LONG-BELL EXPERIMENTAL FARM 



SUBMITTED BY VICE PRES. C. B. SWEET 



ONE of the most effective agencies 

 in the development, not only of 

 Calcasieu parish, but of the State 

 of Louisiana and of the entire South is 

 the Long-Bell Experiment Farm, ex- 

 tending north along the Kansas City 

 Southern Railroad from the mill town 

 of Bon Ami almost to the corporate 

 limits of DeRidder. Translated into 

 English, "Bon Ami" means "Good 

 Friend." The work done on this farm 

 and the results already achieved prove 

 that the Long-Bell farm is one of the 

 best of friends, not only to owners of 

 cut-over timberland and the communi- 

 ties to which they are adjacent, but to 

 thousands of people who are destined 

 to found happy and prosperous homes 

 on land until recently looked upon as 

 unproductive, and valueless. 



The work of the Long-Bell Experi- 

 ment Farm is by no means completed, 

 although in seven years it has become 

 an investment rather than an experi- 

 ment ; but it has already established the 

 value of cut-over pine lands for the 

 growing of fruit and vegetables. It 

 has shown that vegetables of all de- 

 scriptions can be produced in the open 

 air weeks before they have matured in 

 the populous section of the country and 

 can be transported and sold at a fine 

 profit. It has not only established that 

 fruit growing is profitable, but by a 

 series of plantings conducted with in- 

 finite care and watched with unwearied 

 vigilance has established the fact that 

 some species of fruit are sure profit 

 makers and some are not profitable, and 

 is still weighing others in the balance. 

 Not only have all kinds of fruit been 

 planted, but every variety of each par- 

 ticular fruit that promises any results, 

 so that its records constitute an invalu- 

 able text-book for the farming of cut- 

 over lands. 



A feature of the utmost importance 

 is that a cost system is in use on the 



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farm that is rigidly applied to every 

 product on it. For instance, three men 

 put two days labor each in cutting back 

 the fig trees ; that four others worked 

 five and one-half days each on setting 

 out orange trees ; that two spent the 

 week hauling fertilizer, and that two 

 others worked spreading it where 

 needed on the farm. The superin- 

 tendent's record takes note of all this. 

 The time spent by each man, and what 

 he did, are charged up in the daily 

 record. Every item of cost is charged 

 to its proper account. Every dollar 

 spent and every day's labor performed 

 in the Elberta peaches is charged 

 against the Elberta peaches. When they 

 are gathered in the summer, the cost 

 of gathering and packing, hauling and 

 transporting is charged against them, 

 and they are duly credited when the 

 money received from their sale comes 

 in. By this method the superintendent 

 knows not only how much profit the 

 crop yielded, but the average profit per 

 tree. Unhealthy or unproductive trees 

 are left out. They are on the "hospital 

 list." 



So it is with all other crops. The fig 

 trees have an additional link in the ac- 

 counting system. Their crop is sold to 

 the big preserving plant on the farm. 

 When the figs are gathered, the fig ac- 

 count is given a credit of three cents a 

 pound. This is charged to the preserv- 

 ing plant account, together with the cost 

 of sugar, steam, containers, labels, pack- 

 ing and labor. Then when the product 

 is marketed, the preserving plant gets 

 its credit. 



This strict system of accounting is 

 indispensable, if the Experiment Farm 

 is to be of the highest value to the fu- 

 ture farmer of pine lands. It is not 

 enough to know that the land will pro- 

 duce crops. The vital thing is to know 

 what it will produce that can be mar- 

 keted at a profit and how much average 



