The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-05-25
ABANDON COTTON
AND RAISE TRUCK
Government Bureaus Advice to the Farmers Of
Missssippi-Why This Is Urged.

one pound of lint, whatever the pro-
duction. The expense of cultivation is
about equal for good and poor lands.
Below a yield of One-half bale per acre
there is bare profit on the rent sys-
tenn, even with S cent cotton, while
with the yield of a bale or more there
is good profit. In the Cane Hills re-
gion the yield has shrunk to or below
a one-half bale, so that only about 25
per cent. of the land is cultivated
The soil experts who have made a
systematic study of this area advise
that the cultivation of cotton in the
Cane Hills region be abandoned, and
that alfalfa be raised instead. They
find the soil is the same as that in
Southern Missouri, Kansas and Ne
braska, where alfalfa is raised so sue
cessfully, and experiments at the New
Orleans experiment station show that
alfalfa can be successfully raised in
this climate.
An additional advantage accrues to
this region in the fact that stock can
be out of doors at least ten months
ment for only a few days of the re-
naming two months.
In discussing the future of the va
zoo area yesterday Mr.. Whitney stated
that the soils of the delta portion that
are capable of cultivation lie in mar
row strips along the rivers with an
average width of one-half a mile to
mile, with three types of soil; the
Yazoo sandy loan, the YaZoo loan and
the Yazoo clay. The first covers 26670
acres, or about per cent. of the delta,
and produces about half a bale to the
acre; the Yazoo loan, covering 5000
acres, or about 6 per cent. yields from
three-fourths of a bale to a bale per
acre. The Yazoo clay, covering 45,0S0
acres, or nearly II per cent. of the
delta, yields from one and one-third
to one and two-thirds bales per acre,
or even more, under the best methods
of cultivation.
Even with 10-cent cotton" said Mr.
Whitney yesterday, II consider the
farmers on the Yazoo sandy loan and
Yazoo loan lands would be vastly bet
ter off If they would turn their at
tention to early truck gardening. At
present they subsist principally on corn
bread and bacon, and yet their lands,
so our field party reports, are adj
mirably adapted to the raising of the
finest truck Train loads of early Vege-
tables, berries and melons pass their
very doors on the Illinois Central, COM
ing from as far away as Texas and
destined for Louisville, Cincinnati and
Chicago and elsewhere, while they
scarcely raise enough truck for home
consumption Experiments have shown
tIldl 1ilSn pOldlO6S Cdli ue ndINeSLSu
here by June l with an approximate
profit of 5000 per acre. while berries.
peas, melons, sweet potatoes and to-
matoes, and cucumbers, if raised un-
der intensive cultivation and with ade-
quate and well-chosen fertilizers,
would doubtless yield a greater profit 4"
Mr.. Whitney also spoke at length
and with earnestness on the project of
adding TO the great cotton producing
! area region containing the swamp
/ land or Sharkey clay region. The
SharlSey clay he said, has been
built up by slow Accommodations of min
eral matter carried by the flood waters
from the upland portions of Mississippi
and several other states. 1t represents
( the Accommodations of thoroughly pre-
pared soils carried off from the hill
/ country TO the advantage of the allu-
! vial plain. Buried by each successive
( layer OF this mineral matter are con-
( siderable amounts of leaf mold and
! other organic matter derived from the
local forest This combination of ma,
/ terials produces one OF those alluvial
/ soils universally esteemed for fertility