The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-01-24
VISIT OF FARMERS
Is BEARING FRUIT

William H. Armstrong, Smyrna s
well known retired farmer and gran
ger who recently returned from a
delightful trip to Florida, in which
he made tour of several Florida
counties with party of delegates to
the Farmers National Congress fol
lowing the congress which was held
in Jacksonville December 2-6, is show
ing his friends souvenir diary Of
their trip Commenting upon the Op-
portunities Florida offers for farming
and live stock production, he says:
THE trip which was arranged Dy
the Association Of Florida Fairs, took
us through counties where extensive
farming operations are being carried
on, and we were surprised to learn
that the corn crop in Florida this past
year exceeded in value the citrus
crop, which was fully up tC normal.
We were shown herds Of pure Short
hOrns, Angus and HerefOrds which
have not had any grain or housing,
that were inexcellent condition. One
of the entries at the Florida State
Fair, which was open during our con.
gress, was an eighteen months old
steer, weighing 1920 pounds, that sold
at public auction for fifty cents per
pound on the hoOf 1t was raised in
Marion county, the dam having three
ShorthOrn crosses on piney woods
cow and the sire was pure bred
Angus. The greatest opportunities
seem TO be breeding the cheap, native
COWS to pure bred beef type sires.
Ahe climate is very mild, and calvt s
dropped in January and February on
the pastures make an excellent
growth for finishing as yearlings, on
velvet beans, corn and peanut hay,
which are grown in abundance on cul'
tivated land Considerable sport has
been made about the Florida plney
woods rooters, but we visited a hog
farm where prize winning pure bred
Poland Chinas, Duroc Jerseys, Berk-
shires and Hampshires are being
raised at less cost than is possible
in our own climate.
"On December 10 our party enpoyed
a fish fry dinner spread on tables
under green leayed trees in the city
park at Mcintosh The following day
we had a picnic dinner and oyster
roast at Silver Springs, with an
abundance Of oranges for desert No
one should miss an opportunity OF
visiting Silver Springs, six m1es
from Ocala, and taking the rice a
a glass bottom boat The English
vocabulary does not contain W0rcs
appropriate to describe the wonders
of coloring and formations, both OF
vegetable and mineral seen under the
water Of that place and there are
numerous varieties of fish swimming
here and there to lend life to the SET
ting. We saw a number Of tractors
at work in the fields, and inspected
some barns full Of excellent oats
coWpea hay, corn and velvet beans
The latter is one of the favOrite le
guminous crops and makes heavy
crop with high protein content grain
as we'll as luxuriant growth Of vines
"Of course we visited orange
groves and helped ourselves TO the
golden fruit. just before crossing
from Marion county into Lake county
each member of our party put little
sand into the left shoe, as an attrac
tiOn to return to that county to live
The roads we travelled over III auSo
mobiles, going from Gainesville tC
Orlando and on side trips, covering
q distance of 240 miles, were excel
lent, and are a part OF the attraction
for tourists to that state. The eXhio
its at the state fair proved that Florida
is producing great many varities OF
grains and grasses. The peanu'
seems to be taking the place Of cot
ton and making the farmers more
money at less cost for pproduction
All of the farmers we talked VIII
said that they get two crops per year
from cultivated land and sometimes
get three crops Land values are
coubaratively cheap and mild eli
mn makes expensive barns nnne
cessary for housing stock. so Florida
should become the Mecca for a large
number of young, progressive farm
ers, when they learn OF the oppor
tunities existing there -SmyrnS
Del). Times.