Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-22
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT is DOING

terror consider that the wefk defe by
the mining engineers and oil and gas
experts under the direction of Director
Holmes marks one Of the most notable
achievements In the conservation Of nat
urai resources which have been made
during the five FIVE q s s,s ssafs , s,nss tine
before the public;
On the indian lands in Ohlahgma min
Ing experts figured that there was
wasted. up until few weeks ago. 800,
0oo.oe0 eubie feet Of natural gas q aaF
f tRossand cubic A feet rhIs natural re-
source Is considered the ptifest form Of
fuel. being ideal In every respect self
transporting and emily awaiting the turn
of switch TO deliver it 10 The hetnes
heat, light and pewef:
The simple plans adopted BY the mining
engineers in saving the natural gas
which is he'nE wasted 81, an the indian
OF methods Of drilling which have been
fields Of California. Oil and gas are
usually found together. Oil, as ss gen.
orally known, Is the more valuable re-
source, and usually operators forget et,=
In drilling through q heavy pressure
ges stratum to lower stratum Of oil it Is
customary among most operators to per-
nit the gas to esenrs and thus lower the
pressure 70 make 1t pessiels Tor them to
drill down to the OIL The experts of the
1t II possible to drill through any gas
stratum without wasting any gAs by the
use Of solution Of mud and water which
holds the gas back In IT. natural stratum
while the operator IL drilling through to
tho oil.
Both Secretary Lane and Director
Holmes hope that operators throughout
Oklahoma oil and kas fields will adopt
tho same methods which have been used
by the government experts on the Indian
lands to prevent waste OF natural gas.
Oklahomn's natural gas fields. they think.
will In time. as industry develops. become
one of the states most valuable re-
sources.
From an illiterate negro, an ex-slave
now more than seventy-flve years old.
farming in central Al
To Study Farm ALBANIA. the United
GU, States government is
VI cAioVo' receiving some OF the
most valuable lessons gained from any
single agricultural experiment in this
country. NJ. A. Crosby, an agricultural
In the office Of farm management in the
Department Of Agriculture, has just been
sent south to study the work Of Sam Nc
Call. the old ex-slave. who has accom-
plished wonders in farming on a small
tract Of waste land.
Sam Mccall might be called a born
scientific farmer. He has won fame in
orfo NV no 1or
yield Of cotton ever recorded in the
United States; in fact the largest yield
ever heard of. having raised one bale of
the great southern product on one-eighth
Of an acre Of land The Importance of
this achievement may be understood by
the person who is not an agriculturist
when it is known that the average yield
for the whole United States is only two
fifths Of a bale for a single acre. Sam
Mccall has developed method of cult
walton on once worthless land which is so
successful that he thinks nothing now of
producing three and one half to four bales
of cotton per acre or eighty bushels Of
oats or eighty bushels of corn. The aver
age III the southern states for corn and
oats runs from fifteen to TWENTY-FIVE
bushels an acre.
Sam is a farmer who knows his limi-
tations. When he was declared a free
man following the civil war he saved up
enough money to purchase land in sew
more than $50 acres. He cultivated forty
acres and the first Year made hardly
enough to keep himself He concluded
that with his limited equipment and in
view of the fact that he was doing prac-
tically all of his own work it would
be wise for him to reduce the amount of
land which he cultivating. He grad
ually brought his cultivated farm down
70,
two years on this plot has spent all of his
time and energies in what agricultural
experts claim is one of the most interest
ing examples of intensive farming car
ried on in the United States.
McCalIs land is part of an abandoned
farm. Before he began to cultivate 1t the
soil was perhaps as bad as anv which can
be found on any farm in the southern
states. The former slave knew nothing Of
the scientific methods of cultivation. but
he was a good observer. He noticed white
farmers in his section gathering leaves in
the fall to spread over their land to form
humus in the soil. Sam never heard of
the word humus, but he concluded the
white farmers knew what they were do
ing and he followed suit. He later decid-
ed to use the refuse of all crops as a nat
ural fertilizer. At the time he began to
cultivate his land commercial fertilizers
were little known. and the ex-slave has
never made use of them during his entire
career
Government experts who began a study
of his farm several years ago found out
that he usually grows three crops a year
on his two acres of land. Cotton is his
principal crop. In the fall he plants oats
between the rows of cotton. In the spring
he chops the cotton stocks and hoes them
into the soil, and then plants corn be-
tween the rows Of oats. In the late
spring when the corn is about eighteen
inches high he harveStS the oats by hand.
and then plants cotton in the corn rows
between stalks. The corn is picked in Au-
gust. the stalks are cut and worked into
the soil and then oats are sowed about
the time the cotton crop is ready for its
first picking. Through this method Of
cultivation Sam Mccall has raised larger
crops of cotton, corn and oats than any
other farmer in his state of Alabama
Prof. w. j. Spillman, chief Of the Office
of farm management, and his expert NJ.
A. Crosby. who has been sent to the
south to observe McCalrs work, say that
the reason for the eX-Slave'S success in
agriculture is due largely to the fact that
he has manufactured nitrogen in the soil
unknowingly by feeding the soil bacteria
with carbohydrates and cellulose coming
from the refuse of the crops. Mccall has
also developed methods OF seed selection
in keeping with scientific farming, and
each year produces a certain area of Sc
lected plants which he uses entirely for
seed purposes. Cotton seed have become
an important by-prOduct of his agricul-
tural venture and he obtains So to 81 per
buShel from the white farmers for Sc
lected cotton seed. The average cost of
the ordinary cotton seed is 20 to 81 cents