Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-01-14

! ton has operated against the popu-
larity of other crops, the average
farmer backed up the food program
Southern farmers and townsmen
raised plenty OF potatoes, as well as
sorghum for syrup, in their home
gardens The farmers increased
their production OF small grains,
corn, hay, peanuts, velvet beans, soy
beans, cOWpc2S, as we'll as meat,
milk, and eggs
For example, during 1913 Ala
bama increased it's production of po-
tatoes to per cent; cotton, 80 per
cent; hay, II per cent oats, per
cent; hogs, II per cent; sheep, -
per cent; and sweet potatoes, l per
cent, over the yields of 1917.
The south has been a heavy buyer
of hay, the majority of her yearly
forage coming from the WESTERN
states. The services OF the SOUTH
ern county agents have increased
tent that Alabama produced l,293,-
600 tons of hay during the year,
1918 as compared with 10000 tons
in 1903. During the period from
1909 to 1918, Georgia increased hay
production 426 per cent; North Car
cent; and South Carolina, 253 Der
cent. According to recent crop es-
Inmates the hypothetical value of
the farm crops of Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina
and South Carolina, amounted to
S8S9. 213. 900 in 1909 and $2,106,396,-
600 in 1917, an increase of 250 per
cent.
Gains in Live Stock
It is only logical that as the pro-
duction Of corn and hay increases i'll
the southern states, the numbers OF
hogs and cattle raised and kept show
corresponding gains. The razor
I. Il ,n1 of q
south since the civil war, but Of
late years these native, rustlers have
been replaced by Well-finished pork
ers of desirable. conformation and
breeding which are more economical
in the manufacture of pork under
southern conditions than are the
grain-fed hogs of tho corn belt in
that middle western territory.
According to recent estimates by
the bureau Of crop estimates, there
are\ 65,066,000 hogs in the United
States, of which 29,651,00 animals,
corn lbelt states of Iowa, Illinois, Ne
braska, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio,
while 21,756,000 porkers, or 1874 per
cent are located in the fifteen south
ern states, and the remaining I'll per
cent are distributed over the remain
ing tWenty-seVen states of the union.
Under present conditions the south
ranks second only to the corn belt
as the leading k-producing section
of the country. The remarkable fact
about the growth of the hog business
in the cotton states is that it has
developed rapidly during the last five
years as a direct result of the untir-
ing efforts of county agents to pop
ularize pork production. Dramatically
the south is the ideal livestock sec
ton of this country and present in
dications are that it is en- route to
come into it's own.
Some Natable Hog Shipments
pork industry, seventeen counties of
southern Alabama, although they did
not ship to market single carload
of hogs during the year 1912-1913,
marketed 1852 carloads of hogs dur
ing the period from April 1, 1917, to
April /, 1918. Mississippi exported
1924 hogs in 1914, while in 1917 she
disposed of $3.50 fat porkers, an
increase of 1924 per cent. For the
most part, the southern hogs are de-
veloped ineXpensively, on such forage
crops as soy beans, peanuts, cowpeas,
chufas, potatoes, native grasses and
clover, while corn is used as a finish
feed to firm, compact and "bloom"
the flesh to the desirable market
quality.
The hog supply has developed with
the increase in corn production. In
1909 North Carolina raised 34,000,O00
bushels of corn, while in 1918 it har-
vested 64,365,00o bushels and fat
duced approximately 29,475,00O BUSH
els more corn in 1918 than in 1909,
and during 1913 handled 2,507,O 900
hogs. Similarly in the case of the
other southern states, increased
yields of corn and pork have been
cies of wartime production have
speeded up the farmers and, largely
in accord with high market values,
have expedited pork manufacture.
Similarly as result of greater hay
production, more cattle have been
kept in the south. In 1914 Missis-
sippi marketed only 86,229 fat cattle,
while in 1915 it shipped 156,237 ami
mails to the st. Louis market, an in
crease of 1871 per cent. During 1915
of sheep in st. Louis, while in 1917
they, shipped 1917 sheep to the same
market, an increase of 232 per cent.
More Food Saved
Reports show lao, 40S women &C
lively engaged in regular and emer-
states during 1917, while 9S0,272
girls assisted along similar lines;
total of 2,606,213 women and girls
worked to help win the war by gar-
dening, poultry production, canning
and drying fruits, vegetables and
!neaIS, Dullct-indRlnS ana cheese
making. Their achievements are
partially pictured in 100000 cans
of fruits and vegetables now await
ing consumption in southern store
rooms and pantries. Impartial opin-
ion states that during the last twelve
months the southern states have can
ned and preserved 500 per cent more
fruits and vegetables than in any
similar period in the last half cen
fury.
The G2,227 women enrolled in 3,812
southern clubs recently have put up
34.993,677 cans of vegetables and
fruits worth over 81 ono GOO In nd