902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKES 
August 2d, 
Hope Farm Notes 
Old Friends. —Over 25 years ago I lived 
in Oktibbeha County, Miss., where Mother 
was raised. At that time East Mississippi 
was not very weli developed. The Agri¬ 
cultural College had just been established, 
and the directors were feeling their way 
along in an effort to find out what farmers 
could do with their land. Last week Dero 
Saunders, an old friend of these old days, 
came walking in upon me. His wife was 
Mother’s old girl friend, and it was like 
two old shadows of the past taking sub¬ 
stantial form and stepping out into the 
present. I have lived to learn that men 
rarely pick up strong friendship after they 
are .30. They do sometimes make enduring 
ties even at 50, but “old friends are the 
best.” Here they were skipping across a 
quarter of a century, forgetting what lay 
between, two old friends, a little older and 
weather-beaten, perhaps, but still strong and 
prosperous and true. It made me mighty 
thoughtful to see Mother and Mrs. Saun¬ 
ders sitting on our porch and talking back 
to girlhood. 
What did I think about? 
If 1 have got to answer, it was a dark, 
muddy night in a little Mississippi town. 
There was a party at Hero's house, and I 
went along with a certain young -woman. 
It was one of the few and foolish occasions 
when T tried to dance. I stepped on this 
young woman’s foot and nearly ruined that 
and my chances at one step. That cured 
me of dancing at least. 
But it was a happy reunion. You cannot 
beat these Southern people for real homely 
sentiment. “Why,” said Dero, “I’d rather 
break bread with you all than eat with the 
king !” You see, I had just seiwed him with 
a big spoonful of hash and filled up his 
dish with Lima beans. There was a plate 
of baked apples also coming. I do not 
know how many invitations Dero has had 
to sit with kings, hut he meant what he 
said. The best part of his visit was when 
he sat in the twilight on our porch and 
told the children about their grandmother. 
She was a Yankee teacher, who went South 
before the War. and lived all through those 
fearful days of war and reconstruction. 
You would not call her brilliant or greatly 
accomplished, yet her influence was endur¬ 
ing. The girls she taught and influenced 
are now grown women, who tell their 
daughters and granddaughters what this 
quiet woman did for them. She will be 
remembered and her influence felt long 
after the so-called strong and great have 
faded out of memory. 
A Good Country. —But you know what 
it means to meet old friends. I was in¬ 
terested to know about the country. It 
has developed wonderfully. There have 
been no land booms or speculation, but a 
steady growth to results which reads like a 
fairy tale. No gold discoveries or great 
manufacturing. There is some lumbering, 
but the basis of prosperity is plain and 
simple farming. The .Tersey cow and Al¬ 
falfa have done the business. When I lived 
in that country 25 years ago Col. Wm. B. 
Montgomery was a leading character. He 
was then an old man, who had dreams of 
a great future for Mississippi as a dairy 
State. The so-called “authorities” of that 
time stated that the Ohio River was about 
the limit of profitable dairying. Col. Mont¬ 
gomery was one of those persistent char¬ 
acters who make history by riding over 
“authorities” when the authority is half- 
baked or bogus. He startl'd a herd of Jer¬ 
sey cattle and went about preaching the 
gospel of the butter cow. He claimed that 
the South could produce the cheapest and 
best dairy cow in the world. She would 
be cheapest because the climate made cheap 
cow food possible, and also cheapened the 
cost of shelter. He claimed that the 
Southern-grown Jersey would be larger and 
stronger than those produced at the North, 
and superior to Island Jerseys because they 
could enjoy the mild climate of the Island 
with a freer, active life. I have seen the 
old man's eye kindle and his form straight¬ 
en as he told what the Jersey cow would 
bring to northeast Mississippi. Then a 
shadow would pass over his face and he 
would say: “But I am 30 years too old!” 
It Came True. —You see men pass away, 
but their influence remains. Col. Mont¬ 
gomery grafted the Jersey cow upon this 
section, and she grew to be the leading 
citizen. Younger men like Dero Saunders 
finally saw what was coming, and they got 
ready for it with Alfalfa, Soy beans, cow 
peas, Johnson grass and many others. They 
put up siloes. That country is now well 
spotted with concrete structures. The col¬ 
lege took up the work. All this has been 
done without ‘any boom or flourish. It is 
doubtful if many of you ever heard of the 
Mississippi Agricultural College, yet I 
greatly doubt if any similar college in fhe 
country has done more to actually influence 
the real farming of its State. Most of you 
think of Mississippi as a large cotton 
plantation. I feel sure that Starkville is 
the greatest market headquarters for good 
Jersey grade cows that there is in this 
country. The Jersey breed has dominated 
that section, and a double cross on the 
native stock gives an animal almost un¬ 
rivalled as a practical butter maker. Car¬ 
loads of these cows are sent all over the 
South—-to Texas and even to I’orto Rico. 
It is just the same as we find elsewhere. 
