he Dawn of a New FROCEEDJNGS OF" THE OOI-OVERfiHi Nc^r Orleans, La^ 11 it, 1.3 i*.ncl 13, IB 17 (lass 6^/' l]()()k___i_dl I'kK.SKNTIOl) liY ^J / "The Dawn o/a New Constructive Era" Being the Full and Complete Report of the Cut-Over Land Con- ference of the South Held Under the Auspices of the Southern Pine Association; Southern Settlement and Devel- opment Organization; New Or- leans Association of Commerce; In Co-operation with the United States Department of Agriculture; Department of the Interior; Southern State Agri- cultural Colleges and Experi- ment Stations. 19 17 S6o7 Looking Ahead IN presenting this book to the pubhc th« pubhshers are inspired by a desire to make permanent record '-©f the fund of informa- tion embraced in the addresses of a number of prominent men who gathered in New Orleans April 11, 12 and 13, 1917, to participate in the "Cut-Over Land Conference of the South." This meeting was called for the purpose of discussing the ques- tion of best present and future beneficial use for stock raising, agriculture and reforestation to which there might be placed millions of acres now lying idle throughout a large part of the South, and was attended by many land owners, agricultural experts of the Federal and State governments, and others. It is also desired that the volume serve as the record of the first definite steps taken in a work which is expected to become the greatest constructive development movement ever under- taken in the United States. Lumber manufacturers, who own much of the tut-over lands, are looking forward to the day when their mill operations will be curtailed by the diminution of the virgin pine forests. Mean- while, they wish to take steps to convert into practical service for the benefit of themselves and the public the vast empire of territory now largely unproductive. The Southern Cut-Over Land Association is an organization which has grown out of the Cut-Over Land Conference, held under the. joint auspices of the Southern Pine Association and Association of Commerce of New Orleans and the Southern Settlement and Development Organization, of Baltimore, Md.. and has now actively entered on the task of consummating this great undertaking. SOUTHERN CUT-OVER LAND ASSOCIATION, SQi 2j m J Table of Contents Section I— Proceedings of Wednesday, April 11, 1917. Morning Session — Mr. M. L. Alexander Presiding Page "A Foreword" '' By Mr. J. Lewis Thompson, Chairman, Cut-Over Land Committee, Southern Pine Association "Why We Have Met" 8-10 Address by Mr. M. L. Alexander, Commissioner, Louisiana State Conservation Commission "Address of Welcome" 10-1 1 By Hon. Martin Behrman, Mayor of New Orleans "Importance of Agricultural Development to the Cities" 12-15 Address by Mr. Ernest Lee Jahncke, President of the New Orleans Association of Commerce "Practical Reforestatioii" 15-23 Paper prepared by Mr. Henry S. Graves, Chief Forester, United States' Forest Service, and read by Mr. E. S. Bryant of the United States Forest Service, representing Mr. Graves "Practical Utilization of Cut-Over Lands" 24-28 Address by Mr. Stanley F. Morse, Agricultural Expert, formerly of the University of Arizona Afternoon Session — Mr. M. L. Alexander Presiding "Agriculture From A National Standpoint" 29-36 Address by Honorable Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture "The Cut-Over Land Owner's Responsibility — His Opportunity" 36-46 Address by Hon. H. Clay Tallman, Commissioner, General Land Office, United States Department of the Interior "Lumbermen's Activities, Past, Present and Future" 46-50 Address by Mr. J. Lewis Thompson "The Railroad's Part in the South's Development" 50-54 Address by 'Mr. J. C. Clair, Industrial Commissioner of the Ilhnois Central Railroad Section II — Proceedings of Thursday, April 12, 1917. Morning Session — Mr. Clement S. Ucker Presiding "The Practical Aspects of the Problem" 55-58 Address by Mr. Clement S. Ucker, Vice-President Southern Settlement and Development Organization "Natural Resources of the South — Arkansas as a Developing Factor" 58-67 Address by Hon. Charles H. Brough, Governor of Arkansas Table of Contents — Continued Page "Soils of the Coastal Plain Area" 68-77 Address by Mr. C. F. Marbut, Soil Expert, Bureau of Soils, United States Department of Agriculture "Some Factors to be Considered in the Drainage of the Cut- Over Lands of the South" 78-83 Address by Mr. S. H. McCrary, Assistant Chief, Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering, United States Department of Agriculture Afternoon Session — Mr. Clement S. Ucker Presiding "Some Problems of Cut-Over Land Development" 84-86 Address by Mr. Harry D. Wilson, Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of Louisiana "Forage Problem of the Coastal Plain Area" 86-93 Address by Dr. C. V. Piper, Chief Agrostologist, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture "Experiences in Cattle Raising on Cut-Over Lands" 93-96 Address by Mr. F. R. Enochs, of Fernwood, Miss. "Soil Improvement Crops" 97-103 Address by Mr. S. M. Tracy, Agronomist, Office of Forest Crop Investigation, United States Department of Agriculture "Need of Experiment Station Work on Cut-Over Lands". .103-106 Address by Mr. W. R. D'odson, Director of the State College and Experiment Station of the State of Louisiana "Mississippi's Part in Cut-Over Land Development" 106-107 Address by Dr. E. R. Lloyd, Director of Experiment Stations of the State of Mississippi "What Georgia is Doing to Encourage the Utilizing of Cut- Over Lands" 108-111 Address by Mr. John R. Fain, Agronomist of the College of Agriculture of the State of Georgia "Beef Cattle and Hogs" 112-125 Address by Mr. George M. Rommel, Chief, Animal Hus- bandry Division United States Department of Agriculture "A Survey of the Live Stock Situation" 125 141 Address prepared by Dr. Andrew M. Soule, President of the College of Agriculture of the State of Georgia "The Animal Industry of the South — Past, Present and Future" 142-150 Address by Dr. W. H. Dalrymple, Professor of Veterinary Science, Louisiana Agricultural College "The Railroads' Interest in Cut-Over Land Development". .151-155 Address by Mr. D. C. Welty, Commissioner of Agriculture, St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway "What Florida is Doing in Land Development" 155-157 Address by iMr. James F. Murphy, President of the Florida Land Development and Colonization Association Table of Contents — Concluded Section III — Proceedings of Friday, April 13, 1917. Morning Session — Mr. Clement S. Ucker Presiding Page "Demonstration Work on Cnt-Over Lands" 157-168 Address by Mr. G. E. Nesom, Superintendent of Live Stock Extension Work in Louisiana for the Lhiited States Department of Agriculture "How Louisiana is Solving the Reforestation Problem". . . .169-172 Address by A'Ir. M. L. Alexander, Commissioner, Louisiana State Conservation Commission "Some Problems of Colonizing Cut-Over Lands" 172-173 Address by Mr. H. Q. Weare, of Mobile, Ala. "The Dairy Industry of the South" 174-178 Address by Mr. C. W. Radway, Dairy Specialist, Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture "Some Suggestions for Dairying on Cut-Over Lands" 179-181 Address by Mr. N. P. Hull, President of National Dairy Union "Tick Eradication" 182-187 Address by Dr. E. L Smith, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture Afternoon Session — Mr. Clement S. Ucker Presiding "Stumps and Their Practical Removal" 188-195 Address by Mr. Carl D. Livingston, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin "The Sheep Industry of the South" 196-201 Address by Mr. F. R. ]\Iarshall, Senior Animal Husl)and- man, Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture "Possibilities of Cut-Over Lands" 201-207 Address by Mr. J. A. Evans, Assistant Chief, States Relation Service, United States Department of Agriculture "The Cut-Over Acre— What is It Worth?" 207-209 Address by Mr. William R. Lighton, Fayetteville, Ark. "Shortage of Raw Materials — The Demand Increasing". .210-210 Address by Mr. A. C. Bigelow, President, Philadelphia Wool and Textile Association "Forestry and Cattle Raising on the Cut-Over Pine Lands of the Southern States" 217-225 Address by Major J. G. Lee, Department of Forestry and Horticulture, Louisiana State University "The Necessity for Organized Effort" 226-229 Address by General L. C. Boyle, of Kansas City "Cut-Over Lands and Their Value" 230-231 Address by Mr. C. C. Prescott, Agricultural Agent, Southern Railway System Development Service Resolutions ■ 22)2-22>h Senator Ransdell Sends Greetings , 236 Registration List 237-244 A Foreword By J. Lewis Thompson Chairman, Cut-Over Land Committee Southern Pine Association Gentlemen : — We are gathered together here this morning in a conference — our program states just what we are here for; and on account of my having, in an unguarded moment, accepted the chairmanship of this committee I happen to be before you just at Government this time. We had expected to have a large gathering, and to all of J^^^PW Inter- yon is due some explanation as to why we had so many changes „ t H in our date of meeting. The Department at Washington and the Development officials are very much interested in this meeting, and we were shifting about dates trying to arrive at a date at which they could attend, but, as we all know, the Germans interfered with their plans ; but we have finally gotten together here at this time. We are dis- appointed in not having Senator Ransdell here to preside for us this morning, but Mr. Alexander has kindly consented to preside, and I take pleasure in introducing Mr. Alexander to you. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Why We Have Met By M. L. Alexander Commissioner, Louisiana Department of Conservation Gentlemen : — I consider it an honor and a privilege to be called upon to preside at a gathering so important as this. I regret sin- cerely, however, to say that Mr. Ransdell, who was originally chosen to preside at this meeting, was unable to come owing to duties which he is called upon to perform at this time at Washington and which are possibly much more important than anything which could be taken up on the outside. Senator Ransdell has always expressed an active interest, not only in the things which concern the development of his own state, but which concern the development of the Southland or the devel- opment of the whole United States, and I regret exceedingly that he was not here to address you in person. This is an important meeting, gentlemen ; one that is of great significance — a meeting which we hope will mean something to you and the sections which you represent. This meeting is not called for the purpose of fostering any real estate interest or any specified real estate development, or for the aiding of any men or set of men, but it has been called by sound-thinking men for the purpose Vast Problem of bringing attention to these large areas of cut-over lands which Must Be exist in the lumber belts of the Southern States, areas of cut-over lands that now approximate something like 40 to 50 million acres in that territory. Therefore, we hope that in your deliberations here, in the papers that will be read before you, in the thoughts that will be expressed, will have your due, careful and earnest consideration, because there is a problem to be solved, a problem the solving of which will mean so much to the development of this section of the country. Now, gentlemen, I am called upon to act in a sort of dual capacity today — not only called upon to represent Mr. Ransdell as chairman of your meeting, but called upon to express the regret of the Governor of the State of Louisiana that he was not able to be present, being confined to a sick bed at the capital at Baton The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Governor Pleasant, Loiiisiand, Sends Greetings Rouge, and therefore I am going to claim the privilege of the chair- man and, without further ceremony, will introduce myself to you as the representative of the Honorable Rufifin G. Pleasant, Gov- ernor of the State of Louisiana. • (Applause.) Gentlemen, as the representative of the Governor of Louisiana I wish to say to you that the Governor regrets exceedingly that he was not able, owing to sickness, to be present here today and to welcome this distinguished body of men from these various sec- tions who have come together here to consider problems that mean so much to the State of Louisiana as well as to the other sections. The Governor appreciates fully the significance of this meeting. He recognizes that any plan or set of plans which can be brought about to further the development of these areas of cut-over lands that exist in the State of Louisiana, approximating something like five or five and a half million acres at the present time, will be of great good to this state and the people and that prosperity will follow in the wake of this development; and I want to say to you that it is a question of great importance. There is no more important question which can be taken up at this particular time, for now, at the time of the nation's crisis ; now, at the time when we are entering into the world war; now, at the time when we are going to require the efiforts of the sound-thinking men to bring about a further development along agricultural lines and along the line of raising foodstuffs generally, and also live stock, this is a live ques- tion and a question that concerns us all and we should give it serious deliberation. Louisiana has something like twenty-nine million acres of land and today there is less than five million acres of that land under cultivation. Louisiana has the greatest body of alluvial lands that exist in the world today, and still there are large tracts of this land which still remain uncultivated. Louisiana has vast prairies which future development would make ideal stock farms. Louisiana has had something like fourteen million acres of timber land, something developed like nine or ten million acres of pine land, and today there exists C^it-Over in the state over five million acres of cut-over pine land, and the problem is, what are we going to do with it and what are we going to make out of it? About 80 per cent of it, as we see it, would be susceptible for agricultural development. Louisiana has made a great deal of progress as to demonstrat- ing what can be done with this cut-over land. Situated in some Louisiana's 5,000,000 Acres of Un- Lfinds 10 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era of the parishes of the state, the cut-over lands have become the most valuable lands we have in the state, because, after all, the value of land is based on what it produces in actual revenue. We have cut-over lands in Louisiana that, at a conservative estimate, are yielding in actual revenue per acre, per year, one thousand dol- lars. We have exceptional cases where this has gone as high as „. ,,. , , two thousand dollars, but the agriculturists tell us, by their experi- From Cut- ments and by the experiments of the Louisiana Department of Over Lands Agriculture, that these cut-over lands have an actual cash value for the production of hogs of at least $50 an acre. Therefore, it seems to me we would not be wasting time if we encourage the exploita- tion and development of these lands ; and I sincerely trust that the deliberations of this body of earnest, sound-thinking men, who have come here to consider this problem, will evolve some scheme and idea where those lands can be brought into early use ; and now, gentlemen, again, on behalf of the Governor of the state, I bid you a most hearty welcome to Louisiana. I thank you. (Applause.) Address of Welcome By Hon. Martin Behrman Mayor of New Orleans Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Conference: — I do appreciate the importance of this conference. For that reason I have canceled whatever engagements I may have had this morn- ing in order to be with you and personally extend to you a word of welcome for the people of the City of New Orleans. At this time, in this crisis, it is proper and meet that men like yourselves should come together for the purposes of doing some- thing to encourage the use of these wonderful lands of ours. You know and I know what the cut-over lands of the South in certain sections are producing, but the South will be called upon to do Diitijto the her share now and to do it promptly. We will be called upon to Mation raise the products to feed the Allies as well as ourselves. We will be called upon to furnish the rest of the country — who are not blessed as we are, with the splendid soil we have and the splendid opportunities we have here in the South— we will be compelled to furnish them with the food products they may need. So I say this is an important conference, one that I hope will bring about The Soiith's The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 11 the best results. We have a wonderful soil, and we have a won- derful people, but we have been going along content just to let well enough alone. Everything came easy for us ; nature has been very kind to us ; anything we put in the ground would grow ; and nothing would better illustrate the feeling of being satisfied to let well enough alone than this : Some years ago, when a company of army engineers were locating the route of the Intercoastal Canal in our state — part of it was completed, but part of it had to be done with the aid of teams — they came to a beautiful section of our state and saw a big family sitting under a great big oak tree; that ^iist Get family had a splendid tract of land, but there was only a small j^Z^^jJ^^"^ . , . , 1 • • , • .1 ^ -J Old Ideas portion of it under cultivation; and someone in the party said, "Why don't you cultivate the rest of this land?" He replied, "What's the use? We have enough." That is the spirit we want to get away from, and now it is not only the spirit of doing things different from the way we used to do them, but the necessity that we must do it, we must use those lands, and we must put them to the uses for which they were intended. It is not only a ques- tion of whether we ought to do it or not ; it is a duty and it is compulsory. Speaking of the different arts, I read a few days ago that 'way back in 1859, in a speech to the Agricultural Society of Wis- consin. Abraham Lincoln said : "The most valuable of all arts will be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil." We have the soil and the acreage and all the other things. God has blessed us with a splendid climate, and what we may lack in people we can get from immigration. I was one of those who never believed it was necessary to bring them all down into this section of the country. You have the people in this country ; they only have to be educated up to an appreciation of the value of those ^nmugration lands, and learn the possibilities of them and see the uses they can be put to ; and then the farmers from the great West and North- west can come down here and develop these lands with the energy they have shown in their own sections of the country ; and then I believe every section and all the lands of the state will be put to use. Now, my friends, I hope the deliberations of your conference will be entirely successful, and on behalf of the people I want to say it is their earnest desire that they will be, and they bid me say to you that you are most heartily welcome here. I thank you. (Applause.) 12 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Importance of Agricultural Development to the Cities By Ernest Lee Jahncke President of the New Orleans Association of Commerce Gentlemen : — With the same earnestness evinced by our Hon- orable Mayor, I, also, as President of the New Orleans Associa- tion of Commerce, want to welcome you to this conference and to express pleasure at having you come to this city to hear the dis- cussions upon, and endeavor to solve problems so vital to the nation's welfare at this time. As the head of a civic body organized for the purpose of promoting the industrial and commercial welfare of New Orleans, I realize the importance which the work you gentlemen are under- taking has upon the development of this and other cities of the South. The head of the greatest statistical organization in the country recently said that in 1950 the largest city in the United States would be situated in the South and the chief reason upon Nation's which he based this prophecy was the potential resources in this (Treatest tii- ^^j-j-Jtory, which you are now endeavoring to uncover. To release Man Be in ^^^^^ dormant wealth for the public good will require a great deal South of work, not only on the part of the agricultural interests, but in co-operation with the Chambers of Commerce and Boards ot Trade, with the transportation lines, the bankers, the merchants, the trade organizations and the colleges and experiment stations. The growth and prosperity of all these factors are interdependent; the losses, sustained by one are shared directly or indirectly by the others, and the touch of Fortune is felt by all alike. If the farmers in a locality have had good crops and are able, with the co-operation of the financial and commercial agencies, to Co-operation "market same profitably the effect is felt all through the district. Necessary to If, through lack of practical aid being given to the rural communi- Siiccess ties, or in the absence of such communities there is no effort to develop them, the cities and towns in those sections cease to pro- gress, and if the proper steps are not taken, the retrograde move- ment begins. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 13 The days when people have sufficient unto themselves are beginning to fade away, so much so that the whole world is look- ing to more centralized effort. Whole nations are no longer able to be entirely independent of others, and even now each continent needs the assistance of the rest of the world. We have been made to recognize in the past two years more than ever before the importance of agriculture to the prosperity of the nation. There is hardly a more important subject today than the national food supply, not only as a factor in our own national life, but in that of other nations. Without the farmer how long ,, ,. , „ , . . 1 • 1 1 1 -, T-1 • Nations Fate could the soldiers maintam themselves m the fields? There is one i^arggiy i^ little incident in history that impresses me in this connection, and Hands of that is the story oft told about Cincinnatus, the patriotic Roman, Farmer who left his plow standing and hastened at top speed to help the empire when news of war reached him. If Cincinnatus were a farmer in these times the thing which he would be most likely to do would not be to leave his plow, but he would be encouraged by his government to push the plow more vigorously and where pos- sible add another plow. The ruralist of today is not the farmer of the days gone by; he does not make his once a week trip to the nearest market to dispose of his product and then bury himself in his farm for the next six days. With the aid of the automobile, good roads and City and interurban lines, he is now very much a city folk ; he visits the ^'"'^^ Inter- city places of amusement, makes his purchases in person at the city stores and invests his money in municipal enterprises. Thus we see that the distinction between urban and rural welfare is being eHminated and that each must work for the benefit of the other. When commercial bodies commence to take notice of these things and desire to do what is necessary for proper development along these lines, they should make a careful study of the needs and possibilities in their localities, and if all such organizations in the South give attention to the problems presented and threshed out at this conference, I feel certain that great steps will be taken in that direction. In this connection, it might be advisable to give some statistics regarding the possibilities of the South, the surface of which has thus only been scratched. In 1900, in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi there were over one hundred and sixty Now Devel oped 14 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era million acres of land capable of being cultivated, and of which but 24 per cent had been improved. Between 1900 and 1910 nearly six million acres more of improved farm lands were added, making 27 per cent at the latter date. Comparing progress in these states with that in other states, and making due allowance for increased developments, it is probable that by 1930 at least eighteen million Only 27 Per- acres more of improved lands will be added to the farms in these cent of five states, or 38 per cent. This is not at all a rash prediction when South's^ Lands ^^g j^^j-g ^\-^^^ 34 pgj- ^gj^^ Qf ^^g g^j-ea of Wisconsin was improved farms in 1910, and 49 per cent in New York, notwithstanding the large mountainous area of the latter state. In the prairie states, Illinois has 78 per cent of improved area, and Iowa 83 per cent, which marks the maximum of present development. This will give an idea of what can be done in the South. Wisconsin, which I said has 34 per cent of improved farms in 1910, is the leading dairy state of the Union, yet experts say that the possibilities for profit- able dairying in the South are even greater than those in the North. To realize what the addition of eighteen million acres of im- proved farm lands would mean to industrial activity in the South we have but to refer to the building statistics. According to census reports, the average investment per acre for buildings in the five beforementioned states was $8.48. To preserve this average per acre for buildings, which, by the way, is almost $5.00 less than the average in Northern states, farm buildings to the amount of 150 million dollars would be erected, and, using the same census reports, it is estimated that forty million dollars' worth of agricul- tural implements and machinery would be used. These figures are based upon the assumption that the same methods of farming would be maintained in the South, but if they were brought to the higher planes of the Northern farms these amounts would be greatly in- creased. The South's greatest resource today is her yellow pine forests. In the seven leading states producing this species of lumber, over one-quarter of a million people are employed in lumber industries, which means that over one million people are dependent upon this source for a livelihood. Hundreds of towns are built up and main- tained mainly because of the sawmill operations in those vicinities. Millions of acres of cut-over lands are left idle after the woodman has passed. These lands have been productive of wealth which has given work to so many people and if they are to be kept as a source of revenue, we must look to the co-operation of all agencies, gov- ernmental and private, to do so. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 15 New Orleans is situated at the very door of this great industry and its effect upon the city's growth has been very marked. For years we have been benefited by the milHons invested in this work and the returns from the product. How are we going to preserve this activity so vital to the welfare of this city and to other Southern cities? The South has not yet reached that stag( of a manufacturing locality where capital and labor ending its use- fulness in one industry can be converted into another. We must endeavor to take care of this by utilizing the lands that have been cut over ; making it possible to create productive farms throughout the now' barren land. The problems solved at this conference and the work of any organization effected to carry them out are the greatest steps taken to this end and should receive the support of all commercial organizations. Practical Reforestation Paper prepared by Henry S. Graves, Chief Forester, U. S. Forest Service, and read by E. S. Bryant of the U. S. Forest Service, representing Mr. Graves The undertaking: which vou have called this meeting- to con- 'JnaertakinQ ... , T , • 1 ,■ • • 1 Worthy of sider IS one of very far reachmg public importance ; it commands ^^{f^g Public the interest of the whole public and should have its active sup- Support port. The movement you have initiated is peculiarly significant of a new spirit in the country and it points in the direction of a virtual reconstitution of the industrial organization of the country. Our history' has been largely that of opening up and ex- ploiting virgin resources. In a considerable part of the country our industries might be likened to placer-mining that gathers by- rough and ready methods the gold accumulated in the surface wash. In many respects we are only beginning" to emerge from conditions of primitive development, so far as both industrial and political organization is concerned. Politically we are still a nation of small political units, each preoccupied with its individual problems and each working in large part independently of and often in competition with its 16 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Correlated Efforts Needed War Crisis Emphasizes Need of Nation for Common Ef- fort neighbor. In public works, as, for example, road building and flood control, uncorrelated effort between counties and towns re- sults in failure or in achievement by a very costly route. There is often lack of sympathy and confidence between county and state, or state and federal government, and lack of mutual con- fidence between counties and between states. So that when the larger unit of government is appealed to for aid in inter-county or inter-state undertakings, localism manifests itself in demands for the lion's share of common funds. We are only just beginning to feel an economic pressure re- quiring harmony of purpose and unity of effort in internal af- fairs ; and we are facing in the present international crisis the consciousness of national weakness because of the lack of cor- relation between our many separate political units. We are also just beginning to appreciate that there is a lack of industrial or- ganization of the country, that public interests and industry have a vital relationship, that the industries of one locality are of im- portance to other localities and to the people as a whole. The very wealth of readily available resources has made it possible for individual undertakings to succeed and localities to prosper. When the cream has been skimmed off, communities discover that they have not been building permanently. The larger public learns that sources of supply are exhausted, and dis- tress is caused by inability to obtain new supplies readily and at reasonable cost. And when there is an unusual stress, such as the present, the nation having the greatest resources of all na- tions sees local shortages of a great variety of products such as coal, timber, steel and foodstuffs. The consequences of the local exhaustion of virgin resources are very serious unless there is a replacement by a productive use of the land. In many sections the first industry is lumber- ing. If the land is rich and tillable agriculture follows with its farm homes, communities, cities and related manufacturing. In the South you are now facing the problem of progressive- ly diminishing virgin resources, and what you are going to do to sustain and build up local industry. Lumbering has been your berinq ^hat? foremost industry. Today the South leads in lumber production. In 1880 the South produced about 12 per cent of the nation's lumber cut ; in 1914 the proportion of lumber from the South was nearly 50 per cent. All know that the virgin supplies are The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 17 being rapidly depleted and will be largely cut out in a couple of decades. We have seen the Lake States leading the country in lum- ber production twenty-five years ago, and now yielding only about 10 per cent of the nation's requirements. What is replac- ing these industries? In some places agriculture, but over many millions of acres nothing — a vast wilderness, fire swept and bar- ren of useful products, here and there a trace of a former saw- mill town, old farms deserted because the local industry with its markets is gone, roads almost impassable because the taxable resources that would keep them up has been destroyed, a virtual depopulation of hundreds of square miles. Today the great paper mills of the Lake States with millions invested in equipment and water power are embarrassed to se- cure supplies of wood, and they face the necessity to import wood from a great distance or to abandon their plants. Inquiries have already been made whether material could be secured from the National Forests of the Rocky Mountains to supply paper mills in Wisconsin ; and it has always been hard for me to recon- cile myself to the importation of wood pulp from Scandinavia to points 1,000 miles in our interior. For many years the United States has occupied a command- ing position in the production of naval stores. I believe that we have been producing about 80 per cent of the world's supply. This country has the best source of supply of the world in re- spect to species of trees, climate and accessibility — conditions unexcelled anywhere. Yet we are rapidly dissipating this re- source, and if we keep on, not only the South, but the country, will lose its place as an important producer of naval stores. We know that we can get turpentine from Western pine, and can by distillation obtain it from Douglas fir and other species, but pos- sibly with less yield and greater cost. The Southeast with its long leaf and slash pine is the logical place for turpentine pro- duction. It is important both to the locality and to the nation to have this thirty-five million dollar industry continued. Is it necessary for the South to lose its place in turpentine production or in lumber production? If they were tO' be replaced by agri- culture, production of cotton, corn and other farm products, and the land now producing trees were turned into productive fields, I should say that there would be no less, but perhaps a gain. Lake States Much of Forest Area Left Barren and Unpopu- lated Naval Stores Industry En- dangered 18 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era If A Per- manent Lum- ber Supply May Be Assured Slow Devel- opment of Cut-Over Lands Fires and Hogs Retard Reforestation But that is not the case. There is an opportunity for an agri- cultural development of gigantic proportions, and at the same time a permanent turpentine and lumber industry. Millions of acres of land in the South are unsuited to crop growing, but capable of producing trees of exceptionally rapid growth. Shall we sacrifice tree production on the whole because a part of the land is better suited for crops? Is it not possible to carry on both industries side by side with the land devoted to the pur- pose for which it naturally is best suited? Pennsylvania is sometimes held up as an example of a state that originally was a prominent lumber producing center, and in which that industry is now replaced by manufacturing, agri- culture and mining that makes it one of our richest common- wealths. It is true that in the broad valleys fields have replaced the forest. It is true that mining and manufacturing places the state in the front ranks of wealth. But it is also true that over great portions of the state the forest has been replaced by a waste of scrub oak and sweet fern, with a scanty population struggling against the most adverse conditions to hold their own. Today the state is trying to reclaim its mountain wastes in order to restore the logical resource of much of the region, the forest, and lay the foundation for future productiveness and industry where the land today is a burden on the public. What is happening now in the South? Are the logged off lands being settled up, and is lumbering being replaced by agri- culture? In general the extension of agriculture over logged off pine lands is exceedingly slow. It is doubtful whether at the present time the movement much more than offsets the aban- donment of cleared lands. We know, for example, that Ijetween 1900 and 1910 there was an actual decrease in improved lands in over 25 per cent of the counties of the pine region. I presume that it is safe to say that the demand for logged off land for agri- culture does not exceed 10 per cent of the area cut over each year. To a limited extent logged off lands are grazed and in places there is some forest growth coming back. Most timber land owners take the position that forestry is not practical for them, so that fires continue to run over the lands, preventing in large measure a regrowth of trees. In some sections also unregulated running of hogs on the range effectively checks the reproduc- tion of long leaf pine. Tree growth is accidental and such as oc- The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 19 curs is in spite of the forest fires and other adverse agencies. In short, the present resource is not being replaced by any other that will equal it in value. The state is therefore suffering a net loss every year. The question then arises whether the failure to settle up the logged off lands is a temporary condition, and whether with organized effort settlers cannot be induced to take up the lands much more rapidly in the near future. The fact that the lands are level or moderately rolling, that an analysis of the soil shows some crop raising possibilities, and that the climate is favorable, has misled many persons regard- ing the immediate development of these regions. While there is a great deal of land of good quality, we must also recognize the fact that there are in the aggregate immense areas that are ^^"<^^ of the too poor ever to be used permanently for crop raising and other , "" osing areas which can be made productive only by abundant fertilizers and rather intensive methods of farming and which probably will not be profitable to cultivate for a long time. Repeated ground fires are making these lands even poorer, both for possible culti- vation and for grazing. The problem in this region is not only to get the real agri- cultural lands settled up, but to secure the productive use of the * balance. The combined use of the lands not of immediate agri- cultural use for grazing and forestr}^ is, in my opinion, the an- swer to the question. It happens that in the Gulf States you have conditions for forest production equaled only in portions of the north Pacific region. Your pines grow with very astonishing rapidity, so that in considering returns it is not necessary to think in terms of a century or more, as in certain mountain regions. Within the regions suited to the growth of slash and long leaf pine we have the possibility of producing turpentine on a very practical basis. Studies by the Forest Service indicate that slash pine in natural stands can be used for turpentine in twenty Ten Per Cent to thirty years, and is capable of yielding as much as 500 cups per Profit Pos- acre. These young stands are boxed now, but so severely treated ^'^f^. '" that they are destroyed in three or four years. Under the French J^^^tine Trees method the trees could be worked for from twenty-five to fifty years. In much of the South the long leaf pine could not be worked for turpentine quite as early, but in each case the pro- 20 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era duction age could be considerably reduced by thinnings such as are made in the Maritime Pine forests of southern France. Here, then, we have a possibility of raising trees for turpentine on a very profitable basis with the naval stores the chief product and the wood a by-product. Estimates by the Forest Service show the possibility of a 10 per cent investment, based on $5.00 land. This is pretty good for land that is not suited, at the present time, for agriculture. In the matter of timber production the South is in an ex- ceptionally favorable position. Examples may be multiplied which demonstrate that young long leaf pine stands are growing at the rate of from 600 to 800 board feet per acre per annum, and, where properly thinned, would yield more. Loblolly Pine under reasonably favorable conditions grows with equal rapidity. Such growth, of course, occurs only where there is a reasonably good stand of trees. From the standpoint of the public, production of even 200 feet per acre per annum would be of great value. It would mean a growth over the whole region of over twelve to fifteen billion feet, enough to sustain the turpentine industry and a lumber industry of large proportions in the aggregate for many years. I believe that it is entirely possible to secure this growth, by organized fire protection and by the systematic use of the pine lands for grazing, agriculture and forestry. One of the things that has been demonstrated by the admin- istration of the National Forests has been the practicability of producing timber and live stock on the same lands. In the West as in the South the forests are chiefly coniferous. For- Growing Tim- merly these lands were over-grazed and as a result were steadily ber and Live deteriorating in productiveness of forage, and the forest growth Stock on the .... , „, , , i . j ,j r w ^^s progressively mjured. Ihe system of regulated grazmg now in effect has largely restored the forest range, stopped erosion and safeguarded forest production. The same can be done in the South. Unless I am misinformed, the constant abuse of the Southern lands by fire is steadily lowering their value for grazing and for possible later agriculture. Control of fire and regulated grazing would make these lands more productive. Still another result in the National Forests has been the de- velopment of scattered agricultural lands directly due to the public forestry enterprise. The activities connected with the forests, and the stability of grazing on the) public forests, are The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 21 bringing- in settlers to occupy lands that could not be developed if these other resources were not being built up at the same time. It would, I believe, work in the same way in the South. Every active step in the way of using the non-agricultural lands for grazing and forestry stimulates the use of agricultural lands Qpf^ring (,nd and building up of communities. The National Forests are forestry ■ carrying over ten million head of live stock and growing trees Stimulate at the same time; and the lands suited to farming are being oc- Agriculture cupied by actual settlers, most of whom would not have an out- look for permanence if the old system of forest fires, of ex- ploitation of timber with no regard for restocking, and of unreg- ulated over-grazing of the mountain slopes prevailed. Granted the truth of these contentions, how can the results be attained in the South? Unquestionably it will be possible to get private capital interested in handling lands for turpentine production. The profits are certain and the period before actual returns reasonable. But the average timber land owner balks at even a forty-year proposition of tree growing. So far the so- called conservation programs of the lumbermen of this region Forestry Not have wholly left out the continuance of the forest by regrowth. Impractical Thus the proposal recently made through the National Chambe'" of Commerce to urge Congress to permit agreements in restraint of trade where this would promote conservation of primary nat- ural resources had in view only the saving of waste in exploiting present resources. Forest production by growth was overlooked as impractical. Personally I do not have much expectation that many pri- vate owners of land in the South will individually undertake for- estry merely on a showing that these lands are capable of producing thirty to forty thousand feet per acre in forty years. Nor do I believe that they will succeed in colonizing their cut- „ „ ^. 1 J 1 • c Collective hf- over lands on any large scale under plans now m vogue. Specu- /^^^ Neces- lative land boosting would react to the injury of the country, sary Often land may be sold, but not developed. On the other hand, I believe the plan of combining agriculture, grazing and for- estry is entirely practical, and can be successfully undertaken through collective effort. The results are so important that I believe that this collective; effort should include the public as well as the private owners of the land. First of all, there has got to be some stability of ownership of the land and policy of its use. Where non-resident owners 22 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era State Owner- ship Would Have Some Advantages Private Owners Must Face the Problem who have bought the land for its timber are simply holding- the land until they can sell it at almost any price, but little can be done. If, however, the owners retain the land with a view to its productive use, plans can be put into effect involving the de- velopment of the property for the various uses for which its different parts are best suited. Neighboring owners could co- ordinate their activities of fire protection, grazing administra- tion and forestry, just as the Government does with other owners whose lands are adjacent to and interlocking with the National Forests. Of course, the plan would work out most simply if the state owned all the lands. It would sell the agricultural lands to settlers and for townsites ; it would sell timber as we do in the National Forest, retaining title to the land and providing for protection and regrowth ; it would lease grazing privileges on the same lands and would provide for miscellaneous special uses of the lands as demands might arise. A great deal of the grazing would ultimately be by the settlers who would build up herds in connection with their farms. The grazing privileges would re- sult in an increasing number of settlers who would combine ag- riculture and stock raising and thus use land for agriculture that without the grazing would not support a family. Progressively the agricultural land would thus be occupied and the balance put to its best use. The timber would furnish a stable and permanent industry and contribute also to the increased use of agricultural lands, through the markets for food and hay and the chance for part- time employment connected with its various activities. This is the sort of thing that is actually occurring on an extensive scale where the Government owns the land in the National Forests. The public does not own the pine lands of the South, and it may not be feasible to acquire them. The question is whether it is possible to secure under private ownership their productive use, even if that is not as complete as if the state owned the lands. The public interests in the right handling of these lands is so great, the public loss from wrong, handling so far reaching, that it is only a question of time before the states themselves will enact regulatory and restrictive legislation regarding them if they are allowed to become an unproductive waste. A better plan, in my opinion, is for the public and private agencies to unite forces now and by joint effort work out a method for put- ting the development of the pine lands on a permanent and stable basis. