The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-03
SOME EXAMPLESO OF ALABAMA FARMERS Good Alfalfa Field Is Poem
 of Beauty DIR. T.H.G.COOK WORK Net Profit of s5S7.5O on Twenty-Five Acres Considered Fairly Good
 Return on Investment in
 Pickens County
DR. T.H.G. COOKS WORK
By WALTER HARPER

 to the man of practical idealism than broad field of green alfalfa ready TOT the moving machine or dotted with sleek cattle, rolicing mules and lazy Berk- shires or golden Durocs.
 Steel mills and belching furnaces bring wealth and create pay rolls. Railroads and counting houses breed salary enVel- opes and well-groomed dandies but sen1- ment and epic luxury follow the April breezes that bend the succulent waves of alfalfa.
 Kings of finance and potentates Of ln- dustry may inspire awe as they look down on the servile populaee from l5- story buildings or from their luxurlous limousines, but the tan Acknowledgment farmer riding his saddle horse across his fields of honest plenty inspires admira- tion He is lord over bountltul do- minion.
 There are men of this type in Alabama.
 They are not planters. They are the real farmers who are leading the agricul- tural revolution now under full sway in this state as well as in the other states of the union.
 They are the farmers who look after the cultivation of their own lands and do not leave them to the butchery or ire sponsible tenants
 1 have found these exceptional farmers in every section of Alabama. They are in the Tennessee valley. They are scattered all over the black belt.
 You can find them in the strong red clay lands of Talladega. Shelby, Bibb and Tallapoosa counties. They are working magic among the sand and gravel hills and table lands of Butler, Pike, Cren- shaw, Escambia and Covington. They are developing a new land of promise in the wiregrass of southeast Alabama and on the magic soils of Baldwin and Mobile.
 I have ridden and walked with many of these barons of the soil over their plantations. They are the salt of the state and shining examples for their neighbors. They are the patterns by which the future prosperity of agricultural Ala bama must and will be shaped.
 Most of these have been mentioned in their turn. The Age-Herald intends to seek out others and exploit their good works as a means of inspiration for oth- CTS who would like to prosper and become really great in the true development of this the greatest state in the south.
 The Age-Herald does not pretend to tell the farmers of Alabama how, what and when they should and reap.
 We could do no better than seek out the man who has made a practical suc- cess and tell how he did it. What one or number of farmers are doing others can do, and The Age-Herald would do it's part in the great campaign of edu- cation by bringing these examples of suc- cess to the attention of those who would follow.
 have in mind now a live, successful farmer who should be held up for the in- spiration of others. He is an inspiration ,n his community. His influence is felt throughout a large territory.
 l speak of Dr. T. H. G. Cook of Coch- rane, in the southern part of Picxens county. He owns several hundred acres of fine black alfalfa land on the west side of the Tombigbee river. He Is grad ually improving every acre of 1t by rota- ton of crops diversi1eation, scientific cul- tivation and eattle-raising.
 walked over a part of this plantation . few days ago with Dr. Cook
 When l reached his fine residence that would class up well with any in our large cities Dr. Cook was at breakfast If was early on a crisp morning. He plead for time to finish his meal. l know it was something more substan- tal than doctored sawdust These men who toll in the open fields and commune with the sun and masterful clements are full of the red sap of life. They work like worshippers, eat like the gods of ap- petite and sleep a sleep that is honest and complete. They also know how to pay Dr. Cook is a prince of turkey hunters, which fact was stated in The Age-Herald few days ago.
 While yet the dew was sparkling among