Macon beacon., 1917-10-12

men, but could not give him anv def
lite answer because of the war. shall
also make a demonstration for Mr..
Chalmers. the president of the MORO
Velho Gold Mining Company. in fact
shall make two for him. He has farm
6 25, 900 acres about forty miles from
tha mining town. This farm is in a
rich xne section and produced last year
65, 600 buslels of corn on 300 acres of
land and nearly all the cultivation was
done with hoes, Now. this sounds fishy
| know. and If you we're here telling
this story and | there reading it, am
sure that should wonder il you we're
not misinformed. but when you sec the
old Corn stalks and the land and have
the word of man like Mr.. Chalmers.
yo, can't doubt it. And he does not
want to sell the farm, either. The 9TH
er shall make for him will be at the
mining town, on the mountain sides.
The company is putting out about
three million eucalyptus trees on
the mountain sides and it is necessary
to cultivate these trees for three years;
this work costs from 500 to $25 an acre
a year and as no returns are hoped for
within fifteen years. they were very
anxious for some inter-crop to pay ex
penses. proposed to Mr.. Chalmers to
try cotton and he readily agreed to give
it a trial, so we are going to plant about
40 acres. All the cultivation will be
done with hoes. If these demonstra-
tions prove successful, | feel sure that
he will plant another year 600 or 300
acres in cotton, The demonstration
work here is very different to what it
is there; here it is much better to work
altogether with the large farmers, be
cause it attracts much more attention.
If could make forty demonstrations
in the state with the right men it would
be worth more than meking thousand
with the small farmers. When the
large fazendeiro or farmer does some
thing worth while the politicians end
the state boost it, people talk about it.
the papers give columns to it and the
small farmer hears it all; but if the
small fellow does anything that deserves
publication it is very difficult to interest
these forces. | am also making one
with Dr.. Hunnicutt. the agricultural
man, at the Lavras Presbyterian Mis-
sion school. The name Lavras is very
familiar to the Presbyteriane, and to
show that l am not at all sectarian, /
am making a small one at the Isabella
Hendrix College, the Methodist school,
and if the Baptists had a school would
hustle around until could put in ore
for it. That brings to mind what
Catholic farmer asked me short while
ago, a man with whom / worked this
year. He asked, what is the differ
ence between the Catholics and the
Protestants?" | told him the chief diff
ference is that the Catholics eat six
times day and the Protestants three.
and the Catholics pray all the time and
the Protestants only when they see
storm cloud coming; now to demonstrate
this, he reached under his SHIRT for his
string of beads and surveyed the hori-
zon for a cloud.
| would like to say more about this
country as corn country and tell some
thing about the sugar cane lands and
the profits the sugar people are making,
but | am not going to say any more
about farming after | tell you of my
visit recently to two large farms. One
is west of here perhaps 200 miles and is
in what is called the prairie section of
the state. 1t is not prairie though as
you know it, for the land was once all
timbered and most of it is yet, but it is
level country and the land is very rich
in lime and very productive. The farm
has IL, 900 acres. This last season it
produced 48, 600 bushels of corn, $1,000
worth ol sugar cane, $1,000 worth of
butter, $4,000 worth of hogs and he
has seventy brood mares and more than
thousand head of cattle. There are
5000 acres that will, think, grow very
fine alfalfa, and alfalfa is quoted all the
year in Rio de Janeiro from $85 to 500
per ton Such farm as this would
bring about 500 per acre. This amount
of corn was produced on 300 acres. One
thousand acres in cotton would more
than pay for the farm in one year.
Gee, it is rich land! The young man
who owns it is a graduate of the Uni
versity of Illinois and also of Ames.
Iowa. The other farm is 200 miles
north of here on the Rio das Velhas
(river of the old men) and has 36, 700
acres. 1t is cattle farm and the man
has over 5000 cattle. but the place will
carry 10000 the owner says. | saw
sevent, acres of corn on first year land
that am sure had 100 bushels peK acre
on it and it had never had a plowin it.
This is also rich lime land and nearly
level. The owner has offered me 1000
acres for three years free if / will clear
it. It costs about So so an acre to clear
land, but there is a good market for all
logs and fire wood taken from the land
| wish some young fellow with plenty
of courage and some money would come
down here and go in for that PROPOSE
tion with me. This land would sell for
about Sc an acre.
| want to apologize for all the figures