The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-11-16

tile drains. The seventv-five acres
that wouldn't make poverty grass
when he took hold. made fifty bushels
of corn ger acre last year, ard sshe
plantation as ~ whole makes five
times as much per acre as when he
began working on It.
Again. French has made a pile of
money selling stock. Aberdeen Angus
cattle. He has Sold a great many
more than the great Ohio breeder
has sold. who called him fool for
thinking such thing possible and
ts worth several times rs much In
fact he can't meet the demand and
ne has quit advertising, because or
ders for future delivery exceed his
supply. He could sell three times as
-rat~e- III rrE rHn T1fsE. ard 1T
prices equalling those paid In North
ern States. When he came, there
were six beef cattle in the county.
and now there are $50 in sight of his
house. He has shipped cattle into
ten States, shipped the first hogs ever
shipped ont of the county. and he
says that he can raise both cattle and
hogs moro chsanly than he did In
Ohio, and that he could do SO even
II land values per acre warn the same
II can also raise corn and hay more
cheaply," he says
Meanwhile. Mr.. French has been
building up his farm. He has re-
fused $4,000 for land that cost him
lesst thas3.oo0 and that could have
been bought five years before he
came for $4,000. Ali his land grows
legnme crop~--clover or naas-sorne-
time during the year. and two-Gfths
of II is growing iegumes all the
That's the Secret" he will tell you
vegetable matter. humus. III the soil
II not only adds fertility. hut holds
fertility. as commercial fertilizers
alone do not"
But what OF French the man. FOR
the man is always more important
than his possessions? Upon that
point ! can say that / know few hap
pier, more popular. or more useful
men. He has almost forgotten that a
consumptive's grave once menaced
| him. He and his fourteen year old
/ boy cultivated fifty acres In corn and
/ forty acres In peas this year without
/ help. "As for the talk that Southern
people do not give "a hearty welcome
to Northerners or Westerners. have
! found nothing TO IT, he says, nor
4 has my wife" And pretty good proof
is found in the fact that his Is a
/ CLOSE" county politically, and when
/ his party wanted a popular man to
/ nominate for county commissioner.
I they picked French and elected him.
/ When the farmers State convention
was organized, French was about the
! first man chosen TO head 1t. When
ever farmers institutes are 10 be held.
She farmers are iikly TO let 1t be known
I'VE want French The Southern
/ farmers don't care where a leader
4 was born They showed this when
they gave love and Loyalty TO the late
/ DIR. Knapp, such as they have given to
! few native Southerners. II man
doesn't think himself different" they
will not treat him differently.
How do farming opportunities
North and South compare l asked
4 Mr. French. His reply was: There
ia no comparison. man in the South
/ can make more money and make II
easier. Ny teams work eleven months
In the year, j get practically twice as
much out OF them, and they keef
4 harder and fatter. too. The soil IL
I not naturally as rich as Northern
i soil. but 1t can be built up much
Pa