726 (O PROGRESSIVE FARMER XSO GAZETTE.
SOME PROBLEMS OF THE SOUTHERN HILL COUNTRY.. "ST 1Z ! TZ
der their progress, The railroad, the forest .covering, i8 a polii
the highway and the .telephone line once foolish and criminal. The
are factors in 'this work, the value beginning to see that if there is
of which can not be over-estimated, to be a timber famine, these land
Many sections of the hill country which are so much better adapted tn
are, of course, wonderfully rich in the growing of timber than to that
uuuerai icsuuiccd, uui mo uoiciui- au; umci tiup, must DO made tn
A Land of Wonderful Possibilities for the" Stockman, Fruit
Grower and. General Farmer Some of the" Special Needs of
This Section and Some of the Problems It Has to Solve.
' . By E. E. Miller.
TT HAS LONG "been the habit of. living by farming on lands which are ment Qf these resource3 mustf ln most duce thla cr t0 wM h 10 P
I . At.tn looo nf nrfiura tn finatiV nlftlnlv linfillitad to CrOD grOWlng. t i 1.1 i i .vua. 1 11 u.j ... cjr ar
1a r , , . , cases, uo urougui auuut vmeujr ujr wen euueu, year alter year and u
nA mhnu mA.mfafn ttnn nf TTn in tho mountain coves and high ., . v ,ttaQ that
- i 1 i.uc3 n xa. id uivuumaaaa w m Tn an nr i'iitii 1.111 rnuv . wiin 1 t v u urw'H r 1 a 111 tti norm mr vtt
pro-
80
of the whole mountain. section of Up in the mountain coves and high , . rnmnan.ps who hftVA ,aTM tnA i,,, TOv0 ' ,?a .that
tk. on.,t. ... . nf HiivniiQ anif nn littiA benches and nookson . ji.i -rm . ,...:: . . . 0 . ne iand
the South as a land or darkness "ana on mue oenCus uu ; v- &t thelr disposal merevfi ther have worked in such cona Z
where the light Is as darkness." and the slopes of the mountains will be n . - f any mineral Is found to that it wlll'be imnrnani ? T
. 1 . J XAl 11 J A - V
11.. iv. r 'a 1 i.mai.mlia- 1iaa onI fnoro llttm OTIA or .... - - ... - m
10 aescriDe me ouuiueru AyiJaiamttu iuuuu, i justify its development the railroad cades to come are as foolish aa tiu
region as a country of poverty, ignor- two-room cabins and littlethree- or wm eventually g0j and there will farmer who permits his fields to w !
ance and lawlessness. We of the four-acre tfatches of cleared land, by . , lt f
r...iv. nMtitM rtK .nnrtoov cflilod fftrms. Manv DeoDle . ..... . . .. .. ! ""w a wrm-
.Mill 1 11 wiiii i m laiiitimi vv 1 lud vuua j
Innctrial HovAlnnTTiA'nt Rut thfa Is Pr rather than a lumVMm.. .
beautiful hill country know how ut- in thesejiore remote districts meas-, . mltaM nr onfl f in h. tuiA. tht .i' rl0
unjust sucn a cnaractenzauon is. uut i3 -"w eral nroblem. crons. will also rnmA tn rMn, u.I
" vmiiic i.UHr
tne iact remains mai mere reaiu ei- ut uiuiui uy " . . . , - w - i
ist over larce areas of this section quite a half-day in the Journey. eTen sreaier importance man- w lanas M
1st over large .r eas 1 01 :.tnu sec" . tJ '. , ,h the minerals stored in these hills are much Jo those which he cultivates
conditions which are as bad as the They have no roaas wormy 01 me ,. . a nni that it i i 1,. ?
worst of those nainted by the writers name. Many of them hare no work luo 6-" ". - - - -.
who .1 ?he three or four mU ion stock at allf and the lirtng. which next to education, the first great destroy, by Are or indiscriminate cut-
rnhabSs togethe "poor moun- they can get from their little patches Problem of all the Southern Ap- Ung the timber crop on these lands
ata whites of cleared ground, with the primitive Palachian region, extending from r it would be for him to turn stock
In deaUng with this section it must methods which they must use, is Maryland to Alabama, is the prefer- Into his grain fields,
be remembered 1 before anything necessarily a very scanty one. vation of the forests and the conser- In this o the
like an accurate survey of the field These conditions are not the pre- "J ion of the soil and water-power to J1Z
can be made, the division between vailing ones in the mountain section, which forest preservation is so neces- preven .forestfire. Perhaps forest
the agricultural sections, - those but it would be folly to deny that sary There are mil ions of acres of ..J ta
parts which constitute one of the they exist to an altogether too great in this mountain region which mountain sections than In other
finest Uve stock, dairy and fruit- extent. And the great problem in should be left in forests through J
growing diitricts in America.-and many cases is simply the removal of e ages to come. There are many l01
the parts which are too rough and the people who live" in these isolated bousands of .acres ;now ,
sterile or too isolated for successful sections to localities where they will s"""'" "e ieiUreBle.aB BUUu u. cau .V":;" ": T"" ""
possiDiy De aone. we are nopmg, 01 aicwouuu ua iuo gieai unaage
course; that the proposed Appala- done by forest fires, not only to the
chian Forest Reserve will yet be es- rorests themselves, but also,, to the
tablished and that the National Gov- soil, to say nothing of the destruction
ernment will exercise control over a fences and buildings and the dan-
farming, must be clearly drawn. The have some chance to come into con
existence of the poverty, Ignorance tact with their fellow-men and to
and degradation which justify the engage in more profitable work,
uncomplimentary appellations of The prdblems over the greater part
tourists who visit this section, is due of our mountain section, however,
1 2. -M 1 j. . i x orfip Afrantimias tr niimam Urn r..
