Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1915-07-23
Big Bud Tells of the Reunion.
Letter SIX.
To the Editor Of the Beacon

Letter SIX.
To the Editor of the Beacon:
have finished writing about my trip
to old Virginia and North Carolina,
and now will tell your readers what l
learned on the trip.
In the first place, I returned to Miss
issippi with greater admit alton for
the citizens of this grand old state for
the success they have achieved since
the war closed. Virginia was the bat
tie ground and camping-place of both
armies for four years, and there was
not village or community but what
was laid waste and almost totally ruin
ed during the war. but found that it
mattered but little to the citizens of
country whether an army that camped
long in their midst were enemies or not,
they generally ate up all they could get
hold of. Still these citizens had re-
deemed this country and brought it to
a higher state of fertility and produc-
tiveness than it ever was.
Richmond. instead of being a black
ened, ruined city as she was in '65, is
now most beautiful and flourishing
city of some IT'S, 900 inhabitants. How
did they do this? For if they had done
no better farming than we did in Miss
issippi they would have had to abandon
their country, for we, having naturally
a more fertile country, and our country
not being cursed by the presence of
either army during the war, having
abundant supplies Of all kinds on hand
after the surrender, pursued the beaten
path of agriculture just AS our fathers
had done before the war, and no coun-
try under the sun would have stood the
constant cropping. without rotation as
our country has done. So what did
these old soldiers do to produce this
wonderful change? They practiced
four things, viz: Rotation, prepara-
tion, fertilization and cultivation. They
rotate all of their lands splendidly all
along, and on our route, the or"@' iclds.
of corn had BEEN vi
narrowed and re p
larger than YOU
then most of tn r.anteo
with a two-row pla1 <, and young corn
had come up to perfect stand, and in
rows az straight as an arrow.
The land had plenty of humus in it,
and was as clean as a garden. The old
battlefelds had as fine crops of corn
and vegetables growing on them as l
have ever seen, and just wondered
what our lands would produce had they
been 80 scientifically treated as these
had been.
Crimson and red clover and cow peas
are their main dependence to fertilize
their lands, but mellilotus is being in
troduced, and l know it will be greatly
appreciated. To my astonishment, al
falfa is being grow to some extent.
North Carolina has rock erushers,
operated by the state, at a cost, which
is nominal, and they are having as good
alfalfa as we have on the best of our
lime lands. My friend, Harper, told
me that by using two tons of lime to
the acre, costing about $500 per ton,
he could produce splendid alfalfa on his
lands, and one application of lime would
be sufficient for ten years. When l
saw this, said t" myself, that was
which my good friend, Mr. Gurler, had
said that every acre of Noxubee coun
ty land could be made to grow alfalfa
by the application of lime. 1 had
thought that he was too enthusiastic,
but ! was coming home nd aid this
worthy citizen propagate his views,
and l hasten the day when the good
people living on the river could also
have fine fields of this wonderful forage
and fertility plant.
Should be reelected to the Legis-
lature, l shall do all in my power to
enact law. not only empowering the
manager Of the penitentiary to erect
crushing mills all over the state to
crush the lime rock, which is so abun-
dant in some parts Of the state. to be
furnished at cost to our citizens, but to
provide also the means to do this much
needed work.
With few acres of alfalfa, every |
one can raise their own meat at a very
small cost. The last issue Of the
Country Gentleman, which, by.the-way,
ought to be in every household in the
land, was an article on "Alfalfa Pork"
that reproduce. just to show what can
be done by having alfalfa for hogs to
erase on:
Briefly. the story was this: In 1913
ninety summer pigs and their dams
were pastured on alfalfa, with no milk |
or gram; they were fed alfalfa hay |
throughout the winter and went on to
alfalfa pasture in the spring of 1914.
They never tasted grain except during
the last thirty-five days-the month OF
July and the first week of August; they
then ate only little more than a dol
lars worth apiece. They sold for a