Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1922-02-24
MISSISSIPPI FARM
BOYDOESWOND
DESIGNS MACHINES TO
DO FARM WORK
Harlan Simmons, of Lexie, Sets
Example to be FOLLOWED
BY Others.

of n long-leat yellow pine region oil
Mississippi, neStles a little village
called LeXIe. That happens 10 oe
the postoffice address OF one of the
most remarkable boys ever reared in
the state, judging by accomplishments
under very adverse conditions.
To begin with, this boy, Harlan
Simmons, was the "weakling' of his
fathers family-one of these puny,
tired, hook-wormy looking boys who
were too often found on poor land
farms at the time this story opens.
For this reason, if for no other, his
father permitted him to knock around
and do pretty much as he pleased, es-
pecially on his chill days" So he
joined the community corn club IN
1909, and followed directions as laid
down by G.. A. Cobb, county demon
strator at that time, and who now
is editor of the greatest farm paper
in the South, with headquarters and
a big cushioned chair over in Atlanta.
The father of this club boy was a
very well-to-do farmer, gave the boy
an acre of land, and watched him
work it in the 'new-fangled" way,
with many misgivings and which
seemed justified, as the yield the first
year, on account of bad drainage, was
but nine bushels of nubbln corn.
But that did not dampen the boys ar
dor, He got another acre OF land for
the second year, and made 109 bush
els of corn -four or five times what
his father produced on any n acre
on his farm. In three years the boy
was harvesting 1877 bushels Of corn
off his one acre, and the old man had
begun to sit up and take netice. The
boys record that year was fourth
highest in the state contests between
club boys.
But this heavy yield of corn per
acre was not without heavy work and
the generous use of fertilizers. He
had blasted out the stumps, tile
drained his acre and finally decided
the expense and work were too muCn
for general farming, wherefore he
bundled up and went to town to put
his mechanical genius to use in an au-
tomobile shop. He prospered but his
longing to be his owr boss and have
such freedom as only the farm can
give, took him back to the country
for a while.
However he could not stand the
heavy farm work and returned to the
automobile Shop as mechanic. lie
soon became interested in tractors
and bought one for $l2l5, without
paying a cent in cash and rode 1t
nome. His father ripped him up
the back" for bringing such a dod-
gasted piece of machinery on his
place, and refused to permit the boy
to try it out on his farm. The son
therefore drove oven to the railroad
right of way, near his fathers house
and soon proved to the satisfaction
of the old man that he had something
that would bed up more land and do
it better than half a dozen mules
and men, wherefore he vas invited to
drive it home. The tractor is still on
that farm and doing great work.
An older brother, returning from
the world war about that time, the
two boys and the farther entered into
partnership on the tractor and in the
Nandyford farm, under the firm name
of j. w. Simmons and Sons. The
first year they ran the tractor too
deep, and it was very unsatisfactory.
Their land was too wet, ard they set
to- work to drain it by using the trac-
tor to cut the bitches. They had no
money to experiment with, but there
was a lot of scrap iron around the
farm, and out of that before the end
Of another yea the boy Harlan had
made a ditching machine to attach to
his tractor, and with which he has
moved more than 5000 cubic yards of
dirt, building roads, ditching etc. They
, have built a road embankment five
feet high and twenty-four feet wide
at the top in n operation, and dug
a ditch nine feet deep and twenty
. feet wide at one operation at a cost
!, of approximately ten cents per cubic
yard. Wher it came to driving piles
the young man got twelve drops per
/, minute and a twenty-foot stroke with
!, a %1250-pound hammer.
The boys have patented their
ditcher and piledriver and at some
time soon they will give a d~emonstra-
tion at McComb, but just now they
: are prouder Of what they have done
: to the old farm than Of any other
accomplishment. When they starteC
t there were but thirty acres Of lane
fit to plant, so filled with stumps was
it. and so wet. They are now running
a reaper and binder V e $50 acres
and at the same time are clearing
another hundred acres.
A small creek that runs through the
farm is to be damned so as to furnish
power, lights and water for the house
and for irrigation of the farm.
t In a letter to Professor T. J. Hurst
assistant district demonstration agent
t with headquarters in Jackson, young
Simmons says: eve are now work.
ing or a three-row cultivator for the
2 tractor, and if it meets our expecta.
:. tions, we are looking to the day wher
we will be able to cultivate the sur.
- am