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 23 We need in this problem, as in many other matters, not so much regulation by the state as correlated action and joint effort by the public and private agencies, working toward a common Co-operation purpose. This plan is in successful operation in the West in Preferable to forest fire protection and in the handling of grazing matters. State Begii- While conditions are different in the South, the principle is, 1 ^"^'"o" believe, feasible if the land owners are prepared to enter upon a far-reaching plan of land administration. There would be involved first of all a classification of the land and a survey of the resources, both timber and grazing; then a plan of development, administration, finance and control. Personally I should like to see a plan worked out for a specified group of holdings, under the direction of a board or committee composed of representatives of the owners and of the public agencies that might be interested, as the county, state Offers Assist- and federal government. If such joint enterprises could be un- ance of For- dertaken it would turn the course of the use of the pine lands ^^' Service from a progressive destruction of resources to an upbuilding process. If such constructive enterprise should be initiated you may confidently count on the support of the Forest Service. 24 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Practical Utilization of Cut- Over Lands By Stanley F. Morse Consulting Agricultural Expert, formerly of the University of Arizona Gentlemen : — I am going to endeavor, in a very few mo- ments, to outline briefly the possible methods of practical utili- zation of these cut-over lands. The first thing I want to call your attention to is the fact that the method of utilization should be based on the local conditions. I find, in going over the cut- over lands, that there doesn't seem to be enough attention paid to this fact — that there is a great variety in the conditions amongst which these various lands are situated. For instance, let us take the conditions that will obtain in the different sections where the cut-over lands are located. We Differences in ^^^ ^j^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^j^^j difference is that of climate. I Climate Must , , ^ i- ^i • u j-rr ^ n C id don t suppose many of you realize there is so much diiterence, ^j.p(l but if you will travel north from New Orleans a hundred miles you will find there is an appreciable difference in the dates of early and late frosts, and in the mildness of the winter. Let us take simply the mildness of the winter. That makes a great deal of difference from a cattle-raising standpoint, be- cause in the milder sections you not only do not need such elab- orate shelters, but the feed will remain greener for a longer period. Then, of course, the early and late frosts help to deter- mine the kind of crops you can plant. So the first thing to be considered is the matter of climate, and that is also tempered by the elevation. For instance, you may strike a certain locality which is considerably higher than another, and you will find that the temperature is cooler ; and in another place in the same latitude lower down you will find a milder climate. The second thing is the soil. A great many people seem to Alt- ver think the land of the cut-over section is more or less the same Land Soils . , ,, , r r t ■, r i Offer Wide kind of soil. That is a fallacy. As a matter of fact, I have found Variety soils varying in the cut-over district from a heavy clay to a very light sand. That will make a considerable difference as to the The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 25 utilization of those lands. The type of agriculture which you are going" to attempt to carry on successfully will be governed to a large extent by the fertility and type of the soil. Of course, the heavy types of soil are apt to be poorly drained and have to be broken up, while the lighter types have not so much of the or- ganic matter in them and are well drained, and in some cases quite leachy. I haven't the time to go into this matter in detail, but I want to emphasize the fact that in developing the method of utilization of this cut-over land you have to study your soil con- ditions as well as climatic conditions and then adapt your crops or live stock to these conditions. The next factor which I would call your attention to, and which is also of considerable importance, is the matter of topog- raphy ; in other words, what the farmer calls "the lay of the land." We may have flat lands, gently rolling lands and hilly lands. What difference does that make in the utilization of the land from an agricultural standpoint? It makes all the difference in the world. For instance, where the land is level in large areas it is "ff^^ £^jj„ ^e generally recognized that a rather extensive type of agriculture the Land." can usually be profitably practised, for the reason that it permits of the use of labor-saving tractor or horse-drawn machinery. If you have land broken up by hills and you attempt to run large tillage implements over it, you will find that your cost of oper- ation is considerably increased. So a vital factor that I would call your attention to is the matter of topography. I might also point out that where you have rolling' or hilly lands you get better drainage ; and there is also a tendency for the land to wash, so that if you intend to raise cultivated crops you are going to have to terrace your lands. Such lands would better be kept in sod for pasture or hay. This would be a better and more natural utilization of the land under local conditions. I emphasize again, then, that the topography of the land is a very vital factor, which will influence the success or failure of the type of agriculture you engage in. I have seen a number of different methods of development tried, and in many of them there seems to have been little attention paid to these factors. Then comes the fourth factor, of transportation. You hear a great deal of talk about the utilization of cut-over lands for truck raising. If you are forty or fifty miles from a railroad, how 26 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Transporta- tion Facilities Vital Factor in Type of Crops Grown Cut-Over Lands Ideal for Pasturage Live Stock Farms Must Be of Proper Size will you get your perishable products to the market? That brings up the question of to what extent may we utilize these cut-over lands, far distant from railroads, for the production of more intensive crops? Naturally, the utilization of lands for this purpose is limited. As to the adapted agricultural products, very briefly, it seems to me that the type of utilization which will be most profitable for these cut-over lands is live stock. In the first place, there are two or three things which lead to that conclusion. The average cut-over land is what might be called of medium to low fertility. The fertility, as a rule, is not high, -although I have seen some that were in a very good state of fertility ; but the average is rather a low state of fertility. That means that if you try to produce food crops or any other kind you will have to fertilize highly or set aside a period of years during which to build up your soil, and that will increase the cost of producing your crops and is going to make the production of certain crops unprofitable. In the second place, these lands are cheap. The grasses are fairly good, lespedeza is coming in, and the pasture possibilities of these lands seem to be almost unlimited ; and on the rolling lands the sod tends to hold the soil. You have a natural utiliza- tion there by nature's work, and you should utilize that pasture in some way. I have recently come from the West, and we find that hun- dreds of thousands of cattle are being raised on cheap pasture — what is known as the range system ; and the only reason we can do that is because we have an abundance of this cheap pas- ture and we can afford to let our cows graze over this pasture and virtually take care of themselves and raise their calves ; and then these animals, when they are large enough, are shipped to the richer lands for fattening for the market. That seems to be the most common and natural utilization of this cut-over land. Another thing: The need for more beef cattle is an increasing one, and if these lands are available in large areas, and are cheap and adapted to pasture crops, that should encourage the influx of large cattle owners who can operate on a big scale, and they can produce feeders more economically than some of the small men. That doesn't mean there is no place for the smaller live stock farmer, because I believe there is. One point there: When you try to induce the farmer to practice live stock raising, you should The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 27 not sell him a farm too small. I notice some of the cut-over land owners are cutting- their lands up in parcels which, on the very face of the thing, are too small to enable the man to make a decent living. The amount of income which a live stock farmer can secure from an acre is limited by the number of cattle it will support, and if you limit him to a certain number of acres his aggregate income will not be sufficient to make him a decent living, and then he will get discouraged. In the West and other parts of the country we have found that you must have a size of farm which is sufficient to give the farmer an aggregate income which will enable him to operate profitably. So there is a place for both the large and the medium-sized farmer. Not only cattle, but sheep, can be grown here economically, and on some of the cut-over lands I have seen hogs which are ,p. as fat as you could desire, in the middle of January — simply d-op Possibil- rolling fat ; and these hogs did not have the advantage of winter ities green crops such as oats or crimson clover. The other utilization will be by means of crops. What can we raise? We cannot raise, I believe, gentlemen, what might be known as the foodstuff crops. If we attempt to raise wheat and barley and products of that sort, which can be more eco- nomically produced on better or richer lands elsewhere, we will make a mistake ; but if we raise forage crops which are naturally adapted to these cut-over lands, that is more apt to give you an income. You can either feed them to the cattle or sell them, and you have a ready money crop. Among those I might men- tion the cow pea, lespedeza and various other legumes and grasses which are already adapted for producing feed crops to sell as hay or feed to your stock. If you desire to raise grain crops, there are only two crops you can give consideration to — oats and corn ; also, maybe some legumes or cow pea seed. Oats and corn will probably be a fairly profitable crop ; oats is not very profitable under the best of conditions, but it is probably better than corn. In looking over the cut-over lands. I find corn is a very light producer. We find there is a range of from fifteen to- thirty bushels per acre, and the lower yields seem to be more common. Since most of the cut-over lands are hilly, or of a broken character, it is questionable how economical it will be to attempt to cultivate corn on lands of that character. This same statement applies to cotton, which is a fairly profitable money crop under favorable conditions. 28 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Three Best Means of Utilization Success Assured If Proper Meth- ods Followed One more thing: I have mentioned forage crops and grain crops, and have forgotten to make any mention of truck prod- ucts — the money crops. In certain locaHties a valuable utiliza- tion of the lands may be made through the growing of vegetables and fruits. To a limited extent, and along the lines of trans- portation, there is no question but that, with the aid of fertiliz- ers, we may be able to raise adapted crops of vegetables and fruits; but we must not get away from the lines of transporta- tion. Therefore, there are three main lines of utilization : First, cattle raising, which is the largest and will be the best method of utilization to start with ; it will be most profitable and, to a large degree, the tendency will be to run these cattle on a large scale for the production of feeders for the market. Second, moderate-sized live stock farming will have a limited application, where the farm is not of too small a size, and there is carried on a diversified sort of farming with emphasis on cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry. Third, we can raise forage crops, for the market and for live stock feeding, and there will be the limited production of certain grain and seed crops ; and then we shall have the more intensive money crops, such as vegetables and fruits, in limited adapted areas close to transportation. That, gentlemen, in a very brief way, is an outline of the utilization of these lands ; and I want to emphasize once more the necessity of thoroughly analyzing your local conditions be- fore you attempt to start farming or colonizing operations. If I had time I should like to talk to you more about these things, but the important thing for you people to do, before you attempt to do anything with certain lands, is to have your conditions thoroughly analyzed and have a plan of farming utilization care- fully worked out in advance which has a chance for success in it, rather than one which has a chance for failure. And in sell- ing your land to colonists be sure that for the type of farming you are advocating you have adopted the proper area. Before you get through you will agree with me that you must have farms of the proper size, according to the type of farming your farmers will engage in ; and you should see that every assistance is given your farmers to follow out the type of farming chosen as being best adapted to your conditions. (Applause.) The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 29 Agriculture from a National Standpoint By Hon. Carl Vrooman Assistant Secretary, United States Department of Agriculture I shall talk to you in a sketchy, general sort of way about the fundamental policies involved in the consideration of the prob- lems up for discussion at this Conference. We have, in the region under consideration — according to data I have brought from Washington — about 76,000,000 acres of cut-over land on which there is more or less second growth, and about 15,000,000 acres on which there is no second growth — on which nothing is being produced. The problem is, what are we going to do with these lands? It is a large subject, and you have wisely cut it up into sub- divisions and assigned experts to speak on each topic involved. I shall merely make a brief, general survey of the question as a whole. The Department of Agriculture w^ould like to encourag^e the development for agricultural purposes of all this area which is adapted to agricultural purposes. We do not know how much of it is adapted to agricultural purposes, and you do not know ; and, therefore, the first and most important step that I can suggest is to have a survey made — such as we make in Z^'^*"^ ^^ ork the national forests — to ascertain which of these lands are suit- ^J^^^^ ^ ^ able for agricultural development and which for other kinds of development. Those suitable for agricultural development should then be surveyed with regard to marketing conditions, with regard to labor supply, with regard to the financing of such agricultural development and with reg-ard to .every other conceivable problem involved in developing these lands for agri- cultural purposes. If you proceed to act before you do this, you are riding to a fall, you are running into difficulty and you are going in for a proposition which is only half digested. There- fore, the first step is to make a definite survey of the situation to determine what proportion of these lands are good for agri- cultural purposes, and what other parts are adapted to stock- iMud Survefi 30 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era lability of Cnl-Over Lands Forest Fire Problem Must Be Solved raising purposes. A g-ood deal of this'land would be adapted to raisings sheep, cattle and hogs, which would not be at all adapted to raising' cotton, corn, sugar cane or soy beans, or any of the Varied Adap- other grain crops. The rest of the land, which is neither adapted to agriculture in the shape of crops or agriculture in the shape of live stock development, should then be set aside as a permanent forest area and a permanent forestry policy worked out through the co-operation of the Federal Department of Agriculture, or the State Forestry Service, and the owners of the land. Perhaps the greatest single obstacle to a proper development of any of these lines of activity — agriculture, live stock or for- estry — is the forest fire ; the forest fire not only destroys a lot of forest trees, but it destroys the humus in the soil and the plant life on which the live stock subsist. Until you have worked out a policy which will enable us, unitedly, to solve the problem of forest fires, you have not taken your first step in the develop- ment of the cut-over areas of this or any other region. That is a problem that will need the united attack of the Federal Govern- ment, the state government and the private owners of these lands. When once you solve this problem and make your surveys, then we are ready to get to work on the subdivisions of the problem. Then we should have established, in all the different sections where these lands are located, experiment stations where we can experiment on solutions for all the problems connected with the agricultural and live stock industries in these regions. At the present time there is a good deal that you do not know, that the state bodies do not know, and that nobody knows with regard to these problems. AVe have not yet worked out all the problems connected with the matter of grasses on which to raise the live stock. We have not worked out the problems connected with the proper crops to be grown to best advantage on those parts of these lands which are agricultural in their possibilities. We have not yet worked on these problems sufficiently to know what method of reforestation to adopt. If you were to take this matter up with our Congressmen and Senators, the United States Government undoubtedly would be willing to establish experiment stations in the different sections of the South where all these problems could be worked out until a proper solution for them was found. Now, in looking at this problem the fundamental principle involved is an old one, and an old one that is today receiving a Experiment Stations Needed The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 31 good deal more emphasis than it ever received in the past. In the past, the business men and the Government did not always understand each other. Business men felt that the Government very often was making business activity on their part unneces- sarily difficult. The Federal Government, on the other hand, felt that it was only meeting certain problems which had to be grappled with in order to protect the innocent investor. But we Business Men have, during the past year or two — and today it is more evident ctnd Govern- than ever — discovered that the Government and the business "'^"^ Getting men of this country are able to get together and understand each other. (Applause.) The Government is asking the business men to put their cards on the table face up. and on that basis we are getting together for a great constructive effort to build up the agricultural, mineral and industrial resources of this countr}- Gentlemen, this country has a greater future before it than any of us realize. I suppose the publicity men working on these problems think that thev are able to paint, in as roseate colors as the facts will warrant, the agricultural possibilities of this region ; but allow me to say to you that no publicity man has yet dream.ed of the extent of the agricultural, live stock and forestry Cut-Over possibilities of this great region. We have only just scratched ^^^^ Possi- the surface of our national resources ; and if we will all pull / ' '^^ . ^'. 1 1 -11- • t , , . . dreamed Of together, each willmg to give a square deal to every legitimate interest involved, these resources can be developed, step by step, until we astonish ourselves by the riches that will be the outcome of our united efforts. All this was true about two weeks ago. Since then some- thing has happened which has changed very materially the psychology of the American people. We are now in a state of war. Everything we could have said ten days ago about this problem we can now say with a thousand per cent of added em- phasis. The time has now come for America to make the most of her resources of men, of land, of capital, and of patriotism ; if there ever was a time when we should all put our cards and chips on the table and see what we can all do with everything we have, in order to strengthen our nation in this international crisis, this is the hour. (Applause.) I don't know how much of this cut-over land is adapted to immediate use for agricultural or live stock purposes. We hope 32 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era M'ar's De- the war is going to be a short one ; but nobody knows. It may mands Upon drag along for years. Therefore, let us have two programs' — e ou an ^^^^ ^^^ immediate and emergency program, what we can do this week, this month, this year ; and the other a permanent program of national development that will g"o steadily ahead during all the years to come. I left Washington ten days ago ; stopping at Atlanta, Memphis, Little Rock, Shreveport, and today at New Orleans. I have been talking to the people at each of these places about agricultural preparedness, or about food preparedness. I have told the people of the South that the Federal Government is expecting the South this year to do some- thing very novel to the South. It means a great change in the methods of the South. The Federal Government is expecting the South this year to feed herself, and for two reasons : First of all, because if the South does not feed herself the South will go hungry before the year is out. We are not asking very much of the South. We would have a perfect right to ask the South not only to feed herself, but to contribute her quota toward feeding the soldiers in the field, and also toward feeding our Allies in the trenches of Europe ; but we are not asking that ; we are not asking the maximum — we are asking the minimum ; and we confidently expect the South to respond in full measure to what we ask of her. When the war was started in Europe most of the countries there thought war was conducted by armies, and that all they had to do to win was to get a lot of men together, train them to shoot and send them to the trenches. England was the slowest, but finally she got together the cream of her young manhood, the most self-sacrificing, the most patriotic, the best men of England's England, and they went over to France and Flanders and were Early Mis- mowed down as with a scythe, because England forgot that men takes can't fight successfully against superior armament, that courage does not take the place of cannon ; and so, for month after month, the English soldiers stayed in the trenches and were shot to pieces because Germany had cannon which shot two or three miles farther than theirs did. Then England set to work to get guns, and she found she had pounds of powder where she ought to have had tons. She then set to work and created munition factories on such a scale that today they manufacture more arms and munitions in a day than they used to manufacture in a year. Then they found something else was wrong. The The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 33 working men began to strike all over England. The working men said the capitalists were making big war profits and yet their wages had not been increased, and they struck ; and Lloyd George exhorted them and begged them to return to their work from patriotic motives, and they said, "We are perfectly willing to work, but we have to have a square deal ; if our masters make huge war profits, then our wages must go up." They would not budge an inch. Finally, the workingmen sent word to the Prime Minister and said: "We have a proposition; our masters say we are disloyal, we are slackers and shirkers ; we will find out who is the slacker and the shirker ; now we will not only work for low wages, but for no wages at all, on one condition — that the capitalists put their plants and coal mines and rail- roads at the disposition of the Government as we offer to do • our labor, without remuneration." Then the Government called together the capitalists and the workingmen and the Govern- ment officials and had a conference ; and after a day or two they worked out a plan which guaranteed to capitalists a reasonable profit on their investment and no more, and to workingmen a reasonable wage that would take care of them, even with the prices of food as high as they were, and no more; and on this basis they harnessed all the industrial, agricultural and financial strength of England in the great war, and since that day you have seen England leaping forward like a powerful automobile that has been thrown into high — the change was magical, because from that moment every man, woman and child in Great Britain was working with one purpose only — to advance the cause of their common country. They found that no nation is prepared which does not take justice out of the Bible and out of the skies and out of the hearts of jurists and judges and prophets and bring it down to earth and write it into the laws and victory or institutions of men. (Applause.) And after they had done all Defeat De- that, they found there was still something lacking. They found pends on what Germany had found— and France, and Italy, and even Rus- ^«°^ Supplies sia — that after all, an army travels on its belly; that this is a war not between armies but between nations and combinations of nations, and every man, woman and child is doing his bit to help his country. With thirty million people slowly starv- ing in Germany, and every other country in Europe being put on war rations, they found that the war is going to be determined not bv the nation with the greatest number of men in the 34 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era trenches and the greatest quantities of munitions and of financial resources available, but by the combination of nations that is able to feed itself the longest. Just at this juncture we got into the war. We have not enough soldiers to count materially. Our national army and our militia will not be large enough for a long time to turn the tide of battle on any one of half a dozen battle fronts. You will remember that when Rumania went into the war she had 750,000 soldiers, but instead of helping her allies her entrance strengthened her opponents. It is millions of men that count. We will probably send a division over there on the firing line in France just to show that we are present in the flesh as well as in the spirit, just to plant the Stars and Stripes beside the flags of our Allies ; just to show that this country has not for- gotten the time when Lafayette and Rochambeau came to America to help us (applause) ; that will be done largely for its Food and moral effect. The chief things we can do during the next six More Food months will be to finance and feed the troops of the Allies. We the Cry from i^^ive untold wealth. This country is wealthier than all the com- Abroad bined nations on the continent of Europe. So we can finance our Allies for years to come. But that is not the most immediate need. They now need food, more food and still more food, be- cause every country in Europe has been tightening its belt now for some time ; and if the submarine warfare had succeeded Eng- land would have been brought to her knees within three months. The South produces much food, but she imports from the North and West nearly half a billion dollars worth of food and foodstuffs every year in excess of the fruits, vegetables, cotton seed products, etc., which she exports to the North. When we ask vou to produce your own food and feed yourself we are only asking you to release that much food and foodstuffs witli which to feed our soldiers in the field and our Allies in the trenches. Is the South going to respond to this call? If she doesn't, it is the first call of duty the South ever ignored. (Applause.) Now that means individual sacrifice. This means that every The Soiith's man, woman and child in the South, without a single exception. Duty to the has a duty to perform ; the children to put in gardens — I don't Nation mean flower gardens, I mean vegetable gardens that will produce food for you during the summer months and enable you to can and dry and put aside food for the winter months. If you The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 35 haven't a garden larger than this platform — it will be valuable not only for the food it will produce but for what it typifies. This flag that I wear on my breast is not big, but it represents everything dearest in life to every man, woman and child under its folds, and when you have put in one little bit of a garden, it stands as the symbol of the fact that you stand ready to do your bit for your country in this great national crisis. And then the planters and farmers of the South ; some of themjiave gone cotton crazy; because they are getting 22 cents a pound for cotton they can only see cotton. Up in Kentucky and Virginia and other states they are raising tobacco. It may be all right to chew tobacco, but it isn't going to feed you if you have to chew tobacco and spit cotton in the wintertime. And then our transportation systems — they already have been repeat- edly congested in times of peace ; and during the coming months they will be weighed down with an ever increasing military re- sponsibility. If they are congested, you can't get food through ,<(. th M t from the North ; and then, if the South has failed to raise her i^aise Her own foodstuffs, she will go hungry. So, if there are any Own Food or cotton planters here today, or if you know any cotton plant- ^^ Hungry" ers, take this message to them from their Government : Any man who is a loyal American citizen is going to do his share toward raising the food crops of his region during the next season, and any man not ready to do that is not worthy to be protected by the flag of our common country. (Applause.) We are sending our boys to the front. They are going up there, perhaps, to be shot to pieces. We are here urging them to be brave and patriotic, and yet some of us may lag behind and fail to do the little thing we are asked to do — to make the small sacrifice we are asked to make. I know it is not easy to take a lot of tenants trained to raise cotton and have them raise corn, or soy beans, or sweet potatoes. I am a landlord myself. But this is not a Sunday-school picnic. This is war; and we are not asking you "War No Sun- alone to do these things — we are asking every American citizen day-School to take up the most diflficult task and do it gladly for his country. '^"'^ If we will do that, if we will get that spirit into the emergency work of the next few months, then this larger, more permanent work of development of agricultural, live stock and forestry resources of the South in due time will go forward with giant strides. We need the right spirit in this work. If everybody becomes imbued with that spirit then the future development of the South's resources will be magical. 36 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era There are a great many other things that may be said along these same lines, but there are a number of specialists to speak to you this afternoon on these other topics, and therefore I will simply thank you for your attention, and wish you success in your great constructive and patriotic task. (Prolonged applause.) The Cut-Over Land Owner's Responsibility — His Opportunity By Hon. Clay Tallman Commissioner, General Land Office United States Department of the Interior I want to say first that I am very appreciative of the oppor- tunity to come here and contribute a little, if I can, to the development of a national resource, particularly a basic resource like the land, to see if we cannot find a way to make it produce a little more and add something to the upbuilding of the nation. At the outset, I should say that so far as the public land in the South is concerned, for the purpose of this discussion, it is altogether negligible. The problems we are working on every day concern the lands of the Western states, where the great bulk of the remaining public lands are ; there we are working out South's Prob- problems and overcoming obstacles not altogether unlike those lems Not Un- you have here, and problems in which, I believe, the general f th w / principles — the controlling principles — are very much the same. I feel in a way, so far as I am personally concerned, as if this program is a little bit wrong end to ; not that I want to be critical, but just because, in attacking a land problem of this sort, when we take it up in the Western states, we first like to learn as much as we can about the subject; we want to know that in as much detail as possible ; and I can only wish that before I came on this program there had been some speakers — as I understand there will be — who had already given us the facts more in detail before we take up the problem with a view to its solution. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 37 I might say further that I don't want to appear presump- tuous. I realize that the sort of problems we are working on are in a different part of the country, where climate, topography, soil conditions and producing conditions are very much dif- ferent. The people, it has been my experience, are just about the same all over these United States ; and they are just about equally progressive in one place as another; and they are equally patriotic, and equally anxious to respond to an appeal such as Mr. Vrooman made here today. Moreover, so far as the West is concerned, there is no spirit of adverse competition ; they want you to do the very Sectional best you can here ; they want you here in this Southern country Jl!^^^ ' / */,- to make the best and most of these resources you have ; we past feel you want us in the West to do likewise, because we know, even from a selfish standpoint, that the more you can raise the more money you can make, and the more people you have making a good living, the more of our product you will be able to buy, and the better we do the more of your products we will be able to buy ; the time is long since past when there is any necessity for a spirit of destructive competition as between different parts of this country. I talked to a man in Virginia the other day who is very familiar with the growth and development of that state, and he told me, among other things, that there were thousands of acres of formerly cultivated lands in Virginia that had been permitted to grow to trees, and I said to him, "Why was that?" He said, "After the war of the States there was the great Middle West ; and we couldn't compete with the country out there where they had unlimited cheap and fertile lands." Those conditions have passed, as I will attempt to show you. Now, speaking in a general way, it would seem to me that one of the first questions that presents itself is whether or not there is anything in this proposition we are talking about ; whether our efforts must result in failure, as regards this tract of seventy million acres now lying idle ; are we dreaming about an impossible thing, or have we a practical problem on which we have a fair chance of success? To me, with the experience I have had in recent years, it seems very strange, it seems almost incomprehensible, to think of seventy million acres of land that will raise anything at all, lying idle, and not being made to produce the most and best it can. 38 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era My home state — Nevada — is probably as unlike conditions that exist here in point of climate, products and general condi- tions that we have to deal with as regards crop production, as any other part of the United States. I have traveled all over that vast area, and if there is any place in that state, in the most remote place,, way off in a canyon, 50 or 100 miles from a railroad, where there is a little spring that will produce an inch of water that somebody has not got, and that somebody is not using and making the most of, I don't know the place, and I don't know anybody else who does. So I say, it is strange to me, it is difficult to understand, how there can be great areas - of productive land here that are not being used. Now, as a preliminary, sometimes it is desirable, in grap- pling a big problem like this, to get a sort of comprehensive view of the land conditions throughout the nation as a whole, to sort (if get a line on the trend of the times, as it were — ask ourselves the question, where do we stand in this nation as a whole on this question? What is its present status? Perhaps a reference, for a minute or two, to the history of the public lands of the United States would not be amiss. In the early days of this government. Congress looked upon the land as a resource merely to pay debts with, merely to get monev out of ; and consequently we find that the public lands were disposed of almost exclusively, until the year 1841, on an essentially cash sale system ; millions of acres were disposed of to pay debts. Consequently, the government. offered the public lands at public auction, and if they were not sold at public sales, they were sold at private sale and anybody could buy all he could pay for; and so we disposed of a great area in that way. The government got a comparatively small amount of money out of it, and there was an era of much speculation and comparatively little development ; the poor man with only his hands didn't have a chance. They never asked the purchaser what he was going to do with the land — whether he would cultivate it or what he intended to do with it. The Fir t That system went on until 1841, and then public thought Preemption began to change and we had the first preemption law, a little Law modification of the cash sale, whereby the government said, "We will sell this land to you, and if you will live on it and make your residence on it, you will have a preference right for a limited time in which to buy it." It was a modification of The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 39 the cash sale, whereby a man could get a preference right by settlement. Time went on, and in the year 1862, in the midst of the war, Congress woke up to the proposition that the mere money we were getting out of these public lands was the least consideration ; that the matter of cultivation, de- velopment and homebuilding was the great big consideration that we should look to; and from 1862 on, you will notice, in all the land laws, all the acts of Congress — that the controlling and main thought has been, how can we dispose of these lands so as to produce the most homes and the greatest development and use. And so there was never any one act of Congress which so well laid the foundation for the development of the Middle West and the Far West as the Homestead law. We had disposed of, roughly, under the old system, of from 80 to 100 million acres. Under the Homestead law we have disposed of 150 million acres; and under the Commuted Homestead law, whereby by a shorter residence and a cash payment title could be secured to the land, we disposed of 50 million acres more. The operation of that legislation has swept from the Mississippi west to the Pacific ocean, and no single act of Congress has ever been more con- ducive to the upbuilding of a great empire than that legislation. The Homestead law meant homes, cultivation and crop rais- ing. Then Congress went on and saw the transportation prob- lem, and said, we must get railroads to this country in order to get the homesteaders there. So we find Congress making great railroad grants to induce the building of railroads. Probably nothing in the way of land legislation has ever been the subject of more controversy and argument, one way or the other, than this railroad grant proposition. Congress has given away, as donations to railroads, probably 160 million acres. Texas gave away 25 million acres more. One thing certain the rail- roads did conduce very much to the upbuilding of the country. Whether they would have come eventually without the grants, or if so, whether they would have come soon enough, is a mere matter of speculation. Two years ago, when the ques- tion of development in Alaska was up. Congress said, we will not give away half of that territory to get railroads ; we will keep the land and give it to settlers and build the railroad with government money, carrying that controlling principle still further, making it easier and more attractive and desirable for Homestead Act Finally Solves Problem The Govern- ment and Western Rail- road Build- ing 40 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Money Get- ting vs. Devel- opment The Age of Co-operation the settlers to make homes ; knowing that the more developed farms, the more resources there are in the country, the better we can always secure the necessary revenues to support the government. Therefore, we have our public land history divided into two periods I have sketched — first, the money getting period ; next, the development period. A few years ago there came in still another period. We might call it the conservation or reservation period. Nobody can tell exactly when it started, but it nevertheless did start. Nobody can state, in a sentence, what the controlling principle of this period is, but, in a general way, this last period revolves around this thought : that we have been lax in the enforcement of many of our land laws ; that we have not always looked carefully to the best use of all these resources ; that we have permitted our land laws in many respects to be abused ; that we have permitted certain people and interests to gain a monopoly of this thing or that thing ; and so we had vari- ous changes in the matter of public policy. We have, through the West, probably 150 million acres that have been put into for- est reserves. We have the Government taking up and spending money for reclamation. We have a price put on our coal lands above the minimum ; we have the old system which operated to lock up the coal of Alaska, replaced by a complete leasing system ; we have a price put on the timber lands above the minimum, the idea being to make the land free and easy to get always for the man who will develop and use it to the best advantage ; but if it is a straight out-and-out business proposi- tion, and does not involve a home building principle, then he should pay what it is worth. I think we are gradually growing into a fourth period. I can see it coming in many ways. Some aspects of it were de- scribed by Secretary Vrooman this afternoon. It is a period of co-operative development among all the interests involved. It is the period we are starting in on now, where private owners, the states and the Federal government will pull together more than they have ever done before in the development of these resources. And never before in our country's history was each man's private business so much everybody's business as it is now. For in- stance, we give a charter to a street railroad company to use the streets, and' we impose upon the grantee of that right various duties and obligations. We say it is a common carrier. Now The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 41 the tendency is to go further and further with this. The tendency is for the public to have an interest in everything going on all over this country, whether commonly called private or public. For instance, the public will say you have 70 million acres of good land lying idle here ; you won't be permitted to leave that land lying idle in the United States when we need it to produce food for all of us, particularly at a time when the per- petuation of our very national existence may depend on our ability to feed ourselves and our allies. Now, what is the purpose of all this talk about what hap- pened fifty years ago, forty years ago and now? I simply want to develop this proposition, gentlemen: that the time has come \ii Land when every acre of land that will produce anything at all has Has a Value some value and should be put to use, that the time is past when fertile lands can be had in the great West for the taking; the great bulk of those lands are all taken and yet farm products continued to rise in price even before the war. If these seventy million idle acres can produce anything, the trend of develop- ment and increased production is bound to swing back to the South and East. Take the cattle business as an illustration. Out in Arizona or New Mexico, where it takes forty acres to keep a cow, men are very freely paying $1.25 to $5.00 an acre for the land, and they are glad to get it. We sold last year 44,000 acres of land in an Indian Reservation in California at public auction. Anybody could buy all he wanted. It was picked-over land. The Indians had been allotted the best of it, and the homesteaders had taken what they wanted, and this was the tail end. It was appraised at $56,000, and we sold it for $119,000. Last summer we opened the Colville Indian Reserva- tion in Washington, of about 400,000 acres. That was also remaining land — after the Indians had been allotted the best lands. It was very rough and much of it very dry. We held registrations out there for that land, and we had 90,000 applica- tions to register for 3,000 farms. In Dakota a year and a half ago we had 110,000 acres on the Standing Rock Indian Reserva- tion that was appraised at from $2.50 to $8.00 an acre, subject to the Homestead law. A man could get only so much of it ; he had to homestead it and pay the price, too. We had 30,000 ap- plications for that land, and they took every acre of it. This spring, just before I came down, I signed instructions for some land we appraised two years ago to be appraised at $2.00 more 42 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era an acre, just indicating how these things are going on. In northern Montana we have an Indian reservation, known as Fort Peck, and we opened there three years ago a million acres. That had been picked over and the best allotted to the Indians. These lands were appraised at $2.00 to $7.00 per acre, and we opened them to homestead entry with the appraised price in addition. At that time there were other lands available, and only 27,000 acres were taken up the first year ; but the next year, 1915, 71,000 acres were taken; and last year 198,000 acres were taken up. .So that the price didn't trouble them. The demand for land on which they can raise something, on which they can make a living in this country, is pressing and urgent. Just one other word with respect to Fort Peck. A large part of that land was classified as coal, and a lot of fellows wanted that land so badly they paid for coal filings on it at $10 and $20 an acre. Now, the United States Reclamation Service is another in- stance of this new era of interrelation between public and private business. The government has now expended probably 120 mil- $120,000,1)00 lion dollars in building reclamation projects for arid lands. The Spent to j,Qg|. Qf reclamation is spread over the land reclaimed. The Heclaim And i u ^u ^ • i ^ j .