CHANGING COTTON LAND

the world's carton still comes from the American southeast but we southerners have not always used our land wisely back a year after year the natural plant foods in the soil have been used up we are now repairing this damage looking wiser use of our fields we can raise more abundant crops years ago cotton brought great riches to the families who owned large plantations but often the landowners thought only of growing more cotton and not at all of caring for the land on which it grew many of these mansions have been abandoned they serve as warns that man must take care of his soil if he expects to live by it the way in which thousands of southern farmers live today it's the result of planting nothing but cotton year after year many of them are sharecroppers they own neither their homes nor their land they work for the landowner in return for a share of the crop many rural families in the cotton states must live without modern conveniences crops are sometimes so small that there's little or nothing to share and no money with which to improve their homes today we are hoping to better the lives of millions of our people by improving the soil by introducing crops other than cotton and tobacco alone and by developing new industries cotton is still the principal crop in the southeast the best yields come from deep lomis soils that are neither to sanding or to heavy with clay a long hard and rainy growing season followed by a dry autumn is ideal for cotton heavy rains in late summer and fall would spoil the light and fluffy fibers many farms in the southeast have never been planted with anything but cotton year by year the harvest have been getting smaller until now the land yields almost nothing but today in the southeast farmers are beginning to realize that they must take care of the soil the first step in rebuilding a worn-out field is to have a sample of the soil analyzed in this way a farmer learns where soil needs the information is free of charge in every county there is a County agent who works with the farmers mr. Davis is the agent for the region around law in Mississippi it is his job to learn about improved methods of farming and to pass the information on to the farmers of his County mr. Davis knows almost every acre of land around Laurel what crops grow best and how the soil can be improved and kept fertile mr. Davis is paid jointly by the federal and state governments he visits every farm in the county regularly even those in hard-to-get-to places he's always a welcome visitor because he brings not only up-to-date knowledge but also encouragement just like the country doctor mr. Davis is always on call but for his services and advice the farmer never receives a bill not far from Laurel is the State Agricultural College which maintains the Experimental Station for the benefit of all farmers mr. Davis is a graduate of an agricultural college many of the students are the sons of farmers and plan to make farming the life word on the staff is a soil analyst who determines what plant foods are lacking in the sample of soil sent to the laboratory if he finds there is too little lime or not enough phosphate mr. Davis may advise the farmer to use a chemical fertilizer or to sow his fields with crops that will strengthen the soil and not weaken it the way cotton does most of the students in the laboratories of the Agricultural College spend their vacations doing farm work the college experiments with seeds in an effort to develop types of plants that will yield larger crops years of work often go into a single experiment several kinds of corn are grown in the field of the experimental station each variety is set out in several types of soil to find out which produces the best crop such experiments have resulted in the development of plants that grow well in soil it has become nearly exhausted by cotton modern kinds of field corn you larger crops and could be expected from old-fashioned seed by planting improved seed the farmer can grow corn for his livestock and have a surplus to sell if a farmer has a suitable piece of land he is encouraged to set out pecan trees the cabinet's bring a good price and the trees provide excellent shelter for poultry thus a farmer makes one piece of land so many purposes tung trees are another new crop originally they were imported from China tung nuts contain an oil use the paints and varnishes this not only helps our farmers but because of the supply of tung oil paint manufacturers are establishing factories in the southeast our farmers are also learning better ways to protect their crops from plant diseases and insects mr. Davis shows them how to use the proper kind of spraying equipment and give them booklets that explain how to fight such insects as the ball weevil this pest destroys much of our cotton every year peanuts peas and beans are called legume crops their roots put valuable plant food back into the earth they not only improve the soil but also add to our food supply sweet potatoes are a favorite vegetable in the South around Laurel Mississippi much of this crop is sold to mills which make starch sweet potatoes are also good for the soil sometimes farmers are advised to plant sweet potatoes of beans one year and cotton the next this system of enriching the soil is called crop rotation crop rotation is just one part of our soil conservation program at the Agricultural College no subject is more important than the study of soil conservation particularly the control of erosion erosion is caused by wind and water wearing away the topsoil this serious damage to the land can be prevented nature sometimes takes a thousand years to build up just one inch of topsoil yet more than that can be washed away from a field by a single rainstorm [Applause] grass is often planted between rows to help keep the water from causing damage the control of soil erosion is particularly important on sloping fields where crops are planted in rows when the furrows are not on level ground water rushes down hill carrying topsoil with it as rain storm follows rain storm the small ditch is made by the water become larger and larger until the field is filled with deep gullies thousands and thousands of once fertile acres were ruined before our farmers learned