Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-07-06

| and it's proper fertilization Our
| uplands are not as we'll adapted for
the cultivation of corn as the bottom
lands. They never have been and
of a moist, deep alluvial soil 1t
makes a comparatively heavy drain
on soil fertility.
How can we undertake to extend
| to this crop and insure lour raising
one hundred to one hundred and fifty
million bushels Of corn at a reason
| able cost and SO StabiliZing forever
our-hog industry? Through che drain
| age of our first or second bottoms
swamp lands. We have about nine
million acres of land of this type in
Georgia. There are about 100000
acres of this land located along the
coasts and the flood plains of our
principal rivers. These lands can be
considering their value for agricul-
tural purposes. If this were done,
we could raise 100 bushels of corn
per acre on literally millions of
acres of land that are now practi-
cally non-productive and really con-
the progress Of the community. Much
of this land could probably be re-
claimed at cost of $40 to $25 per
acre. Why waste energy on putting
this much money into the clearing
of some steep hillsides or some sandy
tract that nature intended to be con-
tinued in a forest area for the pres
ervation of the low lands contiguous
to it.
I take It that we have not thought
out clearly the economic situation by
which we are confronted, and have
not realized the fundamental impor-
lance of drainage in it's relation to
the agricultural progress of the
state. Surely, the time has arrived
when we must give consideration TO
kee swamp, for instance. 1t is de-
sirable to preserve it for sentiment
tai reasons, as scenic spectacle,
as haunt for botanists and natur-
alists and the lover of wild game.
This area if drained would probably
corn to our annual production in
Georgia. This would go long way
towards helping the farmers in that
section of the state to finish off sat
isfactorily, their peanut and sweet
potato fed hogs; 1 am lover of
nature and a believer in the lessons
she teaches; I am inspired by her
scenic beauty and by the lessons of
thrift, industry and progress which
she typifies. In the long run, how
ever, the progress of civilization and
the adequate sustenance of mankind
depend on food, and the time is not
far distant in this country when we
must choose between sentiment and
necessity.
Let us bond the state of Georgia
for whatever amount may be neces-
sary. Fifteen million dollars would
probably be adequate if the co-opera
ton of the federal government were
secured to drain ever-increasing areas
of our low ying and swamp lands
and thus bring under the pillow the
best soils in Georgia for the produc-
ton of the amount of corn and other
grain crops we must have in order
to make our state self sustaining.
In this way we can readily wipe out
the damage and loss which the boil
weevil has inflicted, put our ~agricul-
ture on safe and sane basis, main
tain the prosperity of the state
through an Indefinite period of time,
remove the present menace to health
which lowlands constitute, and open
up and utilize those vast areas of
bottom land which represent one of
the chief undeveloped and unappre-
ciated sources of wealth in Georgia.