The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1922-09-28
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AGRICULTURE IN TENNESSEE

! AGRICULTURE IN TENNESSEE9
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! (By T. F. Peck, Commissioner of
Agricdture.)
/ | want to see agriculture in Tennes-
see on the high and prosperous plane
it should and can occupy in the life Of
the state. My travels carry me in all
sections of the state, and when | see
fields that are washing in gullies
from neglect, wish | could take hold
OF them and restore them to the fer
tile and useful condition that little
lorG would accomplish. When I see
fertile lands growing sickly crop
choked with weeds-land that was nat T
nalf broken or pulverized before plant
ing, and just scratched through so
not a fourth of crop viii be pro-
dueed-it seems pity that SO much
effort should be wasted.
No doubt the man working that
land would have hard luck story Is
relate, when, in fact, the fault would
be all his own. 1t is folly to trv to
cultivate more land than can be ire
pared right and cultivated right
Half doing will not yield a profit
Doing it right will always be profit
able When | am in the towns and
villages and see hundreds of men
.oafing, waiting for an occasional
JOB and living on state vegetables or {
expensive canned goods, paying house
rent and water and light and cor
1oration taxes, / can not help but
.hink of the tens of thousands Of
lcres of land lying idle and neglected t
hat would respond to intelligent I'll 3
ort and yield abundant crops. The D
lme these idlers spend in bemoan- '
ng hard times, if devoted to work on +.
and now idle, would provide them D.
With all the comforts and conven-
9nces of life and give them sur N
lus. am wondering if something n
an not be done to make such men \
&c their opportunities The increas- K
q purchasing power and the increase q
the products available for all the hi
eople would be quite marked if idle NJ
zen and idle land were both at work III
re need not worry about overpro- II,
lction. There will be no overpro- an
lction as long as there are anyID
lngry people in the world. %
II our population could be dis br
1buted so that some of those now
ing out bare living in the township
I'd cities could be at work on landI
wv idle, we would see an era of pros- M
'rlty in this country never before
celled and Tennessee would be the
ost prosperous state in the Union
cause it offers advantages for an
rming excelled by no state in the We
Mon Our resources are varied sic
d inexhaustible. he
With the development of our water tri
wers and the energy developed and in
ed IN driving machinery for con- on
rtlng our raw materials into mann Sc
,tured products, there will be- tw
ofitable employment for our armies AL
unemployed, and the augmented cit
pulation of producers would furn- pr
a ready demand and market FOR an
that can be produced on the farms. Me
! our farmers and all classes will by
prosperous.
That prosperity is possible, if we
] all work as a unit to that end
accomplish it, we will have to put
rlotism above partisanship, eumi-
e the demagogue, who would de- Ele
oy without offering and remedy {
the supposed evils he declaims
inst
)ur Creator has wonderfully fav- ,
d US in Tennessee, and if we w;n I
Y take advantage Of aud use the as
ural advantages we have in the Ar
of fertile soils, abundant water nav
equable climate we win prosper Wi
help in the prosperity of our "a me
shbors and the whole country. Up