Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-06-19
INCREASING AND EXTENDING
OUR FOOD SUPPLY

tage. and add quite materially to our
suppIy of vegetables We should also
encourage the truck and canning in
dustries. and give every possible aid
to the quick transportation of perish
able products 10 the large consuming
centerS.
The meat supply is an important and
vital issue with the average American.
We have been large consumers of ami
NAL food, and unless We are willing to
undergo many sacrifices and make many
changes in our mode of thought and
habit of living we must either be re-
pared to pay much higher prices for
meat products, use them more sparing-
ly or direct our energies towards the
conservation and systematic increase of
our supplies of animal food Can this
be done3 The answer is an emphatic
yes. Millions upon millions of dollars
worth of animal foods are destroyed
each year through our failure to elimi-
nate diseases and parasites. Moreover,
enough stock is not maintained on the
average farm. Our capacity for produc-
ton has not anything like attained its
maximum as yet. Progress, of course,
is being made in carrying into effect
measures which should enable us 20
substantially increase our meat supply.
The ticks, for instance. have been eradi-
Gated from $4,000 square miles of ter
ritory since this work was commenced
in 1906, and this has resulted in the
saving of about 100000 worth of ami
mails annually. When the work is COM
leted another s2O.OOO,O0O will have
been saved. Therefore. every citizen
should lend his active aid and support
in the campaign for tick eradication
Hog cholera O. also destroying thou
sands of animals each year. The raw
ages from this disease can be material
ly lessened through the use Of preventive
serum. Enough progress has been made
in this direction to insure the saving
of several hundred thousand hogs an
nually. Much more remains to be done
tuberculosis destroys $25,00O,0O0 worth
OF cattle and swine each year. This is
q disease which can be controlled and
eradicated If active measures looking 10
that end are put into effect and syste'
matically followed up. We can not con-
tinue much longer TO throw away $685.
OOJ, 900 worth of animal products be-
cause Of our indifference TO the animals
lost from tuberculosis which we have
viewed with complacency up to the
present time. 1t would be easily posi-
BILE TO save 100000 900 a year of animal
products which are now wasted, and
through a proper extension of our live
stock areas, and as a result of tick Grad
ication and the announcement of the
maintenance of hYe stock on a large
number of small farms, another $50
100000 worth of meat could be secured
OF course, we are making efforts to
bring about these desirable ends. Near
ly every southern state now has poul-
try and pig clubs organized through
their extension service, and the rising
g. - hasV, h. 70
derstand some of the fundamental
principles involved i'm the growth and
maintenance of improved strains of live
stock. II is natural TO suppose that
they will give more attention TO animal
industries than their immediate ances-
tors have done.
In the south i'm particular there are
vast areas Of hilly or broken land not
adapted to cultivation, but ideally sit
uated for the rearing of sheep. At the
present time the United States is i'm
porting annually not less than O,00O,-
600 pounds of wool, and the sheep in
dustry is on the decline in many states.
Particularly is this true in the south.
On the other hand, Great Britain, one
of the oldest civilized countries. has
systematically maintained and increas-
ed her fiocks. In that country the sheep
are chiefly raised for meat, the wool be-
ing a by-product They utilize land
areas similar to those prevailing
throughout the Appalachian section,
and If American farmers will follow
the British custom, there is no reason
why this industry can not be put on
profitable and permanent basis, thereby
not only enabling US to grow the wool
needed at home, but to provide our
markets with one of the most desir-
able meat foods. There IS no reason
why this industry should not be car
'ried forward on a highly profitable
basis because lambs can be made ready
for market I'm four TO six months, and
They do not require more care than
ANY other class of live, stock. They
can also be maintained economically
and are of great value in keeping the