^i ^ , • i, Lands people buy the water rights, and they must pay annual mstall- ments, under a recent law, covering a period of twenty years, for the total cost. What is that cost? All throughout the Western states you will find people willingly and gladly paying anywhere from $,^0 to $1C0 an acre just for the water alone, to say nothing of the cost of reclaiming the land ; and leveling- it and getting it ready for crops which may run up to $50 an acre more. I am saying these things to you just tO| point out a little of what is going on in different parts of the country, just to show the demand for farm land under conditions such that a poor man can work out a home. It was mentioned by a gentleman here today that if you don't give a man enough land to make a living on, he is going to make a failure. Congress saw that proposition. Back in 1909 Congress saw that there were large areas in the Western country now known as the so-called dry-farming region. It has been ascertained that there are great areas in Montana, Washington, Idaho and Colorado where crops, particularly grain crops, can be raised successfully, where they couldn't raise any- thing and didn't raise anything twenty years ago ; the idea is to crop the land alternate years so as to put two years' moisture The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 43 into one year's crop. Congress said this is extensive farming instead of intensive. To enable these men to make a go of it we must give them more land. Consequently, they gave us the Enlarged Homestead act, giving 320 instead of 160 acres of desert land. Millions of acres have been taken up Under that act. You go out on the Great Northern across Montana, or on the Northern Pacific, or on the Oregon Short Line up through southern Idaho, and you will find thousands of acres there to- day covered with wheat crops, and threshing machines and self-binders, and little towns and elevators. They are making land which was only worth 5 cents an acre per year as a grazing Five-Cent- proposition bring in from $5 to $10 an acre or more per year, (^i^-^^cre Land Later on Congress said, this dry farming land is about all gone ; ^.^^j Yearhj all that we have left is rough land ; much of it stands straight up. Here is a grazing proposition, that land cannot grow crops. Consequently, in December last, another homestead law was passed known as the Grazing Homestead law, giving the entry- man 640 acres of designated grazing land, and since December 29, 1916, there have been 45,000 applications covering 18 million acres of that land. I call your attention to this as showing how the people out West are now going after the grazing proposition where there is a chance for a poor man to get a little ranch of his own. In this connection it should be remembered that the Western open range is carrying every head of stock it is capable of carrying. Now, doesn't it stand to reason, if we have any land at all left back here in the South, say 70 million acres, or any other number of acres, it is up to you to get busy? Won't it raise something? I don't know how good it is. It may be half swamp, or very low grade, or sandy, but it cannot be any less South Offers productive per acre than millions of acres of land in the West Only Cheap out of which tremendous amounts of money are being realized "" ^ ^"^ today. I think that if you will take a broad comprehensive view rountru of the land situation of the country you will come to the con- clusion that there is no question of doubt that you can success- fully compete on this land with the rest of the country; in fact the matter of food production can hardly be said to be longer in the competitive stage ; it is rather a question of getting enough. While in the new development of the raw land it is always best to have cattle and sheep first, I want to say to you that 44 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era wherever anybody can make a decent living, the proper and PtWh'^"^^ ^^^^^^^^^ thing- to do is to get people on your land and cut it Practicable ^P ^"^° small farms, as many as you can, making self-sustaining and self-owned homes. (Applause.) We have had a great fight during the last few months be- tween the stockmen and the homesteaders ; between those who were for and against the 640 acre grazing homestead law. The cattle men, almost to a unit, opposed it. But the other fellow, who stood for the homestead law, and who proved to be in the majority, contended that whenever we have been able to get people on the land we have gotten more cattle from it than before, and a lot more things besides, and the settlers have made a living and built towns and schools. Those of you who have been to Colorado know that across that great eastern portion, for many miles back of the Kansas Little of ^i"^' ^s a great area of rolling plains. Twenty years ago, when I Western Cow used to go across there, it was nothing but a cow country. One Country Left would see scarcely a habitation or town. You go across there now and you will find that as a result of this 320-acre homestead law that whole country is settled, and that country is producing^ more meat than it ever did before. I was talking to a Congressman who told me of a valley which a cattle company had completely controlled for years, and when the 320-acre homestead law came in it drove the cattle company out, and now that valley is producing much more cattle than the cattle company produced, and crops of grain besides. Now, my friends, we have heard considerable here today about various settlement and colonization schemes ; while I agree with much that has been said, I want to say as a general thought that if you will demonstrate the possibilities of these lands and show their usefulness and practicability for home building pur- poses under conditions such that a man can bring up and educate his children under modern conditions, and you will sell the lands at prices and on terms such that an industrious man can pay out, you will not have to resort to any colonization schemes r you can't keep the settlers out. Now, the chief obstacle in the way, invariably in the West, is the speculator. Invariably he wants to get in between the large land proposition and the man who ultimately cultivates. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 45 it, and drag down all the profit. I want to say that on this 70,000,000 acres, or any part of it, if you are taking a broad- minded, patriotic view of the situation and not a very narrow Conservative or short-sighted one, don't put any proposition up to the settler Development that you are not morally certain he can make a success of if he M^t"o Tr ^u ui 1 Lands io to proved ; this represents 60 to 65 ; and here 60 to 80. If the black ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ belt could be sorted out from this belt we would have in the black unimproved belt an area where there is very little land not cultivated ; but since the statistics are given according to counties, and since each county includes this land plus the land lying outside of the black belt, I was unable to get the percentage of unimproved land in the black belt. In Mississippi, in the southeastern part of the state, there is rather a large area, of which, according to the census reports more than 90 per cent is unimproved. Another belt 80 to 90; m this region 60 to 80 ; and here two areas are essentially the same 45 to 65, 50 to 65. In Louisiana the unimproved area lies in the southwestern part of the state. More than 90 per cent of the area is unim- proved, and a large part of that is quite smooth land. Here are two areas where 80 to 90 and 65 to 80 is unimproved; and over here is an area where a large part is unimproved, and becomes less and less as we go northward. In Arkansas, there is no county — there are parts of the state- but no whole county where more than 90 per cent is unimproved. There are plenty of areas — small areas — where more than 90 per cent is unimproved, but no single county, so that the lowest per- centage of unimproved land there is 80 to 90 per cent, and then, lying along the other side of that, we have land which has a higher percentage of unimproved. There are two centers in Arkansas with a similarity in unim- proved land ; one in the Southern mountain region ; the other in the high plateau of the North, extending beyond the sand stone plateau over into the redlands of the North. In Texas you see a large area in the southeastern part of the state, which extends to the area in Louisiana, where more than 90 per cent is unimproved. The white areas here represent level land ; it is not coastal plain^ and therefore not pine land ; and they are not taken into considera- tion. That is the level land of Arkansas ; in other words, it is not pine land. In Texas I only included a small part ; and in Alabama I included all the coastal plain, but the northern mountain region 74 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Wide Scope of Southern Pine Associa- tion's Activi- ties Tlie Charac- ter of Unim- proved Lands Alabama's Uncultivated Millions of Acres was left out ; and in Mississippi the level plain and the northern part. These round dots show the location of the saw mills of the Southern Pine Association, compiled from a list sent me by Mr. Moore. I had a draftsman take the list and locate the mills on the maps. Since this is a discussion of the Southern Pine Association lands, you will notice that the areas which we discussed are the areas that include all of the saw mills, with the exception of two in the mountains of Alabama. The maps already shown were compiled from census data and does not undertake to show details. After that had been compiled then the question of the details of these different areas, details con- cerning the character of unimproved lands, was raised, and how such information could be displayed. The Soil Survey reports, so far as published, give details concerning the character, distribution and acreage of the various soils. For example, taking the report of this county, I can say, there are 967 acres of Orangeburg sandy loam in that county. The Soil Survey reports will show us, with great accuracy, the acreage of each soil type in the county surveyed. When a soil survey of a county is completed we have the data avail- able in great detail. The reports will state further the approximate percentage of any given soil remaining unimproved at the time the survey was made. That, of course, is an estimate, but is based upon the study of the man who went over the ground and saw every 40 or 10 acres of it. In fact, the Soil Survey man is sup- posed to see every foot of the ground. He does see the land so that he can form a very close estimate as to how much is cultivated and how much uncultivated. I took the survey reports therefore and compiled the data that they show, and that is shown in these charts I have here. I will begin with Alabama, the legend is placed up there. In Alabama nearly every county has been surveyed in detail, so that we have definite data for every county except three. These are the counties of the coastal plain of Alabama, with the exception of two or three. The bars on the chart represent, by their length, the total acreage of unimproved land in each county, and these figures up here represent the number of acres in figures. The vertical red lines across all the bars cut them up into lengths of 100,000 acres each. You can see, therefore, that Baldwin county, for example, has 960,000 acres of land which is unimproved. Here in Lee County, for example, there is only 100,000 acres unimproved. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 75 Sandy and Wet Lands; What They That means 100,000 acres of coastal plain. Some of Lee County is in the coastal plain and some in the mountains to the north, so that the bar for this county does not represent all the unimproved land. The yellow color represents sand, the blue color, wet and heavy lands, the uncolored, the sandy loam, and the red color, the rough and mountainous lands. The wet and heavy lands include all lands wet, or frequently overflowed and all soils heavier than loams. It is well known that sand has a certain adaptability to crops — that is — there are certain crops which you can grow on sand, and certain others which do not do well on such soil. There are certain other crops adapted to wet and heavy lands — lands that have an abundance of moisture; and certain other crops are adapted to sandy loams. I will venture to say that the wet and heavy lands of the South are probably the lands on which stock raising will de- velop in the future the best, because they are the lands on which Are Adapted forage crops and grasses will grow the best. The sandy loam ''^^• lands are lands wide in their range of adaptibility. They are well adapted to the growth of truck crops and cotton. Truck crops and cotton, then, are probably the best crops for the sands, forage crops for the wet and heavy lands, forestry for the rough lands, and gen- eral farm crops for the sandy loams. It is not necessary to take up in detail each of the individual counties, but I will call your attention to certain general character- istics of the several states. You will notice a considerable amount of yellow in the bars for the Alabama counties, showing the presence of a considerable amount of sand in Alabama. You will note also that the blue color representing the proportion of wet and heavy land is not extremely prominent. It is, however, in Clark County and Washington Coun- ty. Practically all of this land in Washington County is wet land and not heavy. There is a large amount of sand in Baldwin County. As you go north, the sandy loam makes up a larger pro- portion of the soils. In the northern part of the state the clays rep- resent a considerable proportion of the land, but it happens that all the clays are under cultivation and do not enter into this calculation. Next I will take Mississippi. Another factor enters there, and that is lack of knowledge. We know much less about the soils of Mississippi than of Alabama, because only a relatively small part of the state has been covered by soil surveys up to the present time. 76 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era A solid colored bar represents a surveyed county, while a bar col- ored only in skeleton form represents an unsurveyed county where the proportions of the various kinds of lands given are based upon the character of the land in the nearest surveyed county, or upon the general knowledge we have acquired in our work in the state. We have gained more or less general knowledge of the character of soils in all parts of the United States, and that factor enters into this estimate. Without going over the counties in detail, I will call your at- tention to the absence of yellow — the nearly complete absence — in the soils of Mississippi. In these counties lying in the southeastern and eastern part of the state there is some sand. In the western part of the state, not including the delta, the blue color, you will notice, is very prominent. In other words, Mississippi is a state of rather heavy soils; that color represents both wet and heavy, but in Mississippi it rep- resents relatively heavy land, with very little wet land. It is prac- tically all silt loam. Mississippi is, therefore, a state of silt loams, Mississippi's well drained, as it happens in this case; a state, therefore, where Soils Largely the lands are adapted to forage crops. You will notice also that Silt Loams ^^g percentage of sandy loam is rather lower than in the case of Alabama, but not so high as in Louisiana, for example. You wil) notice also that the red is more prominent in Mississippi than in Alabama. There are more rough lands in Mississippi than in Ala- bama, but a great deal of this rough land shown here represents silt land also. It represents land that can be converted into pasture. You will notice again that Louisiana is not covered solid. We know relatively little about the details of Louisiana soils, except in a few places. We have surveyed Tangipahoa Parish in the east, Winn Parish in the northwest, Iberia in the southeast, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana and Bienville, and recently surveyed Rapides, but the data for the latter is not yet available. You will notice that Louisiana the percentage of sand is low. The percentage of wet and heavy Rich in Sandy land is rather high. The percentage of rough land is also pretty Loams Jq^ ^Yhe blue color is especially prominent in counties east of the Mississippi — Tangipahoa, East and West Feliciana. You will notice also the percentage of sandy loams — which is a widely adaptable soil — is relatively high. That, like the others, is based on estimate, of course, but the estimate is based on the general knowledge we have — a good deal of general knowledge and the results obtained by the surveys in the nearest surveyed counties. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 77 We have in Arkansas the whole of the state represented, ex- cept the lowlands, and it should be stated that the agricultural wealth of that state lies in its lowlands. I might say it is more or less of a misrepresentation of Arkansas to show merely its upland jaortion, a good deal of which is mountainous land, but you will notice the yellow is not present. You will notice the blue is quite prominent in a number of counties, but what corresponds to sandy loam in the other counties is quite prominent in Arkansas. That does not mean that it is all sandy loam, however. You will notice, though, that the red is quite prominent. Wherever we have a coastal plain county, there is very little red in it. Jefferson is a coastal plain, but the amount of unimproved land is larger than shown here, because not all of Jefferson County lies in the coastal plain, and is not represented here. Jefferson has a good deal of wet and heavy land. Grant County is a coastal plain county, and the proportion of rough and stony land is low. When we get into the mountain counties, the proportion of rough and stony land is rela- tively high. Texas, again, we know relatively little about, and I have un- dertaken to show only the eastern part of the state. One of the characteristics of the Texas Coast Plain is that there is a very high percentage of sandy loam and a relatively low percentage of sand. One or two counties have a high percentage of sand. Wet and heavy lands are also low. Texas is a region of adaptable soils and a small amount of the characteristically forage land crops. 1 will also say that this blue color in Texas represents mostly the heavy lands, rather than the wet, for there is not a great deal of wet land in the state. Now, to sum the whole thing up, I have put on the chart a summation of the data shown on the other charts. This bar represents for Alabama the total improved land ; this, the total unimproved land, and of the unimproved land, this repre- sents the percentage of sand, this the wet and heavy land, this the rough, and this the sandy loam. The same way in other states. You will notice here the large amount of blue in Mississippi and the relatively small amount of red — a little larger than in Alabama and quite a little larger than in Texas. A Delegate : I would like to ask whether the chart represents the entire part of the states? Mr. Marbut : No. It represents only those counties in the coastal plain, with the exception of Arkansas. 78 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Two Kinds of Natural Drainage Some Factors fo be Consid- ered in the Drainage of the Cut-Over Lands o///?^ South ^j/ S. H. McCrory Chief of Drainage Investigations Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering U. S. Department of Agriculture One of the fundamental requirements of any soil that is to be used profitably for agriculture is that it be well drained. It matters little how much inherent fertility the soil may possess, or how favorably located the land may be with respect to mar- kets, if there is insufficient drainage agricultural operations can- not be conducted successfully. It is hardly necessary for me to say that in all the Southern States there are large areas of cut- over lands, which, before they can be made available for the practice of agriculture on a paying basis, must have existing drainage improved. These areas may be divided roughly into two classes. In the one class may be placed wide stretches of low-lying level lands with poorly developed natural drainage channels. In the other may be placed rolling and hilly land where the natural drainage is ample — if not too ample — only the narrow valleys along the streams needing drainage. The low level lands are usually found in the coastal plain region or the Mississippi Valley. The drainage channels of these lands are usually shallow, poorly defined depressions that vary in width from a few feet to several miles, and are generally cov- ered with stumps and a heavy growth of small trees, brush, and vines. Occasionally there is a poorly defined stream channel that winds its way through the depression. Usually, however, the water finds its way slowly down the swamp through the trees and natural growth or stands until it sinks into the earth or is evaporated. Between the drainage channels are low ridges which usually rise only a few feet above the channels. The first at- tempts at cultivation are generally made on these ridges. Dur- ing periods of heavy rain the water rises and the ridges become The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 79 so wet that the growing- or cultivating of crops becomes impos- sible. The drainage of these low-lying level lands can usually be accomplished readily by the construction of properly designed drainage improvements. To design adequate drainage improve- ments the needs of each district must be considered separately. The first step is to make a survey of the lands involved. This survey should include a determination of the location, size and fall of the existing drainage channels, the relation of these chan- nels to the area needing drainage, and the amount of land that will be drained by each watercourse. Sufficient elevations should be secured so that a clear idea of the character of the topography can be obtained. During the progress of the survey notes should be made of the vegetation, the character of the soil, and the apparent need of the various tracts for drainage. After the sur- vey is completed a careful study should be made of the data secured, of the existing rainfall records, and of records of the amount of run-ofif from the areas in question or similar areas nearby in order to determine the amount of water that must be removed from the area which it is proposed to drain. Upon the i^ow-Lvinq^^'^ proper determination of the amount of water that must be re- Level Lands moved depends to a large extent the successful operation of the drainage improvement. Many factors affect the amount of water that will be discharged from a given watershed. The principal factors are : Rainfall, topography, size and shape of the water- shed, evaporation, climate and seasons, soil, geological structure, proportion of forest and open land, character of vegetation, nat- ural reservoirs and artificial improvements affecting drainage. After the amount of water that must be removed has been decided upon the proper size of the ditches can be readily com- puted by commonly known engineering formulae. In general th6 ditches should have ample depth. For dredge ditches eight feet is probably a minimum depth under ordinary conditions. The excavated material should not be placed closer than eight feet to the edge of the ditch and if the ditch is very deep the distance should be much greater. The drainage ditches should be so located that they can be readily reached by the landowners whose lands they are supposed to benefit. The topography of the district and the character of the farm drains that will be used are usually the deciding factors in determining the location of the ditches. 80 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Timber Removal and Erosion I come now to the problem of successfully draining the nar- ^ . . row stream valleys in the hilly country. This can be accom- Hilly Country plished only by coupling- drainage with measures to prevent and control erosion on the surrounding hills if the improvement is to be permanent and satisfactory. When the rolling and hilly country in the entire watershed was timbered and in its natural state, the drainage system was well developed, and only the narrow strips of low lands found along the streams needed drainage. With the removal of the timber on the hill lands and attempts at cultivation of these hills, the forces of nature began to work and soon erosion developed with the result that the streams in the lowlands were filled with soil washed from the hillsides and the bottoms were flooded so frequently that they were abandoned. A description of condi- tions in a typical area before drainage will give you a clear idea of the lands I have in mind : "Beginning at the northern extremity, the channel is very narrow and crooked, though its general direction is straight. The depth of this section varies from one-half to 1 foot. Near its mouth the stream is much wider, averaging about ten to fifteen feet, and in a better condition. The entire length of the stream has a heavy growth of brush, trees, and logs. "Not much meadow land is found along the stream, the width between the hills varying from about 100 feet to one-fourth mile, being as much as one-half mile in only one or possibly two short strips. Practically all of this land has at one time been under cultivation, and years ago, when the stream had a much deeper and better defined channel, large crops of corn and hay were produced. However, the landowners have been cultivating their hill lands almost entirely with cotton, corn, or some other clean crop, year after year, giving little or no attention to the care of the hillside wash, until today over three-fourths of this low land is practically valueless. Several of the landowners stated that about twenty-five years ago the channel was from four to six feet deep, while today, except where improved, it will not average over one to two feet in depth, being filled with the hillside wash. Overflows are frequent on this stream ; although some of them are quite large, especially the spring and summer freshets, very little damage can be done at present since none of the landowners attempt the cultivation of this low land." How shall these hilly lands and narrow lowlands be con- served? As in the drainage of the low-lying lands, so in the drainage of these hill lands, the first step is to make a survey of the stream valley similar to that before indicated. Frequently The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 81 it is found advisable to construct a new channel which should be located usually down the middle of the valley. Rock is fre- quently found in these valleys and hence it is essential that j^^^^ Methods sufficient borings be made to locate any rock that might be to Follow encountered in constructing the ditches. Experience has shown that by carefully determining the location and area of rock ledges the ditch can be so located as to avoid them. The amount of water removed by these streams is so large that it has not been found economically practicable to prevent entirely the overflow of the bottom lands. The amount of runoff that must be provided for on these streams is considerably more than that on the low-lying level areas. Satisfactory results have been secured in reclaiming bottom lands draining from 35 to 50 square miles when the ditches provided for one inch in depth in twenty-four hours over the entire watershed. On other streams a somewhat lower rate of runoff has been used with quite satis- factory results. The most important factor seems to be to have the ditch as deep as possible so that during periods of low water in the ditch the bottom can be thoroughly drained. The over- flows that occur after the ditch has been constructed are usually of short duration and many landowners believe they are ben- efited more by the deposit of silt on their lands than they are injured. The period of usefulness of ditches constructed in these valleys will depend largely on how successfully erosion on the hillsides is controlled. Control the erosion on the hillsides and you perform a double function ; namely, the conservation of the fertility of the hill lands and the extension of usefulness of the ditches in the lowlands. It has been amply demonstrated in this country and abroad that erosion can be controlled by improved methods of agriculture and the use of terraces. Successful ex- amples of terracing can be found in every Southern state. Con- struction of ditches in the lowlands without proper attention to the hillsides means excessive and frequent maintenance costs if the ditches are to be kept in good working condition. A word on the subject of costs. Drainage improvements for low-lying level areas range from $2 to $10 per acre. In the nar- row valleys the cost ranges from $15 to $50 an acre. These costs Costs of are for outlet drainage only and do not include the cost of drain- D^^'^afl'^ ing the individual tracts or of terracing the hill lands. Neither do these prices include clearing of the lands. 82 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era I have outlined in a general way the character of improve- ments needed to drain cut-over lands. I have indicated the range of cost to construct proper drainage systems. The question whether these lands should be drained resolves itself into the simple business proposition : Will it pay? To answer this ques- tion properly consideration must be given to suitability of the soil to producing crops adapted to the region, transportation facilities, markets, cost of clearing and developing, demand for more agricultural land, and desirability of location for settle- ment. In cases where drainage is undertaken principally with a view to selling the lands rather than to opening them up to cul- tivation by their owners, care must be taken to see that such settlers have sufficient funds to clear and develop the land, plant it, and to provide for their needs until they can realize some- thing from their crops. It will be of interest to refer for a moment to some sections where cut-over lands have been drained and see what has fol- lowed drainage. Not so long ago from a landowner in a 200,000- acre tract of low-lying level land in Arkansas we received a letter reading in part as follows : "Many thousand acres of land have gone rapidly into cultivation, with population and produc- tion increasing amazingly. Many hundreds of houses and barns ,,. , „ , have been built per annum for the past several years. Lands that High Prodiic- . ,., r i i.ii_ tivity of were m swamps and tmiber a few years ago nave lately been producing 75 to 95 bushels of corn per acre and this year $75 to $125 worth of cotton per acre; and miles of good roads where were swamps and cut-over timber. Certainly our efforts and expenditures have been justified beyond all expectation." On similar land in Missouri the farmers have reported harvesting 28 bushels of winter wheat the first year and from 35 to 45 bushels of corn. A few years ago the hilly and narrow lowlands of which I read you a description of conditions were drained. Not so long ago a landowner in that section remarked that the value of the corn crops harvested the first year after drainage was completed was sufficient to pay the entire cost of drainage. There is another form of benefit accruing from the drainage of swamp and cut-over land, which, though not tangible or capa- ble of being expressed in dollars and cents, should not be over- looked. I refer to the influence of drainage on the sanitary con- ditions of the community. Not long ago I was inspecting one of the first drainage ditches to be constructed in the Piedmont Sec- Property Drained Cut-Over Lands The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 83 tion of North Carolina. While on this inspection I chanced to meet an old lady at a farm house. During the conversation I inquired regarding the health of the community. To my inquiry she replied with much satisfaction that for the past two or three years they had practically no sickness, but that prior to that f^^^^^}^^^ time every summer and fall they and all their neighbors suf- Sanitary fered much with "chills and fevers." When I recalled when the Conditions drainage was completed, I found that the sickness to which the old lady referred abated just after the time the improvements were completed. The experience related is only in common with that experienced by many in other sections where cut-over lands were drained. From the benefits which I have enumerated as being re- ceived in certain sections I do not wish it to be inferred that the drainage of any and all cut-over lands is to be encouraged. The soil in the sections to which I refer was of unquestioned agricultural value and the lands seemed to combine in unusual degree all the factors which I have previously indicated must receive careful preliminary consideration before drainage is un- dertaken. In conclusion let me leave with you this parting word : If it is the purpose of this association to encourage and promote the drainage of the cut-over lands in the South, see to it that projects are undertaken only after careful, discriminating con- sideration is given to the various factors I have endeavored to impress upon you. Remember after all, if the drainage of these lands is undertaken on anything other than a sound business basis in the end it must prove a disappointment if not a failure. 84 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Some Problems of Cut-Over Land Development By Harry D. Wilson Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of Louisiana Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: — As I am a real hill- billy, born and raised in the cut-over section, I really think I know something of the cut-over proposition ; but before I start Cattle Impor- on this subject I v\'ant to say that I cannot fully agree with our tations from brilliant Governor from Arkansas in reference to throwing open ^ . the bars to the importation of cattle from Argentine and other ica Opposed . ^ *^ countries. (Applause.) I want to say, gentlemen, that we are fighting day and night to get rid of the cattle tick. We want to get rid of what we have, before we bring in any more to work on. This thing at first glance may sound all right ; but we don't know so much about this cattle business. We want more good cattle, but if we want to develop these cut-over lands we better go slow on this proposition. You know, I am a Louisiana Demo- crat, and that means that we like toi protect our agricultural in- terests, and we are getting away from the idea of free trade. If you don't make the conditions surrounding that boy and woman on the farm as interesting as those surrounding the fellow in the city he won't stay. He can't get along competing with negroes and Japanese raising cattle on lands that don't cost; anything. My opinion is that these cut-over lands have a value to them. The success of this great enterprise that you gentlemen have under consideration today depends absolutely on the people you put on these cut-over lands. , I want to sound a note of warning. CoIoni ered with a black velvet — from which the bean took its name. Development Until twelve years ago that was the only variety we had in culti- vation. Another was what is known as the "Lyon" bean. The pod, instead of being three inches long, was nearly six inches in length ; the beans, instead of being spherical and mottled, were large, flat- tened ovals, like a butter bean, only larger. The pods, instead of being covered with black, velvety pubescence, were covered with grayish hairs and of quite a different form — pointed at each end. If anything, it was more rank growing than the Florida bean, and produced fully as heavily, but unfortunately ripened very little earlier. These were popular for two or three years until we got others in. The next was what is known as the "Yokohama" bean, from Japan. That pod is very similar to that of the Lyon bean, a large pod with ash colored or white seed, the pod covered with hairy bristles instead of velvet. The vine is rather small. This ripens in about five months from planting, where the old bean took nine to ten months. Following that came the "Chinese" bean, which is probably little more than an early ripening variety of the Lyon bean. That ripens in a hundred and fifty days from planting. Then we have another one, which came to us probably from Georgia ; it is called the "Georgia" bean. Some say it is a 90 and lOO-day bean, but it is not ; it ripens in 120 days. The pod is very similar to that of the Florida bean, but the vine is much smaller. 100 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Best Beans for Different Localities Then we have another one of the hybrids, called the "Osceola" bean. That is something between the Lyon and the old Florida bean, and was produced by the Florida Experiment Station. It has the black, velvety pod of the old Florida bean, but has a very much larger seed ; nearly as large as the Lyon, or Chinese, or Yokohama. In general, the varieties having the large, black, velvety pods have one characteristic which is very desirable — the Lyon bean, the Chinese bean and the Yokohama bean, those large hairy-podded ones, very often split open when they are growing on the vines and beginning to get ripe. The black, velvety pods do not split open, and therefore are somewhat better. For the extreme South, the old Florida bean and the Lyon bean are among the best we have. From here north to central Mississippi or Alabama the more productive beans are the Osceola and the Chinese. Still further north to Tennessee and in Georgia the Yokohama and Georgi-a beans will be found more satisfactory. We have so many of these varieties now that we can find something which is suited to practically every locality where velvet beans may be wanted. We do not need to discuss the varieties here extensively, be- cause they will be more fully discussed in a bulletin which is soon to be issued by the Department. I want to call your attention to this difference in the varie- ties, because a great many growers, all the way from here to Kentucky, have sent in orders for one bushel, five bushels, 120 bushels, of "velvet beans," not specifying any variety. When they are planted they are sure to be disappointed. When the Yoko- ihama and Georgia varieties are planted in south Florida they waste half a year. When you plant velvet beans, select the va- riety suited to your particular locality. The best variety for any locality is one which will continue growing without stopping to mature the seed until just before the vines are to be killed by frost. That day, of course, is a little uncertain, but it can be ap- proximated for each locality. The beans produce an immense yield. We have very little data giving specified yields of hay and beans, from the fact that the crop is very rarely cleaned from the fields. The vine is long and difficult to cut, and it is commonly utilized for grazing. The beans, when they are gathered, are gathered by the hundred pounds ; and it is rare that they are gathered clean, because when The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 101 left in the field they are good for feed ; but an average yield of beans and vines wOuld be from two to four tons per acre ; if they are good and dry like hay that would be a good estimate. The yield of beans in the pods varies all the way from three- quarters of a ton to something over two tons. In Mississippi I have known something over two tons of seed per acre to be grown. The principal use of the velvet bean, in addition to this humus making, is for winter grazing. Most legumes, such as cow peas, soy beans, etc., the leaves break off very quickly, and after dropping they are decayed and the whole plant is worth- Z, ,^: ^^^ Hcst for Win- less in a few days after the first touch of frost. The velvet bean ^^J. jj^^ is very tough, though ; and the beans, leaves and vines resist decay for many weeks or even months. Neither do the beans decay when left on the ground during the winter. In fact, in central and southern Florida many varieties retain their vitality so completely that when a field has once been seeded volunteer crops will follow for many years, and even in southern Missis- sippi this sometimes occurs. The vines grow much larger and seed much more freely when they are supported from the ground by means of poles, and a grain of corn soon develops into an efficient and inexpensive pole. Not much corn may be secured from such a planting on new ground, but the presence of the stalks will add largely to the yield of both vines and beans. When planted on old fields they are usually planted with corn, ^^y ^^ nearly all of which can be gathered before the bean vines are ^ ^^ , 1 , . . . , , r taneously large enough to cause serious mconvenience, and the few ears ^y/f/j Corn which will be missed will be found and eaten- when the field is grazed. They are far superior to any other legume which we could have for that purpose. The quality of the feed is excellent. I have seen steers sell in February ready for the butcher. They had no other feed except this from December until sent to the butcher in February. The most economical way to handle the crop is to give the cattle the first grazing; let them go over the fields and clean them, and after they have cleaned off the best of it the hogs can be turned in and they will get about as much as the cattle got. If the crop is reserved for hog pasture it will give more pork than we can get from most any other crop. I know where four to six hundred pounds of pork have been made per acre from this one crop. I have known of some instances where 102 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era the yield of pork per acre has been more than double that amount, but we have definite records of over six hundred pounds of pork per acre ; and after the hogs are taken off the field there are the remains of the vines and the droppings of the hogs left on the ground to add to the fertility of the soil. As a restorative crop for exhausted soils, velvet beans are even more valuable than cow peas, -as they grow larger and so produce more humus and add more nitrogen to the soil. Pro- fessor Ross, of the Alabama Station, shows the fertilizing value of a crop of two tons of vines and beans to have a value of about $55.00 per acre, the valuation being based on the present prices of commercial fertilizers ; and this valuation was fully justified in the increase in yield of the crops which followed. Bulletin 120, of the Alabama Station, says that following a crop of the „ . , beans on a sandy soil the yield! of cotton was. increased 18 per Show Value cent, corn 32 per cent, fall-sown oats 334 per cent, and of wheat of Velvet 280 per cent. This great increase was, doubtless, due partly to Beans for Soil the fertilizing elements contained in the bean crop, and partly Enrichment ^q ^.j^g betterment of the condition of the soil by the addition of the humus. Station analyses show that an ordinary crop of the beans will add as much plant food to the soil as is contained in 1,400 pounds of cottonseed meal, and that, in addition to its humus-making and other beneficial effects. Every Experiment Station official with whom I have corresponded has been em- phatic in stating that the fertilizing value alone was worth far more than the entire cost of growing the crop, thus leaving its pasture and seed value as clear profit. This is the experience which has been given to me by many Station authorities with whom I have talked. Within the last twelve years, since the propaganda in favor of their cultivation has been going on, the increase in cultivation has been immense. The increase in Louisiana is very great ; I don't know the exact acreage. The plantings in Mississippi will be over a million acres this year. The papers sometimes call me a velvet bean crank. Per- haps I am ; but I hardly know the difference between a crank and a man who pushes a good thing when he sees it. I am push- ing velvet beans. It is twenty years since I planted the first crop and I have been for it ever since, and I believe it is the best crop The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 103 we have for taming and fertilizing the soil, for furnishing winter grazing and for restoring the fertility to exhausted soil. It is undbubtedly the pioneer crop for our cut-over lands. (Ap- P'^"^^) Best Beans Mr. Thompson : What variety of bean would you advise for ^.