Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-02-17
GREAT OVATION GIVEN TRAIN
BY SOUTH GEORGIA CROWDS

share in. the benefits hich the train is
leaving in its trail through Georgia.
Says DR.. Soule:
HAD L been forced to choice, and
had the matter been entirely within my
own direction according to my own per-
sonal views, between the places where
the big crowds gather from prosper
Gus countryside and the places where
only few come in from sparsely set
tied and struggling neighborhood,
would have chosen the latter, unhesita-
tingly; for it is there that the greatest
good is to be done.
DIR. Soule believes that the days run
was remarkable and that it will result
| in almost unlimited benefit
"These people down here around the
! edge of the Okefenokee swamp have new
er been given a fair deal by the state,
says he. They have always been making
their way the best they could, off here
BY themselves, with nobody interested
in them and nobody trying to nelp
them"
In this veiw Commissioner T. g. Hud-
son, head of the state agricultural de-
partment, is in thorough accord with
DIR. soule. The other workers aboard
caught the same conception of it, And
as a result everybody aboard put in about
the hardest days work that the party
has done.
r.. The soil. down in the part of Georgia
referred to here, situated in the extreme
southeast corner of the state, is classed
by the scientists as a gray sandy land,
belonging to the coastal plain. On 1T
grows the pine and the cypress (where
water stands in natural saucers) and
the palmetto. on some of it nothing at
all can be made to grow
Out of it Thousands Of farmers and
their fathers before them have been
struggling to make a living-wasting
their lives and their energy for almost
nothing. The passage of the education
al train among them Tuesday told of the
dawning OF new day.
These remarks do not apply to Way
cross. for in the vicinity of that grow
ing city there are large areas of very
rich land. The fact that northwestern
| farmers and farmers from other parts of
Georgia and from score Of states that
settled there are are prospering, is suf-
ficient indication at the very least that a
Large portion of Ware county is rich
enough to attract farmers from sections
already developed.
ut most of the county excepting that
area is not fertile.
SoULE SUMS UP NEEDS.
DR.. Soule sums up the needs Of the
arid lands very briefly. And he puts a
large share of the burden on the state.
This sections needs drainage and a
soil survey and crop rotation" says he.
The drainage must ne done by the
state, and when it is done at some flu
ture day it will uncover many acres of
fertile land that is now being wasted.
The soil survey must also be done by
the state. The college of agriculture Eas
trained workers and the equipment
necessary to make that survey with, but
| ii has no maintenance fund. And the
crop rotation must be done by the farm
er himself"
DR.. Soule says that the lands of the
section passed through today are deicien.
in available phosphorus and potash and
nitrogen. The last named can be placed
In the soil by rotation with leguminous
crops such as velvet beans, ETC., which
grow luxuriantly upon this soil, and
which not only put plant food in it but at
the same time afford excellent grazing
sustenance for live stock. But the phos-
phorus and potash are best placed there
in mineral form, says he, and the degree
to which they are needed can be deter
mined in particular instances only
through a soil survey.
The slogan repeated time and again by
the lecturers, Tuesday, was Grow legum-
inous crops. Practice rotation. The State
College of Agriculture is yours. ASK 1T
for the help you need
Another, sounded by DIR. Soule az each
+ stop, was You need doctors for your
body and doctors for your religion. In
equal measure you need doctors for your
farms Your farms are capable of big
things, but they are sick and you don't
know how to cure them. We do know.
and the state has retained US to prescribe
for them"
In this way he effectually nailed the
fast disappearing prejudice against book
farmers" And each time that he did so,
men out in front of him would spit on
the ground and nod their heads at their
neighbors and change their position and
say, That's So" Commissioner Hudson.
In his own sympathetic way, argued the
same point, and r. f. Duckworth got at
| it directly. They all combatted preju-
dice, the enemy of progress, and won the
college more into the confidence of the
men who have suspected and distrusted
it.
The growing of truck crops was stressed
throughout Tuesdays run. At Waycross
1t did not have to be, as evidenced by the
laden baskets filled with vegetables, that
were sent aboard with the compliments
of the Deem Realty company. The work.
fort and futile lives, but millions Of dol
Georgia will be shipping carloads of truck
not only to the markets of Georgia but
those of other states as well.
FARMERS INTERESTED.
At every stop made. Tuesday, the farm
ers seemed greatly interested in the soil
analysis exhibits. These struck home to
them, particularly after they were told