The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1921-06-16
large RANKIN DElfeAII0N VISITS
TRUCK FARMS At CRYSTAL SPRINGS

Since the advent Of the boil
weevil in this section it has been
obvious that an entirely different
farming program would have to
be arranged If our people are to
lay aside anything for ! rainy
day" Under present conditions
it is folly for farmers to depend
upon cotton for q money crop. In
fact, it can no longer be produced
at = profit.
It is . condition. and not Z the
DRY that confronts US, and it is
time that we were getting busy
finding substitute money crop.
Just what that crop will be few
have the remotest idea, and many
who think they have solved the
problem are doomed TO disappoin.-
ment when the marketing time
comes.
We believe that we can say with
out fear if contradiction that the
people in Rankin county who are
engaged in agriculture are far
above the average in intelligence,
and have much better soil than
most counties Of the state. With
this combination, we have abso-
lutte faith in their ability to work
out q plan Of farming that will
make our county and it's people
prosperous and independent of
cotton. The first step, we believe,
in this direction was taken this
week, when large delegation
from this county drove over to
Crystal Springs to investigate the
possibilities Of truck growing and
shipping, and to get first-hand in
formation from the farmers who
are engaged I'M the business and
who have made q success of it for
the past thirty-five years.
The idea Of the trip, was born in
the mind Of S. r. Myers, vice-pres-
ident Of the Rankin County Farm
Bureau, and it met the hearty sup
port Of County Agent Burks, who
has shown such q splendid dispo-
sition all along to lead our people
into more profitable farming.
In accordance with the plans
previously made, about thirty peo-
pie drove over to Crystal Springs
yesterday and spent the day a.
mong the truck growers.
Upon arrival at Crystal Springs
we found the streets crowded with
wagons, trucks, ETC., loaded with
tomatoes for shipment to northern
markets. That day about fifty
cars were shipped, and the day be
fore it was said that sixty-five cars
were shipped, which brought TO
the farmers in one day over $92,-
900 in cash. Tuesday tomatoes
were selling for IS cents 9 crate.
Early in the season the price was
about s. to 81 per crate. A crate
contains four baskets each, and
each basket contains about ten or
q dozen tomatoes, depending upon
the size of the tomato. The toma-
toes are gathered before they be-
! gin to turn red, and are assorted
by the grower before Grating. At
ter arriving at the station, two
crates from each wagon load are
TAKEN off by the inspectors and
opened and examined, and if found
to be all right i'm every way, the
load is passed, the grower being
given q ticket which permits him
to load onto the cars, and, if SELL
ing to an independent buyer, he
gets his money for the load on the
spot. However, if the tomatoes
from the two crates examined are
not up to the standard, other
crates are taken of and examined
and if found to be under the grade
the farmer is compelled to take
the entire load back home and re-
pack them. This seldom happens,
as one repacking generally causes
the grower to be careful in pre-
pairing his tomatoes for inspection.
Tomatoes is not the only crop
grown around Crystal Springs
peas, beans, cabbage, potatoes,
carrots, lettuce and many other
crops are grown ct 4 profit.
The lands that produce such
fine truck around Crystal Springs
are far below ours in point Of fer
tility. A liberal use Of fertilizer
is necessary in order to get the
stun to grow. Generally about p.
600 pounds Of high grade fertile
zer is used to the acre.
The trucking season is now just
about over, and the farmers who
care to do 50 will plant corn, pota-
toes, etc, and get = much better