^^ ^^^ ^^ Texas ? Texas Mr. Tracy: How many months have you without frost? Mr. Thompson : We don't have frost before the latter part of November, until the last days in March. Mr. Tracy: I would use the Chinese or the Osceola. The Osceola is a little later than the Chinese — a week or two. Need of Experiment Station Work on Cut-Over Lands By W. R. Dodson Dean of the State College, Director of the Experi- ment Stations of the State of Louisiana I think the miscellaneous discussion indulged in after Mr. Piper's address justifies me in the assertion that we have en- tirely -inadequate information as to what can be done on these lands in a definite, specific way to tell the average inquirer what he might expect us to know. I don't know but one way to get that information, and that is to get the experiment sta- tions to do these things over a series of years to get the aver- age conditions and make the average deduction from it. I was just thinking, when we were talking about this ques- tion, suppose they had been in the very definite form of ques- tions, and we had said to some of these gentlemen : How many tons of velvet beans can you expect to gain, as an average, on the long leaf yellow pine cut-over lands? How much cow pea ^^^^^^^fj hay can you expect? How many tons of beef can you make on j^fif.j^iji(j an acre of land an average year, and how much will it cost you? How many pounds of pork can you make on an average acre of land on an average season in the general type of long leaf and short leaf yellow pine region? And I don't believe you could an- swer those questions, because you don't know. The only way 1 104 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era know of to get that information is to try it and see ; and the people that are best equipped' to get reliable information of this kind are people that have no land to sell, that have no personal interest in the results that are to come from those experiments, so that they can be uninfluenced as to whether the results are favorable or unfavorable ; and there will be no temptation to look to the good results with a magnifying eye, and the bad re- sults in a diminished estimate, so that the whole truth, by an unprejudiced, disinterested party, can go into things of this Federal and kind ; and that means somebody maintained either by the Fed- State Co-oper- ^^^^ ^^ g^^^^ funds, or by funds that may be subscribed to by ation Best . ^ . , . , . ,,.,.,,. , . , mterested people ; but the best way, 1 thmk, is the basis on which we have worked it out for other experiments, by Federal and state support — so that these men will not be under obligations to anybody. They should not be censored as to what they shall say or can keep from saying about their results. I believe there is a great future for these lands. This is the first effort I know of where we have had represented in confer- ence so much talent, men that are deeply interested in the out- come;, where the Government representatives of the Department of Agriculture, the Colleges of Agriculture, the State Depart- ments of Agriculture, the land owners and the railroads and the bankers, all of these people who would be materially affected, both in a material way and in the advancement of the public welfare, have tried to put their heads together. Now, let us not be deceived by trying to take short-cut methods. Let us be candid with one another, and with the prospective farm owners, and let them see that we are going to solve these questions. Enough has been tried to make the outlook very encouraging. Enough information has been brought out to show that there is a lot more to do ; that this is not plain sailing ; and that if everything was known that the men want to know you would not be here today. The fact that some of your lands have been offered and have not been taken is an indication that you are not able to tell the pros- pective purchasers what they want to know. They are not going to listen to you very well until you are able to tell them, and then be able to stand by your statements. Until we have the information that will enable us to look a man square in the eye and tell him with a clear conscience that he can do this, and he can expect so and so, and here are the difficulties The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 105 to be overcome, and give him a frank statement of w^hat he might expect, you w^ill not get very much development or utilization of these lands; but when you are able to do that, and you can tell by experience and facts that the land might do this or that, you will do well in selling lands. In formulating your plans I hope you will lay a broad foun- dation ; work out a plan by which the men that are permanently in this kind of work may correlate their efforts with the Federal authorities and state authorities and the people who have their money in the land, so they can work together on a permanent basis. Until we make such arrangements we will work with a dissipation of our energies and loss of money and time ; and so, in formulating your plans I hope you will make ample provision for experimental data to be obtained by impartial men, to extend over a sufficient period to eliminate great variations in seasons, so that due attention will be given to selecting original areas that will be as typical of large areas as possible ; that that infor- mation shall be given without restriction and without limitations to those that will be interested in it ; that it will be financed on a basis that will not make anybody feel under obligations to keep something back. I believe when we do that we will work out a plan by which these lands will offer very attractive propo- sitions for a great many people. I only want to give you one illustration of what I mean. We have been talking today about rich lands and poor lands. Rich land and poor land are simply relative terms. We say poor land when we are! thinking about the production of cotton, and it means one thing; and we say poor land when we think of the production of sweet potatoes, and it means another thing. If I were -to go to Alexandria, for instance, which is on the border line of the long leaf pine country and I wanted to grow corn on the north and the alluvial land on the south, and I would say, "Which is the best land, over there on the hills or over here in the bottoms" and everybody would say, "Over here in the bottoms ; you can't grow any corn on hilly land." But suppose I wanted to raise sweet potatoes, and I ask, "Where can I raise the best sweet potatoes — ^over here in the sandy loams or over there in the Red River bottom land," and the man would say, "You can raise much better potatoes on the hill land than you can on the stiff soils," and therefore that pine land is richer for you than the Red River bottom. That is simply an illustration of the Much Prelim- inary Work Necessary Where "Poor" Lands Are "Rich" Lands 106 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era indefinite meaning of the terms in which we speak. I hope you will go ahead and keep this work up until this problem of gaining adequate information regarding the cut-over pine lands is solved. Mississippi's Part in Cut-Over Land Development By Dr. E. R. Lloyd Director of Experiment Stations of the State of Mississippi I have been somewhat amused at the apparent incompatibility between Dr. Piper's ideas of the cut-over land and the ideas of the other gentlemen. It seems to me that Dr. Piper was talking about one type of cut-over land and the other gentlemen were talking about another type, and both correct from their different points of view. We have a vast deal of cut-over land in Mississippi which is really splendid agricultural land. We also have a great deal of cut-over land in Mississippi which is hardly worth while as agri- cultural land, and Dr. Piper was entirely correct when he said that on this poorer type of soil we cannot grow very much of a crop and to make a good pasture will be both difficult and expensive. While on the better type, which has a good red-clay subsoil, we can grew many profitable field crops besides lespedeza and Ber- muda for pasture. In developing this cut-over territory it seems to me, Mr. Chair- man, that the first thing to be done, so far as Mississippi is con- cerned, is to repeal some legislation we already have. These lands will never be developed through individual effort ; they will be ,,. . , . developed by corporations with money ; but so long as we have such Vicious Legis- , ^ ^ . t i , i , ^ i lation Retards ^^ '^^^ statute books as we have today, these cut-over lands Development ^^^ "ot going to be developed very rapidly. And it seems to me with an organization made up of some of the best business men of the country something might be done if the proper effort was made to repeal the vicious laws which now retard progress in the state's development. We desire to see these lands developed on a per- The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 107 manent rather than on a speculative basis. One of the serious troubles with Southern agriculture today is its unstable character. If some practical plan could be worked out by which agriculture in all its phases could be stabilized and conducted on a safe and sane basis, it would be the most profitable business for the greatest num- ber of our people to engage in. When the cut-over lands are developed it will necessarily be on rather a large scale, and live stock offers perhaps the safest re- turns, since with live stock we can handle the maximum amount of land with the minimum amount of labor, while with crops the conditions are reversed. We are working in a small way through our Extension De- partment of the Agricultural College of Mississippi and our Branch Experiment Station at McNeill in Pearl River Coun- ty with the small farmers in the cut-over territory. Our purpose is to help them develop their small farms on a permanent basis by combining live stock with crops. The plan we suggest is for each small farmer to have five dairy cows, two brood sows, twenty-five sheep, twenty-five head of poul- try, and then plan his crops so that feed enough to carry all live stock will be produced, with a small surplus for sale. The bankers and business organizations in many counties have agreed to finance these small farmers, and our demonstration agents will help plan his crop rotations and teach him the best methods of handling his live stock as well as assist him in marketing his sur- plus products. We do not expect very large areas of this cut-over land to be converted into small farms immediately, but we think this a begin- ning in the right direction. In the past the absence of cheap money and long-time loans prevented many from going on the farm, but since the passage of the Federal Farm Loan Act we find the interest in farming increas- ing. While I consider the passage of the Federal Farm Loan Act one of the most constructive pieces of legislation passed in recent years, I also think that cheap money is a menace to th-s masses. Cheap money on long-time payments is very alluring, and 1 fear too many will avail themselves of the opportunity to borrow money without having first carefully worked out plans for its safe invest- ment. I think every man who borrows money should be required to submit in writing a carefully thought out plan for spending the money and have this plan approved by a competent committee. Financing the Small Farmer The Good and Evil in Cheap Money 108 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era What Georgia Is Doing to Encourage fhe Utilizing of Cut-Over Lands By John R. Fain Agronomist of the College of Agriculture of the State of Georgia Gentlemen, I am with you today because President Soule, of our institution, was detained at home on account of a campaign we are carrying on in Georgia at this time. He asked me to ex- press to you his regret at not being able to be present. I would like to say to you that our institution is represented because we thought this was one of the big constructive pieces of work being undertaken in the Southern states. I will try to present to you as briefly as I can some of the things that the College of Agriculture is trying to help in development. We fancy that the College of Agriculture should be some- thing of a clearing house for information for the people of the state, and that we should get together that information for them and be able to present it to them, and we bring it to your atten- tion as some of the work we are trying to do. Therefore, I am going to use a few charts I have here for this purpose. These figures were compiled from census reports and from estimates by President Soule. I am not going to take your time up to any great extent. We have a considerable number of live Better Grades stock in the South ; but the principal trouble is its quality and of Cattle low value ; and I might use these figures from the State of Needed in Georgia. I will say that in the fifteen Southern states, in the six years from 1910 to 1916, the beef cattle decreased something like three-quarters of a million. It struck me, in listening to the discussion> yesterday, that a great many of those cattle could have been maintained on some of the seventy-odd million acres of land in this country. Now, outside of the quality there is another factor, and that is loss from disease and exposure in these Southern states. Take the state of Georgia. We believe in presenting to the peo- The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 109 pie the actual conditions. We think that because we sometimes have a mild climate that the loss doesn't amount to anything. Run down that column : Loss from disease, cattle, 25 per thou- sand ; from exposure, 25 per thousand; sheep, from disease, 31 ^^'^^^^^^^"d per thousand ; from exposure, 31 per thousand ; swme, from dis- ^^^^^^^^ . ease, 71 per thousand. These are the figures from the North Atlantic states, much lower than from Georgia. If we are going to do anything with the live stock business, we must reduce that rate of loss. This is the status of the live stock industry in Georgia, showing there has been a decided increase in number in our state. The large increase there is from hogs. The increase from the other animals does not amount to very much. Now, as to the replacement, taking the state of Georgia: The average of horses and mules compares very favorably with the average in the country as a whole, but, unfortunately, those are the things we buy. We buy most of our horses and mules; we do not raise them. The average value of our cattle is $16.20 as against $35.88 in the rest of the country; sheep, our value is $2.80 as against $7.14; swine, $9.00 as against $11.73. Another line of work we are trying to carry on is something of the food problem. Here we havei three foodstuffs: Silage and cottonseed meal give the greatest production of butter. This year we are trying out cottonseed meal, peanut meal and velvet bean for dairy cattle, to be presented to the people another year. This chart indicates something of the relative number of the blooded cows and the good cows that will be required to make the same profit. We have good dairy cows that make as much One^ ^^^^^ profit as 41 of our average dairy cows in the state. Another ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ condition we are up against is the relative food value of differ- ent crops that we can grow. Now, as to the question of what we can do with live stock. This is in the Coastal Plain region. This is a statement of the value of live stock at the Agricultural College. They started in September, 1907. with $1,917 worth of live stock. They have spent from that time up to June 1, 1916, over $9,000. The value of live stock in June, 1916, was $17,000. Here is an item I call your attention to : For the purchase of live stock we spent over a thousand dollars a year, with sales of live stock to June, 1916, amounting to $14,000. The average increase in the inventory 110 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Best Silage Foods for Coastal Plain States Experiments With Grasses has amounted to about $1,700. So far it has been a pretty good financial proposition. Now, as to the work of the College in taking it to the people : This is a summary of the work by the county agents. Our county agents have inoculated hogs and cattle for cholera to the number of about 65,000. The pure bred animals purchased through the county agents and the specialists of the Department of Agriculture, who are co-operating with these men, has amounted in the past year to over 7,000 head brought into the state ; and that is where we are trying to correct the low valua- tion in live stock. Now, in regard to the food proposition : We have been ad- vocating the building of silos over the state of Georgia, and we are advocating, as a crop for the Coastal Plain, a mixture of kaffir corn and sorghum. We have suggested the red head sorghum and the black kaffir corn. The silage and velvet bean, we believe, solves the problem of carrying the animal in the Coastal Plain region at least through the winter months. The problem, as we see it, is that it is a limiting factor in cattle production in the Coastal Plain region, and it is a limiting factor especially in the months of July, August and September. Now, if we can solve that prob- lem; I believe we can help establish on a permanent basis the cattle business of the South. We started out to make an inventory of what we had and what could be utilized, and we have a young man who is spend- ing part of his time studying the growth of the Coastal Plain section ; and, incidentally, there we found one man who had been for the past fifteen years utilizing a pasture of grass and lespedeza with apparently pretty good success. That probably will not be adopted except in a limited area, but in that area it might be a solution of the problem. At the present time we are recommending the carpet grass, as Dr. Piper suggested. The only two grasses we have found, of the ordinary tame grasses, that justify continuous work with them is the red top and meadow grass. In one case we have gotten good results from work of that kind. We have two areas in the Coastal Plain in which we are trying to study in a similar way the forage crop situation for that section of the state, and we hope before a great while to be able to increase this and to do more work. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 111 Now, just a word on a proposition that was brought up here yesterday, and that was the size of farm that is going to be profit- able on these cut-over lands. We had submitted to us not a great while ago a plan to buy some of this cut-over land, fence it off in forty-acre tracts, build a barn and house, and sell it to prospective settlers, and they asked our opinion on it. That let- ter was referred to me to answer, and I answered it in this way : "We have made a survey in the southern part of the state which showed that the men who were cultivating fifty acres or less had a labor income of about $200. The men cultivating 200 acres had an income of between $600 and $700. Would you rather take a chance of getting your money back from the man who made $200 or the man who got $600 or $700?" We are also co-operating with the railroads in developing a few farms along their line of route where their scheme is this : The railroads go to this man and say, if you will follow our in- structions we will guarantee you against loss up to $200. They ^j^/j ^^g come to the College and ask us to outline the work, and that is Railroads being carried on under the supervision of one of the graduates of the College and is paid for by the railroads. This work has just begun, and we hope in a year or so to have several more of these farms. It might be of some interest to you to know what some of the men grazing this cut-over land are making. We have a rec- ord of one man who is cultivating 750 acres. He is renting, in addition, 1,000 acres of cut-over* land for pasture. His record showed a labor income of $6,000, 36 per cent of that coming from his live stock. By gathering information of that kind the College hopes to be, in a way, of some help in this development. (Applause.) Nation De- 112 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Beef Cattle and Hogs By George M. Rommel Chief, Animal Husbandry Division, United States Department of Agriculture It seems to me that the question of meat production in the South is one of the most important questions which the nation has before it today. I will not burden you with a great many tiresome statistics, but I want to point out a few of the high lights of our meat trade at the present time. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1914, we exported less than seven million pounds of fresh beef. In the next fiscal year we exported over 170 mil- lion pounds of fresh beef; and in the last fiscal year over 231 million pounds ; the value of our meat exports in these years grew from 143 million dollars in 1914 to 266 million dollars in 1916. In the fiscal year 1914 we imported a normal amount of wool — ^245 nmnds More "^il^io" pounds. In the fiscal year 1916 we imported 525 million Meat Prodiic- pounds. Furthermore, I am told, not officially, that the meat tion ration of a soldier in the trenches in Europe is ten ounces per day. There are something in the neighborhood of 25 million soldiers in that section being fed better than they were ever fed before in their lives. The United States is already planning to put an army of two million men in the field, all of whom will be fed as well, if not better, than the armies of the nations of Europe. This enormous increase in our meat exports and in our wool imports has largely been brought about by the demands of warfare, and I candidly say to you, is there any problem which could more earnestly engage our attention than the question of how to meet this demand with- out starving the civilian population and allowing them to go with- out proper food and clothing? Now, gentlemen, I come to the question of beef production, and in approaching this question I wish to make my position exactly clear so that what I will have to say will not be misun- derstood. It seems to me that a great many of the speakers who have been discussing the question of the utilization of these cut-over lands have been thinking on too small a scale. I make that state- ment in no spirit of criticism, but as a statement of fact. If there is one thing, Mr. Chairman, for which this convention has The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 113 been remarkable, it is the seriousness, the earnestness of discus- sion and the directness with which the speakers have approached the point. We have had an unusual absence of whati we are pleased to call "hot air." Now, at the risk of offending in this very respect, I wish to indulge in a few figures. The acreage, as generally agreed upon, is 76 million acres of cut-over timber lands on the Coastal Plain and contiguous territories. That doesn't mean much to me, because I can't think in millions ; some men can, but I can't. But when I ran through a table showing the acreage of the states in the South I was staggered. Do you realize that that acreage is half the acreage of the entire state of Texas? Do you realize you can take the entire state of Florida, add the state of Georgia and take a chunk out of South Carolina, and you would have an acreage representing the acre- age of these cut-over lands? Furthermore, your secretary told me at lunch today that that acreage is being added to at the rate of 10 million acres a year, and that ultimately we will have added to the 76 million acres which we now have an acreage of 250 million acres, a total that is larger, gentlemen, than the present unallotted, unused, unassigned, undeveloped acreage of the public range in the West ; an empire, if you please, in extent ; in area equal to almost any ten of your Southern states; and nothing is being done with it. Now, this Conference, as I understand it, has been called to consider a constructive plan of development. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate what Dean Dodson said on this subject — when a man who stands as he does in the state and nation stands before you and tells you what he told you, then any damn Yankee that comes down from the North can feel pretty safe in taking such a position. (Applause.) I grant you, gentlemen, the correctness of the position set forth in that splendid paper written by Mr. Graves, the Chief Forester of the United States. This problem has three phases — reforestation, grazing and agriculture. What is being done now in reforestation? You know better than I do. What can be done in agriculture? The statement has been made here, uncon- tradicted, that only 15 million acres — only one-fifth of the present available area — are suitable for agricultural development at the present time. What are you going to do with the other four- fifths? You are not reforesting it. It seems to me that leaves it open to either one of the three possibilities, straight farming, cattle raising or sheep raising. Cut-Over Lands Cover an Empire Cut-Over Area Increasing Ten Million Acres a Year What Shall We Do With It? 114 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Where Agri- culture is Im- practicable Live Stock Raising Will Solve Problem Now furthermore, just for the sake of illustration, suppose that the entire 76 million acres were available for agriculture, and suppose that we tried to get into effect that splendid ideal of the government's public land policy — a family on each forty acres and each family supporting itself — suppose you could realize that ideal. Dividing the 76 million by 40 acres leaves you 1,875,000 tracts, and will anyone tell you where we will get 1,- 875,000 families to settle this land on a forty acre basis? It would be impossible. This problem is now. We can't look 25 or 50 years hence when we may have a surplus of farmers. Furthermore, we can't go to the cities and bring men from the cities to settle on these lands. That brings me to another point : If there is one thing that the United States is going to learn from its entrance into the war it is that we are no longer provincial ; we are coming to learn that we have an obligation owing not only to our neighbors in our country, but that we owe an obligation to the world itself. We are coming to learn that we cannot take from another without giving something in return. We are not getting any more immi- gration ; it stopped at the beginning of the war. About a month before I left Washington the statement was published by the Bureau of Immigration that a large emigration from the United States was expected when the war closed ; that the steamship agencies already are swamped with bookings for people to go back to their countries and carry the atmosphere of freedom back to the lands where they were born. We cannot confidently look to immigration as a source of settlers for cut-over lands. That compels a line of development closely related to present available labor supplies. It seems, therefore, that the development of these lands on a strictly farming basis is a matter of the some- what distant future. The most promising immediate develop- ment is along live stock lines, particularly with beef cattle and sheep. Now then, understand that when I make this statement I am making it as an animal expert, but I have tried, as well as any specialist can, to see this matter in a broad, comprehensive light; but I cannot get away from the idea that the one plan for devel- opment at this time, on these cut-over timber lands, is to develop live stock raising on a comprehensive and broad-minded scale. This territory is what you might call a virgin territory. It is closely analogous to the great plains of the West fifty years ago. The The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 115 land is there, and the first thing to do in this development is to follow the most promising line that offers. There has been only one speaker at this Conference — and I make this statement without any spirit of criticism — there has been only one speaker who has even hinted that the question of labor is going to cut any figure here. We know what we can do in the way of raising crops for hogs. There is a lot of informa- tion on the success of live stock farming under intensified condi- tions, such as Mr. Enochs described; but, gentlemen, you are talk- ing in terms of 76 million acres, not in terms of 160 or 320 or 640 acres. You are deaHng in big things. It is a tremendous propo- sition. This is no child's play ; it is a man's game ; and it is a game that will call for all the brains and intelligence that can be brought into it. Meat production in the United States has not been keeping pace with the increase in population. Without burdening you Nation's with a large array of statistical information, I will simply call Scarcity of your attention to the number of meat animals in the country in ^^' 1900, 1910 and 1917. In round numbers there were reported in the 1900 census seventeen million dairy cows and fifty million "other" cattle, the latter being principally beef cattle. In 1910 there were twenty million dairy cows and forty-one million other cattle. In 1917 there were twenty-two million milch cows and forty million other cattle. We observe that there has been a considerable increase in the number of milch cows, from seventeen million to twenty-two million in seventeen years, an increase of almost thirty per cent. On the other hand, in the case of beef cattle there has been a decrease of over nine million head, or eighteen per cent. Of sheep, the country possessed in 1900 sixty-one million head; in 1910 fifty-two million head, and in 1917 forty-eight mil- Hon head, a decrease of thirteen million head. In the case of swine, on the other hand, we see an increase. In 1900 there Sheep were sixty-two million head ; in 1910 fifty-eight million head ; in Decreasing; 1917 sixty-seven million head, a net increase of five million head. , These figures are taken from the census figures, and from the estimates of the Department of Agriculture. An accurate statis- tical comparability is impossible, on account of the different con- ditions under which the two censuses were compiled, the dates at 116 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era which the figures were gathered, and the different systems used in, obtaining the figures. However, light is obtained on the same subject from the reports of meat animals slaughtered under fed- eral inspection at packing plants throughout the country. The following table shows the number of establishments and the total number of animals inspected at slaughter under federal inspection annually from the beginning of inspection in the fiscal year 1907, up to and including the fiscal year ended June 30, 1916: NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS AND TOTAL NUMBER OF ANIMALS INSPECTED AT SLAUGHTER UNDER FEDERAL INSPECTION ANNUALLY, 1907-1916. Fiscal Year Establishments Cattle Calves 1907 708 7,621,717 1,763,574 1908 787 7,116,275 1,995,487 1909 876 7,325,337 2,046,711 1910 919 7,962,189 2,295,099 1911 936 7,781,030 2,219,908 1912 940 7,532,005 2,242,929 1913 910 7,155,816 2,098,484 1914 893 6,724,117 1,814,904 1915 896 6,964,402 1,735,902 1916 875 7,404,288 2,048,022 Swine Sheep Goats All Animals 31,815,900 9,681,876 52,149 50,935,216 35,113,077 9,702,545 45,953 53,973,337 35,427,931 10,802,903 69,193 55,672,075 27,656,021 11,149,937 115,811 49,179,057 29,916,363 13,005.502 54,145 52,976,948 34,966,378 14,208,724 63,983 59,014,019 32,287,538 14,724,465 56,556 56,322,859 33,289,705 14,958,834 121,827 56,909,387 36,247,958 12,909,089 165,533 58,022,884 40,482,799 11,985,926 180,355 62,101,391 There were 7,621.717 cattle slaughtered for inspection in the year 1907 ; in the year 1910 this number had increased to 7,962,189, from which point there has been a tendency to decrease, until the year 1915. The number slaughtered in the year 1916 was 7,404,288, which is 200,000 less than in the year 1907. The slaughter of calves is not significant. The slaughter of swine. The Dawn of a N ew Constructive Era 1_^ on the other hand is profoundly significant, a general tendency to increase being noticed from the year 1907, when 31,815,900 head of swine were inspected, to the year 1916, when 40,482,799 were inspected, an increase of almost nine million head. Sheep, on the other hand, show an increase to the year 1914, when 14,- "oosjjev^ent^ 958,834 were inspected, from which time the decrease has been '^^^^^^^^ pronounced, a total of 11,985,926 being reported for the last fiscal year as against 9,681,876 in 1907. The total number of animals inspected at slaughter has increased from 50,935,216 in 1907 to 62,101,391 in 1916, 77.62 per cent of this being due to the mcrease in swine slaughterings. Up to the outbreak of the great war, our population was in- creasing at the rate of twenty-five per cent per decade. The sig- nificance of these figures is therefore apparent. There is no doubt that our producers of beef cattle are doing everything which is economically possible at the present time to increase the output, but they have not yet overcome the effects of the depression of 'ten years ago. The increase in pork production, which has been rapid during the last ten years, is all that has saved the country from a most serious meat shortage. The per capita consumption of meat in the United States has actually decreased during this time. Any head of a family on a moderate income can bear wit- ness to this fact. The entire problem is an economic one. Confining our atten- tion solely to beef and pork production, we may observe that hogs are much more economical animals to produce on the farm than beef cattle. The classic investigations of Lawes and Gilbert showed that a steer required 777 pounds of digestible organic matter to make 100 pounds of increase in live weight, whereas a pig required only 353 pounds of digestible matter to make a sim- j^^^^^^y ,•„ ilar gain. Expressed in another way, Jordan has shown that the p-^ Raising pig returns 25 pounds of marketable product for each one hun- dred pounds of digestible matter consumed, of which 15.6 pounds are edible solids, whereas a steer returns only 8.3 pounds of mar- ketable product, of which only 2.8 pounds are digestible solids. This greater economy of production for feed consumed accounts for the large increase in pork production on the high-priced lands of the corn belt, while beef production there has been almost at a standstill. Cattle, however, are a necessity in economical farm manage- ment, when large quantities of unmarketable roughage are pro- 118 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era duced. The high-priced corn belt farms produce tremendous quantities of corn stover and large amounts of straw. Formerly these products were largely wasted, but the necessity to get re- turns on the heavy investment now requires their conservation. The silo, the stover shredder, rations in which straw forms an important part, and other methods of conservation have become necessary. Nothing takes the place of cattle in so utilizing coarse, unmarketable forage. Whether the cattle will be used for beef production or dairy production depends entirely upon labor, marketing and transportation conditions. The problem of the economy of pork production in the South is solved to a large extent. The increase in the number of hogs in Southern territory has been a striking feature of the agriculture of that section during recent years. One of the most interesting reports of this character is found in the percentage of hogs in the country on January 1, 1916, as compared with Jan- Hog Produc- ^^^^ ^' ^^^^- ^^ that time there were fourteen states which re- tion in South ported an increase of ten per cent, or more in the number of hogs Increasing on January 1, 1916. Of these fourteen states, only two were strictly corn belt states, and of the remaining twelve, five were Southern states, namely. South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. The increase during the last calendar year was not so pronounced, largely on account of the high prices for hogs prevailing during the year 1916, but there is no reason to be- lieve that the tendency in Southern states to increase the number of hogs has yet reached its maximum. For convenient reference I am including here a table of figures from the Department of Agriculture, showing the increase in the number of hogs in Southern states from 1914 to 1917. NUMBER OF HOGS JANUARY 1. 1914 1915 1916 1917 Increase Maryland .. 332,000 349,000 359,000 359,000 27,000 Virginia. . . 869,000 956,000 1,023,000 1,023,000 154,000 W.Virginia. 367,000 374,000 378,000 380,000 13,000 N. Carolina. 1,362,000 1,525,000 1,550,000 1.550,000 188,000 S. Carolina. 780,000 819,000 870,000 920,000 140,000 Georgia.... 1,945,000 2,042,000 2,348,000 2,585,000 640,000 Florida 904,000 949,000 996,000 1,100,000 196,000 Tennessee. . 1,320,000 1,501,000 1,531,000 1,485,000 165,000 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 119 1914 1915 1916 1917 Increase Alabama. . . 1,485,000 1,559,000 1,715,000 1,850,000 365,000 Mississippi. . 1,467,000 1,540,000 1,617,000 1,698,000 231,000 Louisiana. . . 1,398,000 1,412,000 1,553,000 1,584,000 186,000 Texas , 2,618,000 2,880,000 3,197,000 3,229,000 611,000 Oklahoma. . . 1,352,000 1,420,000 1,491,000 3,372,000 20,000 Arkansas. . . . 1,498,000 1,573,000 1,589,000 1,575,000 77,000 Total. . ..17,697,000 18,890,000 20,217,000 20,710,000 3,013,000 The control of hog cholera is no more difficult in the South than in the corn belt, but the control of parasitic pests, both in- ternal and external, requires more careful attention than in the North. Economical pork production in the South is based on the use of forage crops and the proper use of these crops in rotation helps materially in handling the problem of internal parasites. In many sections peanuts are largely used for grazing hogs, resulting in the production of an oily pork. Mast-fed hogs have long been subject to "dockage" on sale. Now the peanut hog has joined this tabooed company and all Southern hogs reach North- ern markets under suspicion. So long as the fresh pork market is as strong as it is at the present time, this condition does not „ . , preclude profitable hog production. Sooner or later, however, the f /^;s/,j^„ g^. problem must be solved, and methods of finishing devised which ing Solved will harden the meat of hogs raised on forage crops which pro- duce fats with low melting points. This is undoubtedly the most serious problem in Southern pork production. A similar problem was satisfactorily solved by Danish and Canadian scientists, and a number of investigators in the Southern field, notably Gray, of North Carolina, are now engaged upon it. There is no reason to believe that it will not be solved in due time. The first great problem in Southern beef production is tick eradication. This problem, is now fairly on its way to the half- mile post. Needless to say, the second half will be made in much better time than the first. It must be admitted, however, that the first territory to be cleared of tick infestation was the territory which was most promising for cattle production, or in which a certain amount of cattle production has been in progress for a considerable time. From one standpoint, the easy work has been done, and the territory still under quarantine includes some sections in which tick eradication work will be extremely difficult. 120 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era To offset this difficulty we may observe that full ten years have been taken to accomplish what has already been done. A large amount of this time has been consumed in educational propa- ganda. The education which the country has received as to the value of tick eradication will undoubtedly go a long way toward overcoming the natural obstacles which confront the eradicators in the territory still under quarantine. The wisdom of the policy Tick Being lof the past shows clearly, and the merit of the movement is Eliminated as ^ow generally recognized. With the majority of men, women ^ ^^ and children in the South now recognizing the importance of get- ting rid of the cattle tick, a much larger amount of the effort of the next ten years can be spent in active tick eradication work. The tick-free area has now reached the sea coast and by the end of the present calendar year we may expect to see released from quarantine at least one state which was in 1906 entirely tick- infested. This event will add to the impetus of the movement in other states and state-wide tick-.eradication laws will not only appear on the statute books of all states where tick quarantine exists, but they will be sincerely and energetically administered. We are thus rapidly adding to the country's tick-free terri- tory. However, the common assumption that the eradication of Tick Eradica- the cattle tick automatically adds just so much area to the cattle- tion and the producing territory, is not exactly true. A large portion of the Cattle Pro- territory which has been released from quarantine during the last , " ten years has always produced cattle of sorts, but in much of the territory from which the tick is still to be driven out, the profit- able production of beef cattle has been practically unknown. Let me make myself exactly clear on this point. I admit the fact that in some sections which are primarily pasture sections, beef cattle have been profitably produced where ticks have been present and the infestation light, and considerable progress has been made in breeding up native stock by the use of purebred bulls. It is also a fact that in some sections where the "piney- woods" cattle are common, the owners have made a profit. It is still possible, no doubt, for a few individuals to make a living from cattle of this type, but such a business, regarded in the broad light of economics, cannot be said to be profitable as an industry. If the proper charge had been made for the use of the land over which these cattle grazed, the profit in their pro- duction would probably be reduced to zero. