VOL. LXII
INDIANAPOLIS, FEBRUARY 2, 1907.
NO. 5
Advantages and Disadvantages  of
the  South.
Several letters from the South have appeared in the Indiana Farmer during past
year, some condemning, others praising
the country. We all know that experience  is  necessary   before   one  can  pass
climate, and prices are rapidly advancing.
As people better understand the advantage of the South settlers rapidly multiply, and it will be but a few years until
lands in some sections of the South will
far outstrip in value the high priced lands
of central northern states, and justly so,
for  under  proper  attention  and   cultiva-
farms, and plenty of good northern people wc have social, school and church facilities equal to the North. After having lived here ten years, nothing would
induce us to return to Indiana to live, as
we all have so much better health here, are
doing better and live so much cheaper and
more pleasantly in this mild, comfortable
faar   anything  ,.lsc   than   cotton. Here
with our splcnalial shipping facilities and
nearness to the rapially growing, prosperous atate capital, there is a ready, profitable  market   faar  all  a  farmer  raises.
Not far from Bidgeland is a settlement
a*. i!i]i,,sa*al entirely of northern Catholic*
with their sehool anal church.     C. S. E.
Field of Louisiana Sugar Cane.
judgment. Some of the adverse letters
were written by persons having lived in
the South but a short time, who evidently had expected to find all roses and no
thorns; and then evidently overlooked the
roses to rail against the thorns. One
mistake too often made is in not carefully
considering the location, and knowing
what to expect, for some places are far
more desirable than others. Not only
is land cheaper in the South than in the
West or Northwest, but many other things
are cheaper. Fuel, fencing and building
material are plentiful and cheaper tban
In Indiana, nnd cost only about half as
much as in the far West or Northwest.
Help is cheaper, taxes lower and not nearly so much heavy clothing needed, so there
is a saving in almost every particular.
Not only that but in the mild climate of
the South one cnn live in so much more
comfort, and find life easier than in the
cold,   trying climate of the North.
The trend of immigation is now Southward. Good people from all over the
North, East and West are finding comfortable, peasant homes in a more genial
tion they will yield better returns, taa say
nothing of the increased comfort of living.
However thire are some drawbacks as
we have learned by experience, having
lived a year in Alabama and one in Georgia before settling ten years ago in our
present home in central Mississippi. The
greatest drawback, generally speaking, is
snch large farms—several hundred to
several thousand acres in each—which
means a consialerable purchase sum, even
if the price per acre is low; but worst of
all it means few neighbors, and poor social
school and church advantages, and what
are the benefits of cheap productive lan.ls
and mild climate if one have neither neigh-
1 a.rs, school nor church? And prospec-
tive settlers should consider these things.
However, there are, here and there, in
the best parts of the South distinctively
northern ca.niinunities. Such a place we
found at Ridgeland, Miss., only nine miles
north of Jackson, the State capital,
where land can be bought in any sized
tracts from five tto ten acres up to a
thousand   acres,     and  where  with   small
and healthful climate. We can have
fresh ripe fruits from the last of March
air lirst aaf April ou to November, and
saune  vegetables all  the  year.
To-day, January 3d, we had for dinner,
turnips, radishes, lettuce aud green onions
fresh  from  the  garden. We have  hail
no fire at all today and doors open, while
much of the day was spent on the porch.
The week before Christmas we had light
freezes fa>r three nights in succession, but
it was thawing before middle of the forenoon. That was the only cold weather
we have had this winter, and most days
have needed little if any fire, which
means a great saving in fuel anal waark.
We gnaw delicious fruits and fine crops
of corn. oats. Irish anal sweet potatoes.
hay, etc., as well as cotton, and can raise
two crops on same land in a season. With
our short mild winters, and long pasture
season the work anal cost of stoa'k raising
is reduced to the minimum. Those who
know, say that dairying and poultry pay
better than in the North.
In too many places in the South markets  are  poor,  there  being  little  market
Automobiles.
It waiulal lie useless ti) try to legislate
autaas aaff of the public highwa... but there
aaught la. he more stringent laws. I
Wonld suggest a change in the way of
identifying tbem by placing larger nutu-
Iiits in a more camspieuams place; als.i
pasa a law that every auto must stop in
meeting any kiml aaf live stock, whether it
be hitched to wag.au or buggy, or driven
along the highway in numbers.
Tin* man with a traction engine always
Stops, unaler eaauditiaans of* this kind, and
the man with the auto should.be made to
do the same. He is no better than the
man with the engine. The penalty f-.r
the first offense $1,000 fine, for the second $2,500 fine, with not less than sir
months in jail.
If we had a law of this kind thipre
would not be so many accidents by reckless auto driving. H. H. J.
Jonesboro.
The Johnson County H. T. Detective
Association are looking after illegal hunting, and have'caused several arrests.