The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1919-08-22
FARMERS FAVOR
COUNTY WORK
Voted Thursday Night at Board Of
Trade Meeting TO Retain the Ag-
riculturaI Appropriation


from nearly every section Of the eOun-
ty- From p 10 80 Farmers were pres
ent and the spirited discussion and
interest shown was evidence enough
OF the wisdom Of the Board Of Trades
having taken the matter Rp IN an ef-
| fort TO find out the sentiment IN the
county. Two main points were de-
veloped as . result of last nights
meeting.
/. The farmers Of the county want
the demonstration work 70 60 on, and
particularly stressed the eradication
of hog cholera
2. There is considerable dissatis-
faction in certain sections Of the coun-
-, for the most part around the outer
edges, because, 1t Is said, the county
agent does not visit these sections
And the keynote of the meeting was
that the county, being so large, should
have three or four county agents in
stead of one.
To get the sentiment of the farmers
present at the meeting Mayor Chacg
moved that the farmers endorse the
appropriation of y mill for agricul-
tCral extension and demonstration
work in the county. He asked for a
standing vote. The result was 25
farmers voted for the motion and none
against it. Several did not vote.
The Board of Trade referred the
matter to the agricultural COMMITTEES
to find out what the sentiment In the
various parts of the county Is. To do
this petitions will be circulated, and
the committee will appear before the
county commissioners on the first
Tuesday in September, when the new
budget is to be adopted. 1t was learn
ed Thursday night that some of the
farmers in the county already have
started the circulation of petitions
asking the commissioners to retain
the demonstration work.
Some of the communities and Sec
tions represented at Thursday nights
gathering were: Fellowship, Bitch
ton, Summerfeld, Mcintosh, Lowell,
Reddick, Martin, Fairfield, Citra, Cot
ton Plant, Gambler.
Talks In favor of demonstration
work in the county were made by
Nathan Mayo, A. c. Cobb, JIM. Mef-
fert, John L. Edwards, w. NJ. Gist, J.
W. Davis, w. ]. Crosby, Ed Rush, A.
{. Blowers, Richard Erwin, the Messrs.
Shearer of Fellowship, Mayor Chace,
]. H. Brinson, L. w. Duval, John
Mathews, Jack McCully and ]. A.
Jones. Mr.. McCully said that at a
meeting of about 80 farmers out in the
4 EaI1 Al
against an appropriation for demon
stration work. Later Mr.. Shearer OF
this section pointed out that these
farmers were not opposed to dem
onsation work but took the position
they did for the reason, he said, that
the county agent had not been giving
that section of the county proper at
tention. Mr.. Shearer said that what
| the county needs is three or four
county agents in order that the entire
county might be covered. This state
ment seemed to express the sentiment
of the meeting.
Mr.. G. B. Howell of Lowell, who had
expressed himself unfavorably toward
the demonstration appropriation, said
that Mr.. Shearer hit the nail on the
head.
Mrs. Caroline Moorhead, who has
resigned her position as agent in the
county for work among the women and
girls of the county, read her annual
report to the meeting. This report
will be published.
Another thing that appeared evil
dent last night was that very few
know the extent of the demonstration
work being done in the county.
From the district agent the infor-
nation Is obtained that the county
agent is innoculating an average of
1000 hogs month. During the period
from August to 20 the county agent
treated 55S head of hogs. The impor-
tance Of this work is realized when it
is known that over 1000 hogs died OF
disease In Marion county during
1917-1S.
Marion county at present has the
largest boys pig club in the state.
There are 103 boys in the club. Each
| OF these boys starts out with a hog
costing $50. This is an investment
of $4,000. AT the end of the year each
boy will have not less than five pigs,
worth not less than 500, totaling
$4,000, or an increase of $1,000. And
the boys are learning how to care for
the hogs and the value of the better
breeds, besides having their interest
in hogs stimulated.
Some Of the things for which the
county agents work are: Community
clubs, cooperative organizations, new
methods In farming, introduction OF
new machinery, new crops, rotation,
better breeds of live stock, better
markets, proper methods of storing
packing and shipping produce, eradi-
cation of hog cholera, cattle ticks and
corn weevils and other diseases and
pests. He gets into the hands of the
farmers the information and results
or resarch work of the federal and
state departments of agriculture and
experiment stations.
:. Two cooperative farmers organi
cations have been formed In the coun
ty this summer. At present q driv,
! Is being made throughout the count,
against the corn weeviL