The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-04-27
IlRNING AGAINST
THE ONE CROP IDEA
o,rc REACHING THE STATE
o,PT\TENT OF AGRICULT-
-,r ARE DISHEARTENING.
.faIfCT FOOD CROPS MISTAKE

,,;sSioner Price Tells Experience
On One Renter Who Changed From
,uCotton Idea and Debt, Who
NH Soon Buy Farm.
,rrANTA, Ga.-EXtremely dis
.oring reports are reaching the
ats department. of agriculture as to
Wv extensive planting of cotton to
ovcIusion in many instances of
.,ntial food crops. The department
Sizes that Georgia is cotton state,
:, rnnst make cotton; but it desires
lu warn Georgia farmers against the
~, mistake of neglecting food
S aons and food stuffs, at least to the
I1an+ of enough for home use, even
Il tbpy do not make a dollars worth
Nor sale.
n Price was in Griffin the other
~ toere occurred an incident strik-
"@1v illustrative of the folly of the
r no CROP idea. Commissioner Price
aot and talked with a Spalding coun-
II farmer who told him this:
i ~ am a renter, and only a two
orsA one at that. [ don't own a foot
N land, but | am getting in shape to
INV nv own farm. Up to about sew
H. Years ago | scarcely ever planted
Bnrtbing but cotton. I always came
pnt at the end of the year in debt;
Kane years more and some less. |
8ornd | had to make a change. l
hi down my cotton acreage little,
md increased my corn little more
&acb year until last year l had IS
&crps in cotton for two mules. l
sised plenty of supplies to furnish
I'M this year, killed 1,400 pounds of
h4at have some money loaned out,
Have lust sold 100 bushels of corn
Or s1.O5 a bushel and will have
&nOugb cash to run on the balance of
he year With good luck l will soon
L able to buy the farm for my own
Mat have always wanted"
n Commissioner Price says what that
armer told him in his own innocent
Eay is a better sermon against the
$hgle crop idea than he or anybody
Use could possibly preach.
81 have even been called up on the
B ong distance telephone" Commits
j Homer Price said, land asked if l
Did not think this or that farmer
tught to plant cotton on account of
I he high price and the apparently
educed resumption of fertilizers. 1t
reminds me of the action of the
orange several years ago when that
brganizatiOn agreed to reduce the
bottom acreage. They all thought
Everybody else would reduce, so ev-
Dry one of them went ahead and
planted full crop, and it spelled dis
] ster to the price.
Il don't look for anything as bad
Is that this year, but I am very much
Rfraid the rise in price is going to
Rake the producer forget the high
price of foodstuffs and the import
once even of making his own home
supplies. Let me point again to the
lesson of the Spalding county farmer.
With the rapid growth in the live
ktock industry in Georgia every
FARMER in the state ought to keep at
east one pig and one COW. The man
EhO is suffering most today is the one
Fho has neither pig nor COW nor
sredit. Also the farmer who took
advantage of the situation last fall
md planted wheat is going to reap a
handsome harvest about the time
'nen many of those who didn't will
Be out of both money and credit.
While the sale of fertilizer tags is
pot as great as last year, up to the
present time, it is nevertheless true
nat nearly as many tags were sold in
4 ne first half of April as during the
kaltlre month of April, 1914. Geor-
IA farmers will do well to think
bout this"