When any locality gets a reputation for 
producing anything of superior quality its 
very goods serve as advertising. The Stark¬ 
ville cow is known all over the Gulf States, 
and whenever butter makers are wanted the 
buyers go to headquarters. This is only 
the old story which has been proved a dozen 
times. The thing works both ways, for if 
people try their tricks and palm off bogus 
goods they are soon found out. and their 
reputation is turned to evil. There are a 
few sections in New York State where men 
have shipped low grade apples topped off 
with good ones to deceive. Such places are 
shunned by buyers, and a man would think 
many times before lie started an orchard 
in any such neighborhood. 
Improved Farming.—As dairying im¬ 
proved the hog followed. Twenty-five years 
ago this part of Mississippi was largely 
fed from the North. Most of the “meat.” 
which means salted pork, came from the 
packing houses in Chicago or Cincinnati, 
and the butter from Northern creameries. 
The mules were fed on Timothy hay from 
Illinois or Iowa. The Jersey grade has 
changed all this. Her cousin, the hog. 
accepts her skim-milk and packs meat for 
the people. It was necessary to feed her 
well in Winter. nor grandmother might 
safely run in a canebrake. but Mrs. Jersey 
was making history and she needed better 
food for the job. So the wise men studied 
out Alfalfa and similar crops. The boom¬ 
ers and blowhards have tried to make us 
believe that the Western deserts make the 
Alfalfa paradise. From what Dero tells 
me I judge that they should guess again. 
He has already cut his Alfalfa five times! 
The first cutting comes in April. At that 
time they usually have a wet season, and 
this makes a trying time with the Alfalfa, 
since they cannot cure it for hay. It. 
must be cut, so they are trying out the 1 
plan of cutting and feeding green in racks. 
The subsequent cuttings can be cured if 
need be. and this first cutting might even 
be left on the ground. At any rate, they 
seldom if ever have a drought in that 
country, and the abundant moisture keeps 
the Alfalfa on the jump. Sometimes a 
single reason's jump, all cuttings measured, 
will be 15 feet or more! Now imagine 
what all this means to a country. Tt is 
like pouring into a farmer’s grain bin every 
year three tons of wheat bran for every 
acre of Alfalfa on his farm. Some of these 
men have 100 acres or more of the crop. 
A few centuries ago the world poured gold 
into Spain, manufacturing into France, 
shipping into Great Britain, and energy and 
home building into this country. It all 
changed history. Spain failed, the others 
prospered, because the gold represented 
plunder and idleness, while the other things 
meant hardship and work. East Mississippi 
lias prospered because the Jersey cow and 
what she stood for compelled the people to 
work and think in order to feed her prop¬ 
erly. 
Around Syracuse, N. Y„ Alfalfa has 
changed the character of farming, doubled 
the price of land and made history. In a 
much larger way Alfalfa growing has 
changed the entire aspect of life around 
Starkville. On those Syracuse farms we 
found all crops, grain, potatoes, fruit, im¬ 
proving with each round of the rotation, 
for the manure made from the Alfalfa hay 
and used on the cultivated crops had been 
the same as if tons of imported plant food 
had been added. In the same way all 
farm crops, cotton and corn, have felt the 
influence of this great firm of Jersey cow. 
hog and Alfalfa. Half a century ago the 
unpaid slave, fed and clothed from the 
North, scratched the land with labor which 
kept everyone in some degree of poverty. 
To-day the Jersey cow, fed on Alfalfa and 
grass, is making the same country as pros¬ 
perous as any farm section in the' land. Tt 
is plain farming, too—without local mar¬ 
kets or manufacturing. We have had many 
industrial revolutions in this country, hut 
I would like to be told of anv more re¬ 
markable than this silent one led by the 
Jersey grade and Alfalfa. 
New Problems.— Yet this section is fac¬ 
ing hard problems. The cotton boll-weevil 
has appeared, and is sure to cut down the. 
crops. The wise men may devise some way 
of fighting this insect, but it will surely 
hurt cotton growing. That must mean a 
new use of the land. Then the labor ques¬ 
tion begins to trouble. Yon may have 
noticed that labor troubles come with pros¬ 
perity. As wealth increases labor shares 
to some extent, and demands larger pay 
and shorter hours. In the dairy business 
there is no such thing as a short day. A 
man is tied to a cow’s tall 3f>5 days in the 
year, and must stay there in spite of holi¬ 
days. “excursions” or baseball games. You 
cannot fool or dally with a cow. The labor 
question may drive some of those Missis¬ 
sippi farmers into meat production—that 
is, beef or mutton. Dero tells me that he 
has already tried that with good success. 
