The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1899-03-16
FARM WORK DELAYED
LiTTLE Att OMpLIsKED AS YET
BECAUSE or THE REGENT
STORMY WEATHER.
STEVENS GIVES HIS OPINIONS
agricultural Commissioner Writes of
Conditions In Georgia at Pres
ent and the Outl eok.
ATLANTA, March 1, 1899.

ATLANTA, March l, 1892
Since my last letter we have had most
unfavorable weather for farm work.
Hence but little has been accom-.
plished upon the farms during the
month of February.
The passing of the old year has car
ried with it a. sad experience for many
of us, in our farming operations and
business transactions generally. The
new year was ushered in with the usual
| good resolutions by our farmers; in fact,
the majority of us are trying to do bet
ter in the future by correcting the mis-
takes of the past. It is to be hoped that
the present year will mark the begin
ming of what may be regarded as a new
era; that the smouldering embers OF for
| eign war and internal dissensions will
be amicably adjusted, and our nation
| will settle down to business once more,
| with future so bright that the average
mind will but partially comprehend the
magnitude of it's results and possibilities.
The new year is remarkable in more
than one respect. 1t brings us not only
face to face with new and strange polit.
ical questions, but the long hoped-for
prosperity promised us by the present
federal administration upon the settle
ment of these questions. During the
past five years we have travelled YEARLY
through most trying period of depres-
sion. Met on all sides by discouraging
conditions, we have had many hard
ships and set backs, but much of it has
been our own fault. We have the rem
edy in our own hands for many Of our
troubles. Will we apply it. and apply
1t now? AS see it, the remedy lies,
first, in the farmer raising his own sup
plies at home, ample and sufficient; then
raise as much cotton as you can. When
your barns are full, your mules will do
good days work. Your COWS give
milk, and your butter is sweet, rich and
of a golden hue. Your hens lay every
day, and your hogs are healthy and
prolific But when your barns are
empty, your mules have the hampers or
blind staggers, your cows have hollow
horn, the feathers on your hens are
turned the wrong way, and your hogs
get lousy and have the mango.
l speak to the farmers from practical
experience. / was born. and reared in
Southwest Georgia, in the heart Of the
cotton belt. / belong to your profes.
sion, am one of you. and / know
that no man in that section can
produce cotton at the present price,
to the neglect of his plantation
supplies. He cannot keep up his
farm. support his family and educate
his children. You may take the best
farmer in Georgia, let him adopt this
plan. and it will only be question of
time-the end of that man will be bank.
ruptcy. Do not misunderstood me. /
am not against the production of cot
ton as a product. because Georgia is a
cotton state, and we need a cotton crop
as we'll as other products, but not to the
exclusion of other crops Therefore, let
me beg you, once more, to arrange and
diversity your crops, so that this fall we
may arrive at the gates of prosperity. to
see stretched peacefully before us the
broad, rich and sunny fields of industry,
laden with the golden fruits Of con.
tented toil-a picture, as we'll as
reality. which all the people of Geor.
gia will hail with joy.
There has been great deal of com.
plant, in general way. that the in.
spections and analyses Of fertilizers, af.
ter all, have been unsatisfactory.
have, therefore, determined to make
complete and thorough inspection Of all
guanos, in every section of the state.
To this end, if at any time a consumer
or retail agent may desire an in.
spection of any brand Of fertilizer, he
can, by giving notice to this depart
ment, have a sample taken by an au.
thorized inspector. and the same shall
be analysed by the state chemist; pro-
vided, however. that in all such cases
samples shall be taken from unbroken
bags or packages. The consumers pay
the tax on guanos,and it will be my pleas.
ure to see that they are amply protected,
and it shall be done, even though it
take all of the fertilizer tax to accom-.
plish it. AL I ask is the cooperation
of the farmers of Georgia.
In the face of a short corn and forage
crop the farmers generally, throughout
the state, had determined to SOW m,re
largely of grain, but the weather condi.
tons have been very unfavorable for
both fall and spring seeding; hence the
acreage both for wheat and oats falls
far short of what we at one time ex.
pected. The spring sowing of oats has
been seriously damaged, and in many
sections entirely killed OF course, this
is heavy blow TO the agricultural in.
terests of Georgia; but we must meet