The Dawson journal., 1883-03-01

| ~ - 49, '" ~ y SOtia AbotA
roal and the Southern Express Com
pany for the pdrpose of informing
them that the demand upon them
aud their connecting lines for the
transportation of melons the coming
season viii be largely increased, and
to ask them to prepare themselves
accordingly. Seeing that the melon
crops is assuming such proportions.
the railroads would of course be in
their own light if they were to fail
to prepare for its transportation, and
10 encourage the new industry in
every way possible, We learn that
both the s f. g. W and S,uthwes-
tern Railroads have promised to
place side tracks wherever they are
needed for the accommodation Ct
melon growers along their respective
lines, aud to make ample preparation
TOR promptly moving the next crop.
So much, in general way, about
''overproduction,' the growth of the
market, transportation facilities, etc.
A few salient points noted in all in.
Ierview with Mr.. w. +. Talley will
now extend this article as far as Our
space will permit. As has already
been stated in the News and A6ver-
tiser, Mr.. Talley's farm is at Dixie,
Brooks county, anl, while not aban-
doniug his own, ne has been employ
ed by Mr.. J. K. Forester, of this
city, to superintend the planting a..d
cultivation of 40 acres i'll melons
for him, on the line of the South
western Railroad, four. miles North o.
here. In order TO condense az much
as possible, We Skall not observe the
usual forms of newspaper 'inter-
view" but will proceed at once to
serve the facts stated by Mr.. Talley
with photographic brevity.
Last year Mr.. Talley planted 27
acres i'll melons, upon which he made
l0t car loads. Net proceeds, $1,lOO.
Sold his entire crop, except one car
load, at home, buyers being ready to
buy them as soon as they were load
ed.
His first car load, on the 18th of
June, netted him Ia cents per mel
Oh.
In 1880 his melon crop netted him
$50 per acre.
He has baen planting melons 7
years, and they have never failed to
pay out" It is the only crop he
ever tried that he didn't sometimes
lose money on.
One year he planted Is acres in
melons, aud insects killed out the
vines on all but 6 acres. The melons
gathered from the 6 acres pail for
the ca tivation of the whole crop
MELONS FOR HOGS A PREVENTIVE OF
CHOLERA.
Mr.. Talley is u strong advocate of
the watermelon, aud has experiment
ed with it in more ways than one.
He says that watermelons not only
:.ford excellent pa3turage for hogs,
but that they are good preventive
OF cholera. lie has never lost hog
from cholera since he has been plant
ing melons. Alter all the marketa-
bic melons have been gathered, he
throws those that are left into heaps.
taking pains to break every melon
as be casts 1t into the heap. In a
few day they begin to sour and fer
nent, and the hogs perfer them in
this state to any other. Each heap
inaliy becomes u mass Of sour mush,
and the hogs will continue to eat it
as long as there is a piece of rind or
a seed LETT. Melons thrown together
IN this way will furnish al the food
necessary for two months or more
La fact, the hogs will not leave them
for anything else, and will fatten
every day. Mr. Talley says that he
is satisfied from experience that it
would pay every farmer who raises
hogs to plant few acres in water
melons for them every year. He
pastures his hogs on the remains of
bis melon crop through the months
Of August and September, and they
get as fat as they can roll. He does
not attempt to account, upon any
known theory or scientific principle,
for the tact that melons are pre-
ventive OF cholera in hogs, but he
says that experience has satisfied
him that the same is a fact, neverthe-
less. At one time the hogs of Il
neighbor of his, separated from his
own only by cross fence, nearly all
died with the cholera. while his never
showed the slightest symptom OF the
disease. His hogs were pastured on
watermeloLS, while his neighbor's
were not. FINALLY he rnxn his neinh- :