The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1914-02-06
SOU'WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

Last week there was cooperation be.
tween the business man, the farmer
and the Southwest Louisiana Develop
ment Bureau, for the mutual benefit OF
the business men and the farmers OF
this section. The man who has ad.
yanced as far as the A. B, c. of business
understands that when the crops fail in
any community, the merchant and the
banker suffer. The farm is the barom'
eter of business. The drought that
shortens the crop also shriVels up the
bank deposits, makes bank loans inSe'
cure and dries up dividends.
Also it makes the dust settle upon the
counters and show cases Of the merch
ants; empties the cash register, depletes
the bank account, makes Al credit rare
and fills the mercantile community with
Lame ducks.
How are we to change this? BY re.
ducing the hazard in agriculture. The
bank and the merchant can help the
farmer at this point by helping him to
learn what other farmers are doing
under conditions very much worse than
they are in Southwest Louisiana.
They can help the farmer to get out
of the old ruts; to break loose from the
tyranny of the one.crop system; to KEEP
UP the fertility of his soil by planting
leguminous crops which gather nitro
gen from the air and storel it in tie
SOIL to make live stock permanent
feature of his efforts; to drain his land
to have good roads over which to haul
his crops to the local market or station;
to study the markets with a view OF
finding out when and where high priced
farm products are in demand, and to be
on the spot with the goods.
These are problems the Southwest
Louisiana Development Bureau swork,
ing on, and if the banker, the merchant
and the farmer will get behind the
movement with us. together we shall
"put wheels under it and make it GO"
The Bureau has no private ak to
grind. It is here to help you and to in.
vite you to draw upon it freely when
ever it can be of service in building up
the prosperity of this heaVen.favored
section.
A man living in Southwest Louisiana
doesn't need to be stingy in order to
get rich. ALI that is necessary is to
stop waste. Kitchen Stops and vegeta
bles enough to maintain the family in
lard, bacon and hams are wasted at
every farm home.
Flows, wagons, farm machinery and
implements cause enough loss from de
terioration by exposure to the weather
to pay a handsome dividend on the
money invested in the farm.
Enough sugar cane tops are burned
each winter to feed a sufficient number
of cattle to"supply Southwest Louisian;
with beef, milk, butter, and cheese al
the year round.
| Enough rice straw and rice chaff ar
burned in Southwest Louisiana eacl
winter to increase the value Of the rio
crops If converted into fertilizer, b
not less than half million dollars
year. Enough oyster shells are waste
eachs year in Southwest Louisiana
supply that element of poultry feed
all the chickens in the United States.
Stop all this waste! Shelter you
farm vehicles, implements and machil
cry; put your cane tops in silos and Sc
It in the shape of milk, butter, chees
and fat beef; feed as much rice stra'
as is needed for roughage and retur
the balance of it to the soil; paint You
homes and barns and preserve then
convert the oyster shells into poultr
feed and f1ll Southwest Louisiana viii
fat poultry and fresh eggs.
These things do and we shall live
for 1t is chiefly waste that makes wal
in Southwest Louisiana. The Sont
west Louisiana Development Burea
VIII help you. For instance, last wet
1t had correspondence relative to:
Establishing market for Louisial
products in Chicago;
Marketing cypress lands9 located
Cameron Parish;
Getting ground lime rock to Il
planters at reasonable prices;
Encouraging the production and ma
keting of Irish and sweet potatoes
Lake Arthur aud Plaucheville;
Information relative TO scienti
poultry raising at Morgan City;
Information concerning possible lot
ton Of cotton factory in the cotton ST
ton of Southwest Louisiana;
Demonstration farms to show VIII
Southwest Louisiana can do along lin