The Columbia evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1920-1923, 1922-09-04
AFARMER ALL
HISLIFE, STILL
LIKESW FINE
George Mitchell, y, Tells of
Pleasures a Dweller
in Country May
Enjoy.
SPENT A YEAR IN CITY
But Vinegar Factory Did Not
Pay and Urban Life
Soon Lost Its
Charm.

We lived On the larm all my llle. and
J Ike il. said George Mitchell, who j:
- years old and has been retired for ,he
last six wears. Il like TO see the stock
"a and like to feed them. like 10
watch things grow and be around farm
people. My health 20; poor and | had to
quit the farm. Hiring help took all my
profit, and doubled the work on my wife:
- We sold nut and moved to town.
Ilr Mitchell doesn't look his y years.
He wears 4 musiachc and a beard which
have grown white He is Of a typical
farmer type. slim and eaInrly, taking
lrlg corn TOW strides as h. walks. genial
nciGhborly. and has a twinkle Of humor
ever playing around hi- ewes. In spite of
hi- broken health. he still looks the part
"i an active iiIler Of the soil.
There Is only one wear in nv life
wien did not farm, and then ! got into
trouble, continued Mr. Mitchell. Il
bought pan interest in a vinegar factory
ai Springfield. ILL.,, and went into the vim
crar manufacturing business. Ne.
didn't Use single apple. That reminds
me Of an incident.
NO ROTTEN APFLES USED
Il was out getting orders for my vine
Ear one time, and placed out my samples
"n the counter. \ Young man standing
nearby got very curious and asked me
about the vinegar Hr wanted 10 taste it.
saving that his father was a vinegar man
and he knew something about vinegar. 80
! let him Iasic il. Tie smacked his lips
and said: Well. there's only one thing
the matter with IT, 1t needs few more
rotten apples The grocer knew how |
mad" my vinegar and We both had good
laugh then. The boy didn't understand
No, We didn't use a single apple. All
We used waS water, sugar and yeast. And
j, made good vinegar. too
Mr.. Mitchell then described how they
put the wafer in big barrels filled with
hard wood shayings; how the water was
permitted 10 secp into large vais in eel
lar whele yeas: and sugar was put in and
lcii 10 stew for several days. and how the
mash va, thea pumped up and clarified
and then bottled. From this they made
cider vinegar. wine vinegar. and pickle |
vinegar. which was named according to
ii, strength. The cider vinegar was col /!
ored with burnt sugar and gave it the /
cider color. !
Il never shall forget" continued Mr..
Mitchell speaking about his vinegar fac /
tory experience, about a man beat
once, and | guess the only man | ever
beat. An old man living out Of town had
twenty barrels of wine. that soured on
him. He asked me if | could make vine
gar cut Of il. and | told him | thought |
could. He wanted to know how much |
would charge him. and | told him we
would have to charge him ten cents a
gdi,on. which was then the wholesale
price Of vinegar He directed us to make
II for him. Those twenty barrels of wine
mad" forty barrels of vinegar So when
be came to get the vinegar We gave him
twenty barrels of the best wine vinegar
you ever saw and he gave me in return
lon cents gallon for twenty barrels. He
went away iicklcd and We we're tiCkled.
too. 1t made Us a net profit of twenty
barrels Of vinegar, and ten cents a gallon
10 boot
COsr GEMS GALLON
iHeEdT cost Us five cents a gallon 10
make, and We wholesalcd it at ten cents
1 gallon. We were making good money
mil vinegar irus, came in and under
old Us. selling it way below what il cost
Is lo make. -aW ROW thing, we're 90
M so sold out inside Of d year and
ame 10 Missouri.
I've owned -ix different farms in Mis-
nuri. They we're in Boone, AudTdin and
iandolph Counties. ] came TO Missouri
rom Illinois bocau-e the land was cheap
r here While the oil was much better :
n Illinois. the land ~as - much cheaper,
icrc that it paid to buy more land for
he same amount of money.
The first farm ! bought" continued
lr. Mitchell, knocking out the ashes {
rom his old wooden caked up pipe, was
bout | y miles northeast of Centralia. | I
ought it for S55 an acre. 1t is now worth
200. Then ! bought another farm about Z
rvc;l miles northeast of Centralia and in {
ightccn months | sold il again and made {
0 acres clear profit. Then bought six {
niles southeast Of Centralia and bought ,
for SIS an acre. and sold it for $50 five -,
ears later. decided to move near =
turseon and bought farm just east Of
iursc6n for $50 an acre and sold il for
30. | invested 500 an acre in a farm
puiheast Of Sturgeon and sold ii for Sll0.
was then that ! had to quit due to a
rcak in my health and 20 | moved TO
ioberly. My son came to Moberly to d.
,raciice medicine. 50 | gave him the
ouse, and ! moved TO Columbia.
The LIFE ON FARM
In commenting on farm life. Mr. Mitch
s only dependency as Mr.. Mitchell sees
r was independent was only part true.
ie said that though a man could work
) hen he wanted TO and quit when he
'anied to. he was guided largely by the
work to be done. which late seasons made
'aiher pressing. He saws that one often
'orked longer on the farm than he would
II anything else. Then when one brings
he products 10 market, cne is compelled \