206 



The Dawn of a Xew Constructive Era 



Stumps as a 

 Valuable By- 

 product 



Government 

 Will Co-oper- 

 ate with Set- 

 tler 



vation before putting them on the market. This is a proposition 

 which is entitled to careful consideration. 



I was very much interested in the remarks of Mr. Alexander 

 regarding the utilization of the stumps and the value of the 

 by-products which might be secured therefrom. This is a mat- 

 ter which should be very fully investigated. If, in fact, there is 

 twenty-five dollars' worth of by-products in each acre of stumps, 

 it would be a sin and a crime not to utilize them. It may be 

 that the inability to settle these lands heretofore has been provi- 

 dential in order that this vast wealth which otherwise would 

 have been wasted may be conserved. I was very much inter- 

 ested in some photographs which were shown me today by Mr. 

 Redhead, our Assistant State Agent in Louisiana. He tells me 

 that in Tangipahoa Parish there is a man who at the cost of 

 $300 has erected furnaces and is converting his stumps into 

 various by-products. He has found that he can pay all expenses 

 of removing the stumps and realize a profit at present prices of 

 $10 to $15 an acre. It would seem feasible, then, for companies 

 owning large tracts of land to either build plants and remove 

 the stumps themselves or finance settlers in building these small 

 plants in order that they might from the by-products of the 

 stumps not only pay the expenses of clearing their land, but get 

 an income sufficient to support their families until the farm is 

 put into condition to begin to return a revenue. 



You must also make some provision to see that they are 

 given the right kind of advice and instruction. Even good 

 farmers from the North make serious mistakes and frequent 

 failures when they come South because conditions are so differ- 

 ent. The one thing I am always careful to advise people from 

 the North to do in coming South, is to get in touch with the 

 county demonstration agents and be guided by their advice as 

 to what and how to plant and how to cultivate and handle the 

 crop. Provision for safe, conservative advice along this line will 

 be doubly important to settlers on cut-over land because the 

 majority of them will have little previous farm experience. 



Here is where the Department of Agriculture stands ready 

 to co-operate with you. Thanks to the Smith-Lever bill, the 

 Government and the colleges are now prepared to extend aid 

 to new settlers on cut-over lands as never before. They will 

 shortly have trained, skilled agriculturists in every county, and 



