The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1912-01-25

For the past tlfteen or INVENT.
years but few subjects have beel
exploited more persistently or i
greater extent than the resources D
the South and the great future tina
! is before IL. During large portion
Of this period we had to be conten
with predictions only, with glowing
pictures, not of what we had done,
Of what we were doing but Of what
we could do and what we would do.
Many Of us received this infor-
lnpation with such.skepticism, because
lit was alwaysa thing Of the future.
/ Our farmers were not prosperous,
our manufacturers were not adyanc-
ling, our material prosperity was not
increasing, in proportion to that Of
other parts Of the country.
But a great change has come
within the last few years. Prosperi-
Ety is here. The South can now
show not what may be done, but
what is being done. It has walked
up all along the line. Practically
all the states have established FIRST
class technical schools and agricul-
tural colleges, which are training up
young men skilled in the advance
ment Of the industrial South and
filled with the knowledge Of scien-
tifc farming; and never can we get
a full benefit Of the soil and climate
that are ours until we can get our
people to recognize that agriculture
is chemistry, that the chemistry Of
agriculture is science, and that
we cannot get the best results from
the chemical combination Of seed
with the elements that compose the
soil, unless we follow methods which
agricultural chemical science teaches
will bring the best results, The
farmers Of the South have made
money. Most Of them have paid
of mortgages. The prosperity
which is theirs has been dissemi-
mated through the country merchant
to the city merchant, and 50 on
through the whole community, for
ours is practically an agricultural
country, and as les agriculture -four
ishes or languishes, 50 viii the
country as a whole flourish or Ian
guish.
Aud the increase in the last two
or three years Of the prospect for the
future is notably conspicuous. But
"a short time ago the average farmer
answered any reference to scientific |
farming with a sheer about book
learning as opposed to farm expert
ence; but it is now difficult to find
a farmer who does not recognize
that those scientific fellows can
teach him how to do betteri He
has been forced into this recognition
by comparing his own results under
the old methods With the work Of
his neighbor who uses the new
methods and forces on his attention
the better results.
It is time, therefore, for us to
consider resources. What are they?
What is our capacity2 What
have we that is undeveloped?
What have we that is waste2 Can
we improve what we hayeY Can
we reclaim that which is at our door
but is nov unavailable2 Attention
has been called time and again to
the necessity Of lettering the lands
which are already tillable, to the
use of implements which increase
profits. and to other improvements
that concern the lands which the
farmer IS now planting. But very
little attention has been paid to
THE subject Of drainage, reclamation
of the swamp lands and. overhowed
lands, Of which we have such guam
Titles.
4 At one time about five per cent
tof all the land in Europe now used
for agricultural purposes consisted
! Of swamp or overfOWed land.
It has been made available and