The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1917-02-12
BEST AGRICULTURAL
MEETING EVER HELD
At III zGE RAJ D

The above statement is what the
writer heard voiced from a good mum
Der Of those who attended the bust
ness men-farmers meeting Saturday.
a large number Of farmers and bust
ness mcn came out to the meeting and
the Speakers held their attention to
the close. The consensus OF opinion
is, that this meeting will mean a great
deal to the people OF Ben Hill.
Mr. J. NJ Taylor, Of Port Gibson,
Miss, was the first speaker. Mr.. Tay-
lor gave a complete history of the
! 5oll weevil damages in his state and
how the people caric through it, all
making eucccsa in spite OF the grip on
King Cotton and at the present time
the people are more prosperous and
nave more money in the banks than
! they did before the weevil came Mr.
Taylor talked interesting of how the
people talked about when the wee
vii got thcre-they did not believe
the weevl would do any damage and
did not believe that they could grow
anything successfully but cotton. But
the people did rally after good many
failures and now they have a different
system Of farming altogether and in
stead Of shipping nothing but cotton
out of the state the cotton is sur
plus money crop and they are ship
ping car loads of hogs and cattle and
they are utilizing to advantage more
forage and grazing crops and instead
of marketing this on four wheels they
are converting it into ,neat products
and building up their soils. Mr.. lay
lor says that his people would not go
lack to the old system oil growing all
cotton if they could Though threat
cned with pneumonia and not able to
be out, he won the confidence Of the
: people and gave them a straight per
sonal talk that made them feel salts.
fed that they can go back home and
make it better and more prosperous
and rejoice in the fact that boil wee
vii came over. Those who missed
: hearing Mr.. Taylor missed treat
Prof Hart, from the State College
of Agriculture, followed with strong
speech emphasizing the holes in the
present system of farming whereby
the farmer is losing great sums every
year that could be easily converted
t into food products and better soil,
4 for better crop yields Prof. Hart i.
a forceful speaker and brought some
lessons before the farmers that SHOULD
be considered and immediately pu
t into practice. This is nothing more
: than his duty to his home and to hi.
county.
/ When the Speakers closed severa
Questions were asked and subject:
; were discussed by the farmers III,
cattle tick question was brought If
and Mr. Taylor remarked that the
tick was the boil Weevii to the cattle
business-it being impossible to raise
good cattle if you are infested with
cattle tick. This subject was discuss
ed and resolution was unanimously
adopted that the proper steps be i'm,
mediately taken to put Ben Hill on
the tick free territory as the most inn
portant step in making the county
more prosperous.
| We regret not having more of the
business men of the town out to hear
Mr.. Taylor For man of his ability
and being worth several hundred
thousand dollars and busy as he is 70
drop his business for the only purpose
OF trying to help Others. we feel IS a
very good reason for being heard.
J. T. P1TTMAN.
County Agent.