The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-02-02
Florida Nata! Hay Association
Doing Great Development Work

OOSSSS
The Florida Natal Hay Association.
with main Offices in Lakeland, as its
name indicates. was organized for the
purpose of growing hay in Florida on
a large scale. through the expedient
of cooperative farming; and to this
the association has purchased a tract
OF land three miles square, and is now
selling the same to high class inves-
tors in forty acre tracts, fully devel
oped, in a high state of cultivation
and seeded to Natal grass. with all
the improvements, machinery and
barns necessary to the handling of the
crops, at a price of SIS per acre, or
$4,000 per forty-acre tract.
w. IMPORTS Most of Its Hay
fior'oa 49, :" hay in the
The business Of growln. -
state of Florida has come into PROM
inence from the fact that the state
is annually importing about 100000
tons of hay. The price OF this hay Tor
the last fifteen or twenty years has
ranged from s26 to $50 per ton.
! Raising Natal Hay is Profitable
Business
Having been experimental with
and tested for twenty years by me
United States government and the
experiment station of the state OF
Florida, it has been demonstrated to
be a very fine quality of extra-nutri-
tious hay; and the practical expert
ence of growers during the past seven
years has shown that it may be
grown very profitably in this state. AS
a consequence of this Natal hay has
received an enormous amount of pub
licity through the medium of thu
press. The Florida Grower, lamp;
j. Tribune. Tampa Times. Jacksonville
: Times-Un and other papers of tn
! state have published many article
: showing the great profits that hav
accrued to the growers of Natal grass
until now il is matter of commo
N knowledge that to grow Natal hay
.. profitable and lucrative business.
=. Florida Has Protective Tariff o
y Natal Hay.
is We have not only a market
home for slO,OOO,OOO worth Of ha
but if we only assume a basic prit
~ of $40 per ton for our Natal we ha,
Id absolutely eliminated the econom
ut possibility of shipping hay into Flo
IL ida to be sold in competition wi
nd hay grown in this state
es The states now shipping into Flc
ida are Indiana. Illinois, Ohio al
Kansas; and to ship from these stat
costs about s12 ton in freight alon
Consequently the northern farmer h
- to pay what amounts to a protecti
80 tariff of S12 per ton to get his HI
Vi Natal hay Ca better hay and mu
u more sought for than timothy.)
ia Florida Monopolized Market for
Natal Hay.
IL Natal hay is sold in Florida
low as $40 per ton the northern far
-, er would have to sell his hay T. O.
his farm in Ohio or Illinois at IS p
ton. Any farmer will tell you that
- costs at east $3.50 per ton to cut, GU
and bale hay. This would leave [
err
northern farmer at the most $3.50 I
his hay. out of which he must GOV
the expense of loading on board ca
ny the expense of seed, the cultivation
We the land. taxes, interest on the m,
''e ey invested in land and to annua
lat put back into the soil what the tin
IN thy has taken out of ito say no
10 ing of pay for the years labor or pr
EN- II on the crop grown for the Flori
trade. The further you investig,
the more you are convinced that [
'ye freight rate and expense of raisil
is harvesting and marketing hay by
ted northern farmer. placed within the
es. tual cost. make ii practically an e
the nomic impossibility to ship hay II
on Florida to compete with a Flori
en-, grown product at $50 or less per I
IKE Additional Markets.
No hay is shipped into Florida FIR
Georgia. Alabama. Mississippi. or e,
,ar- Tennessee. These states are tn,
to- selves large importers of hay. q
,ral depend largely upon the states m
we toned in a preceding paragraph
Jay their hay. They offer an excel
for market for Florida to supply at