The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-08-25
M E N, w O MEN
 A ND T HIN GS

-A Sou ever get an invitation down 10 Fred M Jacksons country home at calcis, take a tip from me and be sure and 80. for you will have the time of your life if you care for summer outings.
 On my return from Tennessee found call from Fred. but he had left town, but letter came asking me to run down for barbecue ana picnic on Tuesday, with the furtker assurance that there would be a fine chance for me to indulge in my fa- vorite sport of after-dinner speaking got up early to catch the Central of Georgia and found Mir. and Mrs. Chappell Cory and Mir. and Mrs. E. E. L,nthicum aboard en route for Calcis. Arriving, we were met at the station and carried in cars to the farm about a<half mile from the depot, where we received hearty welcome from our host.
 Shuckins our coats, the men in the party went by the spring and got drink of water and filed in behind pr. J. F. DuEgar. consulting agronomi st of the Alabama Institute of Tech nology, and made for the pasture and the fields in order to study the weeds and grasses and growing crops and to give him a chance to pluck specimens to illustrate his talk. The first thing which struck my attention was bunch of fine young Jersey heifers in the COW lot. They seemed strangely familiar to me, and I learned that they were the ones selected by Capt. Jack Phillips for Fred. had seen them in the pens out at the Birmingham Packing company, but at the time did not know that the buyer was going to give them away to the boys of Shelby county.
 In the speeches after the barbecue Dr. Jackson was urging the tick eradication programme, and when called upon to say something about my trip with the Anniston Chamber of Commerce party of farmers to Tennessee, I stated that in my belief the quickest way to settle the con troversy over dipping cattle in the county would be for more men like Fred Jackson to put in the hands of the boys fine Jerseys, and in a few years the owners would be con verted to the idea.
 In the pasture were some nice milch cows and one good bull, a flock of sheep and a herd of swine. I noticed | that Fred had put in a dipping vat | lined with cement, and that suffi- cient number of sheds had been con structed to house them in bad weather. It was also good to see some mighty healthy specimens of Barred Rocks as well as Rhode | Island Reds scratching and strutting | in the barnyard, while a flock of | ducks sailed happily on the bosom oi 'he pranen'
 Freds place has been in the edge l of the drouth section, and by the way, former State Commissioner Of | Agriculture J. A. Wade, who bought | q farm in the Vincent neighborhood, | told me that the first rain that had | fallen in 1so days fell on last Sun day, but he was afraid too late to do any good. He said that he thought he knew something about farming, but was willing to confess that he hadn't learned to make crop without any moisture. It seems that within a radius of few miles from where he lives there has been drouth since April IS.
 The party walked through the fields and saw in spite of the hard season fairly good growing. crops. I There were fields of corn, peas, po- tatoes, tomatoes, soy beans, sorghum and some cotton, fair samples of tho average things grown on central Alabama farms. J. N. Wyatt was on the job making a study of the farm which is mile square in order to try and make it yield the best re- suits by proper planting, harvesting, ! marketing, soil culture and terracing. He gave an exhibition of the latter by the use of Fordson, as Fred has used one on his place most success fully the past season
 The crowd came back ready for the barbecue and picnic combined. | The meats were we'll cooked, the | Brunswick stew just right. and the dainties from the basket included every good thing to eat which is known among the best housewives in the state. Fried chicken in quan- | tity, baked chicken a-plenty. boiled ham, pies of every variety, cakes galore with many sorts of preserves and jellies. And to crown t all steaming hot coffee. And then came the speeches and after them raid was made on the spring for water melons before going to see the Ford son demonstration.