The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-07-21

home-cured ham, bacon ana shouI-
ders in one day at Quitman, Brooks
county. Georgia. There were $4,000
pounds in all, for which they receiV-
ed $4,000 in cash.
Brooks County Is Doing 1t.
During the winter season just
closed Brooks county has also mar
keted 100000 pounds of home-cured
meats and has produced 100000
hounds, the farmers marketing the
surplus not required for home con-
sumption. This 100000 pounds rep
resents only the hams, sides and
shoulders of the cured meat and does
not include the by-products of lard,
sausage, jowls, feet, backbone and
spareribs, for which there is always
a good local market.
The average hog produces %
pounds of lard, which sells for II
cents a pound. The meat sold this
season brought an average price OF
IA cents a pound. In 1912 this mid
winter meat crop brought the farm
,ers nearly $685. in cash.
More Corn Than Cotton.
Contrary to the usual Southern
custom, there is not a fattening pen
in the county and all hogs are ranged
in the open. Large quantities OF
peanuts are produced, on which the
hogs are fed late in the summer. In
December they are finished on corn
and sweet potatoes. 1t is estimated
that the cost of producing smoked
meat under the conditions that pre-
vail is not to exceed five cents
pound, and in some instances less.
Another unusual feature is that the
county plants approximately 10000
more acres of corn than cotton.
The Hickory Head Club.
Brooks county is only so miles
from the Gulf of Mexico, and the
winters are mild. Producing smoked
meat in such large quantities has
been possible only through the use Of
ice, the farmers having evolved
simple and effective method of cold
storage. This development of a
cold storage plant on the farms is
due to Hickory Head Farmers Club
and is the only instance of cold stor-
age evolved by the individual farm
ers. This club, which takes its name
from the Hickory Head district,
where it was formed, is one of the
Oldest agricultural clubs in the
South, having been organized SO
years ago by the fathers and grand
fathers of the present members.
These farmers have been using ice
in curing their meats for the past Is
years. They have always been large
producers and the loss of meat
through warm weather at killing
time led them to begin working out
a plan of saving it. They first be-
gan by ordering ice from Savannah,
Ga, 800 miles distant, meeting the
train on arrival and hauling the ice
out a distance of six or eight miles
to their farms, and paying Is cents
a hundred for it plus the express.
Now it is obtained from the local
ice-making plant at Quitman for IS
cents o hundred.
- The Pioneer.
Like all successful undertakings of
this nature, some one man is respon-
sible for having worked out prac-
t1cal plan. They at first put the ice,
meat and salt in big boxes. Seven
teen years ago one of the pioneers,
Allen Grower, built the first cold
storage room. Others copied his
plan and there are now "A of these
ice chambers on the various farms.
They are rooms 10 by II feet with
double walls. the inner wall two feet
from the outer one, two layers OF
builders paper between the double
ColIln2. Ju0 EOOI GAICAuAA6 OCSOAi't
the walls to protect the sides from
the sun, the base of the room being
of brick.
Cost 800 to $3.50.
I These cold chambers are in use on
farms where from 10000 to $4,000
pounds of meat is killed and cured
in a season. The cost of construc-
tions runs from 800 to $3.50. Two
have been constructed in Grady
county, where former members of
the club have moved. Each farmer
as soon as settled on his new farm
sent back to his old home in Brooks
county and secured the services OF
q member of the club to come and
help him construct chamber after
the plans in use in his former home
county.