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 1^1 Methods of finishing cattle for market have been well, worked out in certain sections of the South, and the possible profit by some of these methods was definitely shown, while the land on which the work was done was still under quarantine. We must admit, however, that a large portion of the area below the original quarantine line is not yet ready for the fattening of cattle. Until ^^outn^^a corn is produced in quantity and cheaply, or until other finishmg p-j,gf,Qj.ade feeds equally cheap and equally efficient, are produced, the raising battle of beef cattle for finishing elsewhere must be the chief feature of the beef business of the South. This is particularly true of the ^ut-over timber lands, and it is this territory which I have in mind in making the foregoing remarks concerning the econom- ical production of beef cattle in quarantined territory. What do we really know about the cattle raising possibilities of these cut-over timber lands? The fact that piney-woods cattle rano-e over them with little or no charge for the range, proves nothing from a business standpoint, except that the climatic con- ditions do not inhibit the growth of cattle. I might also say that the fact that men have reached a considerable degree of success in the production of pure-bred cattle in the South on cut-over timber lands proves only one thing, and that is that the South can pro- duce just as good pure-bred beef cattle as any other section of the country, but it sheds very little light on the question of the utilization of 76 million acres of these lands. This is a ranching problem, a grazing problem. If I may digress a moment, I venture the opinion that the presence of these native cattle in considerable numbers will be found to be an advantage when conditions are ready for the systematic development of an economic cattle raising industry. Native Cattle These native cows are hardy, acclimated, and will become a an Asset splendid foundation on which to build the cattle industry of the future. This native blood responds quickly to crossing with well- bred bulls, and in the course of a few systematic crosses, high grades will result which will be quite valuable as feeders. This much we know, but before we can advise capital to invest extensively in the cattle business on cut-over timber lands, we must be sure that the cost of faking these lands suitable for cattle production will not be so great as to prevent the enterprise from being profitable under proper management. I understand that the cost of ridding the land of stumps has been pretty well 122 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era worked out. The cost of fencing can very readily be ascertained. These and similar points being determined, we are at once face to face with the question of the productive value which these lands may then have for cattle grazing. By this time you are probably of the opinion that I am a doleful prophet, and that I am Sees South as throwing cold water on the idea of developing these lands for cat- Nation's New ^le production. Far from it. I have for more than ten years main- La e Loiin- ^^^ined that our most promising future source of considerable increase in beef cattle production in this country is in the South- ern territory south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi rivers. The Western range has reached its capacity. The increase in production in the corn belt has not kept pace with the increase in population, and in order to supply the corn-producing sections with feeders at reasonable prices we must look to development in the South. Regarding the territory as a whole, the cut-over timber lands are by nature promising for cattle producing purposes. But these cut-over timber lands at present do not produce cattle econom- ically, and they will not produce cattle economically until the grass-producing possibilities of these lands are thoroughly dem- onstrated. Granted, then, that for a somewhat long time to come, cattle raising rather than cattle fattening will prevail in the South as a whole, it is apparent that after tick eradication, the problem of most pressing importance, particularly in the cut-over timber country, will be the maintenace of the herds which will be estab- More and Bet- lished on the tick-freed areas. This maintenance problem has ter Pasturage ^^v^o phases — the pasture period and the wintering period. The ssen lal pasture problem must be solved before the promised development of the Southern cattle industry becomes an accomplished fact. Not only in the cut-over timber lands, but elsewhere throughout the South, the pasture problem presents itself as the most im- portant feature after the tick eradication problem is solved. The botanical features of native Southern forage plants are, of course, well known. The adaptability of certain imported ones is also fairly well understood, but there is a very great deal to learn of the relative merits of different plants, their behavior when pastured, their proper management under pasture, and their productive value as pasture plants. Just one question is a fair example of the importance of these problems, and this one question crystallizes everything The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 123 which I have said on this subject. How many acres of cut-over Seven to Ten timber land are necessary to carry a cow through the season? Do ^^^^^ to a you know? I do not, and I have never met a man who does. By way of explanation, let me say that this was written before I had the pleasure of meeting our good friend, Mr. Thomp- son, of Texas. Mir. Thompson was the first man able to give me an intelligent answer to that question. He said yesterday that when they started on that 60,0(X)-acre tract in Trinity and Polk Counties, in Texas, they estimated they would carry one cow on every fifteen acres; but he says that he has found they can almost cut it in two, and now they estimate that around seven to ten acres will be required to keep a cow for the season. The first thought which an investor should consider before going into cattle raising in these sections, is this very question. It therefore seems incumbent on all of us who are interested in this problem to bend every effort to bring about a speedy accumu- lation of accurate information on the pasture question, and the problem should be^ studied under different types of conditions, each type related to the whole, so that when we have accumulated data, it will not be fragmentary, but each part will fill a niche in the construction of the entire structure. The wintering problem does not give one nearly so much concern as does the problem of pasturing through the growing season. The wintering problem can be solved by foresight. We are apt to overlook the fact that during the short winter in the South, losses among cattle may be quite as serious as on the ranges of the West, unless owners have fortified themselves with a sufficient supply of feed to carry the animals through. Under the best climatic conditions, cattle of the age of yearlings up, will lose from fifty to one hundred pounds during the winter when forced to subsist on cotton-stalk fields and cane brakes. Plenty of When winter conditions such as occurred during the winter of Feed in Win- 1916-17 prevail, heavy losses result. Thousands of cows died in ^^ **^" ^^ the South during the past winter. The weather had something to do with these deaths, but shortage of feed was the principal cause. All this loss might have been prevented if one of two things had been done: First, if the owner had not stocked up with more cattle than he had feed for; second, if he had taken precaution to provide sufficient feed in advance to carry the cows through the winter. In any cattle enterprise on cut-over lands. 124 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Systematic Study of Pas- turage Prob- lem Urged How Prompt Results May Be Obtained selected areas can doubtless be found on which feed production can be economically carried on to produce a sufficient quantity of hay and silage to carry the cows through the winter. Where an owner is caught with more cattle than he has feed for, he is in a serious predicament. A sufficient supply of silage and hay, silage and cottonseed meal, or even of hay alone, would have been cheap insurance against the losses of last winter. As a constructive suggestion, it is advised that the pasture problem be attacked without delay in a systematic, thorough and practical manner, co-operatively by the agronomist and the animal husbandman. This plan need not be unduly expensive. It should be carried out in a simple, thorough way. Any studies which are made should be made under field conditions. They should be sys- tematically located and carried on at a sufficient number of points so that the influence of different types of soil, topography and cli- mate will receive adequate attention. Furthermore, there should be such a co-ordination of effort that the results obtained at any given point will shed light on the problem as a whole. We are all agreed, I take it, that the problem is urgent. It is therefore necessary that results be obtained promptly which will answer the questions of most pressing importance in a minimum of time. No plan should be adopted which will necessitate a large amount of preliminary detail work in the way of providing equipment and facilities. Sufficient num- bers of cattle should be used to make each experiment in it- self of commercial importance. That is to say, in the case of stockers, the number should be at least a carload in every ex- periment; in the case of studies on the maintenance of a breeding herd, a herd with a minimum of at least fifty cows, should be used, so that at least a carload of cattle would be produced by each breeding unit each year. The methods and equipment used should be such that successful results can be immediately applied to the business on a large scale. The experiments should be planned primarily from a business standpoint, and none should be attempted which do not promise in all probability, under com- petent management, to show a profit. All records should be kept with systematic care and precision by the methods now commonly accepted as standard for such work. The record keeping feature of the work is not properly chargeable against the cattle on experiment and constitutes the principal item of overhead ex- pense. Properly handled, the receipts from sales of cattle used The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 125 in such a series of experiments can be made to pay a large pro- portion of the expenses of the work. The Chairman : Are there any inquiries ? A Delegate: Is it necessary to stable cattle in the South? Air. Rommel : Not necessarily. It is always an advantage to shelter cattle in storms. I have always insisted on this : If you give an animal a dry place to sleep, shelter from the storms, and plenty to eat, you will get along all right through the winter- time; and all you need is a simple shelter for the cattle, as they ought to have a dry place to sleep, and where they will not be exposed to storms. These storms which you have down here are almost as severe on the cattle as the more severe storms in the more northern sections. A Survey of the Live Stock Situation By Dr. Andrew M. Soule President of the College of Agriculture of the State of Georgia Statistics are unpalatable to the average man. They do not seem to appeal to his imagination. They are too matter of fact and not sufficiently spectacular to interest him. Yet their consid- eration is basic to ascertaining the true status of any business or industry. The general dislike for statistics is in large measure due to the difficulty of their ready assimilation. To understand • them requires careful study, and this the average farmer or busi- False Philos- ness man has not been ready to bestow upon them, because like op/jy Danger- the English, he has always muddled through somehow. This ^"^ indifference to statistics accounts in large degree for our woeful lack of a proper appreciation of the true economic situation which confronts us as a people. We are surprised and startled when we learn that the food supply has become circumscribed and that the cost of living has advanced in such an alarming manner. It has been much easier in the past to follow the false reasoning and "spread-eagleism" of the orator or to swallow bodily the absurd 126 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era explanations offered by the demagogue until at last we have reached a point where these things no longer act as palliatives and we are face to face with the necessity of studying and solving economic questions through the exercise of the highest intelli- gence and skill which we as a nation are in position to bring to their correct solution. I have no apologies to offer, therefore, for the statistical data presented in this paper, as I consider it nec- essary to the elucidation of the discussion which follows. A survey of the live stock situation must, of necessity, deal with the past, present and future conditions and possibilities of this industry in the South. In this connection, it is proper to state that this discussion is based on a consideration of the number of live stock held on the farms in the following fifteen states as taken from the 1910 census : Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. Animals in Southern States 1910. Number Value ParA^nThl ^^^""^ '^^^^ 5,651,000 $149,462,000 Nation's Live Other cattle 13,795,000 216,993,000 Stock Indus- Sheep 7,196,000 25,574,000 try Swine 18,374,000 80,670,000 Total 45,016,000 $472,699,000 Animals in United States 1910. Number Value Dairy cows 20,625,000 $706,236,000 Other cattle 41,178,000 793,287,000 Sheep 52,447,000 232,841,000 Swine 58,185,000 399,338,000 Total 172,435,000 $2,131,702,000 It appears that in 1910, there were 45,016,000 head of live Live Stock stock, worth $472,699,000, owned on Southern farms. At that Values Double time, there were 172,435,000 head of live stock on all the farms in in Six Years t^e United States, worth $2,131,702,000. It appears that a little more than one-fourth of the live stock owned in the United States The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 127 was in the South, while they had a value of less than one-fourth of the total value of all the animals owned in the United States. On January 1, 1917, according to the Bureau of Crop Esti- mates, the live stock in the Southern states numbered 48,171,000 and were worth $877,643,000. The number of animals in the United States was 179,553,000, worth $3,961,527,000. There was an increase for the country as a whole, therefore, in numbers, of 7,118,000, and in value, of^ $1,829,825,000. In other words, while the increase in live stock as a whole is relatively small, the value almost doubled. Animals in the Southern States 1916. Number Value Dairy cows 5,889,000 $276,085,000 Other cattle 13,005,000 365.747,000 Sheep 6,978,000 37.047,000 Swine 22,299,000 198,764,000 48,171,000 $877,643,000 Animals in United States 1916. Number Value Dairy cows 22,768,000 $1,358,435,000 Other cattle 40,849.000 1,465,786,000 Sheep 48,483,000 346,064,000 Swine 67,453.000 791,242,000 179,553,000 $3,961,527,000 During the six years under discussion, the number of animals in the South increased by 3,155,000, as compared with 7,118,000 for the United States. There was also a very substantial increase in value, amounting roughly to $405,000,000. In the matter of gain in numbers, the South more than held its own, but did not . make much progress as compared with other sections of the ^Qj-iqaae country in an increased valuation of its live stock. An analysis of Lifter the figures shows that there was quite a substantial gain in the number of dairy cows, amounting to 238,000 head. In the number of beef cattle there was a loss of 790,000 head. Sheep also de- clined by 218,000. Hogs increased by 4,025,000 head. It is grati- fying to observe that the hog industry is being recognized at 128 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Decline in Beef Cattle and Sheep Room for 150,000,000 Sheep in the South its face value, and that this line of animal husbandry is being systematically advanced throughout the South. The hog is a mortgage lifter in the truest sense of the word, and will pay the farmer as large a return on his investment in as short a time as he can obtain from any other class of stock. As a means towards increasing the food supply and adequately feeding our own peo- ple, building up the income of our farms, and enabling us to di- versify and rotate our crops in a satisfactory manner and reduce or overcome the losses which the boll weevil may cause in various states, let us encourage swine husbandry in every legitimate man- ner. If we do this, many of our most difficult problems will be satisfactorily solved. It may be surprising to many that there should have been a decrease in beef cattle of 790,000 head. This is a grave economic mistake and must be corrected if the South is to become perma- nently prosperous and successful. It is all the more regrettable that this decrease in beef cattle should have occurred in view of the great success which has attended the campaign for tick eradi- cation, and the relatively large area which has been set free as a result of this work which has been carried forward by the federal Bureau of Animal Industry, in co-operation with the several states. The decrease in the number of sheep on Southern farms is also to be greatly regretted. There is no explanation for such a condition save the fact that the worthless cur has been allowed to flourish at the expense of the "golden hoof" of the sheep. In England sheep are grown by the millions on lands similar to thousands of acres unadapted for general cultivation to be found in the South, yet which are susceptible of producing a fine variety of grass and forage crops. In England sheep are raised for mutton and the wool is a surplus crop. There is no reason why this industry should not be established on similar lines in the South. Where Great Britain, with an area of 120,000 square miles, maintains, roughly speaking, between twenty and twenty- five million head of sheep, we in the South are maintaining less than seven million on 899,747 square miles. On a comparative basis, the South should be maintaining over 150,000,000 head of sheep, or between five and six for each inhabitant. At the present time, England is maintaining one sheep for each two of her popu- lation. Is it any wonder that the cost of living should be rapidly increasing; that meat should become in some senses of the word scarce and so high-priced that the average individual cannot use The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 129 it freely; or that the cost of woolen clothing should reach such exorbitant figures? The writer likes dogs, believing them to be one of the most wholesome and desirable of all pets, but the dog should not be given free range to destroy Avhat should be one of the country's most important industries. We have literally thrown sheep to the dogs. When will we come to our senses and confine or destroy the worthless cur and give the golden-hoofed sheep a chance to aid in the agricultural emancipation of the South and in the restoration of much of our worn and gullied lands which now lie practically idle? Surely this situation can not continue much longer. It is too much out of joint with the Throwing times. Surely some Moses will arise to lead us to see the light ^ and act in a rational manner towards the solution of this question and the establishment of sheep husbandry on some basis com- mensurate with our opportunities and the needs of the South and the nation as a whole. The question naturally arises as to the relation of animal husbandries in the South compared to the population as a whole. In other words, what are we doing towards providing ourselves with animal food as compared with other sections of the country? As already pointed out, the area of the fifteen southern states is 899,747 square miles. The area of the United States is 3,026,789 square miles. The South, therefore, comprises practically one- third of the total area of the United States. In 1910 the popula- tion of the United States was 91,972,266, and of the South, 28,855,939, or a little less than one-third of the total population. We possessed, according to the figures of 1916, about one-fourth '^arns South of the dairy cows, about one-third of the beef cattle, about one- °' ^ood Crisis seventh of the sheep, and about one-third of the hogs owned in the United States. Therefore, in spite of the substantial increase shown in the number of swine in the past six years, we are barely holding our own in the matter of maintaining our animal indus- tries as compared with the rest of the country. It behooves us to realize this situation and take steps to avert the crisis which will shortly confront uS;! unless something radical towards en- couraging and developing our live stock industries is accom- plished very soon. The population of the United States in the last sixteen years has increased by more than 26,000,000, or 33 per cent. In the past six years, it is believed that the numbers have increased by more than 10,000,000. There has been no such proportionate 130 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era increase in the number of our farm animals, yet meat and dairy products constitute 37 per cent, of the average diet, cereals 31 per cent., sweet and Irish potatoes 13 per cent., vegetables 8 per cent., and fish 2 per cent. The amount of beef, veal, mutton and pork available per capita has fallen from 248.2 pounds in 1899 to 219.6 pounds in 1915. The production of butter and cheese per capita has fallen from 23.6 pounds in 1899 to 21.1 pounds in 1909. The production of fish, cereals and Irish potatoes has fallen off since 1899, while poultry, eggs, sweet potatoes and citrus fruits have shown an increase, which, of course, is very encouraging insofar as it goes. Under the stimulus of war abroad and extraor- dinary prices, the exports of meat products for 1916 will prob- Heauy Ex- ably be 2,000,000,000 pounds, together with 602,000,000 pounds of ports to Con- f^^g ^^^ q-j,, 'pj.jg imports of these two items amount to prac- ^r tically nothing as compared with the exports. Hence, we face another danger of decreasing our meat supply through the de- mand abroad, which it is reasonable to suppose will continue until the end of the war and for some years thereafter. This is but an added reason why we should develop and promote our animal industries in every possible way. Feverish activity along this line', is what we need. At the same time, we should avoid a boom or speculation or irrational development because all of these things will re-act unfavorably on the industry in the long run. At the same time, it does not appear that the Southern |)eople as a whole realize the true inwardness of the existing situation or fully appreciate the opportunities whicli it offers to them. Among the things which need to be done to place our animal industries on a thoroughly constructive basis is the complete eradication of the cattle tick. Commendable progress is being made along this line. This work was begun in 1906, through the efforts of a small group of men associated with Southern agricul- Tick Eradica- ^"'"^^ colleges and experiment stations, and if laurel wreaths were tion First given to those deserving them, theirs would have been bestowed Essential long ago. At a time when everyone considered the eradication of the cattle tick a dream of the imagination, these men inaugurated the work on a scale which demonstrated its feasibility, and through persistent effort, won the sympathy and approval of Secretary Wilson, Congress and the Federal authorities to the support of this w^ork. The South will never be able to pay the debt of gratitude it owes to Dr. Tait Butler, Prof. H. A. Morgan, The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 131 Prof. W. R. Dodson, Prof. B. W. Kilgore, Dr. Cooper Curtis and the other men who were associated with them in the inauguration of this wonderful enterprise. Already ticks have been eradicated from 294,014 square miles of territory since 1906. In other words, over forty per cent, of the originally infested territory has been cleaned and forever rid of this miserable parasite which caused losses estimated at $40,000,000 a year to the live stock owners of the South. In Georgia, for instance, fifty-five counties are now free of ticks and quarantine regulations are being en- forced in thirty-eight others. It is only a mafter of three to five years until practically every one of the infested states will have been cleaned up, and when that time is reached, the Southern stockmen ought to join in a grand jubilee of thanksgiving. Next to the eradication of the tick, efforts should be made looking to the checking and elimination of disease and parasites. For instance, much can be done towards reducing losses from hog cholera which amount now to millions of dollars annually. Tuberculosis can also be controlled and in large measure, stamped Disease and out. This disease causes a loss in the United States of $25,000,000 Parasites a year. According to the following table, the losses of live Cause Heavy stock in Georgia, mainly from disease and exposure, may be con- ^-^^^^^ servatively estimated at $5,247,520. The total number of animals lost in the year indicated was approximately 269,480 head. Of this number 258,4801 were meat-producing animals so that the losses resulted chiefly in cutting down the meat supply and in- creasing its cost to the consumer. Losses of Live Stock in Georgia for Year Ending April 1, 1916. Number. Average Value. Total Loss. Horses 11,000 $150.00 $1,650,000 Cattle 41,800 25.00 1,045,000 Sheep 5,560 3.00 16,680 Swine 211,320 12.00 2,535.840 Total. . 269,680 $5,247,520 Applying these figures to the South, it will be seen that for the fifteen Southern states the losses amount to between 75 and More Veteri- 100 million dollars annually. Surely, it would be worth while narians on the part of the different states to spend something for educa- ^^^dea tion, and thereby train a generation of veterinarians so that the 132 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era The Agricul- tural College as a Factor stockmen might have their services at a reasonable cost. The stockman himself should receive sufficient training to be able to diagnose many of the more important diseases and give the nec- essary treatment. This is particularly true in the case of swine, which the farmer can successfully inoculate against cholera. We have not realized the nature or extent of these losses as land owners, and certainly the consuming part of our population have not understood the situation or they would have demanded a measure of relief along the lines indicated and which can only be done through the medium of the more liberal endowment of our agricultural colleges and the training of experts to perform the necessary public service welfare work with animals. We also need to educate a generation of stockmen. The stock business is a comparatively new industry. It is much more complicated than that of cotton farming. When one comes to deal with living animals, subject in many respects to the same diseases and troubles which afflict the human race, skill in management, feed- ing and handling becomes absolutely essential. A live stock husbandman is not made over night. The successful feeders and breeders of England and Scotland have followed the industry from generation to generation. The owners of breeding animals in those countries are highly educated and scholarly men, and they have the most reliable and capable herdsmen with wide ex- perience in the handling of animals in charge of their herds and flocks. We must, therefore, encourage our boys to go to agricul- tural colleges and obtain the fundamental and technical training necessary, and then arrange for them to obtain such additional practical information as may be necessary on selected stock farms. When this is done we will have started the industry on the high road to success, because it will have been established on a correct scientific basis, which is the only lasting foundation on which to build any superstructure. That we need education along this line more than in other sections of the country is evidenced by the fact that 25 head of cattle out of every 1000 die from disease and 25 from exposure ; 31 sheep out of every 1000 die from disease and 31 from exposure; 71 head of swine out of every 1000 die from disease. These fig- ures apply to the Sunny South, with an equable climate, long growing season and the other favorable conditions which per- tain here. On the other hand, in the North Atlantic states, where seasonal and climatic conditions are as unfavorable as The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 133 they could be in any section of the United States, only 19.9 cattle in 1000 die from disease and 3.6 from exposure ; of sheep 25.2 die from disease and 9.2 from exposure; of swine 27.5 die from disease. That we can make rapid and substantial progress if we ap- ply ourselves to the task properly is shown by what has been Georgia an accomplished in Georgia in the last few years. According to the ^^^^^^^^^ census figures of 1910 we possessed animals of the several classes to the number and value indicated below : Number. Value. Horses 120,067 $14,193,839 Mules 295,348 43,974,611 Beef and Dairy Cattle 1,080,316 14,060,958 Sheep 187,644 308,212 Swine 1,783,684 5,429,016 Total 3,467,059 $77,966,636 According to the Bureau of Crop Estimates the figures for 1916 are as follows : Number. Value. Horses 127,000 $ 16,383,000 Mules 324,000 52,812,000 Beef and Dairy Cattle 1,104,000 26,579,000 Sheep 150,000 420,000 Swine 2,585,000 23,265,000 Total 4,290,000 $119,459,000 The increase in numbers for the period mentioned amounts to 822.941 and the increase in value to $41,492,364. Part of this increase in value is attributable to the better grade of live stock and the higher market values pertaining, but a very considerable amount of it is due to the greater number of animals now owned. For instance, horses and mules show an increase, beef and dairy cattle a sHght increase, sheep a falling off, but swine an increase of 801.316. or well on towards the million mark. This is a very notable increase to have occurred in a period of six years. More- over, where these animals had an average value of $3.04 in 1910, they now have an average value of $9.00, showing that the qual- ity has been greatly advanced. In other words, the increase in 134 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Boys' Live Stock Clubs and County Agents Praised Grass a Friend and Asset to the Farmer value of swine in Georgia in six years amounts in round numbers to about $18,000,000. This gives some idea of the forcefulness of an educational campaign organized and conducted along certain lines. While all of the increase is not attributable to any one agency, the boys' live stock clubs have exerted a marvelous influence by creating a renewed interest in swine husbandry in inducing the fathers to purchase pure-bred animals for them, and thereby raising the quality of the stock kept on many farms. Naturally, the various organizations concerned have endeavored in every way to en- courage the use of preventive serum, with the result that large numbers of outbreaks of this disease have been checked at the start, and hundreds of farmers taught how to use the serum properly. The county agents are undoubtedly to be credited with having accomplished a work along this; line worth millions of dollars to the swine owners of the state. They were the men on the ground when the outbreaks occurred and their prompt action and public service work in this direction cannot be too highly commended. I have no doubt but that they have done an equally important work in every other Southern state. Among the things which must be done is to teach the South- ern farmer to quit fighting grass. Grass should be his most val- uable friend and most highly prized asset. The cotton farmer has been taught to fight grass from infancy ; therefore, it seems that he is unwilling to have any of it on any part of his land whether he devotes it to cotton or not. One can not grow and maintain live stock successfully without grass. It is needless to enter into detail as to the great variety of grasses and clovers which may be provided for summer and winter grazing and which would shortly clothe our hills and prevent their erosion if given opportunity to do so. They would also add materially to the carrying capacity of the land, shorten the length of time we would have to stall feed our animals, enable us to improve the quality of our live stock, and give us the necessary succulent food for the cheap maintenance of live stock in the summer which silage affords in the winter. Speaking of the educational campaign, it is proper to state that hundreds of silos have been built in Georgia in the last few years as a result of the work done by the animal husbandry di- vision and the extension force of the State College of Agriculture. Plans have been furnished to thousands of farmers and thev have The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 135 been aided in erecting tlje necessary structures. They have also been advised as to the crops to grow and as to the methods of feeding to follow, with the result that the silo is now regarded by many as an indispensable factor in the maintenance of beef and Helping the dairy cattle on an economical and practical basis. Only a begin- ?!"^^^ ning has been made in this direction, however, for the time must shortly come when there will be thousands upon thousands of silos in every Southern state if we are to develop our live stock business to the degree which is necessary and essential. Only a word can be said in this connection relative to the feeding of live stock, but it is along this line that more failures are recorded than in any other direction. Self-criticism is not pleasant, but if we realize that for the most part we are "babes in the woods" when it comes to the question of feeding, we will make progress all the more rapidly. The problem of animal nutrition is a complicated one from every point of view. One must understand the composition of foodstuffs, and the anatomy, physiology and requirements of the animal body for maintenance, for growth and for work. One must understand how to combine foods in order to promote digestion and circulation ; in other words, how to lubricate the machine most cheaply and success- lully. The animal in the stall corresponds to the knitting ma- The Science chine in the mill. It may or may not do effective work. It all ^' P^pP^^ depends on the manner in which it is set up and manipulated. It must be adjusted and oiled and lubricated. The animal must be fed and watered and cared for properly if expected to produce a profitable return. As to the amount of foodstuffs available, our supply may be limited in some respects, but we can produce silage ad libitum, and this can be fed with success for six months of the year. Summer pastures can be provided by the farmer who has the ambition to do so. Grain crops of a great variety may be had to use as concentrates. We can increase our yields of corn, oats, peanuts, soy beans, velvet beans and cotton seed meal. No section of the country may be better supplied with the variety of foodstuffs essential to the proper nourishment of all classes of live stock than the South. It is a question of choosing from the rich field of possible supply and combining nature's gifts in the proper manner. That the feed problem is a determining factor in economic production is shown by the following example : A dairy cow fed on a ration of 36 pounds of silage and 6 pounds of cotton seed 136 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Rations That Double Profits High - Grade Cows Pay Best in the End meal produced a profit of $51.75 from butter when sold at 30 cents a pound. When fed on a ration of 36 pounds of silage, 7 pounds of hay and 5 pounds of mixed grain, the profit at the same sale price was $37.15. When fed on a ration of 12 pounds of silage, 10 pounds of hay and 10 pounds of mixed grain, the profit fell to $24.43. In other words, one ration was more than twice as profitable as another. This example will apply with equal force to the economic maintenance of horses and mules, beef and dairy cattle, sheep and swine. The feeding of live stock may be a gamble at present, and, if so, the cards stack themselves against the owner every time. Intelligence and skill and the essential knowledge on which correct nutrition is predicated must be pos- sessed by the successful stockman. I emphasize, therefore, the necessity of encouraging hundreds of boys in the South to take the necessary courses of instruction in our agricultural colleges that they may become acquainted with the science and art of an- imal nutrition and become experts in the handling of live stock. Umtil this is done our progress will be of the more or less blun- dering variety and our losses will be so frequent as to discourage rather than promote what in the very nature of the situation should always be one of our most important and constructive in- dustries. The stockman must give consideration to quality in his ani- mals. If he is not willing to do this he cannot hope to succeed. The South is very backward in this direction. We are securing a very small return, for instance, from the dairy cows we maintain. In fact, a large per cent of them are unprofitable. It ma)^ not seem credible to every person, but it is true nevertheless that a cow giving 300 pounds of butter fat in a lactation period made the same profit as forty-one cows each yielding 131 pounds of butter in a lactation period. The reason for this lies in the fact that it costs so much to maintain an animal. The food consumed in maintenance is not used for productive purposes. A cow of limited assimilative capacity can only utilize so much food. We may feed her more than a given amount but she wastes the bal- ance. She is not an economical manufacturer of milk and butter. We must get rid, therefore, of the thief in the dairy herd, and we should remember that there are thousands of them. The same is true of our beef cattle and our sheep and swine. We must get rid of the scrub stock, the slow developer, and the animal which can not eat an unusually large amount of food and assimilate and The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 137 digest it to advantage and manufacture therefrom some food sub- stance of value to the owner and to the human race. We must scrub Stock come to understand that animals are just as individualistic as hu- Must Go man beings and we must get rid of the low-grade stock we pos- sess if we are to be successful and prosperous as live stock farmers. The importance of this matter is illustrated in the following table, which shows the average value of different classes of farm anim'als in Georgia, in the United States, and in the states where the particular class of animals have attained the highest value. Georgia figures have been used because of the readiness with which they may be appHed to the conditions prevailing in the other Southern states concerned : Average Value of Live Stock. Georgia. United States. Values in Other States. Horses. . . . . ..$127.00 $102.94 Maine $152.00 Mules .. 163.00 118.32 New Jersey 169.00 Rhode Island 77.00 Dairy Cows . . . . 37.00 59.66 Nebraska Wisconsin Illinois 68.00 65.00 43.30 Average Beef Cattle . . . . . 16.20 35.88 Nebraska Montana Iowa Nevada Idaho 44.30 yatue of Live 5310 ^^°^^ 8.80 Sheep . . . 2.80 7.14 8.20 8.20 Connecticut 17.50 New Jersey 17.00 Swine .... 9.00 11.73 \ Maine Iowa Nebraska 16.60 15.50 14.00 Dairy cows in Georgia are worth on an average $37.00 apiece ; in Rhode Island $77.00; and in the United States $59.66. In Nebraska they are worth $68.00, and in Wisconsin $65.00. Wis- Pure -Bred consin is one of the greatest dairy states, and one can understand ^'^ll^^Zl why their cows are so much better producers than ours as shown ^^^^^ by their average value. Wisconsin farmers do not come to Georgia or the South to buy high-producing dairy animals, but we go to them for this purpose. There is no reason why, by the use of pure- bred sires, the elimination of unprofitable animals, and the proper feeding and maintenance of our cows, we should not make 138 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Natural Ad- vantages of the South them worth $65.00. It should be possible to add several million dollars to the value of our dairy herds every year by the process indicated. In a state like Georgia, for instance, we should be able in large measure to replace the losses which the weevil might in- flict on us through the improvement of our dairy cattle. It would not break us to do it. We have the money and the brains and the intelligence. All we need to do is to study this proposition as seriously as we have studied cotton production. Then, educate our boys, use pure-bred sires and utilize the natural facilities which we possess to attain the end in view. Take the case of beef cattle. They are worth $16.20 apiece in Georgia, and in the United States $35.88. In other words, our beef cattle are of a low grade. They dress out about 40 per cent of the live weight. It takes them about a year or sO' longer to mature than it should. They do not finish out advantageously. When shipped to consuming centers they class as little better than scrubs for the most part. In Montana the average beef animal is worth $53.10, in Nebraska $44.30, and in Illinois $43.30. Montana beef cattle are worth more than three times as much as Georgia beef cattle. This has been brought about through the use of the pure-bred sire, the elimination of the scrub, and a state-wide cam- paign of education. The facts presented above apply with equal force to sheep and swine. As a result of the boys' pig club work and other educa- tional forces which have been brought into play, swine in Georgia are now credited with an average value of $9.00 as compared with $11.73 for the United States. In Connecticut they are worth $17.50, or almost twice as much as in Georgia; in New Jersey $17.00, and in Maine $16.60. In this connection it is important to remember that the highest priced animals in the United States in many instances are in states which can not produce half as many food crops as Georgia, which do not raise anything like the same quantity or variety of concentrates, and where the climatic condi- tions are most unfavorable. The people in those states are only able to compete with the South in the production of live stock be- cause of the special study they have made of this business ; because of the greater skill and care with which they feed and handle their animals ; and because of the high premium they have placed on quality which has been attained through the use of pure-bred sires. These lessons should sink deep into our hearts, because they con- stitute the keystone over the arch of success as it applies to ani- The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 139 mal production. The foregoing figures illustrate a point which I desire to again re-emphasize in that we can recoup ourselves for losses due to the boll weevil invasion by improving the quality of our live stock and by directing attention to the development of animal industries. There is no reason, for instance, why we should not increase the number of hogs to three million in the course of a couple of years, thereby adding from this source alone several million dollars annually to the revenue of our farms. In the course of four or five years we could increase the value of our beef and dairy cattle by ai similar amount, thus giv- ing us in a short time an offset of twenty to twenty-five million dollars to replace any losses incident! to weevil damage. The latent possibilities of live stock industries are nicely illustrated by what has been , accomplished on the College farm at Athens in the past few years. This farm was little better than an abandoned plantation when taken over in 1907. The figures presented. below show the value of the live stock at that time and at subsequent periods up to June 1, 1916: Value of live stock on College farm Sept. 1, 1907 $ 1,917.00 Expenditures for live stock from Sept. 1, 1907, to June 1, 1916 9,683.60 Value of live stock June 1, 1916 $17,310.00 Sales of live stock Sept. 1, 1907, to June 1, 1916 13,377.95 Net increased value plus sales above ex- penditures for purchase of live stock. . 19,087.35 $30,687.95 $30,687.95 Average amount expended yearly for live stock $ 1,075.95 Average annual sales of live stock 1,491.98 Average net yearly increase in inventoried value of live stock 1,710.33 As is shown, the farm started with $1,917 worth of live stock. There has been expended for the purchase of live stock during the past nine years $9,683.60. The sales of live stock for nine years amount to $13,377.95, while the value of the live stock as inventoried on Junel, 1916, was $17,310.00. The net increased value plus sales above expenditures for the purchase of live stock, therefore, totaled $19,087.35. An accurate record of the What Has Been Done on an "Aban- doned" Farm 140 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Percheron Mares Suc- cessfully Grown in the South Two - Year - Old Hereford Steer Sells for $123.50 to the Butcher number of animals purchased and handled and the manner in which they have been disposed of has been kept on the College farm since the work was first started. This will give some idea of what can be done on a farm organized along the lines indi- cated. What has been done here can be done by hundreds of other farmers who will make the business of live stock breeding a specialty and study the various problems involved therein in an intelligent manner. It is worth while noting that while $1,075.95 was spent for the purchase of live stock each year, the annual sales amounted to v$l,491.98, and the average net yearly increase in the inventoried value of the live stock to $1,710.33. This is a line of activity which the young men of the South should engage in, and everyone who has the welfare of this sec- tion of the country at heart or who is concerned about reducing the cost of living or supplying our markets with an abundance of choice meat and dairy products will lend his encouragement to the promotion of this industry. It has been thought by many that Percheron mares could not be maintained successfully in the South. On January 1. 1911, a team of grade mares was purchased by the College of Agriculture for $470.00. They have done the same amount of work as any team of mules would have performed in the past six years. Colts to the value of $1,137.50 have been sold from them already and there is a filly on hand worth $100.00, making the gross return from these two animals $1,237.50, or more than two and a half times their original purchase price. In the mean- time they have earned their board and keep. The man who can- not keep Percheron mares on his farm should not attribute it to climatic or soil conditions, but to carelessness in the matter of feeding and general management. That our beef industries can be rapidly and profitably built up is illustrated by the fact that a long 2-year-old grade Here- ford steer weighing 1,450 pounds was recently sold to an Athens butcher at 8.5 cents a pound net, or for $123.50 cash. This steer was two crosses removed from a native cow that cost $17.00. It took a little over six years to produce him. When slaughtered he dressed out 64 per cent of valuable meat. He cost the butcher 11 cents a pound dressed. The same butcher purchased a car- load of steers at 5.5 cents. They cost him hung up on the hooks 10.75 cents a pound, but the high-grade Hereford steer sold for 5 cents a pound more all around, and hence he was a far more The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 141 profitable animal to handle. The butcher who purchased him with misgivings has since visited the College and wants to know when we will have some more like him. He has been educated and has learned that quality is a matter of surpassing moment in animals. Persons who ate the meat are anxious for some more of the same character. There are 100,000 farms in the South where the same class of animal can be produced under the same con- ditions in a period of six years, starting with a pure-bred sire on native stock. It may be interesting- to know that Hereford steers sold as long yearlings by the College attained an average weight of 1,010 pounds and sold at $80.50 a head cash on the farm. There never was a country offering greater opportunities to live stock men, but in this connection it should be remembered that it takes a keen, analytical, constructive business man to „ • tjllSlTlCSS run a live stock farm just as well as it does to run a law office, a Methods hardware business or a manufacturing enterprise. If this fact Needed in can be borne into the consciousness of our people the founda- Live Stock tion will have been laid on which to build up animal industries ^ctr/nz/jg' of proportions calculated to serve the present and future eco- nomic needs of the South, and to a reasonable degree, the nation as a whole. 