The Denver star., 1913-04-19
PROGRESS NOTED
IN RURAL LIFE
Advancement Made by Ii|Iers
of the Soil.
EFFECT OF RIGHT TRAINING

Vivid Account of the Constructive
Work Which the Mississippi Asri-
cultural College Is Doing Among the
Masses In Oktibbeha County.
Friendly Relations Exist.
Starkville. Miss.-In the northeastern
part Of Mississippi is located Oktib-
beha county. According to the census
Of 1910 there We're 1866 people in
the county. OF this number 1868. or
GO per cent, were colored as against
a little over 1000 whites.
Few white people live in the rural
districts. They make up the majority
of the population of the villages and
large towns. Political offices. the pro-
fessions mercantile enterprises and the
like furnish the most profitable kinds
of employment for the majority of
them.
The vast majority of the colored peo-
pie are farmers. For great many
years they used old and crude meth
DDS. This was due to low degree of
intelligence. and, like all illiterate peo-
pie. they did not possess the necessary
insight for initiative along new and
progressive lines. Imitation rather
than thought was at the basis OF their
farm methods. and the model was a
heritage of antebellum days.
IL II 1.
Aside from the evil effects of shallow
plowiug. there was left at the bottom
in the middle of the seed bed a hard.
unbroken strip of soil. This worked
evil TO the growing plant at the time
when 1t needed loose. pulverized ground
in which to perfect its fruitage. This
was especially true in the case of
drought These evils. coupled with
that OF planting the same crop on the
same plot of ground year after year.
made the soil very unproductive-
Twenty-one years later. in 1912.
many and conspicuous were the
changes which had taken place. A
new generation had grown up. This
new generation was better dressed.
somewhat better housed. better fed
and possessed higher degree of in.
teIlieence, as evidenced by facial ex'
pression and department. than that OF
twenty y-one years ago.
The change was even more marked
however. in their farm conditions
Many OF the old hillsides which had
formerly grown a stalk of cotton with
only three or four bolls We're covered
with rank growth Of cotton. Large
ears of corn We're hanging from strong
healthy cornstalks.
Influence of Mississippi School.
The Mississippi Agricultural college
at Starkville. was the cause of this
upward trend. The college employs a
number of colored men to work on the
college farm. Working as they must
under the direction of trained agri
Ing many vital principles of effective
farming. They eventually start up
farms of their own aud thus carry
with them the experience gained un'
der trained teachers. Their success in
the community where they live be
comes an object lesson to the neigh.
borS around.
Many progressive colored persons
have learned from this college the
value and the method of raising their
own work animals. cows and hogs
one farmer makes speciality of rails
ing fast horses. hlooded cattle and a
hne breed of hogs. He ships Poland
China pigs TO all parts of the south at
a handsome price. His horses bring
higher prices than most others in the
county. He also raises and sells in
small quantities and by the carload
alfalfa and Johnson hay grass and
fine varieties of seed corn.
A college for white boys has inspir-
ed and positively helped this county.
4 spirit of sympathy and good will
has shown itself in conduct Who
can fore.ell the good that would re-
suit from similar efforts by the ma
ioritv of the southern colleges for
white boys?
let us hope that this will come
about through the recent beginning OF
the social study Of the colored race
by Two of our greatest southern uni
versides and through the Jealous eff
forts OF men like Or. Weatherford to
awaken the consciousness of the
southern white students to the needs
of the colored people. This would
hasten the moral. social, economic and
physical regeneration of the masses
to the advantage Of both races.