McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1913-07-18

oiAtceH WllilUnS! lnaJ IS WHAT Gnn
census says. Do you know what
that means? 1t means that it is
time for Tennesseeans. living in a
section blessed by nature with fine
conditions for cattle raising, to get
to work and prepare to help feed a
hungry nation which faces an in.
creasing shortage of meat.
Many things can be learned about
those wonderful forage plants, the
vetches and other leguminous plants
which feed the soil by their very
growth upon it. The roots alone of
these plants are worth more to the
soil than the chemical fertilizers and
in the end are hurtful and are no.
more food for the soil than whiskey
is food for man.
You have one man in your midst,
Glenn Lea, who has been up against
this proposition, and can give reliable
information. He knows how to select
breeding stock and feed them. "a
bird that can sing and won't sing
should be made to sing," they say,
and if Mr.. Lea is too modest to
volunteer his valuable information
about this important subject, he
should be taken to some public gath
ering and induced to tell at least part
of what he knows. Successful men
are as rule the last ones to parade
the fact of their success and the
methods for attaining it, but in re-
cent interview with me Mr.. Lea ex-
pressed some very valuable thoughts
upon this subject, and he should be
called upon to do so in public when
ever he can.
The tick eradication seems to be a
success. The next thing is to get
good cattle, put them on properly
fenced ranges, feed them right, and
spread the manure and keep feeding,
planting, spreading and breeding until
the land regains its old time fertility,
and then there will be prosperity for
all. Tennessee beef and pork and
mutton will gain reputation, as Ten
nessee turkeys have done, over the
whole nation. Woven wire fences
cost less than the worm fence of long
ago, and will last many times as long.
Modern tools make farming much
less toilsome. The government stands
ready to help the farmer with all the
printed information he needs. No
doubt there will soon be devised a
system of advancing money to farm
ers that will help put and keep them
on their feet financially while their
crops are growing.
But in the meantime, practical men,
familiar with local conditions, should
get together and put their shoulders
to the wheel so as to start the stock
raising wheels to revolving. One
thing is certain: Cotton has got to
take back seat in McNairy. Prices
may be fairly good now, but wait till
South America, India, Africa (espe-
cially Egypt and other countries get
fully started into cotton raising, with
their advantages of longer seasons
and cheaper labor. The British gov
ernment is arranging to raise it's own
cotton; so is Russia. In the latter
country thousands of square miles of
Turkestan are adapted to raising the
finest Of cotton. and their natives live
on next to nothing. Millions are be-
ing spent for irrigation there, for
cotton alone.
Every old turned-out field in Nc
Marry county is a protest against
wrong methods of farming; every red
gully is mute cry against abuse of
the soil. New and better methods
must come. The papers tell US Of a
young farmer here who had such a
wart on his nose that none of the
girls would have him. "A surgeon
offered to remove it for small fee
and leave no scar, but the farmer
said that his daddy and grand daddy
had worn just such a wart, and if il
was good enough for them he guessed
he could stand it. That is the way
many of the farmers feel about cot
ton, but when they see their neigh
bors growing rich at cattle raising
and the soil being brought back to
the old-time richness, as it was when
their ancestors came to the promised
land and opened fields in the virgin
forest, they may wake up and do like
wise.
T. s-.ko of ILo:. .L-l -...