Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-08-27
PRESIDENT WILLIAMS
ON The DANGERS OF
SINGLE COTTON CROP

bert, President John T. Williams OIL
Jones county, who was unanimously
reelected for another term, make d
striking address in urging agricultural
diYersiication in Georgia, and tA2
South, admonishing farmers against
the error of cotton only" crop.
Along this line he said:
at has been wisely said that fire is
a good servant, but a hard master. The
same may we'll be said of cotton. We
must be the masters and cotton our
servants, or cotton will be owner ami
we the slaves. How shall we escape
this bondage into which so many OF
our fellows have fallen? The answer
may be found in one word, DIVERSITY.
With soil and climate capable o.;
producing any known plant, it IS
nothing less than a crime to confihe
our attention exclusively to one pro-
duct, the market price of which is en-
tirely beyond our control. If South
Carolina boy can raise 22S bushels Of
corn on an acre of land, surely a
Georgia man can do the same and 22S
bushels of corn to an acre is far more
profitable than a bale of cotton, O.
two bales from the same acre. A
neighbor of mine makes 500 per acre
on oats, and peavine hay, and leaves
his land in better condition than be-
fore. Why cannot we do the same or
better? An Ebert county farmer
made $1,000 on an acre of onions, ana
the demand is almost unlimited. n
Brooks county man made $3.50 per-
acre on cucumbers, and as long as
pickles are made, the demand will far
exceed the supply. In my own county.
Jones, a neghbor of mine planted
three acres in alfalfa the first of Nc
vember 1912. The first or April he
made the first cutting, Is inches. The
26th of May he cut IS inches more.
The 26th of June he cut about %
inches. On July 4th he made the
fourth cutting, the finest OF all. This
hay was as fine as ever went into &
barn. This man expects to get two
more cuttings. 1t now stands 6 inches
and covers the ground entirely with
out a skip. This farmer says he is
going to get rich in spite Of himself
"These illustrations could be multi
piled almost indefinitely Of men who
have found the way from the bondage
of cotton freedom of diversified farm
ing. But these will suffice to point the
way. Our deliverance will not come
from multiplied organizations, nor
from higher prices of cotton, nor from
1 government aid, immigration, labor
/ laws. or any of the fanciful schemes
advocated by self-appointed leaders.
j Much less will it come through the me-
dunn of politics. 1t must come from q
realization on our part that we have
too long despised our birthright OF
opportunity and have sold it for the
temporary pleasure of crop that will
bring money. Let every Georgia far
mer have his pasture of alfalfa, ber-
muda, clover, or the mixture that best
suits his soil. Let him have surplus
stock raising on that pasture to sell.
] ct him raise his foodstuffs for his
family and his stock at home. Let him,
by careful experiments, find the sur
plus crop best adapted to his soil an |
circumstances, and then he can raise
tottvn as his main money crop, ire
sIcctivo of Wall street or any other
force O, factor, for the buyer may rN
the pr C, the farmer will get the ben
eft. Then and not till then will Te
BE fee. Then, and only then, W I
agriculture become a profession ra-
Their tran a means of making LIVING.
and then, will the welcome cry Of
Back to the Farm" be heard with e.
doubled vigor from every toilworn
city drudge and then will our rural
communities become the educational,