Milford chronicle., 1923-08-31
POOR FARMS AND POOR FARMERS

LlOQ, LQe great uOElHDOuAu HySI' bIIuS'
ing home a concourse of winter tour
lists, was halted in the very dooryarG
of little farmstead, whose occupants
came forth to observe the "furriners.
Back of the cabin, wearing its great
stake-and-mud chimney as small
person might wear a tall hat, rose q
beetling cliff, some 200 feet sheer Ut
the mountain side, and a ragged hill
lay an eighth of a mile in front, max
ing a defile where dawn came late and
sunset early. Stones, not the rounded
stones of the glacial area, but Jagged
fragments of shale, strewed the
ground, causing a passenger to jocu-
larly remark that one could hardly
tell where farming began and quarry
ing left off. Almost within throw OF
one of the stones an astonishingly
large flock of turkey buzzards, at
least $50 of them, were circling, and
the shadow of their serrated wings as
they sailed, effortless as thistledown
for all their awkward Dnlk, fell sin
lister Upon the meageT soil and the
meagcr farm man and woman and
their meager children, hounds, and
hogs twice outnumbered by the
hounds.
A comfortable Chicagoan, surveying
the spectacle awhile, burst out with:
Poor stock, these people here. Not
like the continental north European
stock that has made Minnesota and
Wisconsin blossom. Look at the farms
Of the mOunraineers."
There was something in his figure,
in the enunciation of his
perfect though its pronun-
citation was, that indicated he belong
ed to the general stock to which he
had paid a decided, if indirect, encom-
ium. His remark happened to be inn
addressed to a friend and
fellow Chicagoan who was a New
born and who, being some
hing of a student Of the Colonial per-
Iod, knew he belonged to the same
commingling of English, Iris, Scot
fish, and Huguenot French as did the
mOuntaineers. He came to
their defense.
"These folks are of as good stuff as
any in the world, and have given an
excellent account of themselves at
various times in our history. They are
poor because they are on poor soil,
md the people of the states you men
lion, to some extent, at least, enjoy
prosperity because fortunate chance
placed them upon LAND both fertile
Ind easy to till.
when the bureau of soils began
work, it's initial operations being in
Maryland, the Investigators began to
perceive that the poor, the inefficient
in justice, we should say ineffective
farmers were almost wholly on poor
and. Here and there among the poor
armers on poor land occurred an is
plated instance of a prosperous far
ner, a man who had found means to
conquer the poor soil. Yet the same
capital, enterprise, industry, expend-
ID on land which was good to begin
With, would have given him very much
arger returns.
"It is not alone the poverty Of the
'ough, stony soil which causes the
poverty of the southern mountaineer
Distance from market is large fac
or in that poverty. Indeed, not all
his mountain country is either poor
)r stony. There are stretches of fine
ioil, bearing noble forests, but agri-
culture cannot thrive where there is
90 great disproportion in the time it
axes to raise things and the time re-
Iuired to place them with purchas-
#. Emigrants from the southern
Mountains have done splendidly in
more favorable situations"
"Have they?" said the first man.
There are a good many who, have
,een told, are of this stock, settled
long the large rivers Of Wisconsin,
owa, and Minnesota, and, honestly,
hey don't prove your contention"
"I think they do. The very first
in the states you men
ion were thin trickle of Virginians,
1entuckians, Tennesseans, and even
,arolinians. The arteries of travel of !
hat time were the lakes and great |
ivers, and these people in some de-
rec settled along the rivers. Those |
ivers are not Immediately bordered |
y good farming country. 1t is beauti-
ll scenery, it's charm unknown to |
lost Americans, but that wild tumble |
bluffs and 'coulies,' and the sand
lanketed soil, are not conducive to |
ood agriculture. But in one instance,
least, have seen that stock over
ome those difficulties. When young
ian, I used to fish in one county ly-
lg between two great rivers. 1t was
lid and desolate. The people ran
hen they saw you, not scared, but
ny. A girl in old clothes will run
ON a man as if he were a bear, tho
imagine that with a new spring bon
1t on she would delay little to let
zen bear see how nice she looked.
hose people found out their country
ould grow beans, and from being one
the poorest counties it has become
le of the richest in that State. In
IL, buyers go there by the score,
zen from Boston. Southern noun
ineer stock, those folks"
you've proved part of your prop
ition and you've strengthened one of
y beliefs" said a third man. ''My
,ople came from Norway. am a
mixer in one Of the now poorer parts
North Dakota. I said to our towns
,ople in a talk before the Grange,
here's some sort of speciality crop
2 can raise here that will give us
osperity.' I have been in Several
ecialty crop districts and / want to
Il you the people grow those crops
their heads rather than in the soil,
at it is the will to grow it more
an some mysterious favoring, pecu-
Lrly favoring, influence resident in '
o rnoinn Talra tho Minhinan cnnar-