New Britain Herald Newspaper, March 15, 1915, Page 11

NEW BRITAIN DATLY HFRAI N 1171 SOU. 7770117 1176 WL CRO) [ Cotton on Less Acreage. Every Crop May' Fail One Year; One Crop May Fail Every Year; But Every Crop Will Not Fail Every Year. “The South Will Feed Herself.” These significant words, full of action and .determination, have been chosen as a motto, by many of the cotton- growing states which have come to reailze the warning spoken by the far seeing humanitarian and statesman, * Henry W. Grady, nearly forty years ago, that: “To mortgage our farms in New York for money with which to buy meat and bread from outside sources is not good business. \ “When every farmer in the South eats bread from his own field, meat from his own pasture, vegetables from his own garden, fruit from his own S orchard, and: butter and milk from his own dairy; caring for his crops in his own wisdom and growing them in independence; making cotton a sur- plus crop and selling it 4n his chosen market; in his own time, for cash and not for a receipted mortgage— then the South will begin to realize 7the fullness of her opportunities.” Advantages of the South. The South has many advantages as an Agricultural and Live Stock Coun- try. There is a ready market with high prices for beef, dairy and poultry products, and grain; land is cheap; the climate is mild; the South has a dong growing season—two and some- times three crops can be produced on the same soil during the same year; the South is adapted to the growing of a variety of hay and forage crops, root crops, corn, oats, and other grains. Beef can be produced at a less cost than in the northern states. In the South the rainfall is abun- dant; everywhere there are streams and springs, which are of great benefit to the stockman. The people of the South are awaken- ing to the opportunities offered by these natural advantages. South Developing Rapldly. Farmers, bankers, and merchants are actively engaged in organizing plans to meet the problems which are confronting them. The cattle tick, the enemy of diversified farming, is being guccessfully controlled by effective campaigns conducted over the entire South by the United States Depart- ment of Animal Industry in -co-opera- tion with the people. The boll weevil is giving way to the introduction of practical systems of crop rotation. Millions of acres of hill land are being seeded to Bermuda and other grasses " which serve the doubld purpose of pro- viding pasture for live stock and pre- ‘venting the soil from washing. Lespe- ¢za, Bur Clover, Japan Clover, Soy i Beans, Cowpeas, Sweet Clover, Alfalfa, and Velvet Beans are grown in abun- ance for hay. - Recent demonstrations how that Soudan grass is an abun- ant crop in nearly every section of e South. Bringing in Breeding Stock. ):As the quarantined line moves uth, scrub and tick-infested cattle ‘are replaced by thoroughbred breeding ‘8tock. The people have begun to real- the great economie saving in the duction of foodstuffs at home; in kansas, and direct a state-wide educa- i other words, raising a living at home instead of buying it from outside mar- kets. In fact the South is undergoing an agricultural revulsion. It took insect enemies and crop failures to make the people of the North realize the errors of a one-crop system; it has taken the boll weevil and a war of nations to im- press this fact upon the people of the South—that a one-crop system will im- poverish any country and will impov- erish as well, the people who are liv- ing on its farms. 3 H It is only through diversification of crops and the using of our energies every day in the year that we can make a great, rich country and a strong, prosperous people. It is hard to change old established methods, but the people of the South are changing rapidly from the one-crop system to that of diversified farming—the 'grow- ing of legume crops to enrich the soil and give it life and humus; the grow- ing of live stock, grains, and other crops, and cotton as well. The produc- tion of cotton in the South will be in- creased under a system of diversified farming. The Great Forward Movement. This great forward movement in ag- ricultural development is forcibly em- phasized by activities of all interests in the South. Many states have effect- ed permanent organizations to conduct educational campaigns for the im- provement of agriculture and com- merce. Oklahoma, Arkansas , Ala- bama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tex- as have been unusually active. Mis- sissippi realized the great need of real | constructive work along agricultural lines more than a year ago, and a “Grown in Mississippi” campaign, cov- ering the whole state, was the result. A “Grown in Mississippi” week was set aside in 8,000 schools of the state, and for one week during last Novem- ber, 750,000 school children studied grown in Mississippi products. Louisi- ana was covered with a “Billion Bushel” Corn Train; with thirty agri- cultural lecturers, Oklahoma covered seventeen counties in the eastern por- tion of the state, reaching 28,000 farm- ers and business men; Alabama is now conducting a state-wide crop di- versification campaign which will con- tinue for thirty-five days, reaching a hundred thousand people. All of these activities have been great co- operative movements directed by P. G. Holden, of the Agricultural Extension Department of the International Har- vester Company. These educational campaigns have revealed an impres- sive lesson. The Turning of