The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1921-08-26
A MILLION BUSHEL CORN CROP AND
BELHAVEN'S $l,OOO,OOO FARMER
Belhaven Country Has Many Wonders, But It's
Greatest Asset Is One Fred Latham Who
Shows How To Make Farming Pay
Best In North Carolina

w 1I11O 1d1 IIC1S w OS( dl z ldlh-
ing about burning corn for fuel
this winter, one of the biggest
corn crops in history of Eastern
North Carolina is about to be
harvested on the black lands
around Belhaven. But if any one
in the Belhaven~district is wor-
rying about what to do with the
million or so bushels of corn they
are raising over there, they are
not revealing the fact. A mil
lion bushe1 corn crop is only an
incident in the development that
is going on in the Belhaven coun-
try. Everybody in the Belhaven
district is looking years ahead OF
this years corn crop.
Thirteen years ago, the summer OF
1908, John A. Wilkinson put steam
dredge into the boggy wilderness out
side Belhaven with faith in the out
come. His faith has never diminished
and millions of capital to-day are fol-
lowing the trail he blazed. From John
WiEkinson's first experiment in reclaim
ing the overfowed black lands near Bel
haven has grown a net work of more
than 200 miles of drainage canals re
claiming 143 thousand acres of the rich
ast soil in America. There are just
that many acres embraced IN the elgnC
big drainage districts around BelhaVen.
And the biggest of these drainage dis
tricts is the Albemarle, better known
as the Potter Farms Inc. Mark w.
Potter's company has 10000 acres III
IFS tract 1t is IA miles long and nVe
miles wide. To drain this vast area
has required the building of IL miles
of deem canals. To date 4,OOO acres
of this immense tract have been cleared
and mt in cultivation The entire tract
is TO be cleared and put in tillable or
der The Potter Farms Inc. purpose
TO retain 10000 of these acres. Inc
remainder will be subdiVlded and solu
TO farmers in the Northwest who know |
how%to appreciate soil OF mexhaust-
ibIe fertility coupled with climate that
nernits of 365 days farming operations |
in 365 day year.
No Ticks on Potter Farms.
What the Potter Farms contemplate |
doing with the 10000 acres they pro-
nose to retain may be indicated by what |
tbev have already done. They have al !
readv established on these farms the I'M /
ast herd of thorobred cattle in the state !
and demonstrated beyond question that J
+ba finest strains of high grade cattle
may he successfully handled in Eastern
North Carolina where grazing may be
made available twelve months IN the
year. It is only question of eradlcat-
ING the cattle fever tick and this the
Potter Farms haye~done, spite OF the
fact that we have scores of people here
in Pasouotank who stoutly maintain
that THAR amt nothin' to this hyer cat
+Ia dinpin' business no how" Experts
in charge of the Potter Farms develop
mont know better and they would rath-
or risk band of a hundred lean and
hungry coyotes on their ranch than have
ono free range heifer leave Il single te-
,naIa tick on the Potter Farms. New
stock bought for the Potter Farms is
tboroly dipped before going on the
premises.
A Forest of Corn
Every farmer in Eastern North caro-
lima and Tidewater Virginia owes 1t TO
himself to make a trip to the BelhaVen
country and see the wonders OF VOL
derful country. AT point near en-
ona. few miles from BelhaVen, one
NAV stand on the embankment OF
drainage canal and see nearly 1o'oOo
acres of corn in cultivation in what ap-
pears to be. one unbroken tract. Mucn
of this corn will yield 65 to 20 bushels
tn the acre. The average perhaps Woulo
be 40 to SO bushels.
And this corn is grown with so httie
effort that the facts are nearly unoe
Ievable In manly cases 1t is not Goucheu
by a hoe or a plow after it is planted.
When this years. corn is harvested the
stalks and foliage are left on the
ground. On a dry day in the late spring
of the following year the ground
burned off The intense heat from thls
burning kills the seed of all Weeds IN
the surface soil. While the Soils stllI
hot the corn is planted in six foot rows
and six inch drills. The corn gets
start of grass and weed seeds that were
too far below the surface to nave Deeh
affected by the burning over. And when
once the corn gets started ahead OF the
weeds lon those black lands, it chokes
off the weeds. So thick is the foliage
Of the corn and so fast does it grow,
the weeds don't get chance.
Those not accustomed to black lands
might argue that the ground should not
be burned over, that all this vegetable
matter should be returned to the SOIL (
for humus But the humus OF those
black lands needs no reinforcement.
The humus of those black lands IS IN
exhaustfble-tho I am sure 1 have seen
tenant farmer in Gates county VINO
could exhaust the fertility of the best
of it in ten or a dozen years.
A Million Dollar Farmer
1 am indebted to Fred p. Latham, of
Belhaven, for a sightseeing trip over
the Belhaven country recently. Latham
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