The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-15
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

work and who can talk interestingly about it. There are many such fine fellows in Alabama, but at present am thinking only of one I met on recent Sunday in neighboring town.
 Sitting out on the front porch just after church where I was to be the dinner guest in the home of hIs father and mother. got in conversation with him and found him enthusiastic about cattle and farming. In front was a freshly plowed field, while on little rise just beyond the oats were just be- ginning to sprout, making carpet or green.
 To one side was the home garden only recently planted, for few unless they make farming their business or live out of their gardens have any idea just what a late start has been made by those who plant things. The almost weekly rains from october into March made it nearly impossible to prepare the land for cultivation and those who got chance to break up some of their plots found that the wind had dried out the others before they could get to them.
 The young man to whom I was talk ing had put in about two years down in south Georgia, but had been reared in less than a score of miles from the corporate limits of Birmingham, and therefore was familiar with the farm ing conditions in this neck of tle woods, where many of those who i've on the land do not get their whole liv- ing out of it, but get a part out or public works or some other source ot revenue.
 From here on I will let him tell ''ia own story Said he Where I was To- cated, down below Albany, Ga, farmihs was the main affair and not a sideline My work as overseer was on farm containing 2200 acres. It was the Old Senator Colquitt's home in Baker couh- ty, a county which, by the way, 's without even tram road much less q sure enough railroad. It is how ever cut III tWdln Dy d rlNeI oli "hiN' a steamboat is operated giving some relief in the way of transportation
 "The plantation was revelation la me, coming from a country of small farms, cultivated largely by white la bor. It was my first real experience in handling negro labor o1 large scale In the years just preceding the war l was astonished at the cheapness and abundance of farm labor to be had, Tor I had been used to- the workers in the country getting wages influenced by the amounts they could get on pubIic works.
 "The old Colqutt plantation was m amending source of wonder to me. Tae old home with its 12 rooms it's wt6a porches, it's imposing columns, its lawn of 15 acres, it's majestic pines, made a daily appeal to my asthetic nature. coull easily see how it had gotten thu name of 'Pinebloom,' as all around were virgin forests of pine timber ready for the market at the comina of railroad.
 "If the outside surroundings were attractive, so were those on the in- side of the great old ante bellum home with it's spacious rooms. Some of them were done in the artistic manner iH vogue at the time of their construc- ton. The walls were relics of tho beautiful work done in plaster, and ] was told that an English painter had done the frescoe work The mantels were in hand-carved white Italian were transferred to Atlanta to be used in the residence of a daughter of Sem ator Colquitt erected at Druid Hills
 The estate is owned by Judge Col quilt Carter of Atlanta, Ga. For years it was just rented out to tenants and for this cause the land was permitted to deteriorate, but he began several years back to improve it. and the place offers great opportunity for being built up, as the soil is fertile. It was for years devoted almost exclusively t3 the raising of cotton, but now those in charge of it are beginning to diver sify
 "I thought I knew something about grasses. but I believe that the old Col quitt farm will grow nearly any known variety I thought I was pcet- ty well acquainted with Bermuda gross for~we have a number of good patches around our home place on which we score of years, but down at 'Pinebloom' have actually seen the black Angus cows almost up to their bellies in lush Bermuda grass.
 'T expect to devote my life to the farming game and have had some dd- vante geous offers to get into it here in north Alabama, but bid coiHes from a county in south Georgia for me to come and act as county farm demo nstrator and it is making a mighty strong appeal to me for some- how I believe that after a few years practical work, I can fit myself to go back and tackle the 'Pnebloom prop osition in a way to do big things with it both for it's owner and for myself"
 
 Now, this young man has got a vis- ion, but he realizes that to make t come true he must fit himself to be able to doSscientific work, and so he keeps in touch. with good papers and