The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-09-23
MEETINGS FOR
FARMERS NOW
IN FULL BLAST
EXPERTS OF THE UNIVERSITY
OF FLORIDA WILL BE BUSY
UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE
YEAR CONDUCTING INsTI-
TUTEs.
SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL.

SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL.
Gainesville, Sept. 22.-The farmers
institutes, conducted by the extension
department of the University of Flor
Ida, are now under way, and from now
until the close Of the year the mem
bers of this department will be almost
constantly among the farmers in the
different counties Of the state. The
meetings conducted so far were those
for which requests were made some
time ago when it was not possible to
meet them. During the month Of
September institutes have been con-
Quoted at Boulogne In Nassau county,
Meanwhile, in Putnam county, ana
Starke, in Bra dford. On Wednesday,
September II, the farmers and truck
ers of Bunnell, in ST. Johns county
came together at the request of the
Farmers Society of Equity, and met
the farmers institute staff, when
trucking, fruit growing, fertilizers, and
general farming topics were discussed.
Bunnell is a prosperous little town
and shows progress in all quarters.
There are many nice residences, some
good stores a bank, but better still
lot Of enthusiastic farmers and truck
ers who are Just beginning to prepare
their land and develop their farms and
homes in that section. The mayor
and the board of trade gave their es-
sistance in making the meeting good
one. A barbecue was held and a, pic
mic dinner served. After the institute
was closed ball game was arranged,
and at night there was an entertain
ment in the public hall
On the 18th the best meeting ever
held in Putnam county was conducted
at Meanwhile. Much of the interest
in this meeting was due to the efforts
of Mr.. H. T. Mann. Mr.. Mann has
been working with all his energies and
strength to bring that community into
a prosperous state. He has been in
f1uential in getting q number Of good
citizens and gives much Of his time to
the general development Of the sec
ton. Heretofore the meetings at
Meanwhile have been small, not more
than twenty farmers attending, but at
the meeting Thursday something like
sixty people attended, most of whom
were farmers who have been in the
section for three or four years and
who are now getting acquainted with
conditions and are anxious to succeed.
At these meetings Prof. Watson dis
cussed The Handling of Insects and
Uses of Spraying Materials which
discussion brought out a great many
questions as these truckers, like
others, have had difficulty in controll-
ing the worms that bother tomatoes
and other truck crops. Prof. Spencer,
of the extension department, was spe
cially requested to talk on Irish po
tato growing. Much of this land is
we'll adapted to this crop and some
few acres have been planted to Irish
potatoes before. They expect to put
in large areas this year and handle
the crop in the best way. It was en-
phasized that it was necessary to
spray if they wished to grow the crop
without danger of loss from insects.
On September 20 Prof. Floyd met
the Farmers Club at Lakeland to dis
cuss citrus culture, chiefly diseases Of
trees and soils. Prof c. L. Willough-
by and Prof. A. p. Spencer held a
farmers institute at knights on that
date General live stock, tick eradi-
cation and various subjects were dis
cussed. The Knights settlement al
ways responds promptly to farmers
institute gatherings. The farmers are
large truckers and growers of staple
crops, realizing that their only hope
to make a success is to diversity their
system in every way.
Good meetings are expected in De-
Soto and Lake counties this week.
Mr.. C. S. Bushnell of Arcadia, lead
ing citizen of that place, is doing all
in his power to get every one out. At
ter the dates were closed a second |
request comes that meetings be held |
in other places in that county. Some
of these must be deferred until jan
uary or February. The West Florida |
farmers are calling for institutes for |
October and November so that ar !
are pretty well completed |
for Institutes up until January.
While the extension department has /
been given an increase in equipment |
vet everyone having to do with the |
mana cement of these meetings ap- |
preciates the limited equipment to /
carry out this work all over the state. |
This department Of the university is /
bringing the farmers closer together, /
and is distributing substantial infor
nation as to what can be done on !
Florida soils. The possibilities of the |
Florida farmer are more than he ap-
preciates: his possibilities for failure |
are equally as great as If he pursues
wrong methods.