The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1915-07-16

| VIII De necessary " Ildhe q ROOu JOD.
The Little River District is bonded for
4 Il million dollars and the bonds bear
512 per cent interest payable semi-an-
nually. No principal will be paid on
the bonds which are dated April /,
1913, during the first five years as the
assessments will be used to pay cost
of the drainage work and interest.
After five years, assessments will ap-
ply on the principal, and the indebted
ness will be cancelled in Is years, 20
year payments in all. While the bond
issue averages approximately $40 an
acre for the entire acreage of the dis
trict l found considerable difference
of opinion as to the amount that would
be really paid out. Men at Sikeston
and Dexter told me that drainage had
cost them as much as SIG an acre but
it is possible that present day work is
conducted more economically. But the
additional Sc an acre would be small
matter to bubble over Undrained,
most of the land is worthless although
it now has a selling value of SIS to
$50. Drained it is worth from $50 to
$3.50 an acre. 1t doesn't take a mathe-
matician to figure out that drainage
pays.
Forty dipper dredges are scooping
mud in the Little River District. If
the work goes through as planned it
will be completed next year. Then
swampeast Missourians will begin to
talk about draining a million acres
more for there's still that much swamp
land left untouched. Unless something
unforeseen occurs the entire swamp
district will be ready for clearing
within five years. 1t will be under the
pillow in five years more. Almost ev-
cry acre of this land will produce from
so to 100 bushels of corn, % to so
bushels of wheat and 8 to tons of
alfalfa. Much of it will produce two
crops a year, wheat and silage corn
! for instance, and it is so unbelievably
rich that it will stand this double crop
ping for years to come. Now you can
begin to understand why | assert that
swampeast Missouri is destined to be-
come the greatest agricultural section
of the State.
A humble though important part Of
the development Of the swamp coun-
try has been the work of the swamper.
Pitching his tent or building his hut
at the swamp's edge when water be-
gan to follow the bitches he piled axe
and saw until only stumps remained.
The amount of wage paid was a sec
ondary consideration. There was plen-
ty Of fish and game; usually the land
owner supplied tobacco and snuff;
there were innumerable dogs and chill
dren, and the swamper was happy.
When the clearing was finished he
abandoned his shack and moved on.
Much of the land has been cleared for
SIS an acre and the timber paid the
bill. The swamper is still on the job,
and he is unchanged so far as sur
roundings go, but nowadays he de-
mands more money, much to the grief !
of the wealthy owner. Captain Allen
of Hayti told me that the present day
swamper made as much as So day |
whereas few years ago he worked
for a dollar or less. Captain Allen
has been growing up with the cOun-
try for 70 years, and he ought to
know.
1t was the fifth day of June when l
started on my pilgrimage to the |
swamp country. Around Kansas City /
and even as far south as st. Louis |
corn was just beginning to show well /
in the rows. Ny first stop was at
Sikeston, 166 miles south of st. Louis.
A days overland trip in Scott and
New Madrid counties convinced me
that the section visited was a full
month in advance of others farther
north.
Wheat harvest Was IN progress, corn
was being laid by, and alfalfa fields
were yielding second cutting. Home
grown new potatoes; we'll matured
cabbage; a half dozen other succulent
vegetables; fried chicken; red rasp-
berries with cream, and blackberry pie
made up the bill of fare for dinner.
"Ah could just eat and eat and keep !
on eatin'," said a small son of Ham
in discussing a raid on one of Scott
County's famous melon patches. That's
the way l felt about that dinner.
Can't you see truck gardening posi-
bilities in a country that has the sea-
sons to make it profitable, and a regu-
lar hotbed soil to make things grow?
And it's within easy shipping distance
of Memphis and st. Louis.
It's big figure farming in swamp
east Missouri. Up in North Missouri