The Mena weekly star., 1921-12-08
SFF PROSPERITY
 IN C0-OPERAIlON
r<srs to combine District, Acorn to Is.~.flo In Production and Market Inx If Fruit and Vegetables-
 f>onf<renre at De Queen

HI. erSt 4feps were taken Friday at De Queen that should unite tnc \ neonlc asonx tAe Kansas City Sou'n- s,n r.iluav from Acorn to Horatlo m
 ,aavenaent that bids fair, in a snort ueriod of time to bring about a reVo, lntion in agricultural production ana i safe. sound prosperity to the peo-
 TO make the situation clear IL IS ,,..eesa,r fo give something of the 'o,.,1,;n of fhe movement, which orig ;nafrd. so far as this section IS con see4,.n3. in <h2 De Queen territory. |.
 AZ !s well known the growing oI crops other than the staples, cottoh nnd corn. has for some years ln- 1reased largely in Sevier county III rncent qeara; until now these ogher crons far exceed, in actual cash value, fhp two forner staples. As the new industry grew, more and more IL pe- can,e apparent that new and petter marketing aystem must be deVelopea, or the hopes of the growers In pronts rn,,rt be Blasted. This was aggravat- ed greatly the past season Dy ghe vasriv increased freight rates, Whlcn in d good many instances exceeaeu Che gross value of the products shlpt'
 Facing these things there was or < eanized, with Headquarters Tn De Queen. what is known as the SeVler County Co-operative Marketing Asso- ciatioa. The usual officers were elect ed. and Glenn Fl. Wallace, a young man of unusual ability, was chosen as manager and under his direction the members pooled their crops, ana these were by MT. Wallace shlpt ana sold. The net result was to ellmlnaIe several aEencies that had formeriy taken toll from these crops Tn the space between the producer and con sl1lner, and { large increase m the re- turns received by the first With no ln- crease In cost to the. latter, With strengthened determination to nam fain nnd strengthen the organization. Some Of the leaders saw, as valu- abIe aid. the co-operation of the grow ers of centjfnous territory where ilke crops could be produced to advantage. Thru this certain Polk county men, and particularly Peter McWilliam of \ Acorn, became Interested, and 1t was ! Mr. McWilliam, already president .of the Polk County Farm Bureau, who was responsible for an invitation re-, ceivcd by Mena bankers and Mena buslnAAz men to be guests of De Queen 1ox day to study the plans fh6re jn force. with the ultimate ptr- 0ese o< orfanizing in like manner h6re. I'm d@4e set was Friday, Dees &0lb1< 2. nov realized as somewhat ! un10Kfuna<e, coming at the first part Sof the month when some of our ttron9est Iet6ers could not take the
 HoW:7cr Elmer H. sapp, cashier nk tho F1f11&fs 6 Merchants bank; l. T. M8Qf1hder, president of the First < N6}ionol} e. MI Broyles, county farm o96ok, and N. W.. St. John of The St11 with MT. McWilliam, made the txir, 6t<nt very busy day in study fnf tho work at De Queen, at Ho- ratio md &t several farms in the territory, md returned with the con- yictiou th1t the enterprise is worthy and 9hoR1ld be pushed and enlarged should become Effective in the entire proposed territory the next crop sea-
 Inc Day at De Queen.
 The Mc<1$ party was met at the De Queen 8f1tiou by about half dozen De Queen men, headed by Mir. Wal lace. After rest and breakfast the party gathered at the marketing asso- ciation headquarters, where it was met by more than a dozen De Queen business men and farmers, and in
 .>'> 2. ;:s< tour of investigation lint lasted until late in the afternoon, the cloaiuE session. being a splendid banquet at Hotel Luton that ended af- ter 10 'clock at night.
 Ihe 1lxSt place visited was that of M. x. Wicker, a farmer who came to 9e 4uo4n lew years ago from Tex ae poQEut 9 small acreage of land cQuce4oo f0 be very poor, and by get [1n8 4W4y from the usual crops, has pu1lt MP valuable property and pros- pered. Here we learned that, the first year, under Mr. Wicker's intensive plan of cultivation, l % acres of sweet potatoes, with yield of 459 bushels, brought him $713.50, besides a few { bushels sold at digging time and that the di4ereuNe between the price at Z digging and that at final sale, paid in 1uil TOT { $500 curing house, built by government plans. Also that year by year {1e acreage has increased. and now he has a curing house. filled Nftn capacity of 5000 bushels, and 184 peaches, plums, cherries, and kpexrie8 ready for bearing crops tnis year, with excellent bank credit. and has been chosen president of inc marketing Association.
 Next. the Erookside Farm was vis- 1tHa Here L. s. Stribling is manager < ':::;;::<sF z: Bone Poland China hogs are i'e att1fe crop, backed by sweet po- kafofs and eowpeas as supporting 8;nns. Some splendid animals were $n0Hll' fnnt> we were told, were pro- 31feQ W;{1out corn or like grain. Of 69QrHe <fls Harm produces other 41lek as fruits and vegetables. *Q4 plX truck is used for hauling *ittz Eord&on as the chief mule H9xa oll .khe farm.
 ex< t1e Fruit farm of B. E. Will 4f4 W44 Y141ted. Here was inspected 424 Itn1Sst, finest cared for peach uz4118 had ever seen. and
 Hr6t hand, of the efforts that
 4 1<o48ht success. The manner of IIIG and shaping the peach trees ..s ki1HK to some not acquainted
 3ye <Ie miles of gravel roads s7 @< k Q1uaf places were visited. 1tF1wberries and blackber- z 4<9 z< Au4 AF D. m. all arrived at Ho- Z Wnete the Mena folks were :. 0od dinner, after which they
 {N4 big packing shed at the
 Southern station.
 <u4Q floor, and being packed