Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-26
MISSISSIPPI FLOOD ENDS
SINCLE.CROP TRADITION
Planters, Finding Fields Cleared Too
Late for Cotton, Expect to Make
Money on Other Plants.

, Hoover that the cotton seed industry
| is ready to do its part In putting agri-
culture back on a self.supporting
basis, and that leaders Of the industry
have offered to purchase all the soy
beans the South can raise after the
waters recede.
In addition to selling the beans to
| the seed crushers, the farmers will
obtain from their crop a generous
stock through the Winter.
Will RevitaIize Soil.
| Furthermore, Hoover points out,
soy beans will serve to revitalize the
soil Of the great delta plantations,
/ which have been losing their fertility
| by the adherence, year after year, to
the one crop, cotton.
One unforeseen difficulty has arisen
| to dampen the ardor of the soy bean
advocates. however. 1t is the trouble
being experienced in rounding up
| enough soy bean seed to meet the de.
mands encountered. 1t is said that so
| far it has been possible to secure soy
beans sufficient to plant only 100000
acres, whereas there are many thou
sands of acres more to be planted.
| When it is recalled that more than
| 100000 acres of cultivated land,
mostly cotton land, were overlooked in
| the food, the paltry size of the terri.
| tory for which beans are available Is
| apparent. OF course, not all Of the
| fields inundated are to be planted in
| soy beans. Many of them several
| weeks ago were freed of their water
and are now covered with a healthy
stand of cotton. Others have been
submerged again by the June rise in
the Mississippi and its tributaries.
The fact that many of the farmers
have no funds with which to purchase
seed is not allowed to stand in their
way when planting time comes. The
American Red Cross has undertaken
to give necessary seed, cattle feed and
farming implements to those who are
worthy and who actually intend to
| cultivate their lands as the flood
passes off. Good faith is the only pre-
requisite to this generous offer. In
| performing this added service the
| Red Cross is cognizant of the fact
that the sooner the stricken refugees
! are back at work on their farms, rails.
| ing money" crops, the quicker will
the gigantic task of rehabilitation be
| completed.
S2,5OO,O00 Already Spent.
Agriculture is the South's principal
| industry, and in the early resuscita-
ton of this industry lies the solution
of Dixie's rehabilitation problem.
| More than $2,500,000 has been ex-
pended already in working out the
great reconstruction program. Nearly
a million dollars of this amount has
been spent in Arkansas, about $3.50, 900
in Mississippi and nearly three
| quarters of a million dollars in Louisi-
ana. Yet the reconstruction work has
| just begun.
Estimates just presented to Secre-
| tary Hoover show that in Arkansas
approximately ], 535, 900 acres of culti-
waited land were inundated, in Missis-
sippi about 49,, 900 acres and in Louisi-
ana about 636, 900 acres. These figures
represent only the land that actually
was used for farming. Some 5000
square miles in all went under water,
Hoover states.
| Flood as Great as War.
The flooding of all these great plan
tations was calamity of the worst
sort-a catastrophe. to use the words
of Secretary Hoover, comparable to
our two or three great wars"
Yet out OF it all will come, Hoover
| declares, benefits more than out
weighing the damage wrought by the
water. Principal among these bene-
| fits, he asserts, will be definite,
| permanent plan of flood control, to
make the Mississippi Valley safe for
| future generations.
And not the least of these benefits,
| he adds, will be adjustment of the
hide-bound one-crop idea in favor OF
an agricultural program destined to
make the Mississippi Valley the gar.
den spot of the world"