F. J. Merriam, President Southern Ruralist Companr 
C. A. Cobb, Agricultural Fditor of the Ruralist 
THESE ARE THE PRACTICAL FARM MEN OF THE SOUTH WHO MAKE IT 
C A We want to introduce to our friends the Edi- 
■ wOOIJ tor, Mr. C. A. Cobb, formerly of the Mississippi 
Extension Force, and familiarly known throughout the South as 
“Corn Cobb.” 
For a number of years Mr. Cobb has been an outstanding figure 
among Southern agricultural workers. His particular field of en- 
deavor has been Boys’ Club Work. Due to his leadership, that 
work has grown until it is predominant in Mississippi and highly 
respected in every Southern State. 
Mr. Cobb has had a varied’ and fruitful experience. Raised on a 
Tennessee farm, the son of a Baptist preacher, educated by his 
own efforts in the Mississippi A. and M. College, principal of the 
first agricultural high school in that state — these things, together 
with his personal ownership and practical management of a mod- 
ern 300-acre farm and the broad knowledge and mental balance de- 
veloped by ten years of keen study and careful observation of agri- 
cultural conditions and progress, should, it seems to us, eminently 
qualify him for the position of Editor of the Southern Ruralist. 
He is brimful of energy, level-headed, well-informed. His per- 
sonality is most pleasing. He is a writer of exceptional ability. 
His character is one which any young man may well emulate. 
F J IWlArriAltl another practical man who has al- 
most done a lifetime’s work in the years 
that he has been at the head of the Southern Ruralist Company. 
Under his management the Ruralist has grown from a little eight- 
page monthly paper of a few thousand circulation to the present 
40 to 64-page, twice a month, leading agricultural paper of the 
South, going into over 350,000 Southern farm homes regularly. 
Mr. Merriam is a thoroughly practical Southern farmer. He 
knows exactly what it is to be in close touch with the soil and de- 
pendent on the right handling of the farm for his living. First, in 
Florida, and later here in Georgia, he has made his living and all 
his living from the soil. 
Like Mr. Cobb, Mr. Merriam knows farm prosperity and farm 
troubles. On the farms near Atlanta he has had to “buck-up” 
against exactly the same things in farm methods and farm man- 
agement, bad weather and good weather conditions, etc., as you 
have. He is practical because he has had and is getting farm ex- 
perience right along. Mr. Merriam and Mr. Cobb know by actual 
experience and they pass this experience along to Ruralist readers 
through the Ruralist twice each month. 
THE SOUTHERN FARMERS’ MONTHLY EXPERIENCE MEETINGS 
In addition to the editorial and special lines carried by Mr. Cobb 
and Mr. Merriam there are special departments, such as Dairy and 
Live Stock, Veterinary, Farm Machinery and Mechanics, Horticul- 
tural and Fruit Growing, Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs, Poultry, Home 
Department and many others, each conducted by a specialist in 
that particular subject. 
With all due respect to Mr. Cobb, Mr. Merriam and their special 
associates, the most interesting part to us is the every month “Ex- 
perience Meeting” of farmers and farmers’ wives. It goes under 
the general head of “What Farmers Are Doin^” and it’s open to 
any one to tell what they have done on their farm. The subjects 
vary, of course, from month to month, but the competition is abso- 
ultely open to everyone. The “orie-horse” farmer has an equal 
chance with the big plantation owner to write for the Ruralist. 
Ten or twelve of these are published each month and we are sure 
you will enjoy these accounts of actual farm “doings.” 