the Worm. The “turning of the worm” in Ar- kansas brought the people of that state face to face with a most aston- ishing economic problem. Early in November, 1914, Governor Hays of Arkansas, the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, U. S. Depart- ment of Agriculture, State Bankers’ Association, Railroads, State Depart- ment of Agriculture and many other prominent interests of the state in- vited Perry G. Holden to come to Ar- PorirropUe CHEAP 1IN / SYSTE HE SOUTH VWill Diversify Crops, Feed Herself, Have Something to Sell Every Week in theYear and Keep More Than One Billion Dollars at Home — Diver- sification Means More 770, LONG PASTURE SEASON AND CHEAP FEFD THE SOUTH (= ROF HOLDEN G/VING A PCACTICA L-DEITONS TRATION I Lhe ENRICHING VALVE g 1244 {SHOWIN G PLAN! loF Gornve 7, the FARMER. tional campaign there. the purchase of food products in the way of packing house products—corn, flour, cereals, canned vegetables, and fruit, feed for stock, and other home necessities, which could be more cheaply produced at home. Just $11, 000,000 more than the Arkansas Cot- ton Crop brought in 1913. Conduct Egucational Car'npaignu. Professor Holden with a staff of thirty competent, practical lecturers, began the organization work in this great movement early in November. The campaign was inaugurated and carried on for a period of 35 days; 1,700 meetings were held in 42 dif- ferent counties, covering the entire cotton belt of the state. It was the greatest agricultural campaign ever in- augurated in a state. The busi- ness men did not ask the farm- ers to come to town to hear the lectures, but in 500 different com- munities throughout the territory cov- ered, campaign committees were or- ganized and automobiles and buggies | | Fere donated to the speakers by the Investigation proved that Arkansas was sending an- nually $75,000,000 out of the state for . : s b LEGUITE CROPS THE SOIL — [ EXCELLENNT TYFPEF try to hold meetings on the farms. The | campaign was carried to the people.‘ the people did not come to the cam-| paign. It was the Holden Plan of go- | ing to the farm homes, making a study of the conditions as they existed on each individual farm, discussing the problems, and assisting each individ- ual acording to his needs. 135,000 people heard the gospel of diversified farming. During this campaign Pro- fessor Holden said: “I do not know of any one thing that will do more to make Arkansas a greater state than | for the business men to finance every boy and girl in the state to buy a pig, a calf, and some chickens. Pigs on Every Farm. After the Campaign was over this | plan_ was_follpyed P people to carry them out into the coun- | soon raised and today hundreds of boys and girls have been financed by the business men of Arkansas, and are purchasing pigs, calves, and chickens as fast as the transactions can be made. It is the first step into a prac- tical system of diversified farming, and it is being put into practice by the school children of the state. The activities of Arkansas spread rapidly into Texas, where a fifteen-day campaign was put on covering nearly all of the black belt from Fort Worth, Dallas, and Waco, to Houston and San Antonio. Fifteen counties were cov- ered and 520 meetings were held. .In a si_n»:le county, 86 meetings were put on in one day by Professor Holden's corps of agricultural | Department of Agriculture, and other co-operative agencies. { The campaign was inaugurated in the Temple Chamber of Commerce. 40 speakers were engaged in active field work. These men were divided into twenty crews. In each crew was a school man who handled the rural schools, and educational institutions, and one practical agriculturist who spoke to the farmers. Two thousand people laid aside all other plans and took active part, serving on commit- tees and otherwise devoting their time, money, and energy to the work. Lecturers Ride Mule-back. Rain and bad roads did not discour- Temple, Texas, under the direction of | | tended the mee | of literature we ful analyeis of that Texas was 000 annually to markets for feed | was plain to th such an enormou creating resoure retarded fits def found that if e had a few chicl marketed 10 doze in the year, the ceived annually at 20 cents a do over $60,000,000 money as the W its appeal for fe | distressed cotton | Investigation pi nearly 15 bales of] pound to purchas els of sweet pota | cans, and the pot| duced on one ac required from 20 to produce the co of dollars were gél kets every year fd jta(oes. People Texas could not Will Abandon @ When these fac before the farmers they quickly saw nothing but cotton | their feed and food markets. Banke credit to those wh ! the live stock busin | lowing the plan of | organization of Pig | Money is loaned per cent interest pe :and girls are to b | work of raising pi | the United States ( | and the bankers and} be repaid from the n from the investment The result of proves that the ag mercial possibilities | almost beyond cond states south of the M| can produee enough all home needs with cient to feed a large that Texas is sending] | annually to northern| purchase of food prd be produced more ab icheaul_v at home; th purpose Arkansas $75,000,000 annually; 000,000; Oklahoma, that the same facts of states. The South one billion dollars of workers aug- | age these determined educators. Mules | from the South annu mented by loca] speakers furnished by | were saddled and pressed into servicefof which should be g the University of Texas, Baylo