in great measure to the fact that so are far different. Usually all that pan 01 mi moumaiu couauy. r T , 7Z "ti"it"
many people are trying to make a is needed to bring prosperity, and to The establishment of State forest re- destryS the "est cover, these
- moir rh Pnnntrr nn nf th mnst serves is a work the beginning of Ares rob the soil of the humus that
desirable in which to live is the im- which is only a question of time, should be returned to It, an prepare
provement of the natural advantages While practically no attention has the way for erosion. Even greater
of the section anfrthe adoption of the toeen SlTen this matter by the south- n iue uamage aone 10 tne grow
methods used to the particular con- ern states as yet is inconceivable ing timber, Jn many cases, too, -is
ditiona nrevalline here tnat they can mucn longer afford to tnat done by the destruction of the
negiect tne spienaia opportunities 01 auluio iuibsls. m aumuuu to vne
work offers, or that they will much great educational work that must be
One of the fift great needs of longer endure the danger from fttod done among farmers, lumbermen and
practically this whole section is bet- and drouth which continued forest an citizens wno nave any interest in
ter roads; and the making of good destruction has already brought, and sorest preservation. it is just as -wen
roads In this hill country is neces- wl" "ring in an increasing degree in w recognize me iact tmai tne ianure
finriiv a harHnr nrnhlprn than in more the future. 01 Southern States to maintain any
level sections.
The old mountain
Detterranniiig
Jk&j A John Deere
rjAV' Jim-
A Farmer Can
Get it Free
IF interested in farming, get our FREE
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It tells all about
Alfalfa
Dairying
Seed Wheat
Corn Crops
Stock Feeding
Art of Plowing
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Making Hay
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Silos
Cultivation
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Soil Fertility
Gasolene Engines
Adjusting Plows
Hired Help
Costs Big Money
Your land is high priced and hired help expensive.
There is only one way to make big money use im
plements that cut down the cost of your crops. Isn't
it true that when you break something on a plow it
is nearly always a cast part? Wherever strain comes
on a John Deere Plow there you will find steel tool
steel. Take any plow that has had hard work tor
five years, put it along side oi a John Deere which
has been in service that long and see the difference.
Then there is no paint to cover up poor material.
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est job. Then you begin to know that quality counts.
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trail which
follows the rocky bed of some stream
must be superseded by a road over
efficient avsfAm nf f nroot nrntdntlnn
is costing us many millions of dollars
Of equal importance, however, with each year just how many we have
these National and State forest reser- no means of estimating'. Most States
wees
We will send you the 8fcpage, illus
trated book free if yod .write and ask for
Package No. 2
Mention the package number suret theni
you will get exactly the right stufE
DEERE & COMPANY. HQllNLlLl.
Open Furrow Oat
Sower
which it is safe to drive a wagon or vations ls the preservation of the for- have "a corps of game wardens to pro-
buggy And in the less rugged sec- esls ana ine conservation or tne tim- tect tne game; Dut because the ior
tions inore attentlon Tmust be paid to er supply by the owners of these ests are mostly "pritate property,"
grades and drainage, and the roads mountain lands. The big lumber the owners or those not owmers
taught to wind around the hills in- companies are just beginning to learn are allowed to turn fires loose in
stead of climbing over them. There that the Plicy of cutting every tree them almost without lt or hindrance,
are thousands of places in this region of merchantable size on a pieee of (Continued on page 736.)
where little valleys of exceeding fer
tility need only a good outle to mar
ket to change them from almost
valueless wastes into wonderfully
profitable and decidedly high-priced
farming lands. The farmer, even if
he markets his crops as most moun
tain farmers should -in the form of
ivc stock, is not likely to care to
Ive where It takes' him a half or a
whole day to get to town and where
he must travel over rough roads for
many miles before he can reach a
railroad.
The building of railroads through
this section is another phase of this
work of putting these isolated sec
tions in touchjwith the great jworld,
and shouldbe encouraged by every
possible means. The man who lives
twenty-nve or thirty miles irom a
railroad Is at a tremendous disad
vantage in many respects and espe
cially so when the roads along
which he must travel and over which
his goods must be hauled are badly
located, badly graded, and badly
kept up.
n.
The first great work, then, in the
redemption of the mountain districts
is the establishment of means of com
municatlon with the outside world;
the redemption of the districts suit
CA17T70 O O rT? Ti ll? I A DStD
m W . wm m mm mm m M m r-V
Specially made for sowing Oats or Wheat Im Cotton Fields. No damage
the cotton. The Cole Grain Drill is the Key to Crop notation aid the
Enrichment of the Soil.
No matter how big or how little your farm may be this machine
will save labor and make more money for you than any si the expo
SiVA t.Wn-hnrHA nr tViroo.imoa 1rtl1a
. - - w wmm V. U W ..IVt
THE COLE MFG. CO Box 300, Chariot N. C