fully equipped "health'' train to Chicago in order to demon strate the health conditions in the State.
 miniature model of an artificially drained district, with steam pumps working and crops actually growing, will be exhibited.
 All of the diversified products now grown on a boil weevil affected farm, with complete records showing cost of
 production, market value and net profits as contrasted with the cost of production and profits on cotton cul- ture. will form part of the exhibit. Yet, so careful will the commission