The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-22
M E N, w O M E IN
 A ND T HIN c 5

have been running around over the state a good deal this fall and have
 found in the country and the towns
 and smaller cities quite bit of pes simism over the outlook.
 1 I think I know Alabama and it's resources and people about as well as
 any one in the state, for was born nearly twenty years have been cover
 ing every nook and corner in it. there by keeping in touch with both the country and the city.
 l I have seen 1t on the wave of pros perity and have seen it when depress- Ing calms ruled, but regardless of the Cps and downs I have never given my self over to the blues on account of. what seemed impending calamity, for l have recalled that somehow the pros l pect was always worse than the reality. as Alabama has wonderful recuperative | powers.
 I have just been down in the cattle and lumber section, where the mill owners and the stock raisers are lin grave doubt about the future, as the price of lumber and cattle is at low ebb The sawmills are clos 1 ing down or already idle, while the stock raisers are selling animals which they ought to hold on to provided they are able or the banks wilfcarry then- l The cotton farmer sees ruin ahead, and I think the price mighty low, but l remember the conditions in 1914, for I was then editor and owner of the Aiaabma Baptist and more than 75 per cent my subscribers got their living out of the ground. It looked as if the bottom had dropped out and bank ruptcy was in sight, but somehow the farmers pulled through and the paper kept on coming out.
 Then came the cry for diyersification and farmers in many sections needed 1t, and all during the war great stores of food stuffs were raised. Then the deT mand for cotton grew as the markets opened and it wasn't long before every aero that could be put into the fleecy staple was planted and for some years the price skyrocketed and prosperity roasted above tho door of every far mer's home. High prices of cotton made most of the planters careless ln
 the production of food.
 One thing, however, remained out of the effort to find a crop to take the place of cotton, that is, in south and
 middle Alabama, for the peanut was discovered. For awhile 1t looked as If the "goober'' was to be the savior of the farmer. and several seasons yields raid handsomely and much acreage was planted as mills Sprang up; but now the once prized peanut Is drug in the market and the price is eis- ltressingly low.
 I suppose the velvet bean that great lest of all fat-producers, according to Jack Phillips, general manager of the iRirmingham Packing company may De classed in the forage crops He IS So enthusiastic over the velvet bean tha. he always carries few around-in his pocket, and this spring he stuck down two seeds in a corner of the garden which furnishes vegetables for the
 Little Tutwiier," where he and his
 employees eat their noon-day meal, and it is his special pride to show how
 many beans the two seeds made.
 
 | have just been up and down the
 reads in the cattle section of the state 1 where alfalfa is in it's glory, and ber- muda and Johnson grass grow luxu-
 riously, as well as all other pasture grasses, and having seen hundreds or steers which were fat for killing with out ever having been fed either corn CT meal, was convinced that the hay. ling industry was just being opened in A 1ah spt nf t- ten feeders withous using bougn- fcods. The silos have to serve only
 for about two months.
 The country roads through which l have recently driven have been sweet With the odor of cane syrup Tn the making. Alabama has never yet tried out Just the money that can be maj ie l in producing cane for syrup. Then take the sorghum crop, which this year In the state is enormous. Think for moment of its value as food for man. Il and then give one more thought to jits possibilities in fattening stock. The various kinds can be made to pay handsomely and the cultivation IS easy and inexpensive.
 But one thing which never failed to
 attract my attention was the sight ot
 the whole family, father, mother, sons anu uduShtcl, uoEH sO lio AAeSio SeA'
 foot ones, out in the field following the blow as sweet potatoes were being uncovered. The earth had pleasing look. and the big fat yarns spoke elo-
 quently of the winters supply of food. some day when farmers take the trou-
 ble to build potato houses or properly
 bed them they are going to find out the full value of the succulent tubers. Its hard for any cook to spoil sweet potato. They are good roasted, baked, scardied, in puddings or pies.
 Il Tn many places this fall I have seen trees laden with apples. as I saw many fruited with peaches in the summer,
 while the roadside was black with berries. I could write story around the despised blackberry. I saw 1t stated that if the blackberry crop was properly picked and handled in the
 market, and put up in the various ways . lit can be preserved it would net the south more money than the cotton . crop I have just seen the strawberry fields of my good friend Holman at
 York, and they looked like picture ] gardens Just think of the possihii- lities of trucking!
 have just ridden through county that has made a banner corn crop,
 Alabama can be one of the banner corn states. Take oats. rye. barley, and to , certain degree wheat. Then the Va } rious pea crops. I know that nm , writing in a haphazard way and not covering the things which can be raised in the state with any degree of exact