The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-06-05
70 COTTON KING?

i w OIlAs
The question as to the part the
South must take In feeding the nations
L Of the earth is one of the most i'm
portant which presents itself for con-
sideration at this time when the geog-
raphy OF the world is changing, COM
mercial relations are being re-estab-
lished, and the people of other coun-
tries are looking to America for sus-
tenance.
The ever recurring question as to
whether the farmers of the South
shall confine their acreage to cotton,
or shall plant food crops might well
be answered by citing the work which
has been carried on in Alabama along
the lines of intensive farming. which
might well be taken as an example OF
what may be accomplished in this di-
ERECTION.
To woman, Mrs. Mathis. OF Gads-
den, Alabama owes much of the prog
lress which has been made during the
Ipast five years along agricultural lines.
Mrs. Mathis, herself a practical farmer.
literally has made two blades grow
where one grew before, not only prov
ling on her own farm that both cotton
and food products may be successfully
grown, and that live stock Is not only
valuable in itself, but tremendous
aid in fertilization of soil, but has
carried this gospel throughout. the
state of Alabama, teaching by lectures
and through practical demonstration in
the farming sections and rural COM
munities, the value OF intensive culti-
walton of the soil.
i So valuable has Mrs. Mathis proved
Ito her state, and so readily was her
oh hod 40 he To- >cyrr
Bankers Association annexed her, and
have paid her liberal salary to spread
the message.
/ There is no reason in the world why
cotton should be dethroned in order
to give place to food cultivation.
Rather let us keep cotton king and
crown intensive farming as the help
mate. These two crowned heads will
never keep the people in subjugation,
| so long as the people are intelligent
enough to US the two forces, instead of
being ridden by the one and attempting
to keep the other out Of it's just
rights.
There are few farmers in the South
who get the. utmost possible returns
out of the soil. Let us take as an ex-
ample of this, the soil of Escambia
County, Florida. Twenty years ago,
perhaps less. this section was looked
upon as more or less of barren waste.
Some cotton was raised, but little food
stuff. Today Escambia county ranks
as the banner agricultural county Of
the state, so far as its possibilities are
concerned, though these have not yet
been utilized to anything like their
fullest extent.
Escambia county took first prize at
the Florida state fair in 1919 and third
premium In 1918. for the best agricul-
tural display, scoring for both quality
and variety of exhibit. She received
individual premiums for the best Irish
potatoes and the best and greatest va
riety of grain products, including corn.
What this means cagpot- ea. tsslln enc
state of Florida during the past quar-
ter century. Twenty-Five years ago
when the great freeze OF 1895 occurred
the cry went up all over Florida that
the state was ruined because it had
lost citrus fruit crop worth 5000. 900.
A few days ago, in an off season,
caused by much rain and the tie-up of
freight through the railroad strike.
one city alone, Miami, Florida, shipped
a tomato crop valued at $8,000,000, or
three million more than the value of
the citrus fruit crop of the entire
Estate in 1895. The poultry of the
state tbday, alone. is worth more than
ten million dollars. General farms
products are about thirty million, cit
rus fruits nearly four times what they
were worth twenty-five years ago.
vegetables nearly twenty million. and
dairying between thirteen and fifteen
million. This does not take in tobacco,
fisheries or cotton, much OF which is
grown in the western section of the
state, Escambia county being well
adapted to it's cultivation.
A few years ago it was not thought
possible to raise corn successfully in
the state of Florida, yet there are to-
day individual counties in the state
that have hundreds of acres under cul-
tivation, one county alone planting
100000 acres. The yield of corn for
1913 was 100000 bushels.
In one section of the East Coast
which up to a few years ago was en-
tirely undeveloped, one finds a four
million dollar Irish potato crop. A
woman. Miss Lila NJ. White, Of st.
Augustine. was the pioneer potato
grower of the state. Up to the time
she planted an acreage near ST. Au-
gustine. it was said that the Irish po-
7
She proved that it was a money
making crop. Today Hastings, Florida, |
is making millions of dollars annually |
on potatoes alone. The western part |
of the state is no less adapted to the |
cultivation of the potato. Escambia |
county carrying off the first
premium at the state fair, over Has |
tings, the banner potato county Of the !
state, for Irish potatoes in 1918.
The rich resources of Florida have |
just been tapped. The possibilities OF !!
every section OF the state are unlimited. |
1t is truly said that Florida might be |
cut off from the rest of the world, but |
its people could live on the fat of the |
land. forever, without asking aid from
beyond its own borders. In nSouth /
Florida, the Everglades section. we find i
a rich muck soil in which early vege-
tables thrive like hot-house plants. /
While citrus fruits are not entirely +
confined to the South, the northern