The Washington herald., 1913-03-02
ment Agents Spread Modern Ideas-What Sea-
man A. Knapp's Big Idea Brought About.

and invested it with romance. Brad
| ford Knapp. his son. disciple and sue
| cessOr. chief of the agents whom the
| national government has employed TO
! bear the idea into the valleys and hills
and over the plains of the South and
Southwest, told me the story as well
as he could. because he figures in it
himself
! The Natives Scared Them Away.
"A syndicate of men," he said,
bought 100000 acres OF fiat land in
Louisiana. My father. who had taught
Greek Latin, and mathematics in the
| State Of New York. and agriculture at
the Iowa University, was asked to
manage the sale of the land to North
| ern farmers. The railroads brought
| the farmers down cheaply and prompt
| " enough, but the natives. lean as
| wolves, wearing overalls and Salluses
made of twine. said the land wouldn't
grow anything but a mighty poor quail
| ity OF stunted grass. and pointed to the
ground for corroboration. So the far
| mers went back to the North. The en-
terprise was on the edge of collapse
when nv father hit upon the plan of
! planting some of the land to crops. He
| would show future homeseekers COM
| ing our way what the prairies of Lou
| isiana could actually produce. The
strangers would believe what they
! saw. though the natives might stand
| around and laugh. So began. many
years ago. my fathers first demonstra-
| tion work.
II was then about fifteen years old
and entered into the experiments with
boyish enthusiasm. putting out several
acres in sweet potatoes and gathering
really wonderful crop. Twenty-six
of the largest sweet potatoes filled
barrel. Tourists came. agents of the
railroads came. reporters came. and /
would proudly count the potatoes in
and out But the land finally. at my
fathers suggestion. was set apart for
the growing Of rice. The syndicate
bought II for - cents an acre. II Is
now, worth about $50.
Il think ii is admitted that my IA
ther established the rice industry or
shc United States. He had known Sec
retary Wilson. of the Agriculture De-
partmcnt. while both were farmers In
Iowa. and so he was sent by the ma
tionaI government to Japan and else
where on, public business. chiefly to
study the cultivation of rice. In the
meantime the koll-weevil. having cross
I'd the Mexican frontier. was destroying
the cotton crops of Texas and slowly
moving north and east across the state
toward Arkansas and Louisiana. Hun
areas pl FARMERS quit pldnilHS ''l'''-
Why Knapp Wont to Texas.
Experts in tho Agriculture Depart
ment thought ont a scheme for beat
Ing the cotton worm. An earlier ma
turing plant they said. would reduce
it's ravaEes by cutting short the time
In which il could operate. But the far
mers were discouraged. and not many
were impressed by what they heard
from Washington. Prove II to them
my father said. Any man will believe
his own eyes He remembered. you see.
his experience in Louisiana. Presently
he was ordered to Texas From cotton
he went into corn. His work broad
ened. CircumventinC the boll-weevil was
nationally important but so were the
methods of protecting and increasing
other crops"
by this time Bradford Knapp had
grown up and beer given degrees at
Iowa Agricultural College. Vanderbilt
University. and the University of Mich
igan. The Knapps owned a number Of
Louisiana farms in 1898. on which
there were mortgages. During the
panic Of that year they were sold out
by their creditors. 1T was a slick per-
formance." Bradley Knapp said to me.
so slick that We couldn't defend our
interests I'll study law. I told my
father. and see if ] can learn how the
trick was done" BRADLEY Knap prac-
tiCed law a year or two in Iowa and
then became his fathers assistant.
When Seaman 4. Knapp died, a multi
millionaire. not in property but in