The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1910-01-20
FORTY ACRE FARMS
Are the Best Investment for the Aor:-
culturist of Limited Means

Jacksonville. Fla. Jan. 20-Eeware
of the plausible real estate agent who
promises YOU fortune from a fiv--
acre tract Of land in Southern Georgia
or Northern Florida. when the land =
used for the production Of fruit and
vegetables for the northern mar<z.t
Ihe warning was voiced yesterday by
JI. Seaman y. Knapp. Of the depart
m"nt OF agriculture. who delivered an
address on the agricultural problems
of this section of the United States
In his opinion no results could be OBJ
tanned from any tract under twenty
acres, and forty would insur. better
results on the investment
DR.. Knapp advised the truck farm
erS to adopt trust methods in the mar
keting of their produce. He pointed
out the beauties Of co-oDeration in
fighting the competition offered by
the fruits ana vegetables of the West
Indies, which reached the northern
markets earlier than those of Florida
and Georgia.
In the present condition Of things
he said, 1T is absolutely necessary to
have quite large body of men: that
1T, it is just as important that a good
many truck men be in one locality as
1t Is to have Il number of stores to
make a city. The single trucker is
at the mercy of commission men and
every other class. He can neither bus,
fertilizer to advantage nor sell his
products. BY Il completes organization
and statiOning ii man in the great cit
les to receive and deliver the ship
mentS the business can be carried on
with rea sonable safety
The government experts also adVO-
Gated the erection at the point oi
shipment of cold storage plants by the
agricultural trust. This he pointed
out. would enab Bile growers to hold
their products for the market and
would save a heavy toll now levied
on them by the cold storage houses in
the cities.
"Another feature where large busi-
ness is done is the ownership Of your
own cars, he continued. 4 note that
nearly all OF the large manufacturers.
the beef men, the manufa CturerS of
furniture and of wagons. own their
own cars. This might be to the ad-
vantage of the truck men. provided
there are enough of them combined
to own cars that are better adapted
to shipments than they have at the
present time"
The principal fault with the soil of
this region. in DR.. knapp's opinion.
was that it had not been properly fer
tilted. The farmers and gardeners
of Northern Florida and their neigh
bors over the Georgia line. he believ-
ed. We're not awake to the advanta ges
that would follow a scientific enrich
ing of the sandy loan that covers this
section.
The great value Of sandy loam
soils" he said when they are prop
erIy improved by the removal OF
stumps and the plowing under of
green crops or use of sufficient stable
manure. is that they are easily work
ed. They are warm. they force vege-
tation along rapidly and they seldom
suffer from excessive rain. For gar
dening purposes it is better to make
d soil about fifteen inches deep. pos
Sibly twenty inches would be better"
AS for fertilizer. DR.. Knapp pro-
fcssed his aStonishment that the far
mers had not awakened To the fact
that they had in the muck Of the
swamps and the fallen leaves of their
forests far better article than the
commercial fertilizer. \ composite Of
these, with the addition of some acid
phosphate and in ordinary years. with
some cotton seed or cotton seed oil
added, would enrich the land amaz-
ingly
The expert sounded note Of warm
ing to those who listened to the siren
song of the real estate speculator that
fortunes awaited the farmer who
properly worked a tive-acre patch of
land in this vicinity.
4 advise that no one should buy
less than twenty acres. and | believe
forty acres is better" he said. be
cause il is not wise 10 depend upon a
single crop. \ single crop plan is just
aS much a failure in trucking as in
anything else, And some orcharding
is necessary. 1t may be oranges. it
may be peaches or pears; or whatever
it is. with the pasture and meadow
and the rotation Of crops on land it
IS seldom advisable TO buy less than
twenty acres.