Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1916-10-17
j. r. Alexander Finds Sys.
tenn Enables Him to Grow
as Much Cotton on Less
Land, and Profits
Grow.

! Every once in a while the agricul-
tural experts and the members of the
Arkansas profitable farming bureau
are met with the statement, "Oh, yes,
diversification may be all right for the
little farmers, but it won't do for the
big fellows"
But on the 5000 acre plantation of
J. R. Alexander, near SCOTS, diversi-
fication is exemplified in all it's forms,
/ says the Little Rock Gazette.
Mr.. Alexander, who is one of the
most valued members of the Arkansas
profitable farming bureau, practices
! it, and he INSISTS that all his ten
ants shall do so.
! No tenant is permitted to plant more
than half his land to cotton Half
must be planted in corn, an dthis Mr..
| Alexander purchases from the crop
per- At first the tenants objected Wig
orously but now they are converted,
for they have see nthe benefits of this
system. They have found that by ro-
tatlon of crops, the fertility of the
soil is maintained and that they can
raise more cotton on an acre of the
rich Alexander plantation than they
could on two acres of land that had
been planted to cotton year after year.
Negro Tenants Prosperous.
Ninety three negro families live on
the Alexander plantation, and party
that visited the place recently COM
mented on the happy, prosperous ap-
merely due to the fact that the price
of cotton happens to be high this wear.
The Alexander tenants are always
happy and prosperous.
1t really is a miniature kingdom
this plantation, with Mr.. Alexander in
the role of benevolent monarch. The
party that visited the place was dis
cussing the recent threatened railroad
strike.
"Well," said Mr.. Alexander, 81
wasn't worrying much. This place
could feed itself for six months at
least. We might miss few little
things, but we could get BY"
'But with the price of cotton way
up, don't you regret that you didn't
plant your entire plantation to cot
ton this year," he was asked.
Price of Cotton Doesn't Worry Him
''Not a bit of it," he replied. 1
might have made little more money,
not SO very much more, either. The
price of everything is away up, too.
A farmer can't afford to buy meat and
feed at the present prices. Ny neigh
Dor, Mark Valentine, recently suffered
the loss of his barn with all his hay
and much of his grain by fire. He told
me that he never realized how valu-
able his feed was until he had to go
out and buy it. He said it will leave
an awful hole in the proceeds of his
cotton crop, but fortunately he was
protected by insurance.
No one could have fofseen that
the price of cotton would be high this
fall. | had it forcibly demonstrated to
me why the price is high during re-
cent automobile trip that Mrs. Alex
ander and | made to AshevilIe, n. c..
Going through Mississippi, Alabama,
Georgia and South Carolina we passed
thousands of acres of cotton that had
been ruined by floods and boil weevil.
Had all this cotton produced even a
fair yield, the price would have. been
only fair at the best.
Increasing Yield of Cotton.
Anyway, we now are raising al
most as much cotton on half the plan
tation as we used to on all of it. Ev-
cry year | have brought the yield of
cotton on half the place nearer the
old yield on the entire place This
year it about 80 pc recent, and it is
only question of a short time until it
will be 100 per cent.
Mr.. Alexander rotates cotton with
corn, alfalfa and other diversified
crops. Also he has large herd of fine
pure bred and grade cattle and many
hogs. He has the only concrete silo
in Arkansas, an immense structure
the grodnd. It is filled with ensilage.