142 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era The Animal Industry of the South — Past, Present and Future By Dr. W. H. Dalrymple Professor of Veterinary Science, Louisiana State University and A. & M. College The subject assigned to me, or rather to that distinguished scientist, Dr. Jno. R. Mohler, Assistant Chief of the Federal Bureau of Animal Industry, whose place I am presumed to fill on the programme, is a very large one, and one that it would be impossible to adequately cover in the limited space of time allotted to its discussion. As regards the past of animal industry in the South, I do not believe it would aid us much at this time to dwell to any extent on the conditions that are behind us, unless it should be to utilize our remembrance of them, along with what we know of the present, to help us build more solidly for the future. There is one thought, however, which appeals to me very StoD "Plavina strongly, viz., that if we expect to make the most out of our With Agriciil- great agricultural and live stock possibilities in the future we tiire" will have to consider and treat them in a niiuch more serious manner than has been the case in the past, or as some seem to view them even at the present time. Or, to quote a recent remark made by a prominent British agriculturist, as he views matters at the present time in that country, and which, in some degree at least, may apply to us, viz., "We can play with politics, with industry, with law, and even with the consuming fires of civilized (?) warfare, but if we value the future of our country, and of our race, we cannot any longer afford to play with agriculture." The great cattle ranges of the West are rapidly being placed under cultivation to meet the demands of an ever-increasing pop- ulation, both natural and through immigration, and which may be largely added to after the world is again at peace, who have The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 143 to be provided with occupations, and whose stomachs have to be filled. In fact, one of the greatest economic problems confront- ing us at the present moment is, how to increase the producing capacity of our soils, and extend our cultivable areas to the ut- most, even to our home gardens and backyards, not only to keep pace with our present-day requirements under normal conditions, Vi/orld De- hut to meet a most abnormal state occasioned by our participa- "'"""-^ More tion in a world's conflict. The call for the highest standard of efficiency in the production and conservation of food does not come only to the American farmer, but the cry today comes from everywhere, for the mobilization of the world's agricultural resources, so that the people of different continents may not suffer for lack of the necessities of life. For some time, however, we have been brought face to face with the problem of the high cost of living, even before the pres- ent international crisis became so acute, and we have heard of many attempts, theoretical and otherwise, to reach an intelligent solution. Might we not, with appropriateness, ask ourselves the question : If agricultural conditions in the South had, all of these years, been in keeping with her possibilities, in the pro- duction of the daily necessities of our people, in the matter of food supplies, both animal and vegetable, would conditions, as we find them today, have been likely, even with the world in a state of war? I am inclined to think not! I believe, however, that the South will, before many decades have passed, be the great stock-raising section of the country, more particularly the meat-producing animals, and will, after we stop "playing with agriculture," be able to furnish both food for our people and enough, and to spare, of the feed crops necessary The South as to develop and maintain a largely increased animal population. ,, ^_ * In short, it is our belief that, ultimately, the South will have to come to the rescue in preventing the risk of any serious break in the equilibrium of our food supply, should that ever occur ; and I also believe that she will be fully equal to the occasion. Up to the present, however, and in a general way, our Southern country has not even approached the point of maximum production, either in food crops, or in the number or quality of our live stock, to be able to successfully compete with other more advanced sections in the great metropolitan markets. And even if she had, especially in her cattle production, there are Hope 144 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era The Tick a Disappearing Menace Now is Time for South to Act considerable areas from which her animals would be excluded from such markets because of Federal restrictions imposed on account of the presence of that most expensive pest, the cattle tick. It is gratifying to know, however, that total extermination of this parasite is a question of only a few more years of co- operative effort ; and its accomplishment lies at the very foun- dation of our general agricultural prosperity in the future. True, the cattle tick has militated very seriously against our progress in the production of improved cattle ; but our chief ob- struction, which I believe is now generally conceded, has been our almost universal system of single-cropping. Doubtless, and on account of the world-wide need for cot- ton, this system has, temporarily if you will, brought large re- turns to our people. But, under such a system, in which every other necessity of the farm and home has had to be purchased and paid for out of those returns, has the fertility of our soils been increased ; has it increased their power to produce, or otherwise enhanced their value? I think not ! On the other hand, had our general farming system been more along the lines of diversification and crop rotation, includ- ing cotton, necessarily, and, of course, live stock, and with in- telligent fertilization, with increased yields of both cash crops and those for consumption by our farm animals, and with a suf- ficiency of the latter crops to bring to prime market condition the meat-producing animals, such as cattle, sheep and hogs, and through them to market the farm feeds and forages at enhanced values, conditions might have assumed a very different aspect. In short, had such conditions prevailed, these many years, and with the South on equal footing with other sections of the coun- try, with reference to our great markets, is it reasonable to pre- sume, even under present abnormal conditions, that the cry about high-priced necessities would have had to be so vigorously proclaimed all over the land? But up to the present time it may be said that the South has scarcely been reckoned as among the purveyors of the nation's food supply. This condition, however, has got to change ; in fact, is doing so gradually, if not as rapidly as perhaps one could wish. At the same time, it is our humble, but candid, opinion that by The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 145 taking full and immediate advantage of present opportunities, and with the further possibilities incident to the utilization of our extensive areas of unused and uncultivated land, the South, in a reasonably short period of time, should not only be able to clothe our people with her cotton and wool products, but should have a large share in the feeding of them with the cereals and their by-products, and with toothsome meat from her well-bred, well-fed, and high-grade cattle, hogs and sheep. We occasionally hear the remark that the South is a splen- did "poor man's country," on account of the ease with which a living may be made. Such a statement might be construed into a reflection upon our past, or, in some cases, our present, farming methods. And yet it is a most eloquent indorsement of the fertility of our soils that they have been able to even support such methods. But what would be the result did our lands receive the treatment which would be bestowed upon them by a more intellis:ent sys- tem of husbandry; where the farmer made a more thorough fj\^-, ^ study of his profession or calling; made a business of farming Possibilities. rather than a means to eke out a mere existence ; who built up his soils; aimed at maximum production; varied his products, both in field crops and in live stock ; kept up with the markets ; rotated his crops, and strived to produce nothing but the very best his land would yield, and that the market demanded? To try to even picture to ourselves the prosperity of our Southern country under such conditions would be practically impossible. ■And, yet, it is just such conditions that we must aim to real- ize, if we may hope to obtain to the full the results which our opportunities and possibilities have placed within our reach. Live stock is an absolute necessity on every well-regulated farm, not merely out of sentiment, as some still seem to think, but as a necessary adjunct to the business, that can be employed ^. >, .. as local factories, if you will, through which the cheaper raw f^j. j^ij^^ Stock materials grown may be converted into high-priced finished products, in the form of high-class beef, mutton, pork, etc., which can be marketed "on the hoof." In fact, one could scarcely imagine a more inharmonious en- terprise, or a more discordant undertaking, than an otherwise modern farm holding without its due quota of improved live stock of different varieties. 146 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Forage Crops Abundant Many Useful By-Products And yet, even today, it is not an uncommon sight to see nondescript animals occupying valuable space, on many of our farming properties, that are forced to eke out a precarious ex- istence, as best they can, or die in the effort. We all must admit, however, that the climate of the South is ideal for live stock husbandry, in all of its departments, from the growing of the food crops to the finishing of the product for market. Forage crops, in great variety, grow with a luxuriance that would "tickle the palate" and "whet the appetite" of the most fastidious and epicurean of our herbivorous animals. Among the legumes, it is only necessary to mention alfalfa, which may be used for grazing, for soiling, or for hay. Les- pedeza, our great Southern clover, which makes a most valuable hay, and enhances the value of our pasture when mixed with our native grasses. The cow pea, the soy bean, the velvet bean, the clovers and some of the vetches, etc., all furnish abundant and nutritious food for live stock. In short, the South has, or can have, a superabundance, both as to quantity and variety, of these most valuable nitrogen- gathering, soil-improving, and protein-producing forages, so im- portant for the upbuilding and maintenance of soil fertility, as well as the nutrition of animal life on the farm. In some sections of the South pasturage may be secured practically the year round by sowing almost any of the small cereals as catch crops, after the staple crops have been harvested, which yield abundantly during the fall and winter months; and furnish succulent food at a season of the year when such is in greatest need. Silage crops, also, in addition to corn, such as sorghum, etc., and root crops of different varieties, produce with great abun- dance, and may be used to supply excellent succulent feed for cattle, hogs and sheep, after ordinary pasturage has been de- pleted by the summer's grazing. But while that which we have enumerated might appear as more than sufficient to meet all practical needs in the matter of live stock feed production, it is by no means all. In addition, there are the important by-products from our cotton fields ; and in some parts of the South, those from our rice industry, and from our sugar cane fields and factories. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 147 With such possibilities, then, in our feed production, our abundance in cereal crops, our many nutritious hays, and other roughage supplies, our winter pasture crops and natural grazing, although much of the latter is yet to be availed of, and in the rich concentrates in the by-products of our cotton, rice and sugar, if the future of stock raising in the South should not appear bright, even to the most casual observer, one is inclined to won- der where else he would go to satisfy his desires in that branch of husbandry. That all varieties of farm animals do well in the South, it is only necessary to state that all of the principal breeds, and kinds, are already represented, including horses and mules, beef and dairy cattle, hogs and sheep. And not only so, but each has its organizations, in the different states, specially devoted to im- provement and greater development of the breeds. In addition to the increasing interest being displayed in our live stock production, most, if not all, of the Southern states have taken steps to protect, from the ravages of fatal animal Legislation ,. ,•• ,-1. rr^.i ^ ^t- Fosters Live diseases, this important industry. 1 refer to the enactment, by o, ^ Raising the different states, of suitable live stock sanitary legislation, and the creation or appointment of boards or commissions to see that it is carried into effect. Such legislation not only affords protection to the live stock interests of a state, but it gives encouragement to prospective immigrants who expect to make the production of live stock a feature of their farm practice. There is one very important project, vitally connected with Providing the live stock business, which should not be overlooked in these Markets for remarks. ^-"'<' ^^"^^ Hitherto, one of the chief drawbacks to the live stock in- dustry, especially in the more southerly states, has been the inaccessibility of the best markets, which has militated consider- ably against the more profitable disposal of stock, and, neces- sarily, has discouraged many producers. This unfortunate state of affairs will very shortly be cor- rected, however, by the erection and establishment of a large packing plant in the city of New Orleans, which will be oper- ated by the enterprising firm of Morris & Company. Such a plant will not only care for a large amount of our surplus stock, but will afford an immense stimulus to greater 148 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era and better production on the part of our people; and we trust will prove entirely profitable to those responsible for the estab- lishment of the new and important enterprise. I believe all of us must be convinced of the South's unex- Every Facil- celled possibilities in live stock production, of which many of ity vai a e ^^^ people have already taken advantage, with profit to them- selves. We already have an abundance of food materials for animals that would surprise even a Northern or Western stockman, and these are capable of large increase. We have broad acres of unoccupied fertile lands which simply await the touch of the intelligent husbandman in order to spring into full fruition, and add more wealth and prosperity to our Southern country. We have representatives of almost every breed and variety of live stock, and an increasing interest constantly being mani- fested in their greater development. We have adequate legislation, in practically all of the South- ern states, to afford protection against the fatal diseases to which farm animals are susceptible, and which gives encouragement to those engaged in the industry. We have our State Boards of Agriculture to look after and foster the industry from the standpoint of the state. We have our State Colleges of Agriculture and our Experi- ment Stations, and our various branches of Agricultural Exten- sion Service, all bending their efforts to educate and inform our citizens, and encourage and increase interest in this great work. In short, we not only have the materials to work with, but, in addition, various and important agencies laboring, in an edu- cational way, for the good of the cause; and which are being more and more taken advantage of by our people, and through which advancement is being made. And we now have one of the most valuable aids to the stock Cheap Money grower in the development of his industry, viz., the privilege of a Help the use of money, which he may obtain on reasonable terms, through the medium of the recently established Federal Farm Loan Banks. One would naturally imagine, therefore, that all of the needs of the South had already been amply provided, and that nothing more was necessary but to go ahead and prosper ; and in a meas- The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 149 ure that is quite true. However, while possession of the raw material is of the first importance, we cannot expect to make the most out of it unless we intelligently employ the appropriate tools or machinery through which to bring it to a state of per- fection in the finished product. And so it is with our possibili- ties ; they are not going to benefit us as they should unless we use every effort, and take advantage of every opportunity, to develop them to their highest state of perfection. In emphasizing one or two of our most important needs, as I see them, I will say, in the first place, that we must double our efforts to wipe the cattle tick from off the map of the Southern states. This is a fundamental necessity in connection with the future success of our cattle industry at least, and that is perhaps the most important. In the second place, we need more and better live stock through which to market our food crops, and help increase and maintain the fertility of our lands ; and we need our own people to devote more time and study to the rational and business sides of animal husbandry and general farming. In the third place, we need an open market, anywhere and everywhere, and at all times, especially for our cattle, which will depend solely, however, upon the total extermination of the cattle tick from the Southern states, and upon which, likewise, depends the improvement of our cattle, through the influence of improved animals, particularly males, that can then be imported from the best herds of the country ; and In the fourth place, we need more immigration of the de- sirable, intelligent and industrious farmer-stockman class, whose life and business experience have hitherto been devoted to the branches of stock raising and general agriculture, which we be- lieve the South stands in greatest need of, at the present time, for her general agricultural upbuilding. Good object lessons are, in great measure, what we require ; Present and this is, I believe, the kind of help we need, and want, to Encouraging assist us develop our great natural resources, and, as we all be- „ • u* lieve, our unparalleled possibilities. In summing up, therefore, I believe we can pass over the past of the live stock industry of the South; but we can say that the present is encouraging, and that the future seems bright. 150 The Dawn of a N ew Constructive Era At this momentous period of the country's history, in fact, in the history of the world, I would like to close with a brief statement. Owing to the unfortunate international conditions existing, the cry of the world today is for food, and yet more food; and just how long this cry may last, from both combatant and neutral peoples, it is impossible at this time to form anything like an accurate conception. The man on whom the world has always had to depend for its food supply, and the only one who is now able to satisfy the present, and perhaps future, demand for the necessities of life in the matter of food, is the Farmer. The farmer, therefore, who puts forth his utmost effort to make the proverbial two blades of grass grow where" only one grew before, is just as much a patriot, and defender of his country, as the private in the trenches, or the "Jackie" on the quarter-deck. Consequently, and as an imperative national duty, it should behoove every owner and occupier of land to utilize, toi the very utmost, every available inch, so to speak, in the production of more and more food, both for man and beast, in order that not only our own people, but the world at large, may not continue to suffer in consequence of any shortage ; and in order that our producers may be stimulated to maximum efforts in this direction, and that they may not be forgetful of their responsibilities, they should keep continually reminding themselves, by having emblazoned on their banner that now famous patriotic slogan, "Your Country Needs You !" The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 151 The Railroads' Interest in Cut-Over Land De- velopment By D. C. Welty Commissioner of Agriculture, St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Mr. Chairman: — I sincerely regret that the urgency of food production preparedness work and the rapidly progressing planting season prevent my remaining over another day and, as you have stated that I would be called upon during tomorrow's session, I ask the privilege of a word in behalf of one of the railroads which probably has as much cut-over land along its right-of-way as any ■ one road in the South ; and as secretary-treasurer of the Railway Development Association, which numbers among its members the development men of 90 per cent of the railroad mileage of the United States, I want to say in their behalf that we hope tomorrow's meeting will not close without some definite action on the part of the cut-over land owners and for the purpose of putting their vast holding to some productive use. We have listened to many able addresses upon Southern agri- cultural possibilities and the agricultural problems of the cut-over land areas, but, gentlemen, if I understand the situation correctly, you are here to consider ways and means of marshaling the forces , jy^finn^ of the cut-over land owners, so that these owners can, in co-opera- Organization tion with the Department of Agriculture and other development Urged agencies, put this knowledge into practice, get people happily located on the land and develop the country. I also believe that reforesta- tion of the poorer lands justifies energetic consideration. Every speaker has mentioned that he is an optimist as to Southern agricultural possibilities, both as to live stock and food production. It is true that there is no great accumulation of ex- perience or data to eliminate every doubt, but it is quite evident that there are great possibilities. These possibilities have been ably covered by Mr. Piper, Mr. Rommell, Mr. Tracy, Dr. Dodson 152 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Railroads Anxious to Assist Settler Must Be Liberally Financed and others who have addressed us, and these gentlemen and their associates and assistants are available to put most efficient and profitable agricultural practices in effect. The agricultural depart- ments already know and are practicing the things which will make for success, and this knowledge simply must be put in practice and much agricultural demonstration work done. The great problem lies with you men who own this land — most potent of possibilities but at present inactive, unused, covered with stumps and rapidly being covered with underbrush. It is a question of financing and farsighted business adminis- tration and agricultural demonstration in which each with the help of existing agencies will have to solve his individual problems, and in which, collectively and as an association, you can most eco- nomically do much of mutual benefit, and for each other as in- dividuals. The railroads have for years seen the timber cut and shipped away leaving idle land^ and just as the lumberman faces the end of his cutting and cessation of profitable activity unless his land is util- ized, just so do many railroads face unprofitable operation unless these lands are exploited and reforested and developed by settle- ment by good and successful farmers. The development men of the railroads realize the importance of the situation and have given the subject much thought, as is evident by the fact that practically every railroad is well represented at this meeting. I see at least twelve railroad development men here who are vitally interested, and all ready to do their part when conditions justify energetic co-operation. Some people think that there is at present no demand for cut- over land, but that is not the case. Our Colonization Department has for months had unfilled demands for Southern cut-over land, and it would be a simple matter to stimulate the demand for such land were the railroads to get vigorously behind the movement; but, gentlemen, it will take more than exploitation and agricultural advice to successfully colonize the cut-over land area. First, all must appreciate that the colonist is no longer a pioneer. The day of isolation, the squirrel hunter, the log cabin and rail fence are past. In this day of high-priced labor the settler will not undergo unnecessary hardship and the man with enough energy to move to a land of greater opportunity will not put up with slow, inefficient methods. Furthermore, the land-seller, community, The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 153 county, state and nation can no longer afford to let men individually hack away on the old-fashioned land-clearing methods. If a settler is an asset, it is a business investment to do such things as will get him started economically and efficiently and, as in this day and age, he won't come unless we do make conditions attractive, we have no alternative. The successful, present-day colonization methods tend strongly toward paternalism. The colonization project must be liberally financed in order to enable selling with small initial payments and deferred payments ^ extended over a long period of years with reasonable interest. The average immigrant has little money and what he has can be utilized best for the operation of his farming efforts rather than for large payments on the land. If the land is not good security for the de- ferred payments, especially with the colonist on it and improving it every day, the project is not worthy of consideration. Again liberal financing is necessary because at least one-half and in all cases as much as possible of every farm unit that is put on the market should be cleared and ready for crop as soon as the colonist locates, and experience has demonstrated that if part of the farm is fenced by the buyer and a house and barn built, which he can pay for in his deferred payments, that is a great attraction. It also takes money to carry on the demonstration work which will guide his efforts most efficiently. Schools, churches, stores and community centers all must be made available in one M^ay or another. It all takes money and liberal financing is justified and of utmost importance. Another fact that must be given due consideration is that the land-selling business has been developed by specialists into a busi- ness in itself. It might almost be termed a science, and the land owners individually and collectively will sooner or later appreciate that success depends upon either paying for considerable costly ex- perience, if they handle the sales themselves, or must pay a fair price for the expert services and the tediously built-up organiza- tions of those who have specialized upon land-selling. The problems of organization and administration which con- front each land owner individually are very great and no one of CQ.Queration you can afford to study them out alone. Therefore, I hope this Necessary to meeting will not close without some form of co-operative associa- Best Results tion being inaugurated. 154 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era At various times large land owners in our territory have dis- cussed with me the possibility of developing their lands but it has always seemed to me that the fundamentals should be worked out co-operatively. Especially in the matter of land-clearing is much investigation necessary, and the expense of such an investigation, which would be equally valuable to all, should not be a burden to any one owner. Neither is it to be expected that any one state should do it for all the other states. If the Federal Department would do it, well and good, and an association could do well to bring all possible influence to bear in favor of such an investigation. However, if it is not done otherwise it would be an excellent activ- ity for a co-operative organization of cut-over land owners. Mr. Carl Livingston, of the Forest Products Laboratory in Wisconsin, and who will address you tomorrow, has some very val- uable data and has done some great work. I went to Northern Wis- consin to see one of his demonstrations and I have followed his work closely. However, only yesterday in talking with me on the subject he remarked: "You will be surprised to see how slowly we are progressing in accumulating definite and dependable figures." He mentioned the many difiicultiqs which have confronted him, a specialist in the work. I mention the matter to emphasize the fact that you should not as individuals try to solve the problem. It is a matter you should handle collectively. Just as the implement dealers have financed the work of farm implement specialists for some of the state agricultural college extension departments, just so could you land owners collectively, if you were organized, finance such investigations as you, after study of the situation, might find practical. It is true that the agricultural industry is not universally and highly developed upon the cut-over land of the South and that many details will have to be worked out. However, every speaker has emphasized his optimism as to the 'possibilities, so, bearing in mind the many individual successes we know of on cut-over land, the great study both State and Federal authori- ties have made of the subject and their ability to cope with it Already Dem- when the need arises, let us concede that we can raise the vari- onstrated ^^^ crops that have been mentioned. Let us concede that the live stock industry has great possibilities on cut-over land, and, in tomorrow's session, progress to the great questions of indi- vidual and collective organization and administration and agri- cultural demonstration which confront the cut-over land owner. Productivity of Cut-Over Lands The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 155 I, personally, am engaged in general farming and commer- cial dairying on cut-over land. I believe the business has great possibilities, and, in view of my interest in the efforts of many of my friends along our line, who have cut-over lands now lying idle, in the interest of our railroad, which, unless you develop your land, will have an inactive railroad through your inactive land, also in behalf of the railroads generally and the many thousands of people desiring to locate on inexpensive land, I earnestly hope that these problems will be put to the front to- morrow and constructive efforts inaugurated. I regret that I cannot be with you. (Applause.) What Florida Is Doing in Land Development By James R. Murphy President of the Florida Land Development and Colonization Association On behalf of the State of Florida, which unfortunately is very poorly represented, I must tell you, if you will bear with me for a minute or two, what we have done along the lines of organization. I have no inference to what has been said here by anyone, but it may in a measure help to solve the problem that confronts us all. I have the honor of being^ president of the land development and colonization interests of the State of Florida. We have in Florida, at the present time, 141 recognized land development ^,^ Concerns concerns. Of that 141, we have 20 of them in our organization Successfully We have an area of land in Florida of some 36 million acres. Operating Of that 36 million acres w6 have less than 5 per cent of it under cultivation. In our organization we have a representation of about 3 million acres of land, mostly cut-over land. Florida has been in the public press through the exploitations of some of her unfortunate land operators in the past to such an extent that it was almost impossible for a land operator to make a liv- ing in the state ; and realizing that this existed throughout the 156 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era country, we organized our land development and colonization organization, which had for its purpose the standardizing of the sale of land. The standardizing of the sale of land carried with it the demonstration of what the land was capable of producing, Government and so that organization had to establish demonstration farms. hl^A^ ' ^ ""' ^^ searched in every part of the country for all available infor- mation, and the Departments of Agriculture have been untiring in their efforts to give us assistance. In fact, they have sent men down time and again to answer, perhaps, the same question ; and we in Florida feel greatly indebted to them. They have taught us what grasses to grow ; they have taught us the use and advantages of the dipping vat ; and the lumbermen in Florida have taken steps for the raising of $50,000 a year, spending $150,000 over a period of three years, in a statewide campaign of tick eradica- tion ; and this was through the initiative of the Southern Settlement and Development organization, co-operating with the Department of the State and our largest land owners in the state. Mr. P. L. Sutherland, who represents one of the largest land owners in the state, has very ably helped the work ; and, gentlemen, I have merely mentioned these facts so as to suggest to the various other states represented here that in the solution of this great problem we real- ized, in Florida, that the most necessary step, first, was a state organization ; and we are now ready to^ step into any organization that is formed for the betterment of the South. J. Lewis Thompson : On behalf of the cut-over land owners who called this meeting, I want to say — and I don't believe I am the most intelligent, but I believe I am about the average — I want to say to you men here today that the reason we are here is because we do not know. We are groping in the dark. Re- gardless of our railroad friends — they have always felt like whenever they wanted to say most anything they went to the lum- bermen and got by with it. I think our railroad friend there was talking to me and to these others, because I am used to that kind of talk coming from the railroads. I want to say, on behalf of the land owners, that we are in the dark, and in their behalf I want to say that we have had a most instructive and the best papers that I have ever heard in any meeting; and my only regret is that our entire organization could not have heard every paper read here, because I believe that before we can go^ down to the point of forming some kind of an organization permanently, what we must do is to tell you what The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 157 we have got to do before we can get down to the organization period ; and if our railroad men will stay with us until tomor- row — and if they are interested in this vast area of 76 million acres, if they are interested to the point that some of them have said — no other business could call them away ; they can come in and if we can't form an organization we will certainly give them an opportunity to contribute. (Applause.) I am glad that speech has been made by a railroad man, because I believe it is time that one railroad was waking up to the needs of the coun- try and co-operating with us in the upbuilding of that country. I am glad, too, that he made that statement, because I believe we will get down to something before we leave. Demonstration Work on Cut-Over Lands By G. E. Nesom Superintendent of Livestock Extension Work in Louisiana for the United States Department of Agriculture Mr. Chairman, Members of the Convention, Ladies and Gentlemen : — I promise you that I will not burden you with a lengthy speech this morning, and that I have nothing prepared especially for this occasion. I will, in the main, refer to things that have already been said. Those of you who have read "Peck's Bad Boy" in your early youth, probably remember the situation of the man who was good at figuring. After he had exhausted a good many other topics, he began to figure on the cost of Bight and fencing; and he found that to fence one acre of land it took a ^^^"^ ways fence four acres long, and cost, after calculating the value of the materials, and labor, a certain sum ; that by quadrupling this area and making the fenced area four acres, it only took twice as much to fence the four acres as one acre, therefore reducing the cost by one-half; and proceeding in mathematical progression, grew to those enormous proportions by which he finally found that to fence an area stretching off to the Aurora Borealis, and eastward to the rising sun, and southward to the Gulf of Mexico, 158 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era and westward to the Golden gate, the cost of fencing a single acre had been reduced so that a single toothpick would fence it and leave enough to build a church. (Laughter.) Now, we might do a little figuring on the immensity of this cut-over land proposition. Our Chairman told us, on the open- ing morning here, that there were some 70 million acres of this land, and that it would produce, under certain conditions, from a thousand to two thousand dollars' worth of produce. This is al- most enough to give every man, woman and child in the United States a farm of one acre ; and if they were settled on those farms, and each of them produced the minimum of one thousand dollars, the vast sum of wealth represented by those farms would be 70 billion dollars ; a sum, by the side of which the 7 billion dollars that our Congress is now being asked to appropriate to finance our army and our navy and the Allied Nations of the world, would be merely the usual 10 per cent waiter's tip. But this kind of calculation savors of the millennium ; it is the theoretical view. This convention has to do with not only an average, but with a very practical problem, and the question im- mediately involved now is that of developing and bringing into productive use as much of this land as possible on a purely prac- tical farming basis. A good many suggestions have been broached here and a good many ideas have been expressed, which in particular touch upon vital questions involved in the development of these lands, and one of those questions is the desirability of more exact knowledge of how this problem can best be accomplished, both from the standpoint of pure agriculture, and the still larger ques- tion that has been less hinted at — that of the business problems involved. Now, I want to discuss those two phases just for a few mo- ments. It has been suggested that we need a lot of experiment stations — a lot of work to find out some of these fundamental facts, these important problems, by actual experimental work. Using the term experiment or experimental research in its Experimenta- strictest sense, I am of the opinion that you do not need it any- ''O'* thing like as badly as you need the simpler process of demon- stration. If the term "experiment" be limited, as it should be, to original research, the development of new facts on original scien- tific lines, I am of the opinion that we know enough of the fun- Demonstra- tion Needed More Than The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 159 damental facts surrounding these cut-over lands so that it would not be very desirable to waste any large amount of time or money in undertaking to do a great volume of original work, because a large part of that has been done, either in this section or in other sections comparable with it, which would obviate the necessity of that experimental work. We had pointed out to us by a representative of the Bureau of Soils, for example, the fact that the soil survey, although it is by no means completed, has covered almost every type of land which is represented in the cut-over pine belt ; and we know a great deal about those types of land ; and the practical question here to de- termine is whether a given piece of land comes within a given ^""^.