Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1915-11-19
Farm DevlOpnierI Bureau

has a direct interest in your farm
take counsel with him about what
to plant and sow and let him know
that he is an essential part of the
whole farm organization and you
will get greater results off the
farm.
This is the doctrine of Mrs. G.
81. Mathis, the well known ra.
claimer of worn out southern farhs
through system of crop rotation
aud cover crops. She has trelbled
the yields ofscottOn on au acre or
land bought for $500 an acre and
sold it after a few years f. $40. OC
an acre.
Every spring Mrs. Athis holds
a council of all her ttsnants on the
farm, usually in a grove of trees.
The teLants are gsked to tell what
success they ,had with certain
crops on cers .in lands and Their
methods Of planting and cultiva.
Sicn. conferences take place sew
eral times q season. Mrs. Mathis
offers small prizes Of new hat or
a pair of boots or a new tie i.r the
man who raises the best crop of
corn or cotton on poor land or
whose hay has been cured and
stacked the best.
Mrs. Mathis tacks up cards
every month in the house, so that
the wife and children can read
them, with a list Of the work to
be done that month, giving care,
full directions. She prints a ,isy
of crops which rob the soil and a
list of those which help to restore
fertility, such as the legumes, Glow
er peas, peanuts, beans, alfalfa
and yetch. There are family dis
cussions about the feed and care
of the mules, the COW and how to
feed and milk her.
FOUR TOOLS NECESSARY ON EVERY
-Four tools are essential on every
farm, says Mrs. Mathis. They
are a stalk cutter, a disc harrow,
a two-horse turning plow and a
sub soiling plow.
Cotton is the chief crop on all
of Mrs. Mathis farms, isit sho in
sists that all her tenants must raise
a years supply Of TODD for their
families and feed for their livestock
Mrs. Mathis compels a tenant
who rents 30 acres of cultivated
land from her to plant 16 acres In
corn, s acres in oats, to be follow
ed by cowpeas; 3 acres in hay, 81
acres in vegetables and potatoes, 1 |
acre in watefmelons ana / acre in |
sorghum Twenty-Five acres must |
be planted in cotton. In addition
to the crops, the tenant signs a
contract to keep a brood SOW and
raise 10000 worth of meat per
year, and to keep COW and raise
a calf to be year old before kill
ing. He must also agree to work
one brood mare and raise one mule
colt each year.
Bud Jones was one of Mrs.
Mathis tenants. He moved every
year. In all the years of his farm
ing he had accumulated only a
sorry team. He could scarcely
make a living forhis family. Mrs.
Mathis rented him. As acres of fland
she had built up. After he NOV
ed on her place she found he owed
$4,000. She will not allow a
renter on her farm to owe bills,
30 she took Bud to her bank and
she, herself, went his security.
She introduced him as a share
,ropper on her farm, making him
} partner. Bud had never been
inside bank before. The cordial
reception he got from the banks
president made him feel more like
man and equal to the years
work.
Bud sowed 10 acres of spring
,ats and harvested 100 bushels of
,rain for feeding and cut the bal
lnce for hay. On two acres of {
'at land he planted sweet potatoes q
Ind on eight acres corn with cow
,eas between the rows. On IL s
'cres of the poor land his yield G
vas Z bales of cotton, and on % i
cres of better land he raised 10 s
'ales. His cotton and cotton seed '
exactly $2,002. His corn a
ielded 20 bushels on 9 acres. His t
rops sold for IS, 800 and he paid 1
Irs. Mathis 81, 100 cash rent. 0
With his 90, 200 cash, besides his e
wing for the year and grain and a
ay for his teams and COW, he q
aid off his debt of $3.50 aud Ii
pent $3.50 for furniture and con,
eniences for his wife. This left e
i'm 81, 900 with which he bought J
farm which he operates exactly t
s did Mrs. Mathis place. Land il
wners could obtain the same re, s;
n]tS off of their farms as HRudn a