The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-14
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

the same route, but what change. The long, deep sand beds which had been trial to the flesh and to the beast I drove had been clayed and the car made good time over them.
 But if there was a change in the roads, the change in the houses along the route, and the difference in the crops was even more decided. Com modious, well-kept houses had taken the place of the log cabins and weather boarded huts. Cotton fields with scrawny patches of corn were not in evidence. The cotton acreage had been cut down, while the amount of corn planted had been greatly increased.
 
 The biggest change, however, was in the new crops to be seen everywhere The peanut and the velvet bean had almost literally taken possession. of the land And potato pit houses were all these three things we'll in mind: the po- tato, the peanut and the velvet bean, for out of this trinity is to come the remaking of south Alabama.
 
 I was talking to my friend Byrd Farmer, who is the incarnation of the new era that Is dawning in Houston and the surrounding counties. He knows the people, the land, and the potentiality of the former and the possibilities of the latter as well as any man in his part of the country. He is rather an unusual case. Reared in the wiregrass section, he has been able to get true value of the opportunities around him without waiting for outsiders to come in and point them out to him.
 Business has taken him into three middle and north Georgia counties re- gently and he took good stock of the lands as he rode through them and talked with the men who cultivated them, and then came home with some definite opinions as to their value when placed alongside of the farms in and around Dothan. Remember, he is a lawyer, and not real estate boomer. Here is his conclusion of the whole matter. Said he to me: we can raise as much cotton and corn on our lands as they can on theirs, but we can raise twice as many potatoes, three times as many peanuts, and four times the getting $100 an acre for all they sell, while much of ours can be bought for just one-fourth, or s25''
 He told me of some hard-working and thrifty men who had bought land and almost paid for 1t out of the first years crop. 'Of course" said he, T realize that those who have done this are cx ceptional men, but it means that there is great chance for those who know something of the farming game and ara willing to work. Southeast Alabama is the land of opportunity for the man of small means who wishes to get into the farming game.
 I remember that in the fields of Ger many and France I used to see the great piles of hay from the car windows. For miles on each side of the road I saw great stacks of peanut hay, hun dreds upon hundreds of them, and they looked mighty good to me, for I knew 1t meant that at least hogs and cattle were bound to come to Alabama, and that the government report stating that cattle could be raised cheaper here than in any other state in the union would cause many cattle breeders to look our way.
 On all sides I saw evidence that the farmers were putting in not merely better breed of hogs but more thorough bred cattle. There are fine bulls Tn nearly every neighborhood. The fairs at Dothan and at Abbevlle were eye-open- CTS to those who attended them. Not long ago the blue ribbons went to the outsiders, but this past fall most of them were won by local exhibitors on pure merit.
 Here is tip to our Secretary Dent to get in touch with the secretaries of .he fairs in middle and south Alabama and turn the tide towards Birmingham. for through them I feel sure that they will be enabled not merely to advertise them selves and the exhibitors. but their sec tions and also help make our fair more agricultural exhibits.
 For the first time in years south Ala bama has meat to sell. I saw more hogs en route to Eufaula than I dreamed there were in the whole state. Troy. Do- than, Ozark, Andalusia, Eufaula, Ay- beville and other towns have hog days when they are auctioned off, buyers from in and out of the state making the round of the sales. Carload after carload find their way to the western packers.
 Just about five miles from Eufaula farmer hailed the jitney, and we stopped to pick him up. heard from another pas senger, farmer from down the coun- try, that he had carried 16 hogs, none over one year old, to Eufaula. and sold them for $416 cash. And he furthermore said: They hardly cost me anything to raise" Now this is just one Of the many who had similar tales to tell. T. passed through the sugar cane belt, and was told that one farmer was go- ing to plant 375 acres next season in cane. His object being not merely to make syrup for table use, but to use in utilizing the peanut hulls and velvet beans for feeding purposes. l