The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-12-18
John JAY DAVIS, in the Chicago
EXaminer.)

John JAY DAVIS, in the Chicago
EXaminer.)
There is a new story today being
told of the South.
When the injunction to young men
to "go West" was first spoken, it was
taken up so generally and has since
been followed with such confidence
that little thought had been given to
what exists in the unoccupied acres
of the South, where vegetation thriyes
twelve months in the year.
In travelling through the ''piny-
woods" country of the South, the sen
sation is a decided contrast with that
experienced in going through the
West. In Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Ne
braska, or any other of the Western
States, but a few years ago the
stranger would see miles of level land
absolutely barren and looking most
desolate. The surprise came when it
developed that water could so trans
form the barren desert
In the plny-woods lands of Missis-
sippi the surprise is of the other sort
The traveller rides through miles and
miles Of a most luxurious growth of
native green grasses. The wonder is
mat lands appearing so productive and
apparently ready to grow fine and
profitable crops should remain unoc-
cupied and the world know so little
OF the facts. A farm here and there
demonstrates to the traveller that he
has not overestimated in his guess
what the land will do. There are no
better corn and potato fields and
trucking farms on earth, and still such
farms are so scarce that they have not
yet placed the land prices out of
reach of a man of moderate means
Surprising Tales Told In Whispers.
So many surprising things have
been told in whispers about the farms
in the southern part of Mississippi
that ! was delegated to go as a news
paper representative and write the
truth about this particular part of the
South. / had been informed that the
United States Agricultural Depart
ment employed expert farmers at sew
eral experimental farms who assisted
the practical farmers in diversified
and intensive farming and made de-
tailed reports on the results.
| read some of the conclusions of
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson,
based upon the properly attested in
formation contained in these official
reports. Among other things he said
this:
THE South really believed that it
was no corn country and a man
would have regarded it as an indica-
ton of slight insanity if any one had
gone through the South and told them
it was one of the best corn countries
in the world. The South would not
have believed it and the Northwest
corn belt would certainly have doubt
ID it, but you have shown, during the
past year, through the boys corn
clubs, that it is strictly true that the
South is a marvellous country for the
production of corn. Think of one
boys in the South producing on
one hundred acres of land an average
Of 1887 bushels of corn per acre.
Boys Come to the Fore.
There was such widespread disbe-
lief in the South that the Department
of Agriculture had to appeal to the
boys to lead the way to show their
seniors what could be done. This
movement has proven that the aver
age farmer only gets out of the soil
one-tenth of what he could if he did
his best. This is true in nearly all
of the productions, hence the Depart
ment of Agriculture insists that the
South produce its own corn, hogs and
mules, and stop this great outflow of
If this can be stopped the
South, in a few years, will become
the richest part of the world agri-
culturally considered
Corn is the basis for cheaper food,
stuffs and, of course, cheaper meats.
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