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Durham, Andrew Everett, 1882-1954

"Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'"


Revolution in the Delta
Then followed more and bigger crops, bigger profits, more land,
more mechanical equipment and less sharecropper help. Meanwhile,
soy beans and other crops gradually supplanted cotton.
In time a new and modern home was built--on higher ground nearer
Holly Bluff and its modern school house. This home has a large
and beautiful living room paneled and beamed in "pecky cypress",
and it was there J. Frank Durham got his idea of paneling the new
Durham Building here in the City.
Mr. Stoner now owns some 3,000 acres of that Mississippi Delta,
virtually all of which is as level as a baseball park; a fleet of
12-foot combines, tractors, a vast amount of modern equipment and
enough rubber-tired low grain wagons to fill a small-sized
parking lot. He has a large interest in the community cotton gin,
although cotton has almost disappeared from his land. He has many
other and varied interests.
He revolutionized farming in the Mississippi Delta by introducing
mechanized equipment and changing from cotton to other and
better-paying crops that require less manual labor. These are a
part of the secrets of his astounding success, coupled with
ability, hard work and close careful attention and application to
his business.


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