He Decided Not
to Farm
And so now Ernest P. Sauls is a
master farmer; owns 12 farms,
cultivates GOO acres, drives a Cadil¬
lac: a stor.v of opportunity and hard
work.
'
у у
s ,<
A WEEKLY SURVEY
OF NORTH CAROLINA
"He’s got as much chance of getting
rich as has a onc-horsc farmer in
eastern North Carolina." was the re¬
mark we recall having heard a friend
of ours make a few years ago.
This friend, however, might have
hesitated a little about making that
statement if he had known Ernest P.
Sauls of Wake County.
Mr. Sauls started out as a one-horse
farmer in Panther Branch Township.
Wake County. We don't know whether
he’s a rich man or not, but at the
present time he controls 12 farms, owns
1.000 acres of land, cultivates 600
acres, has around $25.000 worth of
farm machinery, pays out about $18,-
000 a year for fertilizer, gets a mighty
good return out of 100 acres of cotton
and 100 acres of tobacco, is fattening
up about 1 50 head of Hereford cattle,
drives a Cadillac car and takes a trip
to Florida whenever he feels like doing
so.
As we’ve just said, we don’t know
whether he’s a rich man or not. but
we’re pretty sure that he’s not heading
for the poorhousc. Not any time soon,
anyway.
Fifteen Tenants
Mr. Sauls is a native of Panther
Branch. He went as far as the seventh
grade in school and then decided to
quit. When his father died in 1919 he
helped out his mother with farming
operations for three or four years. In
1924 he struck out for himself, rent¬
ing a small farm and working it for a
couple of years. Then he moved over
to a larger place and. after a year's
operation, proceeded to buy it. Next
he bought the piece of land where he
now lives. It consisted of 70 acres at
the time but subsequent purchases have
increased the size to 150 acres. As
the years went by he added to his
holdings until he now has 12 farms in
By CARL GOEItCII
all. with 15 families living on them.
All of the tenants are white with the
exception of one family, and most of
them have been working with Mr.
Sauls for many years.
The Sauls residence is an attractive
and comfortable - looking two-story
frame structure, with nice shrubbery
and a lawn in front, a flower garden
in the rcaK vegetable garden to one
side and various barns and sheds scat¬
tered around behind the house. These
outbuildings arc nicely painted and
neat in appearance. All implements
and farm machinery are kept in a
separate shed, and among them you'll
find six tractors, a hay baler, a com¬
bine and a feed mill. There's also a
large silo for a reserve supply of feed.
Among the livestock you'll find five
mules, two milk cows, about thirty
hogs and plenty of chickens. Every
tenant with one exception has a cow
of his own. and all of them have pigs,
chickens and a garden.
All Electric
I he house has an electrically
equipped kitchen with all kinds of
electrical appliances. Also a huge deep¬
freeze locker. Practically all of the
barns and sheds have electric lights.
Ihe homes of the tenants arc well-
kept and attractive in appearance.
They, too. have electric lights and
running water. ,
There arc four so-called fish ponds
on the farms, but their primary pur¬
pose is not for fishing, although all of
them have been stocked. Mr. Sauls
and his tenants use these ponds for
irrigation purposes. He has a large
pump, plenty of aluminum pipe, and
in fifteen minutes he can pour the
equivalent of an inch of rain on an
acre of land. From one of these ponds
he irrigated 16 acres of tobacco this
spring and summer.
In addition to cotton and tobacco he
TlJE STATE. Vol. XIX; No. 17. Entered a* second-clas* matter. June I. 1933, at Ihe Pottoltlc* at Raleigh. North Carolina, under the acl of
March 3, 1879. Published by Sharpe Publishing Co., Inc., Lawyers Bldg., Raleigh, N. C.