how to control erosion today it is controlled by plowing the slopes horizontally when the furrows follow the contour of the land the rows of plants help prevent rainwater from rushing down the slopes this is called contour plowing all over the south more and more farmers are beginning to practice it another method of saving and conserving the soil is called terracing a system of ridges is made by ploughing the fields after a heavy rainstorm these ridges prevent the water from flooding the land and carrying off the topsoil [Applause] and in hand with its program of soil conservation and crop rotation the Agricultural Extension Service encourages farmers to raise livestock college students are shown how to balance farm acred between livestock and crops farmers who grow corn are advised to feed it to hogs sheep are profitable for many southern farmers a flock helps to improve the pasture land and provides wool and meat for home and market in the past most farmers have limited their livestock to the horses and mules used in the cotton fields today they are finding out that money can be made by raising cattle every year more farmers in the south east of pasturing dairy cattle on their farms on his trips around the county mr. Davis inspects the herds he continually reminds farmers that the dairy barn must always be kept clean and in good repair electric power is responsible for much of the progress being made throughout the rural areas of the southeast electricity makes it possible to use up-to-date labor-saving equipment mr. Davis makes it his business to check the efficiency of each new farm machine those that he finds work well are recommended to other farmers mr. Davis takes a personal interest in all that the farms of his County of do he even gives advice on how to feed a thoroughbred animal our forests are another way in which we southerners are putting our land to more profitable use the entire cotton belt was once a great timber producing region but as our students of forestry are learning careless burning and cutting have seriously depleted the woodlands today helped by the government we are making every effort to conserve and improve our forests much of the reforestation program is directed by County agents together with government foresters they urge farmers to care for their woodlands as carefully as for their fields pine trees grow quickly in the southeast because there is both rain and sunshine the gumbo pine trees are the source of turpentine large trees are used for lumber the smaller ones are sent to paper mill lumbering is an all year-round operation in southeast after the trees have been felled the logs are sent to the sawmills because we are learning to care for our forests the lumber industry in the southeast is growing farmers are receiving more money for their wood and more people find jobs in the mills and factories which make wood and paper products [Music] at the sawmills the logs are cut into boards the man who operates the saw tries to cut as much good lumber as possible from every log in many ways our reforestation program is helping to bring new industries to the southeast some of the logs not suitable for lumber are made into other building materials like composition board for lining wall to make such materials the logs are first cut into chips the chips are steamed until they become a fluffy mass of fibres very much like paper pulp the fibers are then pressed into sheets the sheets of wood fibers are baked in a pressure oven until they become hard composition boards made from wood fibers are very strong they are an excellent building material many southern towns are beginning to prosper as new industries are established in a neighborhood people employed by the factories are able to build new homes for themselves these new homes in turn mean work for people in the building trades these residential villages are occupied by the families of workers in our new plants and factories in some communities new houses have been built to take the place of the shacks and tenements our poorer families have lived in for years space has been set aside for playgrounds the homes and the new suburbs are not far away from shopping centers almost everything a family needs can be purchased in the neighborhood an example of a town that has become prosperous because of the new industry that are coming to the southeast is the city of Laurel Mississippi for mr. Davis has his office's many people in Laurel work at the big fiberboard Factory nearby sawmills and in other industries others and their money by selling goods and services to the factory workers but is almost everywhere in the southeast much of the economic life of law depends on cotton during the harvest truckload after truckload of cotton from the fields around Laurel arrives at the cotton gin a long metal pipe sucks the cotton balls out of the truck and blows them inside the worldwide use of cotton pong was made possible because of the cotton gin this machine was invented by Eli Whitney over 150 years ago the cotton gin separates the fibers from the dozens of seeds in each ball the seeds are pressed for the oil which is for cooking but his left is fed to the livestock the cotton fibers are pressed into large bales each weighs about 500 pounds for the past hundred and fifty years a large part of the cotton grown in the South has been sent north to mill the New England for spinning and weaving but many textile factories have been moving to the southeastern states today most of the cotton cloth made in the United States comes from mills in the land of cotton itself in the textile mills the cotton fibers are spun into thread the finished thread is woven into cloth on power-driven looms modern machinery has helped us to produce more cloths at lower prices although we raise other things cotton is still the most important crop of the southeastern states as long as our land is careful it will continue to produce cotton where the fields are level and farmers are able to scenery cotton can be produced more cheaply than ever before one mechanical cotton picker can harvest a field in less time than 70 people working but with the introduction of machinery and by learning how to enrich the stir crops our farmers are helping to bring about a better