The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-09-29
gav State Man Has Several Thriving
Plants Growing on the Con-
necticut's Banks.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.-An expert
ment in raising southern cotton in
Massachusetts,, now being tried by a
Young farmer and mill worker at
Indian Orchard, near this city, on
the banks of the Connecticut river,
is Just now the subject of much Gu
riosity and interest among profess
SIGNALS who understand the culture
of this supposedly hot climate indus
trial staple.
Today the plants grown out of
doors by Arthur Meyers are sixteen
inches in height, they have all flow
cred, the petals have fallen off and
the snowy cotton itself is beginning
to make its appearance.
Should it prove that the product
of the bolls is ready for havosting
before the frosts of the fall injure
the plants it is said that Mr.. Meyers
will have demonstrated in a new way
how northern farmers may greatly
add to the profits of their industrial
returns.
Only a short distance from Mey-
ers' cotton plants are thousands Of
acres of tobacco growing along the
banks of the Connecticut, an agri-
cultural product which, until a COM
paratively short time ago, was be-
lieved to be impossible of successful
production in New England.
The cotton experiment, important
as its results may turn out to farm
ers, was undertaken in a spirit of
curiosity by Meyers, rather than to
test the hardy possibilities of the
plant
Meyers, who is regularly employed
in shop adjoining a cotton mill,
one day picked up few seeds lying
near the mill. Being farmer in a
small way the idea occurred to him
10 try out some of these seeds in his
garden, and accordingly several of
them were carefully planted and wa
tered.
The sowing was done in April.
IN June the shoots were above the
ground and thriving eXcellently.
Meyers refrained from giving these
plants any especial protection from
the changes in temperature, allow
ing them to remain in his garden,
well welded and watered, and placed
them in pots in order to be able to
take them under cover if they did
not ripen before the heavy frosts.
Today each of the plants is in d
IalF way to produce it's quota of cot
ton ere they are killed by the au-
tumn cold.
The flower petals, first white and
men successfully purple and dark
red finally dropped to the ground
and the embryonic fruit is steadily
advancing to the state where it Will
De real harvestable cotton.
Since the poisoning scores of in
terested farmers and those interested
IN the cotton industry have called
at Mr.. Meyers home to take note Of
the progress and success of his ex
pertinent.
1t is interesting" asserts Mey-
erS, to note what can be accom-
pushed in our so-called harsh New
england climate. l should say from
what | have noted of my plants that
each will furnish it's share of cotton
before the plants are killed by TIE
cold, If this can be done with
small number of plants why not cot
ton fields in New England? We have
-0Dacco fields here; now cotton is
evidently just as adaptable.
However, my experiment was
prompted more by idle curiosity than
I Ior scientific purposes, and it is
hNely that experiments on a large
scale will have to be made before
me farmer will adopt cotton as one
OF his paying agricultural farm vent
Ures.