^^^^^^ classification of soil, and then apply the facts already learned Unnecessarv regarding that type of soil to that particulcir piece of land. I do not believe, for that reason, in any extensive soil survey, but in the application of the knowledge we already have of that type, or that quality or class of soil, which can be applied by merely determining to what classification any particular locality belongs. We also know what crops are particularly suited to these different soil types, and we have those crops growing in the South — practically all of them that are likely to be very useful to us in the cut-over district for some time to come. Once we know the classification of the soil we can readily find, in the existing publications or through inquiry at the special offices controlling this work, a large part of the information as to what would be best to plant under given conditions. I know very well that there is a longing in the human mind always for that which is new and novel ; and even in the face of the fact that a given crop has not been produced to any considerable extent, if it has succeeded in some remote country or in a small area of a limited section of the United States, many times a person is inclined to go after that rather than to take that which lies right at our doors, al- ready tried and found to be absolutely reliable. It is so common ; we see it so often, that we cease to think of its value, but look at it way in the beyond, like the ultimate end of this great fence. I believe in utilizing that which we have with us and which has already proven to be the correct thing, and let these other things come by a very slow process, and only adopt them on a large scale after they have proven their worth. Now, to come down further to the particular application of these things — to the utilization of the cut-over pine lands — I 160 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Live Stock the Best Gen- eral Means for Present Utilization most heartily agree with those speakers who have said that these lands must necessarily be utilized for some time yet to come, in the main, for the production of live stock. I want also tc make a distinction between some of the statements, if made literally, regarding grazing and farming. I am of the opinion that the extensive use of cut-over lands for purely grazing or ranching purposes, uncombined with farming, is not the correct line for the utilization of these lands. I believe the system which will bring them into use most rapidly is a system of moderate- sized farms, where there will be a system of crop production, and especially forage, and grain production, combined with stock raising; and, on the other hand, I do not think we are right in the reduction of the size of these farms to the small farm to which some speakers have referred ; and more especially, in the remote sections, of their reduction to 10, 15, 20 and 40 acre farms, where such intensive things as vegetable gardens, or even dairying, cannot be carried on successfully until the country is more de- veloped. I think a happy medium between the two is what we should seek. Now, as to the class of live stock production, I would always regard that as being a secondary question. The first question is: What will the lands produce and what can the farmer make them produce after he has them under his control, in addition to what they are already producing in their natural state? The confusion which seems to exist in the minds of a great many here as to the carrying capacity of these lands, for example, I think is so great that a few words on that may help to clarify the atmosphere. I believe one man said 1700 acres did not support 130 head; others have said that after putting as many as one Different Sec- animal to two or three acres they did not graze off the forage tions Produce crops close enough to suit them; and we have had all kinds of Different Re- variations, from some who said it takes 5, or 7^, or 10 or 20 *""* acres to carry a cow or cow and calf. :The reason for this con- fusion, in my opinion, is the fact that one man is speaking of these lands under one condition and others under another. The same lands will vary very widely at different seasons, and from others under different conditions. We want to think of these lands in terms of carrying capacity of cattle — they have a rather high carrying capacity in proportion to the number of plants that grow and the fertility of the soil. They have a lesser carrying capacity in the early spring and late summer, and in the late fall The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 161 and bulk of the winter their carrying capacity is so reduced that if a man speaks of them at that time, it is doubtful whether anyone could approximate the amount of land it would take to carry an animal. In fact, I have a letter from a lumber company in Southwestern Louisiana, in which they put the question to me, "How much of this land will it take to carry an animal the year round?" I answered them, in effect, that while it was satis- factory pasturage in the late spring and early summer, in the heart of the winter I did not believe their whole parish would carry a small herd satisfactorily, simply because there is nothing on that cut-over pine land after the frost has killed it. There are a few wire grasses; and the cattle having access to the win- ter-growing grass which we occasionally have, or to the cane swamps, which are very limited in extent, may do well. Ti con- fined strictly to the cut-over lands where it is open and the yel- low pine growth has had full sway, there is so little on that land in the winter time on which cattle can subsist that the carrying capacity is reduced almost to zero. Now, if this problem is to be looked at from the grazing standpoint, and does not involve forage production and the feed- Forage Pro- ing of those herds in the winter time, when the pasturage is at duction its lowest ebb, we certainly cannot have a cattle industry which Essential can be at all satisfactory. I need not discuss the question of the hog industry, because it has been considered by everybody in the South that the day of the range hog is past — that he would certainly have the poorest chance to graze the year round on these pine woods. It has produced a type of hog which did not exist before, and which is rapidly going out. Hog raising is on a better basis now, and we do not expect anybody to undertake range hog raising in the pine belt. But there is another class of animals which has been dis- cussed — and I do not wish to anticipate what anybody else will say of the sheep industry — but that should go hand in hand with the cattle industry, and on the same basis. In fact, I am not sure if many of these grasses are not better suited to sheep than cattle. The feeding problem would probably be less serious in winter, and especially so if Prof. Tracy's advice is taken as to providing plenty of velvet beans for winter grazing purposes. I might discuss this question of forages at considerable length, but it has already been discussed by representatives here. 162 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era dealing especially with the South, and I shall not go into it any further. Now, as to the business questions involved. Those of you who own this land, have no doubt spent many worried days and nights trying to devise a scheme by which you could sell those Business lands. The average owner of cut-over pine lands in large areas Problems wants to sell. That is the uppermost thought in his mind. I do not think that should be the uppermost thought. I think the first consideration, under existing conditions and viewed from the business standpoint, is that every owner should desire to im- prove those lands and make them more valuable than they are. so that he can get more nearly what they are really worth for agricultural purposes. We have been told here that pioneering is not a trait of the modern farmer. I know this is the case with the American people, and especially when they attempt to work as corporations or to use large aggregations of capital. I know that the very small farmer, who has no means and nothing to work with but his own hands, is handicapped in developing his farm, because he has neither the means himself nor possesses the credit to obtain them ; and the question of what the land- owner should do to fit those lands for farming, all the way be- tween those two extremes, is a problem which has to be thought out from a business standpoint. There are certain things, how- ever, which we may conceive as already demonstrated and ac- cepted facts. In the first place, I want to mention the fact that these lands belong to the people who hold title to them, and they have a perfect right tO' use them for their own purposes, and they have a perfect right to exclude people who have cattle, for example, but have no land and raise their live stock by grazing them on the other man's land ; and that right must not be denied to the owners of these lands if they choose to fence them ; and there comes in an important question which I think is going to be at the basis of developing these lands for live stock purposes. In many sections of the cut-over pine belt, tick eradication has made splendid progress ; in others, we are going to have a great deal of trouble to complete that process. There are conditions under which there is going to be great difficulty in getting that TkF H' work supported. I think every owner of cut-over land should tion Basis of insist that his land be freed from ticks, and if he cannot get the Cattle Indus- cooperation of the other people of his community to free that try whole parish from ticks, he can at least reserve to himself the The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 163 right to fence up his own lands and free that from ticks; and if that was done in some parishes in this state I want to say that there would be mighty few grazing lands left. Tick eradication is going to be the basis of the modern cattle industry on these cut-over pine lands, whether it is done, or is in process, or is yet to be undertaken. It must be finished before any extensive cat- tle business can be brought about ; because we must introduce better blood for those herds, or entirely new herds, as one of our speakers explained yesterday ; and I maintain that there are plenty of men in this cut-over belt who are able to establish those pure bred herds ; we know that, but unfortunately, like the calculation on the cost of fencing an acre, the average man is not able to do that, and you must keep within practical bounds and not go beyond your financial ability in trying tO' do some- thing you are not financially able to do, and of which you would not make a success. The average herd must be improved by breeding, in order to bring the cattle up to a better standard. We must not subject them to the nuisance of these ticks, which will ruin many of them and result in losses we can ill afford to sustain. The fencing of these lands, in my opinion, is one of the es- sentials for their best development. The next problem and the biggest one of them all, is the removal of the stumps from that portion of the soil to be cultivated for the production of the „ • r, , •,-i-,,, ,• Fencing and wmter feeds ; at least, it certamly is desirable that this process stump Re- he pushed forward until all the farm shall ultimately be freed moval from stumps. These stumps are such a serious obstruction to moderji farming, such a detriment to every process we under- take, that their total elimination from cultivated areas must be a prime consideration. Now, I do not think we are all agreed on how this stump removal shall proceed. There have been a great many processes tried ; a great deal of data has been accumulated, and especially by the people operating these demonstration or experiment farms ^^^^ Land- on properties of the different companies: but that information ,.^?^!'^^P ^.., , ,-,,jjj , Methods Stil has not been consolidated and reduced to a system so that we Uncertain can draw a definite conclusion ; and, as someone has hinted, I doubt if we will ever get much of that information. We do know, however, that the yellow pine stump is one of the hardest propo- sitions that any stump puller has ever tackled. There is noth- ing in the line of stumps near so difficult. We do know that at 164 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era least in a few instances every success has attended the burning of these stumps by that simple process of digging a post hole, boring an augur hole down through the stump and letting it dry out, and then building a fire in that post hole so that this augur hole will act as a flue and will contain so much rosin that it will readily burn out in most cases. Now, the men who demonstrated that the average of these lands could be cleared at a price not to exceed $10 per acre, by contract, has attracted a wonderful lot of notice which is of value from a business standpoint in the handling of this problem. If I were a farm operator, that information would be very valuable to me ; but we have not yet gotten to the point where we can get hold of this information at a given time. We are given some of it merely in fragments. Now I come to another point, which I hesitate to broach and which I do on my personal responsibility rather than as an of- ficial of the United States Department of Agriculture. It has been suggested that some form of organization be perfected here Land Owners by which all the information thus developed can be consolidated, , a> ^^^ ^1^^^ definite arrangements be made by which additional in- change Infor- , . ... , ° , , -i , , r ,i • • mation formation will be gotten and made available for all parties in- terested in this great problem. Now, if we look to see what has been done, we find the Federal Government and the several States are only touching this problem very lightly. Some of them have several experiment stations and demonstration farms and have developed certain information which can be had for those particular localities. There are probably several hundred lumber companies which maintain demonstration farms and ex- periment stations, or whatever you choose to call them. I be- lieve most of them are small demonstration farms where they are getting a lot of valuable information ; but they put that in- formation in their files in their offices and use it for their own purposes, and no one else profits by it ; and more especially do we not get that information which is of an adverse nature, and which sometimes is worth more to us than the positive facts de- veloped. When you get a warning what not to do, you are just as well off as when you get information as to what you should do ; because in the one case you positively have a loss, and in the other you merely have an opportunity to make a gain. If the interests of these cut-over pine land owners could be con- solidated in such manner that all the information, both pro and The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 165 con, developed on all these demonstration farms could be con- solidated and then be distributed to everybody concerned, it vv^ould make a fine lot of information well developed ; and this is one of the things I would suggest as being desirable. Now, it is probable that if this series of farms were looked over, we would find that they were not ideally located so as to cover all types of the cut-over district. We had reference yesterday to the Orangeburg Sand and others of the Greenville clay type, all of which represent more or less distinct types of country. Are these farms so located that we could get data from all classes of them, in case they were all consolidated, and the data were pub- lished in some bulletin or other consolidated form? In my opinion, we would have to go a little further and have a central clearing house, through which it would be more certain that all types would be represented. Some system might be arranged for buying some of the present farms which adequately repre- sent the work on different types of land. I would rather call these demonstration farms than experi- ment stations. I believe they ought to be under a consolidated management. I believe their management should have the best agricultural talent that can be had. I know some farmers trying to demonstrate facts regarding cut-over pine lands today, where their work has been to a large extent vitiated, due to the fact t n that their failure has been brought about by men from other sec- Qgngpcil Man- tions, who may have been an eminent success, but who are not agement competent, with all due respect to their success otherwise, to handle the question of agriculture in this section with which they are probably not familiar. The new system of demonstration farms of this kind should be under the control of men who know agriculture primarily. Now, I want to go one step further and suggest a practical means by which this can be done, and I will illustrate it by say- ing that a few years ago, when the Hawaiian Islands were at- tempting to develop the sugar business along modern lines, they sought the world over for some information. The Louisiana State University at that time had about the only sugar school and experiment station that was doing very much, and I violate no confidence when I say that Louisiana did not look with a great deal of favor on seeing the Hawaiian Islands go into the sugar field, and they didn't go out of their way to give the Hawaiian planters any particular information. They soon re- 166 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Early Diffi- culties of Ha- waiian Sugar Industry Solved by Co- operative Association One Cent an Acre Means $750,000 solved that if they couldn't get any information regarding" their own industry in their own Islands, they must get it at their own expense and in their own way ; and after conferring and consulting for quite a while, they decided they would establish 4t on a thoroughly business principle, which would hold good as long as they chose to perpetuate it, and which would give certain returns ; and the system agreed upon was that every manufacturer of sugar in the Hawaiian Islands, who chose to become a member of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, should ship his sugar or report his sugar through the Associa- tion, in Honolulu ; and that he should pay into the treasury of this Association the sum of 25 cents on every ton of sugar which he turned out from his factory. This sum of money was con- solidated and used by their agricultural board for the establish- ment, maintenance and operation of the Experiment Station, which was to send out information regarding the sugar industry in the Hawaiian Islands. This fund, in a few years, had reached fifty and then ninety thousand dollars, and now it is a hundred thousand dollars. They have one of the best sugar experiment stations in the world and they are doing splendid work. In later years they have correlated it, more or less, with the Gov- ernment work, and thus, to some extent, the information which they are developing there is available to other people; but, in the main, the facts developed have gone, in published form, and in letters, circulars and otherwise to the members of this Asso- ciation ; and to this day, whenever they have anything which they think might be used by the other fellow to their disadvan- tage, they give it only to their members. Now, if these gentlemen who own these lands, desire to institute a system which will work for the common good of the cut-over pine lands, and to use this same idea — which is entirely practicable — the raising of the necessary funds by a very small assessment against the lands, they can do it. You can soon see what 1 cent an acre would mean on this 75 million acres — $750,- 000. One-tenth of a cent an acre would give you $75,000, if all the land were included. 1 don't know how much you might want to raise, but if you could raise any such sums as that, some work could be developed which would give you much of the informa- tion you seek, and which is so badly needed ; at least, the con- solidation of existing facts and their application to your par- ticular problems. in Cut-Over Lands The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 167 Before closing, I will say, in a brief way, that I have been watching" these cut-over lands very closely during the past three years, and in my opinion they are a splendid agricultural re- source, with wonderful possibilities. I do not mean to say they will compare with our richer lands in Louisiana or Mis- sissippi, but I do say they are valuable agricultural lands that are quite capable of sustaining a large population and capable Wonderful of producing an immense amount of wealth by a production Possibilities which will compare very favorably with the average lands of the South ; and I trust that the examples already set by many concerns and individuals in demonstrating their possibilities, and bringing them into practical use, especially at this stage of the great crisis, will not be delayed longer than is absolutely neces- sary, and that you will bend your efforts towards making them contribute their part towards the support, not only of the Gov- ernment in times of peace, but more particularly at this eminent crisis. I thank you. (Applause.) S. F. Morse : I just want to drive home a very important point made by Dr. Nesom, by a concrete instance. The point I mean was, that there was, to a large degree, enough practical experience and demonstration to enable us to determine what can be done and to formulate a plan for the development of these lands. The experience which I wish to state is this : About three years ago, in the State of Arizona, when they started the agri- cultural extension work, we found ourselves covering a large area of land about which we knew nothing. At the outset, as I just stated, we found we had no experimental data for the de- velopment of these large areas of land. What were we to do? These lands had many settlers on them and they were crying out for information. We didn't bother with the experiment sta- tion ; we cut loose and got busy and found out what they were doing in other states and in other parts of the country where conditions were similar. We investigated the live stock business and got different experiences, and then we worked with the farmers and gave them this experience. The result is that to- day, where we were previously shipping in sack lots, we are now shipping in carload lots ; and that has only been within a period of three years. That was done, as Dr. Nesom has suggested, by taking the different conditions in other parts of the country, and of the dif- 168 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era The Distinc- tion Between Experimenta- tion and Demonstra- tion ferent states and the Federal Government, and giving that in- formation to the farmer in practical form. The point was: That information had to be passed through a central source, and translated into terms of practical application to the local con- ditions, and that is what you people have today. I simply want to give you confidence in this proposition. Dr. C. V. Piper: There is a very important distinction be- tween experimentation and demonstration. You cannot demon- strate a thing until you know it. Do you get that? Now, I think my friend's ideas are not very far off, but I don't like his confusing two words, experimentation and demonstration. If I understood the speakers right yesterday, they think that with the information we already possess live stock farming on an ex- tensive scale on these cut-over lands can be made successful. They had in mind the establishment, under practical conditions and with a minimum expense, a place where all these pieces of knowledge could be put together and then cited. I submit to you that this is an experiement station, not a place of demonstra- tion. If we had the knowledge we could go ahead and do it. I call that demonstration. Then there would be no need of the meeting here today. The experiment station that I had in mind and that Dr. Nesom had in mind are pretty nearly one and the same thing; but until we have the knowledge, you cannot call it a demonstration. It is a very important distinction; and I think we will get our minds confused if we confuse experimen- tation and demonstration. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 169 How Louisiana Is Solving the Reforestation Problem By M. L. Alexander Commissioner Department of Conservation, State of Louisiana How Louisiana is solving the reforestation problem by the actual growing of trees was told the Cut-Over Land Conference of the South by Hon. M. L. Alexander, Commissioner, Depart- ment of Conservation, State of Louisiana. "On the State Forest Reserve at Urania, La., a forest is being made again," said Mr. Alexander. "Not a wild tangle- wood of shrubs and seedlings, but of real trees. Trees that will make lumber of a superior grade are growing on fields that dur- ing the Civil War period grew cotton for blockade running to England. Here we have trees of every age that were not of the virgin forests, but sprang from them, and in which the hand of man has but assisted nature." The speaker declared that one of the first results of the ex- periments was to discover that, not forest fires, as had at first been supposed, but the razorback hog, was responsible for the fact that the prized long-leaf pine had for many years failed to reforest itself. "Mr. Hardtner's investigations," he continued, "proved that the kernel of the long-leaf seed is oily, rich in nutritious matter, and palatable to the hog. When the seedlings are one year old the root and short stem are spongy, sweet and tender, and it is amazing how many seeds, seedlings and saplings a razorback can finish up in a half a day's work, one hog averaging five seed- lings a minute. The seed of the short-leaf and loblolly are very small, and neither these nor the seedlings are relished by the hogs. "On the preserve we now have 2,500 acres inclosed with a hog-proof wire fence, 2,500 acres under an ordinary fence and 2,500 unfenced. In the hog-proofed area the long-leaf pine seed- lings are numerous, in the regularly fenced area there are a very Razor-Back Hog a Menace 170 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Longleaf Seedlings Survive Fire Profits in Re- forestation few, and in the unfenced tract there is not one — a complete de- struction of the seed crop. "Experiments have been made of burning over tracts by setting fire to the sedge grass that grows very heavily on the preserve. It makes a very hot fire, but from actual count from 50 tO' 90 per cent of the long-leaf seedlings survived the con- flagration, and in a few days the buds put forth new green straw, and they are healthy' and vigorous today. The fire would burn off the seedlings' straw close to the ground, but the bud is evidently green e'nough to survive the scorching, and a two or three-year-old seedling will survive the fire much better than the year-old ones. "Mr. Hardtner and I are convinced that reforestation of long-leaf is impossible where the hog roams at large rootmg up the seedlings ; we are convinced that fire does not do as much damage as was thought, but notwithstanding all this we are op- posed to fire at any time and do not advocate its use. If forest areas are to be burned over to remove dried grasses, let it be done in the proper season — the winter following a rain that has soaked the ground. Very little damage will be done then. "We have long advocated the leaving of one or more seed trees to an acre when the lumberman fells the timber for his sawmills. This is truly a method of conservation, and if ad- hered to by lumbermen will soon have the cut-over area re- forested with seedlings. If these seedlings are properly pro- tected and the young trees thinned as they grow, the forest that will take the place of the original will yield even richer returns in from fifty to sixty years. "If this method of reforestation is carried out, in forty years one may expect to have a good stand of timber on forest lands, hardly ready for the millman's saw, but good thriving trees ready for lumbering during the next ten to twenty years thereafter. "At Urania it is being demonstrated that it is just as easy to grow 50,000 feet of timber to the acre in sixty years by as- sisting nature as it is for unaided nature to produce 5,000 feet in the same period. And thinning does not mean endless ex- pense for the tree farmer, for we have! demonstrated on the State Forest Reserve, using a 21-acre plot of short-leaf and loblolly, that proper thinning gave 180 cords of wood, 555 tram ties, and 200 posts worth $258.75 at a laboring cost of $205.00, a profit of The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 17J $53.75, or $2.55 an acre. This sort of profit is sufificient to pay all taxes and incidental expenses. ''Accurate measurement has been taken of the trees in the different lots, photographs taken, and in some cases every tree num- bered and recorded so that comparative figures will give abso- i-olute proof of the growth from season to season. Our method is to let nature take its course in the matter of seeding for re- forestation. This is very satisfactory and there is no expense of tree planting by hand to deduct from the profits when the lum- ber is sold. With long-leaf pine seed crops are infrequent and several years elapse between the crops. This is not so with short-leaf and loblolly ; therefore, reforestation on denuded areas with these species is not difficult if seed trees have been left standing, as a crop can be counted on almost every season. At Urania our records show that there was no crop of long-leaf mast in 1912, a hundred per cent crop in 1913, a 5 per cent crop in 1914-15, and a 50 per cent crop in 1916. In virgin forests, of long-leaf, the seed seasons are sometimes five or ten years apart, but vigorous young pines in denuded areas bear seed more fre- quently and abundantly. "A record made on an acre in one of the experimental plots shows 251 trees ranging three inches and under to 22 inches D. B. H. will yield at the present time 13,544 feet. By adding four inches to the growth in 20 years it will yield 42,388 feet. Stump- Growing a age now sells at $5 per thousand feet, but twenty years from Forest at $2 a now we will be safe in presuming that it will sell for $10 a Thousand thousand, or $423.88! If converted into lumber and delivered to Northern markets it will be worth at least $1,200. Mr. Hardt- ner's recapitulation is that the cost of growing timber will be around $2 a thousand feet. "Thus have we met the reforestation problem in Louisiana and our theories have been sound, as our results indicate. We can show you that timber can be grown on timber land at a profit. We can demonstrate that lumber that has long been supposed not to perpetuate itself does so if enemies are removed. We have a healthy regard for the dread forest fire, but we have also learned that it is not so bad as we have been thinking it. "We also believe that the owner of cut-over land will find it to his advantage to go timber farming, and that all cut-over land does not necessarily have to be plowed under for crops until Feet 172 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era there is need for this land, and that the interim can be profitably spent in working out reforestation." Mr. Alexander declared that before reforestation can be suc- cessfully carried out, existing methods of taxation on timber lands would have to be radically reformed. Some Problems (9/ Colonizing Cut-Over Lands By H. A. Weare of Mobile, Ala. It was not my intention to take any active part in this pro- gram, here, but I would like to make a few remarks covering an experience of sixteen years in which I have been handling and studying cut-over lands in the Gulf Coast territory. My specialty is handling timber lands, and I believe it is always necessary to handle cut-over lands as well. What really brought me to my feet is the remark Mr. Alexander just made in reference to the distillation plants. In making a study of these cut-over lands and how to handle them, I have concluded that these distillation plants should really be put in with every proposition. What does it mean? It means that the man clearing up his own land is really helped, as he gets a good market for his stumps. Another question not dwelt upon very much is the question of marketing your products. In looking around and observing the different farmers in the Gulf Coast territory I have had every farmer tell me, "We have no difficulty in producing crops, but we do have a hard time in finding a sale for them." That is The Question something that must be taken up and considered in connection of Marketing with settling your land. You can bring people down here from the North and produce the stuff, but you must give them an outlet to sell it. When I first came South and started buying some of these cut-over lands, my friends told me I was very foolish. That was sixteen years ago. They thought it was abso- lutely no good. To illustrate to you what some men thought Distillation Plants Make Stumping Profitable The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 173 of it, I know one man who sold 50,000 acres and stated to me later, "I slipped in -10,000 acres of cut-over land at the same price and they never noticed it." In determining why I thought these lands would have a value, in going around I would find that one farmer was raising velvet beans and other fine crops ; I would find another man who had cow peas; another man produced a big crop of Irish potatoes ; and in that way I found, scattered all around, where they were producing practically all the different things we have heard mentioned here today. I have seen that for years. It has all been demonstrated. I really believe that is the way you will get your land settled. It is very difficult to go to Iowa and bring those good farmers down here and settle them in the wilderness. You will find that most localities in this country require three sets of people, before the good substantial farmer arrives. Another thing is that we are all getting good roads and automobiles, and though you are eight or ten miles out in the country you can still keep in touch with things. In selling these large tracts I have noticed one great diffi- culty has been that so many of the colonizers do not care any- thing about what becomes of the men after they sell them a tract. That is one of the greatest difficulties. I have sold a Proper Care good many large tracts, and I have observed that in 60 or 70 ^^-^t ^ ^ ' per cent of the cases it is just that way. They don't seem to care where the man lands after he gets there. That is all wrong. You must look after the man and see that he is taken care of. onist 174 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era The South's Advantages for Dairying S.ome Essen- tials to Suc- cessful Dairy- ing The Dairy Industry of the South By C. W. Radway Dairy Specialist, Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture There are several reasons why the dairy industry should be prosperous in the South. The South is well adapted, I believe, to successful dairying. One of the reasons for this is the climate. The barns or buildings that are needed are less expensive than those needed in the North ; and the climate is such that we can depend upon pasture for eight months out of the year. I might state there that some people are trying to depend upon twelve months of the year, and those people are the ones making a failure. We have been doing some record work and testing and weighing milk all over the state, and for the past four months we have not been able to find any piney woods cows producing much butter fat. Another thing is that forage crops can be very easily raised here in the South. But, however, with all these advantages, there are some essentials to the dairy business that must not be overlooked. One of these essentials for success is efiicient dairy cows. Second, is sufficient home grown feed ; and the man that comies down here with the intention of going into the dairy business must see to it that he is locating in a place where he can grow forage for his cattle. It will not do to start a dairy farm where you can grow nothing but strawberries or rice. If you intend to start the dairy business on such land you are going to fail. The third essential, to go with -these other two — the cow and the feed — is the man. A man has to under- stand how to take care of a cow, how to feed that cow, and how to make a good product, whether he is selling whole milk, cream or making butter; and in connection with this milk problem, or with the dairy products, one of the main things is quality. Those people in Louisiana making good butter have no trouble at all in marketing it. Those people making a poor product find that product is not wanted. We have several instances here in Louisiana — one man at New Iberia cannot supply the demand. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 175 He could sell three times as much butter as he is making at the present time. The Ruston Creamery, at Ruston, Louisiana, can- not fill half the orders they have at the present time, and the same is true of the New Iberia Creamery. There are several advantages to be derived from dairying. The first advantage, which should appeal very strongly to every Southern farmer, is that the dairy, well conducted, improves the soil. A dairyman in North Louisiana, on cut-over lands, who started in about six years ago on land that was producing less than one-third a bale of cotton to the acre. He saved the ferti- lizer from that dairy and put it back on the land, and today he is producing as much cotton on half the ground he did six years ago. In other words, in six years' time, with the intelligent use of the dairy and his by-products, he has doubled the productive capacity of that farm. Another thing is that it furnishes a mar- ket for crops, as some of the crops that cannot be marketed be- cause of the small quantity and the distance to market. If a man has only a few tons of pea vine hay or soy bean hay, and cannot get it to the market, the best market is the dairy cow. Again, he may have some forage crops that are not in market- able condition, some that are poor in quality. That can be used for feeding and put right back on the soil. One instance of this: At New Iberia a man used cane tops for silage — not that I would advocate cane tops for silage, but it helps out in his feeding, and is one of the by-products of the cane. A man that makes a good quality of product, butter or cream or whole milk, is sure of a market ; but the quality must be good. I might state at this time that in any whole milk industry, a great improvement can be made by more winter dairying. In that way a more uniform supply can be furnished in the cities. Last November and December some of the places along the Illinois Central were shipping only about half what they are at the present time, which, you see, is not the best way of doing. Some of the farmers claim they are not making money in the dairy business. There are some reasons for that. First, the cost of production is too high ; and there are many cows in this state that are not paying for the feed they eat. The second reason is the lack of system in feeding. If you investigate some of the good farms, you will find that every cow in that dairy is getting the same amount of feed, regardless of the amount of milk she produces. Third, you will find there is no economy The Cow as a Soil Improver Dairy Prod- ucts Com- mand Beady Market Reasons for Dairying Fail- ures 176 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era in the labor. Much of the work may be saved ; much of the work may be done to better advantage by doing things a little dif- ferent, and possibly locating a little differently. Fourth, is poor equipment. Many of you are not sufficiently equipped to handle the milk and get it tO' market in good condition. Fifth, is the cattle tick, which will be spoken of later; and we trust that the cattle tick will be eradicated in a very short time. Also, one of the most vital things is the lack of home grown feed. Among the farmers we have visited within the past three or four months, those people having no home grown feed were contemplating selling their dairies because they could not afford to buy feed from the market. Now, these apparent disadvantages are being overcome. One of the best ways of farming here is by getting better cows. It is essential that we have this. We have a farmer at New Iberia who just bought a few cows. One of them had a year's record of 600 pounds of butter fat. When you compare that with a cow producing 100 to 150 pounds, you may see the difference. Another way is by weeding out the poor cows by herd record work. One of the dairies in the northern part of the state had 35 cows. It started the record work there a little over a year ago, and three or four months ago we began selling cows that were proving they were not paying any profit. After eight cows were sold, and by better feeding of the remainder, we sold as much milk as we had from the original 35. By this record work better methods are being introduced ; better care is being taken of the milk; better feeding is resulting; better care of the cows; and it gives the farmers a better chance to plant for home grown feed. This record work along the dairy line, I believe, is the most important part of the work that we do. I might say that the Live Stock Extension Service is supervising the record work of some of the dairies in this state, and some interesting results are found. Two years ago a visit was made to a dairyman. After ex- plaining the advantages of keeping records of each individual An Example cow he decided to keep a complete record of his herd. Each of Successful cow's milk was weighed each night and morning and a butter- Dairy Opera- f^^ ^gg^ ^^g niade once a month. Each cow was charged with the feed she had eaten. . At the end of the year four cows were sold that were making no profit at all. The second year cane tops were used with corn for silage. Four cows were added to the Results from Good and Poor Cows lion The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 177 dairy to make 50 (the original number). Last year, by the use of cane tops and home grown feeds, $300 was saved on feed and more butter fat was produced than the year before from the same number of cows. When the record began at that dairy the aver- age butter fat production per cow per year was about 170 lbs. At present the average is about 240 lbs., and at the end of this year all cows not making 250 lbs. of butter fat will be sold. By systematic feeding, business methods, and home grown feeds, this man has saved $300 per year on feed ; at the same time has in- creased the butter fat production per cow 70 lbs. per year. This is an increase of about $30 per cow or on 50 cows this record work has been worth $1,500 to this man. This is not the only improvement he has made ; he has increased the fertility of his soil until other farmers around him are commenting on the excellent crops on his farm. This work of record keeping is being carried on with several other farmers with excellent results. One dairyman at Monroe. La., last week found that three of his cows were making more profit than the other nine. It is essential, with the high price of feed, that the dairyman feed only cows that are capable of turn- ing that feed into butterfat and leave a profit. With the ad- vancing prices of dairy feeds it is fast becoming necessary for the dairy farmer to "weed out" all unprofitable cows or else he will find the dairy on the wrong side of the ledger. Many dairy- men are planning on more home grown feed than they have ever raised before. They are very wise to do this under the present outlook. Some of the dairymen who have been raising their own feed are setting the pace in the dairy business for the rest of the farmers. One man on the cut-over lands has been in the dairy business for about five years and each year he has increased the amount of home grown feed. Last year he built a silo and raised corn for 50 tons of silage ; in addition he has sufficient soy beans and pea-vine hay to feed all the stock through the year. All the grain he had to buy was a little cot- tonseed meal to help balance up the ration. This dairyman is one of the most prosperous men in that portion of the state. This year he is planning on building a new house with the sav- ings from the cream checks (and he saved a little each month because he did not have to swop his cream checks for feed). This man used his land to help feed his dairy and he used his dairy to help feed his land. The two are working well together. Three Cows Worth More Than. Nine 178 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era and the crop production is getting bigger each year. He is well pleased with the results from the dairy and knows that the dairy and the land must work together. When we consider that this man started with little or no capital, on a poor farm, with no buildings worth speaking of, we must realize that he has been following a safe method. His method or prime object has been to build up the land by the use of the dairy fertilizer, to grow all the roughage for the dairy, and as much of the grain as pos- sible ; he has also practised rotation of crops to good advantage. The results of this system is being noticed by other farmers in that locality. Several are beginning to follow the same method. It has been clearly shown that feed crops can be grown on the hilly lands and on the cut-over lands and must be grown if the farmer ever expects to make a success. He must also realize that the land cannot do its best without live stock on it; that the dairy in particular will build up the land faster than can be done by any other method ; also he must realize that in keeping the dairy he must grow his own feed, or at least all the roughage His Own Feed and as much of the grain feeds as possible. Last year we spent a good deal of time on the worn out cotton lands of North Louisiana urging the farmers to plant velvet beans. We had some difficulty to get them to try this plan. Several tried velvet beans, however, and this year the difficulty is to get enough seed. Some of the dairymen who did not raise their own feed are going out of the business ; those who raised their feed are making good. The difference between the dairyman who raises his own feed and the one who buys his feed is the difference between success and failure. As the prices of feed stuffs advance, this difference becomes greater. It is im- perative that we urge in every possible way the dairyman to grow his own feed. Our whole campaign at present is "home grown feed and better cows." To Succeed, Dairyman Must Faise The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 179 Some Suggestions for Dairy- ing on Cut-Over Lands By N. P. Hull President of the National Dairy Union As your chairman says, I have come a long- way — came down from Lansing, Michigan. I have been interested in dairy- ing all my life ; started in to milk cows when I was knee high to a June bug and have followed it all my life. I have come South to tell you about the dairy business and how it ought to be ap- plied in the South. I will tell you that story in ten minutes. I can talk pretty quickly, too. Perhaps you want to know why : Up in Alichigan we manufacture 72 per cent of all the automo- biles made in the United States. We don't use them all there but we test them all there. These automobiles run up and down and all around, and the people there are divided into two classes — the quick and the dead. (Laughter.) I am not going to say all I had in mind to say to you. 1 have heard a great deal about the wonderful fertility of the soil and the wonderful opportunities in the Southland. I have traveled over this Southland considerably, as well as over the other lands — practically all the other states. In my work con- nected with the National Dairy Union, and as President of the American Dairy Farmers' Association, and connected with sev- eral other associations, I have lectured on dairying from one ocean to the other, and for two years to the Canadian Govern- ment. So I feel I have at least had an opportunity to know something about dairying. I have also had an opportunity to know something about conditions in the different sections of the United States. I might repeat again — I have heard a great deal about the opportunities of the Southland. I am running a dairy in Michi- gan, and a great many other people are. We are buying carload after carload of cottonseed meal grown upon the land of the South. We pay $L00 for your cottonseed meal for feeding to our dairy cows, and from those dairy cows we send the butter back to New Orleans and sell it. and we sell vou two dollars' worth 180 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Making a Dol- lar Bring Two in Return Dairying Makes High- Priced Rich Lands Three Kinds of Cows of butter for every dollar's worth of cottonseed meal we buy from you. Your land grows that cottonseed meal ; it takes the fertility from your lands; you send it to us, and we feed it to our dairy cows, and sell it back to you for $2.00. That may be good business for you in the South, but I don't see how it can be. We are satisfied if you are. But you ought not to be satis- fied, gentlemen. It means that the man who tills the land here in the South should not blight the land he tills, and too many of you fellows here in the South have been blighting your land until it is not as good and attractive land as it was a few years ago. You ask me how I know? I don't know just about this par- ticular vicinity, but I do know about several other vicinities, and I dare say it is true in this part of the country. Now the solution. In my judgment — and I know it is true in every other section — you go to the richest and highest price land in Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, and you will find that the industry that made that high price and made the farmers that handle that land so prosperous, was dairying. You go into the cut-over land of Michigan and find a man who is improving the fertility of those farms, to make them productive, and you will find he is improving them by the industry of dairying. It is true on high priced and on low priced land. Why? Because the cow will take the product of your farm and convert it into more dollars, carrying a larger percentage of profit than any other animal that walks on four legs. She has done it in the past and will do it in the future. As one of the speakers said, there are certain essentials that must be observed on the farm. First, you must have a good cow. There are in the State of Louisiana, as well as in every state, three kinds of cows. One kind of cow takes her feed and digests it, and under the law of her nature she converts that into beef. That is a beef cow. It doesn't make any difference whether she is Hereford, or Shorthorn or Angus. If she converts that into flesh she is a beef cow. Another kind takes her feed and assimilates it, and because of the law of her nature she converts that into milk. That is a dairy cow; and it doesn't make any difference what breed or color she is; if by the law of her na- ture she converts that into milk, she is a dairy cow. Another kind of cow takes her feed, and God only knows what she does with it — she neither makes meat nor milk with it. (Applause.) The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 181 I want to say to you gentlemen just remember that little message from the men of the North — too many of you fellows are spending your lives growing that cow that is in the third class. She should be got rid of. You are keeping too many cows that came too near to being born steers. (Laughter.) I promised I wouldn't talk over ten minutes ; I have two minutes more. As I said, I am President of the National Dairy- Union. It was organized especially to protect the good cow and the product of that cow from vicious and unfair competition of the socalled substitute, oleomargarine. I just want to drop this little word to you before I leave. In our work in Washing- ton we found that the Congressmen and Senators from the South are usually against us and with the oleomargarine fellows. I just want to say this to you : I want to ask why your represen- tatives are against the dairy cow and honest dairy products ; why your men say that the man who manufactures oleomargarine is Oleomargar- just as good and has just as good a right as we have. Let me '^^ « Menace ask you why it is that a man colors butter? To make it look exactly like what it is. Why does a man color oleomargarine? To make it look like what it is not, and so that he may sell it at the price of butter, which it is not. You are getting swindled both ways. I want you to think about that, and stand with us of the North to protect the cow. Probably you have several million dollars that you want to buy oleomargarine with. Instead of doing that, go into the dairy business ; feed out your own cottonseed meal, and your velvet bean and other products that you grow ; return the ferti- lizer to your farm, which will enable you to have better farms as the years go by. You will find that that good old cow will do more for you than any other animal that ever walked on four legs. I thank you. (Applause.) to Dairying 182 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Early Work in Tick Erad- ication Popular Approval Necessary Tick Eradication By Dr. E. I. Smith Inspector in Charge Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, Baton Rouge, La. In taking up the subject of "Tick Eradication," I will briefly outline the history in the State. In 1906 the State of Louisiana began its first work in tick eradication. At that time there were two Parishes which started work along such lines ; that is, Lincoln and Claiborne, and it is believed that they commenced operations largely because the State and Government urged them for the purpose of seeing what could be done in Louisiana ; and if the results were satisfactory it might have a tendency to encourage the other Parishes to do likewise. After a few months Lincoln Parish decided to withdraw her co-operation on account of so much opposition developing in her borders ; Init Claiborne Parish continued until 1912, when they were released from quarantine. For some reason or other Claiborne Parish did not furnish the proper co-operation, and the State and Bureau ofificials bore most of the expenses, and, as a result, when the Parish was released they failed to appreciate the advantage of taking care of the local infestation left in the Parish and enforcing the law when necessary. In this connection, I regret to state that they were placed back in quarantine the first day of March, 1917, with the same status relative to the cattle tick as any quarantined Parish in the State. This vividly illustrates one prominent point : Notably, any Parish or County in any State which starts tick eradication with- out the co-operation of the people is an absolute failure. In such cases more harm will result than good, because people believe that the officials higher up are endeavoring to make them do something which is not for their interest. This year we had a few Parishes that were very anxious to commence systematic tick eradication, and the Police Jury called us into conference, asking our advice, and at the same time stating how many vats they had, and in what position they were The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 183 financially. After taking- into consideration their financial con- dition, and the small number of vats in operation, we plainly said to them, "Gentlemen, you are not ready to commence active work in tick eradication ; you have not the sufficient number of dipping vats, and your financial condition is not in a shape to allow you to fully do-operate throughout the season. You should wait until you have the last number of vats completed, and sufficient money so that you will be able to work for the best interest of the Parish, for the purpose of securing the best result. It would be folly for us to attempt to co-operate with you at this time, as it would waste both Government and State funds." Last year we worked systematically in eight Parishes, and this year we are working in the same manner in nineteen Parishes, and it is our fondest hopes that these Parishes will be released from quarantine this fall. They are giving excellent co-operation and the people, as a whole, are lending their splendid influence to the work and doing all in their power to see that the cattle tick is completely eradicated. Last year the State Legislature passed a law which pro-' vided that tick eradication must be taken up over the entire State not later than the spring of 1918. Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas have also passed State-wide tick eradication laws. His excellency, the Governor of Arkansas, told you yesterday that they had vigorously legislated against the "Tick." Such action means that within the next three or four years there will be no cattle ticks in the States which are taking such strenuous action against the tick, or, if there are any in existence, it means that they will be located and absolutely under control. The tick "The Tick must go. History has taught us that it does not belong in this Must Go" country. It was first brought from Spain to old Mexico, and from there it has rapidly spread over the southern states ; par- ticularly, where the climatic conditions would best permit its multiplication. It is the southern people, with their splendid co-operation, who have decided that the tick is a nuisance ; and they have further arrived at the conclusion that it is not only a misfortune but a disgrace to allow such an infernal para- site to destroy such a possibility of greater cattle raising in the South. It is possible to hinder tick eradication, and it is also possible to set it back a little ; but, gentlemen, it is absolutely impossible to completely stop tick eradication. In other words. 184 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Opposition Fast Disap- pearing it is a road-roller. Last year our records show that we had 1,516,000 dippings of cattle in the State of Louisiana under supervision. That, you will see, is working a hardship on the ticks when you have over one and a half million dippings in eight Parishes in one season. You will readily see what the final results will be this year, we are going much over that, as our territory is larger and the work will be more extensive. In this connection I beg to state that last year we dipped the cattle every twenty-one days, which did not give us the satisfactory results desired. This year the Live Stock Sanitary Board have decided that all new Parishes engaged in the work of systematic tick eradication must dip their cattle every fourteen days. This action will prove two-fold ; that is, it will mean the eradication of the tick in one season in any Parish, provided the people co-operate, and, as a result, will conserve the Parish, State, and Government funds. So far the people are taking very kindly to the fourteen day dipping, and we anticipate very little trouble in carrying out such procedure this year. In 1906 the Federal Government started tick eradication and at that time they didn't have any dipping vats and I don't sup- pose there was a dipping vat in existence. All disinfection of cattle was done by the greasing method with a stick and a swab saturated with grease and they were able to place a little of such solution on each animal. In this connection, you can imagine what kind of a job that would be if we had to grease a million and a half cattle in one season. It would take more than one season to do it, and when we get through the results would not be satisfactory. Of course, by this method various states succeeded in eradicating large areas from the ravages of the cattle tick, but such areas were located mostly in counties where one could quite easily find the cattle, but, if you under- took such a piece of work in many sections on this Cut-Over Timber Land, we would meet with nothing] but failure. The people at that time, along in 1906, 1907, 1908, didn't know much about tick eradication, consequently they were very skeptical. The question was frequently asked, "Could it be done?" And, of course, there were certain classes that were quick to answer "No," with the explanation that we had ticks on every animal, both wild and domestic, and it would be impossible to maintain a quarantine over the wild animals. Today, the people look upon the matter in a very much different viewpoint, and the The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 185 question they are now asking to the State and Bureau officials is : "When can you send a trained man here to supervise tick eradication in our locality?" Such requests are coming in al- ready, at such a rate that we are unable to furnish supervisors at once to every Parish and County ready to work. Next year the new state-wide Tick Eradication Law for Louisiana goes into effect, which means that this State will be a leader in the complete elimination of the cattle tick. When the State Legislature passed the law they very unwisely, for some reason or other, perhaps on account of shortage of finances, did not provide a sufficient amount of money to carry out the work- ing of the law. The Governor of Arkansas told you yesterday More Money that they had appropriated $50,000 in their State to wage war ^^^^ed to against the cattle tick. This State hasn't but about $10,000 to ti/q^^ do what they expect to do with $50,000. If the people of Louis- iana are enthusiastic enough to pass a state-wide law for the eradication of the cattle tick, they should go before the Legis- lative Committee on Finance and demand that the proper ap- propriation be made. Other Southern States engaged in this work are furnishing large sums to meet all the demands of the work. Many Parishes in this State are carrying on tick eradi- cation with their own funds without any assistance from the State. One Parish, particularly, in this State has built some- thing like fifty public dipping vats within the last thirty days, and the State is unable to contribute one dollar towards such progress. A great many Parishes in Louisiana have been unable to do systematic tick eradication this season because they did not have the funds, and in this connection I believe there should have been some organization, perhaps financed by lumber in- terests, that could furnish each Parish with a sufficient amount of money to enable them to commence active operation. I be- lieve, Mr. Chairman, that this would be a very co-operative movement as it would help the Parish in question, and the money so loaned would be drawing a reasonable rate of interest. I have in mind one Parish in the northern part of the State where the Police Jury were willing to co-operate with the State and Bureau force for the purpose of eliminating the cattle tick, but they were absolutely unable to borrow money to conduct the work, and in this connection it is reasonable to believe that the law permitted them to borrow money, otherwise they would not endeavor to carry out such a program ; besides, it is further evi- 186 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era dent that their credit was good. They had the disposition and the desire to work with us, but they didn't have the money, and if there had been some organization in this State that could have furnished them the money at a reasonable rate of interest they would have been working systematically at this time and un- doubtedly be in a position to be added to the free area this fall. One gentleman this morning struck the keynote, I believe, on this cut-over timber land proposition, when he said that these lands ought to be fenced. Such lands are raising cattle for people who do not own an acre of land. They own the cattle and, apparently, depend upon charity for the privilege of grazing them, and when you talk to such individuals about dipping their, cattle they are inclined to develop opposition. Those are just the menacing conditions that exist over the cut-over timber land territory, and, you know, a menace located here and there may seriously interfere with a great organized effort. These people have no business to raise cattle, graze them on somebody else's property, and then keep up an opposition against a great piece The Evil of of constructive work like tick eradication. If these lands in such the Open sections in the South were fenced we would expect no opposi- ^"^*^ tion from the individuals who were using such lands, and it would also prevent, from a certain extent, the destruction of a number of dipping vats which has been going on within the last few months. A number of them have been dynamited in this State — I think about twelve or fifteen — and an equal number in Mississippi. Dynamiting, of course, is very destructive, and undesirable in such instances. But, after all, it is a large adver- tising factor, because it starts the people talking about something they never gave serious attention to before ; that is, it separates the good fair-minded class from the criminal element to such -an extent that the better class condemns such lowdown principles as the destruction of public property. The cut-over timber lands are indeed great. Only day be- fore yesterday I was riding through Washington Parish, which, of course, gave me the opportunity to observe carefully the cut- over timber land section, and as one rides through such country he cannot help from being impressed with the better appearance of the country. Theland is of a rolling nature, well watered and dotted here and there with little dense forests which can be con- trolled or allowed to spread. The character of the soil appears to be equal to the average and as Doctor Dodson told you this The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 187 morning the expression "poor land" has no place in our vocabu- lary, and does not mean anything. I think, if some of these lands could be fenced in, cattle put on them in charge of competent herdsmen under the supervision of lumber corporations there would be great rewards gained, not only in a financial way but as an advertising medium. I know right now where there are ^^'"^ Sent to ■ ■ ■ Other States over 6,000 head of cattle going out of this State within the next , r. .. • ' * *= for Fattening thirty days to Texas. It appears to me that they could be used to an excellent advantage on some of our cut-over timber lands in Louisiana. It would be a great advantage and I think an excellent investment to try and do something like that, partic- ularly at this time of the year when the grasses are excellent. So, gentlemen, if there is anything you can do along the line just indicated, do it. Another speaker said this should be observed from a mili- tary standpoint ; that is, preparedness in the way of raising more food products. We may need preparedness today, but we will need it a year from today just as much, if not more. Conse- quently, it is never too late to get ready. Any effort, by any organization, in the way of financing this cause would make you gainers in the end. The State of Louisiana, we hope, will be ^00,000 free from the dreaded cattle tick within the next three or four . , rvr> r^r\ '" LoillSianO years. In the outset there has been released over 300,000 square Released from miles, which represents nearly one-half of the territory quaran- Quarantine tined on account of the existence of the cattle tick. That, I think, is a very good record. It has been accomplished through the splendid co-operation of the Southern people, who have spent two dollars in this cause for every dollar spent by our United States Government. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the time you have given me. (Applause.) 188 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Stumps and T\\^iY Practical Removal By Carl D. Livingston University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. I had prepared a talk before this Conference on the sub- ject of "Stumps and Their Practical Removal," but after listen- ing to every word that has been said here at this Conference for the last two and a half days I have decided to change it, and instead of talking in technicalities to tell you, first — or rather to analyze the land clearing situation roughly from an engineering point of view ; second, to show just how we tackled this problem in Wisconsin and the good results we got from it; and third, to suggest, if I may, how the Southern states can profit by our ex- periences and our mistakes. The modern engineering methods and modern engineering tools have not been given as much importance in the subject of clearing lands as they should be. Modern engineering practices will play a very important part in the development of our cut- over land regions ; but I would like to make a statement right x/jm/nenfs ^^^ ^j^^^ ^^ forestall some criticism. What I will say in re- the South May , , , . , • , . , Profit Bii gard to cut-over lands is due entirely to an experience in the Lake states and on the Pacific Coast. I don't say that the novel methods that we have worked out in Wisconsin can be wholly adopted by the South ; but I do believe the methods of investiga- tion and demonstration that we have been using are of interest to you. Now, stump lands — I believe it will be generally admitted by those, especially, who own them, that they are not generally sought after by those people who desire new homes in cut-over lands. Now, why is this the case? The answer is easy — it is the stumps. It is the fear of the stumps that keeps people from the cut-over lands. If there were no stumps the Lake states or the Pacific Coast or the South would have no more of a development problem than do Illinois or Iowa. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 189 Why are people afraid of the stumps? Is it not because the methods used have been so cumbersome and the tools so primi- Drudgery of tive and used for so many generations that the people, gener- Stump Re- ally, have gotten the idea that making a home in cut-over lands ^"^ua/ tnaea means long, slow years of laborious back-breaking toil? Now, is not that the case? The reclaiming of Western lands by irrigation is just as hard ; it is almost as slow ; it is practically as costly in leveling them and getting irrigation in ; but the people generally do not recognize that fact ; it has not been given the publicity which cut-over land has ; and, therefore, people going out into a new* country will go to those places in preference to the cut-over land area. Even the artists recognize that clearing land is hard, laborious work. In the National Library, at Washington, there are seven or eight semi-circular paintings in the ceiling that depict various home scenes — religion, art, etc. — and the artist for labor has shown a picture of a man with a grub hoe, trying to grub out a fairly sized stump, and if that isn't labor I don't know what is. Such things no longer exist in land clearing, but, like a lot of other fears and superstitions, it will take some real education and rural demonstration before those ideas can be rid of in the minds of the people who are coming in and who already are in these cut-over lands. We have shown in Wisconsin that we can reduce the cost, reduce the time and reduce the drudgery of land clearing, and we feel that just in the proportion that we have done those things, we have made the cut-over lands popular and desirable. An organized effort, directed along engineering lines, will do a great deal to demonstrate to the people that such is the case, ^^^^^ Wiscon- and a clearing house where all this information can be gathered ^j„ Began together, inspected, and, if found good, given publicity ; and if Organized found bad, condemned ; if such an institution can be formed, a Efforts clearing house, it will have more value than any other one thing, in my opinion, that can happen to the cut-over lands. As evidence of these statements, I wish to offer the work of the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Wisconsin. A year and a half ago a special branch was or- ganized, the sole purpose of which was to deal with problems connected with clearing cut-over lands. Previous to that there was no exclusive agency in the Lake states where any man could 190 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era get any land clearing information of value. The new fellows coming into Wisconsin — there are five thousand a year — those new fellows had no place to go where they could get any reliable information on land clearing subjects. It was something like the Dark Ages before arriving at the common method of pre- serving ideas. Already we have in Wisconsin, this spring, great- er activities than they have ever had heretofore ; and that, we believe, in a measure, is a direct result of our work and the work that we caused to be swung into line. We gathered from all parts of the country the different ap- pliances men have used — a piler from Georgia, a hand puller here, a steam rigger from the Pacific Coast, a side trip from Minnesota ; and if they are any good we say so, and if they are bad we say so. As specific illustrations of what we have done in the way of being a clearing house, I have brought these models along, and will take a few minutes to show them to you as a specific illus- Free Informa- tration that there are scattered throughout the country and the tion Service whole earth a lot of perfectly good ideas, such as these, which for ths P men have worked, that have helped them to solve their individual problems ; and those little ideas have remained right in their communities and have never been given any publicity at all. (A demonstration of the models.) The way we get those before the public : We make blue- prints of them and these can be had for a small price. We sent them out free of charge for a while, until we began to get blanket orders for six copies of each one. The materials that we have perfected ourselves, we do not patent; but we fix it so no one else can obtain it for private gain. They can use it, but not patent it. Our largest single effort was to conduct two land clearing demonstration trains over the northern part of the state. This was a co-operative enterprise on the part of the railroads, who furnished the cars and carried them all over their line free of charge ; the stump puller people, who gave us their men and paid their expenses ; the explosive companies paid their part of it and furnished the explosives; the man on whose farm w€ stopped furnished the teams ; and the merchant usually gave a free lunch or some other attraction. Each train had eight cars in it. We carried a crew of eighteen men. We did the actual The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 191 Land Clear- ing Trains work in the field. We divided up an area and put a different kind in each tract and then sent the various different kinds of equipment on the stumps. We didn't advocate any method of clearing. We just showed what dynamite and stump pullers would do alone and in connection with each other. In the even- ing we held meetings with the townspeople and with the farm- ers, in an endeavor to get them to talk about their problems and Demonstrate their individual problems, and what they could do themselves for Work their own salvation. Some of the specific things we accom- plished were these : We gave a decided interest to the general land clearing men. We speeded up the work and helped to re- duce the cost and remove the drudgery, and instituted, or en- couraged, a follow-up system which is showing results this year as never before. I might enlarge upon these points. As far as impetus is concerned, the whole country seems to be talking about stumps now and their practical removal. The boys are holding debates on it in the high schools and forming small clubs and associa- tions of that nature. The 20,000 people who saw those demon- strations were enthusiastic over the things they saw. Rural credits have been greatly stimulated, and now the bankers are willing to co-operate with the farmers as they have never done before, in loaning them money for land clearing purposes. They j^^^^j^g Loan realize that when he tackles a job of that kind, that bank cannot Money for make a better investment than to furnish him the means of stay- Farm Im- ing on his land and clearing it himself. I merely want to cite provement one instance of this kind. One of the bank officials said to us he wouldn't have a stick of dynamite on his land ; "the only thing I use that for is to blow up the posters you furnish." Well, after a demonstration, here is what he came out with : (Show- ing a poster) "Farmers, let us help you clear your land," and they gave four instances where they will lend money : One, for fencing timber or land ; two, for buying stock, dairy or beef ; three, for developing silage or forage ; four, for stumping your land. Land has always been cleared too slow for rapid develop- ment, and that is one of the things we tried to show — to increase the speed. We wrote that if a man didn't have a team, that a one-man stump puller would do the work. Horse pullers are even better than the one-man pullers, because it takes so much power to pull a stump from the soil and your back has to be 192 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era multiplied so many times that it makes it slower. The horse stump pullers are equipped with accessories so that you can ^ , • rj move from one place to another rapidly. These things speed the of Dynamite work up two, three and four times as fast, compared to the old methods. The high cost of stump removal has been a very serious anchor to the progress of developing cut-over lands. We were able to show that where the people had been using 40 and 60 per cent dynamite, we could do absolutely as good work, stick for stick, with 20 or 30 per cent, and this has resulted in a saving of from 2y2 to 6 cents per pound. The lower grades dynamite are safer than the higher grades, too, and they do better work. They do less cutting and are less shattering in their effect. We have heard about this 76 million acres in the South. If there were in the neighborhood of fifty stumps per acre, there would be something in the neighborhood of four billion stumps Four Billion j^ ^j^^ South to be cleared. Now, I say, if that was done with Stumps to Be , . , , , • Ar^ ^ j u ^u Cleared in dynamite, and you have been usmg 40 per cent, and by the use South of 20 per cent you could save 2>4 cents a pound, that would be a tremendous saving. I rrierely cite that as an instance where we were able to save the people of Wisconsin many dollars in the use of this low grade product that would do the same work. Dollars are the controlling factor in land clearing, because a man will buy dynamite with all the money he can save. If, by any system, we can make this dynamite two, three or four times safer then he will clear two, three or four times as much land with the same expenditure ; and with the combination of stump puller, pulling the stump first, and then cracking it — and one-third as much dynamite is required to crack a stump as to blow it entirely ; that means that the man, with his combination method and proper equipment, can clear from three to five times as much land with the same actual cash expenditure. The tremendous human energy that has been wasted in land clearing is something appalling. What we have accomplished, ,, . . .if we have done nothing else, is to almost eliminate the drudgery Macliines and , , , , . , . Horses Now from land cleanng. I don t say the work ; there is nothing on Do tlie WorI< earth that will enable you to get rid of stumps without work ; but it is not that slow, back-breaking, monotonous toil. The outfit weighs about thirty pounds ; a man can take that to a stump ; that is not drudgery. He stands still while the horses The Dawn of a New Constructive Era UK) pull the stump from the gTound. It is not drudgery to work with the dynamite he uses ; and it is not drudgery to pile the stumps. It has all passed from the man's back to machines and horses, and wherever we have been able to show we have re- moved the drudgery we have made the cut-over lands popular. To use a specific instance : On one demonstration a man came from Iowa to buy land, and he came to the demonstration and I heard him tell the man whoi had him in tow that if these men could clear land with as little back work as that, I can, too ; and he bought 450 acres of land at $25 an acre. We don't try to pull green material. From our experience we find it will cost three times as much to clear green land as after four or five years. Put stock on it. Work it and seed it with whatever it grows best, and then put it to sheep and cattle, Deaden or to dairying. Goats are all right ; they are the best browsers ^'"^P* ^^' , 1 -r 1 -1 11 • 1 , ,- fore Removal there are; and if you have a wide range, all ng^ht; but if you have it fenced you will have to put in a 38-wove wire fence and barbed wire or they will cut it. As to the follow-up work : It was apparent that if we ad- vocated an equipment that would take $200 to buy, it was plumb out of the realm of a great many of those settlers ; if we could form a small society of three, four or five men — not more than five — and arrange for the purchase of such equipment as we would advise, that would reduce the cost to about $40 apiece. Then we went to the banks and said, "These men want to get an outfit of this kind ; they can probably clear five times as much land with this equipment as with their older devices" ; and in every case the banks said they were willing to loan money up to half of that equipment, and three-fourths of the banks said they would loan all the money. The Wisconsin Advancement Association, a group of men who have pooled their interests and paid 1 cent an acre for the advancement of those lands, organized a campaign for the pur- chase of stump pullers and explosives. Forty per cent dynamite Co-operative had been retailing in the neighborhood of 17 or 18 cents. They Association 117 7 * 117 * proposed to put in in carload lots. They have now, together ^^ . '"" "' with the aid of the explosive company, been able to put in twenty carloads where there had been only cases sold before. In every case where one of these carloads were going in there had been only three or four hundred pounds sold during- the en- 194 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era Farms Noiv Cleared in Few Years tire year. Just think what that means. If they can get a com- munity that will purchase five of these stump pullers they can get it down to $112 or $150 instead of $175. One of the land companies there just issued this pamphlet, which came in my last mail before leaving. In it they describe a clearing method which they are employing for every five thousand acre unit that they subdivide. They are setting aside a sum of $7,500 to be used in the purchase of land-clearing equipment ; and all that, of course, goes over to their purchasers. Another man has already organized several crews — he has thirty competitive crews — he has a very large area, and these men are working in a competi- tive contest, and at the end of the season prizes will be given them. This greatly stimulates the manufacture and the dis- covery of a great many devices that would not otherwise be used. Now, don't get the impression that we preach any Utopian scheme in Wisconsin, where we have some way of getting the stumps out without work ; but we have been able to show how the cost of clearing land has been materially reduced, so that now a man, instead of spending a lifetime, can clear up his farm in a few years ; and we have practically removed the drudgery from land-clearing work; and we have made the cut-over lands popular in just the proportion which we have done these things. I might just take a moment to explain what our future pro- gram is. We have been able to promote a great deal of interest in the land-clearing movement, but we have to find out some more before we can carry our demonstration further; and so there is a bill in the Legislature for $37,000, which is asked to be spent over a period of two years in conducting further demon- stration trains. Our plan is to lay off areas on various soil types of twenty acres ; develop those and keep track of the methods that are used, and the time and hours of man labor and the hours of horse labor and the pounds of dynamite. If we can do all that we will then know which is the best way to clear land in the Lake states, and have a good idea for other people to follow. I don't know whether or not the conditions we have, or the methods we have developed, will be of individual value to you ; but I do believe that if you follow some of the things we have done you can expect to get some of the results we have accom- plished. We have been working for the little fellow because there are some 50,000 of them already there. The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 195 Now, as to the suggestions I have to offer, if I may : One is that, first of all, you establish an office similar to the one we have established. I might say that Michigan, Minnesota and Washington are establishing ofltices along the same line. There surely are in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the other states devices and information such as we have here, that will help your men, help your people in just the ratio they have helped ours. The first thing that ought to be done is to form a clear- ing house, where this information can be gathered together, and, if good, passed on. The second — and I might say that this can Suggests Cen- best be established with your various Departments of Agriculture ^, Informa- and with your colleges, because the colleges are able to get more jj^^g^ ff.j. from the manufacturer by way of co-operation than almost any South other single agency — the second would be to use your influence to provide proper funds for this work to be carried on. Next, start in with the collective demonstration, showing what is good and bad practice. You will know, then, what you will want to do with the investigations end. Try to co-operate, in all ways, with the banks, the railroads, the manufacturers of dynamite and the stump puller people. In that way you will get so many people together that the movement will be given so much mo- mentum that nothing will stop it. M'ay I say just one word further? This is a little emergency poster No. 1 (indicating) that was published by the Wisconsin College of Agriculture, as a result of the demand for more food. We have begun to get results from this already; and I have one or two copies here in case anyone would like to see them. I also have one or two extra copies of our land-clearing poster. We have published a report of our land-clearing demonstration which we will be glad to send to any who care to have it ; and we have in the press a land-clearing bulletin which is composed mainly of pictures. We feel that if we can depict land-clearing conditions and methods by pictures, that others can read the pic- tures whether they can read the English language or not. I thank you. (Applause.) 196 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era The Sheep Industry of the South By F. R. Marshall Senior Animal Husbandman Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture Mr. Chairman, after this discussion I am in somewhat an embarrassing position, but I believe I am complying with the will of the majority, and will undertake to say, very briefly, some of the main essentials of sheep raising. My subject permits me to cover the entire South, but I shall not endeavor to do so. I have been interested in listening Importance of ^^ ^^^ discussions; and I take it that now we have cleared the Sheep liaising ^ ff ^}^ j^^^j ^^ surveyed the soil ; we have established m the South ^ -^ • , V i , i i u pastures, and we have eradicated the ticks ; I don t know whether to say we have established demonstration farms, but we have debated it. You don't need to do all that before you talk about going into the sheep business. You could have done that without much of the other, but up to this time, I presume, the sheep business has seemed to you a rather minor and secondary matter ; but if you will acquaint yourselves with the facts in that con- nection and with the methods of utilization of these lands, I be- lieve you will no longer agree that the sheep industry is a second- ary proposition. ■■ I jwill explain to you the reasons for those views. In what I propose to outline briefly, I take it to be the consensus of opinion of this conference that at least a large part of these cut-over lands must, for some considerable time, at least, be used for grazing purposes. I don't know how much or how long. When you come to consider a grazing proposition, you have sheep and cattle mainly to think about. The thing that has impressed me most in this connection, and in {he conservative constructive thinking along this line, is a statement made by a gentleman that after he studied the means The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 197 of utilizing his lands, he came to the point where he did not want to dispose of them. The possibilities and opportunities in sheep raising are much less well understood than in cattle raising. There have been a good many reasons for that up to this date. Those reasons no longer exist. During the last five years, or two years, the sheep business of this country has come in on an entirely new basis. For your guidance in the future you don't have to study the history of the question at all. The reasons for saying you don't have to study the history of the sheep business are briefly these : Up to this time the sheep of the world have been kept on the new lands, where they could go into the sheep business without preparation, and because in many cases they would produce and carry nothing ^orld Scare- hut sheep. That has been the case in our western states, Aus- ity of Sheep tralia, South America and Africa and other countries. In those ond Wool areas, however, those conditions have passed. Those grazing lands are being used for other purposes. Ultimately, no doubt, they will carry larger numbers of cattle and sheep than they carried when used for pasture purposes. In the meantime, there is a very serious shortage of sheep meat and wool the world over. Those conditions are disappearing and, as a consequence, the prices of sheep products, especially, have gone up. We face today a condition where lambs are worth 15 cents a pound on the hoof. When you consider it is a safe proposition to put a lamb on the market at 70 pounds, you will understand some- thing of its possibilities. At the same time it is hard to say, without having seen the market reports of the hour, what the prices of wool are. They are very high, but largely because of conditions that were in evidence before and will exist after the war. This passing of the pasturage parts of the country has been particularly noticeable in our western states during the last three or four years, and is going further. We still have in the public domain, as stated by the Commissioner of the Land Office, something like 280 or 290 million acres of land which has been used by the stockmen of this country for both sheep and cattle grazing; and as to a comparison of the possibilities between sheep and cattle let me make this statement : that with present values and circumstances, and the adaptability of the country, it is a 198 The Dawn of a New Constructive Em America Im- porting Vast Quantities of Wool Cut-Over Lands Ideal For Sheep Raising pretty narrow choice, and it is mainly a matter of taste as to whether the man takes sheep or cattle for pasturage. Those lands are being taken up very rapidly, and during the last few months, especially, there have been something like 45,- 000 applications for those grazing homesteads. It is altogether probable that ultimately again a large part of those lands will carry more stock than they have now ; but I do believe it is more certain that for a considerable time they will carry much less stock — ^they will ship eastward much less cattle and wool than for some time past. Taking in connection with that fact the further fact that other countries are in the same position ; and still further the fact that this country manufactured, during the year ending June 30th last, over 800 million pounds of wool. While we manufactured that we grew less than 300 million pounds. The rest came from the countries mentioned. The consumption in other countries is increasing; the production is decreasing; and we are up against a serious proposition. There is room to dilate as much as one may wish upon the patriotic phase of the question ; but I submit it to you only as a business proposition, to help meet the demand for an increase of the sheep population somewhere in this country. The cut-over lands of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin are well adapted to put sheep on them. This increase of lambs and wool, which must be had, can only come from two sources. The one we have been thinking of most heretofore is that of the farms of both this country and other countries. The sheep busi- ness will increase very materially there, but it will be a slow increase and it will have to be along lines yet to be worked out. Outside of the countries not ready for the business, I do not believe there is any section which is so ready to go quickly into a considerable wool or lamb proposition as the cut-over lands. With the opportunities you have, of relatively low production, 1 only wish to submit to you that the sheep business, for those who will understand it and study it from a business standpoint. is thoroughly safe and practicable. I am not going to renew, or take part, in any debate as to just how you will get the information other than to say that if anything has been done by disinterested parties in this part of the country to show the possibilities of keeping sheep, I very much regret to say that it has not come to my attention. The nearest The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 199 we can come to getting a line on it or a parallel case is found in New Zealand. That is too far away to interest you fully, but I want to call your attention to the fact that there is in New Zealand a set of conditions that compares closely with those of the cut-over lands. The soil compares very closely in kind and the climate and rainfall are the same. Through the pressure of circumstances those people residing in that country have taken up the live stock proposition and provided pastures that will support live stock all through the year. Where they have worked that pasture proposition out and studied the live stock business, they have found that their lands were paying dividends on their valuation equivalent to $200 an acre. Only there, that I know of, can you go to find a demonstrated proposition as to sheep raising, that will show you the actual net expense and possible receipts on an acre of pasture ; and you must also con- sider that in building up that system they have been under the handicap of marketing their product five thousand miles away. Just to what extent and in what way the sheep proposition can be taken -up, I am not ready to state in any detail as yet. It will have to follow the same general lines I have mentioned. First, however, as with cattle, the natural or artificial pasture is the primary consideration. The sheep differ particularly from Sheep Thrive the cattle in this way, that a good marketable carcass of lamb can ^Vithout be raised under pasture conditions without the use of any material amount of grain. It is possible to produce a useful and salable carcass of lamb without grain at all. Grain is not essen- tial to the production of wool, so that with sheep you can have two finished products from pasture alone. Sheep will not thrive under conditions where their feet are continually wet. If it is continually wet or swampy, you will have trouble. They will eat a greater variety of plants than cattle, but if your main object is to clean up brush you can do it with goats and you will have a very satisfactory job. Getting down to the possible advantages of sheep in com- parison with cattle on this land, you have to consider that the tick proposition is not serious with sheep. The authorities have stated that the sheep are in no way concerned with tick. While sheep have no ticks, however, they have their own peculiar troubles, which are less serious in some ways and can be avoided. The main factor in the trouble of sheep health is that which con- cerns itself with stomach parasites. There are thoroughly prac- Grnin Food 200 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era tical systems of controlling- and preventing the troubles from that source. One of the systems is to give sheep a sufficiently wide range. Another way is to use the sheep on pastures while the cattle are not there. I said I woiild not endeavor to outline a detailed system of the proper methods of handling sheep, but whatever system can be safely attempted early in the game will necessarily be somewhat along these lines. I will say that sheep can be used on the same ground with cattle, to the advantage of both. I know some of you that have traveled in the West and have read the old-time stories have recol- lections of the bloodshed in those western countries due to the feuds between cattle and sheep men, and you will find that a