He has one farm of 320 acres fenced and 
divided into two parts. Part of this is 
natural pasture and part seeded. He buys 
steers on the open market and turns them 
into this pasture about March. They are 
changed from one side to the other, so that 
half the_pasture is growing while the steers 
are eating the other half. They allow 
about three acres for each steer—the num¬ 
ber running from 107 to 120. In October 
they are taken out and sold—well fattened 
without any grain feeding. Every steer is 
weighed and marked as he goes in and 
weighed as he comes out. There is good 
profit in this, as practically no labor is 
required. To that extent it is better than 
dairying. One singular drawback is the 
fact that the local country has been so 
completely Jerseyized that it is hard to 
get large steers with beef blood. This 
business is quite sure to grow, and I think 
the South will eventually produce a good 
share of our fat beef. Of course this sort I 
of farming is entirely different from any- j 
thing we have in New Jersey. I have' 
made some figures comparing 1<Y apple trees 
or 500 strawberry plants in New Jersey 
with a steer or heifer in Mississippi. We 
can get at them later, and we shall see that 
there are fair chances everywhere for those 
who hunt for them! h. w. c. I 
This New Press Enables Hay 
Balers to Clean Up $10 a Day 
With hay at its present price and a new Sandwich Motor Press, any live fel¬ 
low can clean up $10 a day. Baling hay is a delightful occupation, and you can 
make more money during the six months’ baling season than most men make 
in a whole year. The few t ’.ndred dollars you invest in an outfit brings 4 to 8 
times as big returns as the same amount put into farming or a retail business. 
Tbe Motor Press is a combination Sandwich 
All-Steel Belt Power Press nnd high-grade gasoline 
engine. Complete and compart. Works liko light- 
amg—easy to move— always ready for work—no set¬ 
ting up of engine required. Chain drive. No belts 
to adjust, or lose power.. Easy to start or stop press 
instantly. 
Outfit of best, most subptantial construction 
throughout. Sleel press—axles, wheels and plat¬ 
forms reinforced throughout. 7 H. P. bopi>er- 
cooled engine—brake test. 9 H. P. Tunk underneath. 
Equipped with batteries and magneto, combination 
seat, battery and .tool l>ox. nnd standard gasoline 
pump. Tf you have engine, buy Press alone. Any 
standard hopper-cooled engine can bo used. 
Sandwich All-Steel Motor Press 
Thiaootfit bales 2H! to3t£trms per hour. Hasself 
feeder equipment. Takes doable charge of hay. 
Has no condenser box, needs no foot tamping— 
feeds direct from fork. No bal¬ 
ance wheels, no 
complicated gears, 
no high speed ma¬ 
chinery. East, sim- 
Write for F ree Book 
on Hay Baling 
(42) 
_yo 
smaller outfit —one Jess expensive and having ca¬ 
pacity of. say IX tons per hour, we can furnish it. 
using either a 4 or 6 II. P. gasoline engine. 
We make presses with or wit hout engines— 
wood frame nnd steel frnme, horse power nnd 
engine power. In nil sizes up to 
5-ton per hour c-apneity. 
Drop us a Hue today for new 
hook, about tbe Astounding 
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tell you more about this wonder¬ 
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Sandwich Mfg. Co. 
Spruce St, Sandwich, III. 
Imperial 
Pulverizer 
Clod Crusher and Roller Leads them All. Send for circulars. 
THE PETERSON MFG. CO., 135 RIVER ST., KENT. OHIO 
II ARVESTK 1> with Binder Attach¬ 
ment cuts and throws in piles on har¬ 
vester or winnow. Man and horse cuts 
and shocks equal with a Corn Binder. 
Sold in every State. Price $20 witli 
Binder Attachment. S. C. MONTGOMERY, of Texaline, 
Tex., writes:—"Tlie harvester has proven all you claim 
forit, With the assistance of one man cut and bound over 
100 acres oT < urn.Katfir Corn and Maize last year.” Testi¬ 
monials and catalog free, showing pictures of harvester. 
NEW PROCESS MEG. CO., Saliiia, Kan. 
No Better Roofing Made 
At Double Gar Price 
1 Ply, *1.20 Per 100 Sq- Ft. 
2 “ 1.50 " “ “ ” 
i “ 1.80 “ “ “ " 
Our Complete Mail Order Catalogue- 
Free on Request 
MANUFACTURERS DISTRIBUTING CO 
Pittsburgh’s Mail Order House 
Dept. H. Pittsimrob, Pa. 
The Concrete Dairy Is the 
Clean Dairy 
Real, genuine cleanliness is an absolute necessity in 
your dairy if you want to get the most money out of 
your stock. 
You can hose out your concrete barn as often as clean¬ 
liness demands — and with very little expenditure of 
time and labor. You save enough in manure to pay 
for your concrete barn over and over again. 
Things made of concrete are fireproof and everlasting improve¬ 
ments. Every farmer should build of concrete wherever possible 
Write for any of the following special plans and instructions; 
(1) Plans for Sidewalks 
(2) Plans for Troughs 
(3) Plans for Porches and Steps 
Write US for information on any kind of concrete work. 
We will write you individually, giving full instructions 
for getting best results. This service is free. The 
only expense to you will be the postage used in writing 
us; address the nearest office of the Company, 
UNIVERSAL 
PORTLAND 
CEMENT 
COMPANY 
CHICAGO 
72 West Adams St. 
PITTSBURG 
Frick Building 
Hnnual Output 10,000,000 Barrels 
MINNEAPOLIS 
Security Bank Building 
SfiSw 
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WM 
