Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-02-28

practice which would enable us to
harvest 2OS pounds per acre. All we
would have to do, for instance, to
insure such a result, would be to Sc
lect our seed with little more care,
cultivate the land possibly once or
twice more, and see that We have a
perfect instead of an imperfect
stand. If we will study the varieties
of cotton adapted to q given COM
munity we will secure q cotton
which will no doubt yield sufff-
GENTLY we'll to insure as large an
increase in yield as has been indi-
Gated. The matter is simple. 1t is
so simple, in fact, that we fail to
appreciate just what it means and
so we have neglected one of the
fundamental things in association
with putting our production of cot
stantial basis through intensifying
our production with reference to this
crop only to a slight degree, and In
those general and fundamental par
ticulars which every farmer can in
stitute successfully without adding
to his present equipment, labor or
fertilizer supply.
What has been said Of cotton ap-
plies to every other crop we produce.
Our present average yield or corn
is about Is bushels per acre. We
we are to hold our own as a live
stock state. If we cannot maintain
our present PRODUCTION of live stock,
the state will cease to be progress
sive. 1t is the one means by which
we can husband the resources of our
soil and add to the general fertility
of our land 1t is the one means by
which we NAV diversity our produc-
ton acceptably and make our state
self-sustaining in the matter. Of food
supplies. 1t is the one means ny
which we may win independence
from the all-cotton type. of farming
which has held us in the thra!dom
Of economic slavery for SO long.
Therefore the cultivation of corn
should be emphasized.
TIE question arises as to the
method of procedure we should fol-
low with reference to this matter
The same old question. therefore,
comes immediately to the fore. Snail
we practice intensive or extensive
corn cultivation? BY all means let
It be intensive. What this state
needs is to produce annually 100
100000 bushels of corn. This must
be done in order that a sufficient
amount of this crop be produced to
balance up our surplus of protein IN
velvet beans. peanut meal and cot
tonseed meal. This must be done
in order that there will be enough
corn to finish our hoes satisfactorily
AMI insure their bringing the top
market price. There is no other
section of the country where hogs
can be finished on so little corn. We
only need to feed it for thirty days
What other section can produce vel
vet beans, peanuts and such a varie-
ty of crops on which to raise hoes
from the time they are weaned al
most to maturity without the use
of large supplemental supplies of
corn throughout the whole four, five
or six months of the feeding period
as the case may be We possess in
this respect an advantage of supreme
Importance over other sections of
the country.
Admitting, therefore, that we must
have 1OO,O00,0O0 bushels of corn,
what should be our method of proce-
dure. On the present basis of pro-
duction we would have to cultivate
6,684,7%G acres in corn in 1918. This
would represent an increase of over
100000 acres Everyone knows at
once that we cannot attain SUCH an
end and it is useless to discuss it.
It would be the contamination of fol-
to attempt it. Is there any other
alternative We can pursue relative to
this matter? There certainly is.
Why not increase the yield by seven
bushels per acre? Is this practical
BILE? 1t certainly is. 1t has been
demonstrated ten thousand times by
boys in Georgia. Their yields of
from 40 bushels and upward per acre
are easily attainahle, and at a sub
stantial profit to the landowner. 1t
is useless to plant corn on land
that will not produce anything and
expect q satisfactory return per acre.
The writer has seen acres and acres
planted to corn in Georgia from
which there was no hope of reap
ing an adequate harvest. At the
same time he has seen literally hum
dreds of acres of land that would
yield from 40 to 100 bushels of corn
per acre lying out in sWamps or I'M
derbruSh because it represented a
little effort to reclaim, handle and
cultivate 1T successfully. There are
enough bottoms in Georgia undrain-
ed and not we'll adapted to the pro-
duction of cotton, to enable us to
double the corn yield in Georgia,
and the outlay involved is not in
superable. We cannot get to this
land all at once even if we wished
to do so, and it is not necessary
the plow next year for us to grow
the 100000 bushels Of corn con-
sidCred so essential to the welfare
of this state.
There are still comparatively few
farmers who test their seed corn,
and so If you will go over the fields
of the hills missing. Then you will
find a large number of stalks that
produce no ears whatever. They
simply occupy the place in the soil
and in the sunshine to no purpose
because they are the drones of the
corn field. You will find varieties
altogether unadapted to the soil ana
location commonly planted. You
will find the corn has been planted
at an improper season and that it
has not been fortified in manner
most commensurate with it's needs.
Lots of the corn we have been plant
ing on the level should have been
planted in water burrows, and in
stead of being cultivated frequently
it will have been run over once or
twice upon the theory that nature
will do the rest. These changes in
practice are easy to bring about.
able. When these slight changes
which are within the reach of every
man are made there will be no long
or any question about our ability
to grow two bushels of corn per
acre on the same area devoted to
the crop in 1918, yet this would
achieve the end in view and we
would have that corn essential to