The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1912-09-28
A FARMER FROM ILLINOIS MAKES GOOD.
Moves to Mississippi and Brings Moaey Freu
the Soil

The experience of a former Illinois
farmer who transferred his work to Mis-
sissippi is one of the most interesting
of many that have resulted from scien-
| tifiic and practical efforts of experienced
soil tillers to utilize Southern soil for
so-called Northern crops.
The name of this farmer is FL. B. Cur
ler, who belongs to an old-time family
of New England and Illinois farmers.
He is one of the best known dairy farm
ers in the Middle West, and one of the
original men to produce milk of high
standard of purity and sold mostly for
the consumption of babies and invalids,
but available to all buyers. He is one
of the directors of the National Dairy
Association and of the International
Live Stock Show Association. These
facts are mentioned to show the manner
of man who has gone down into Missis-
sippi and established pronounced sue
cess.
Mr.. Gurler settled in the vicinity
of Macon, where, he says, the soil had
years, and yet it quickly responded to
good treatment. He says that he be-
lieves it is generally true that the more
nature does for country, the less the
inhabitants do, and the rule seemed to
hold good in his new home. He located
on what is called a prairie belt, which
extends from Okolona, Mississippi, to
Uniontown, Alabama, about twenty
miles southeast of Montgomery. Mr..
Gurler learned of the land through his
acquaintance with some of the United
States employees in the soil department.
| On this land he produced corn as good
as any raised in Illinois the same year;
| on September 3 it was dead ripe, fit to
shell and grind for meal, in fact, was SO
ground.
Mr.. Gurler found that the farmers Of
| the locality were good cotton raisers,
but poor corn producers. Cotton will
| wait for cultivation, but corn will not.
Parts of Mr.. Curriers' corn fields husked
seventy-fiye bushels to the acre, and
the average would not fall below sixty
| bushels.
These results were secured by ploW
ing in the fall, getting the action of the
weather during the winter, and fitting
| the land perfectly before planting, fol-
lowing exactly the Illinois methods, and
then cultivating frequently whether
there were weeds and grass or not He
| says that nature has done more for the
soil he is now working than he has ever
seen in his long experience.
Mr.. Gurler, after he had made a star
| in Mississippi, sold his land in DeKalb
County, Illinois, for S150 an acre. and
he invested it in the prairie belt of Mis-
sissippi at the rate OF SIS an acre.
After his first crop of corn, Mr.. Cur
Ter shipped a car load of hogs to the
| st. Louis market, where he got top
prices. His swine herd runs a large
part of the winter, and subsists largely
on mast. He maintains one of the finest
herds of Jersey cattle in the South. He
was one of the very first strong adyo-
Gates of the use Of eilage for the dairy
herd.
This Illinoisan has been particularly
fortunate in securing abundant help in
his own locality. He pays fair wages
and treats the men who till the soil ac-
cording to his direction in manner
| that keeps them at work. He is not
lone of the men who Iive in the South in
winter only. Mississippi is his home.
and he is to be found there most of the
time. Many of his frieads have fol-
lowed him into Dixie.
]. L. CRAFT.
RaYenswood, III.