The Washington herald., 1914-06-17
Statesnen, Rsal and Near.
b. FRED c. KELLY.

i
fessor, Of the r. r. DIS.
He has . bigger acauaintance on rural
free delivery routes thaA any man In
the United States. And those who know
him look ON him as q sort OF helping
hand society, 20 that he 10 both well
and popularity known. He dispenses more
advice each week than all the mothers
clubs and Ladies' Home Journal depart
ment editors combined.
! Spillman is the chief Of the ONCE Of
farm management in the Bureau of
Plant Industry at the Department OF
Agriculture. 1t all sounds inconspicuous
enough. But Spillman gets more mail
than the President of the United States.
His province II to answer questions. He
knows more than any man In the country
about. How to Make the Farm Pay. And
so he doesn't run farm. but tells others
how, There may be others who know
Just as much as Spillman about how to
run q farm in a given locality. but Spill
man knows just what to do in any part
of the whole United States. Take a map
OF the whole country. smut your eyes.
and jab a pinlinto any place on the map
at random. II you happen to stick 1t
into farm land. Spillman could 60 there,
take charge Of the place. and make 1t
pay a profit.
From every State Of the union thou
sands Of questions pour In on spIllmans
desk. and he has to have some 300 as
sistants to help him get out the an
swers.
A man reads some where that IL he gets
a few acres and cultivates the ground
'irtensively'' and raises squads, ano
mushrooms in the cellar, he will become
| extremely rich in about two years He
follows the directions on the package, SC
to speak. and at the end of two years
he hasn't even enough money to buy a
| Limousine car to take his produce &c
market In. The thing to do then is to
write to Spillman and ask what is wrong
with his system. II he gives reasonably
complete date. Spillman can set him
right.
| No matter what the question is. wheth.
er it's about crop rotation, artesian wells
how to muffie hydraulic ram. how to
rearrange ones fields to save the maxi.
mum number OF footsteps, or market
4 ing guinea pigs. Spillman has an answer
| ready. About the only proposition he
hasn't been able to unravel right OF the
/ reel came in the other day. A man in
the Middle West drew this picture:
MY son has returned from the Philip
pines after an absence OF two years. and
| while there he got married and also
bought a small-sized monkey. His wife
seems like an estimable young woman
| and the monkey is a right cute little
thing. 1t knows q number of amusing
tricks, too but We have very little use
for a monkey. Where can exchange the
monkey for a nice young pig?"
| 1t is dull day at Spillman's ofiice when
he doesn't have a dozen or a score OF
callers who have come in person to grasp
his hand and thank him for advice that
turned the trick.
couple of year. ago. Spillman re.
ceived letter from man out in Indiana
who was about to dispose OF his eighty.
six-acre farm and move to town to take
charge of a dray line, because he was
anxious to make more money. He told al
about his farming operations over a
period Of a great many years and said
he didn't seem able to place himself or
quite the same basis as the prosperous
gentleman farmers in the picture books
Spillman quickly perceived that prac-
tically everything the man had been do.
ing was wrong. He planted the wrong
things in the right place. sold his crops
at the wrong time of year. laid his fields
out In the wrong way, and consistently
avoided doing anything right. SpIllmar
mapped out a course of procedure. ever
down to a good many of the minor de
tails, and sent 1t to him, at the samt
time advising him to stick to the farm
That was two years ago.
The other day that man dropped into
Washington on a visit. He called VI
Spilman from the highest priced hotel IL
town and asked him to have lunch with
him there. Spillman found him in com
Portable rooms, accompanied by his wifi,
and daughter. All three were neatly. al
most fashionably clothed, and had {
prosperous to-the-menu-born air.
You don't look like a man dependen
on draying for a living" remarked Spill
man.
No, and thanks to your advice Tn
not" replied the man. I've still got tn
farm and I've made more money in tn,
last two years than ] made in all th'
rest of my life. We're doing a little sight
seeing now, and you're one of the sighti
we all wanted to see most. Because II
lit hadn't been for you we wouldn't b,
here"
| lCoDxri1ht