Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-19
Peach, Grain and Potato
Crops Offset DamageDon
by Boil WeeviI-County in
Good Shape
BY RALP HSMITH

BY RALP HSMITH
EN- ROUTE, Jan. ia humor-
GUS incident at the expense Of the
better market campaign of The At
lanta Journal and the Country Bank
ers' association stands out as the
most impressive, If the least import
ant, feature Of a recent visit to
Thomaston, Upson county.
AS is the usual custom in the agri.
tural survey that is being made,
selected bank as my chief objec'
tive and first point of attack upon
reaching Thomaston. This course is
influenced by the invaluable aid l.
r. Adams and Fritz Jones have
been giving me, by sending out ad
vance notices of my coming.
Entering the Merchants and
Farmers bank, I found the cashier
J. A. Waller, engaged on his books.
He looked up, and I, proceeded:
"snoith's my name; I represent
The Atlanta Journal, and l am en-
Gagged in writing series OF arLlcles
On financial conditions-panklns
commerce, agriculture. ,,,,,
Then the usual pause Tor reply.
II am sorry, sir, put l Wouldn I
he interested just now, CasiIel
Waller quietly remarked as ne re-
suned work on the books.
It was a jolt calculated to sna 5
fer ones pride, if nothing more. Inc
cashier thought I was trying 10
sell him something. That was o.
vious. 1t was equally as OBVIOUS
that he was not in the Market Aoi
anything. coll vo,, anv.
thing" I suggested. II am putting
out something for nothing:
The young mans interest was IT,
awakened. u.zo,,+
Mr. Britt. who has a business just
ahioining the bank" he advised.
Work Best Remedy
Mr.. Britt soothed my injured
nride He was familiar with my
line and my work. Indeed, he knew
| more about many Of the things tnaI
T have written than I could remem
| Der. .a,
tial. active and successful business
| men CT middle Georgia. AS presl.
dent of the Farmers and Merchants
| hank. he is familiar with the prog
| ress and development OF Upson
county. and it is gratifying to re-
mark upon his wonderful falth IN
the character and integrity OF the
people. 11,,
county" he said, as we sat around
comfortable stove in Mr.. Brltt >
office. with D. A. Dunham' y.
Parks, Mr.. Kersey and others. our
| t10rn1IOh1V that
the bst remedy for conditions that
confront them today is work-work
and plent of it. The farmers know
inst as well as the bankers and mer-
chants that all of us have been Hv-
ing too easy-too much play ana eX-
traya gance and too little work. Ihat
is one of the chief ills Of this and
other communities.
"I sell mules, among other things
-Thomaston used to be one OF the
big mule markets of Georgia-and L
have lots of money owing me-. Col
1ections are slow and unsatisfactory,
but | am not disturbed about even
tually getting my money from the
farmers. Only today I met farmer
who owes me $3.50. He paid $50 on
account.
"'That's all the money I can
scrape together he said, adding
that he didn't know when he would
have any more. You can take back
your mules. That is agreeable to
me-
"'What are your plans for the
future?" I asked. What you you ex-
pect to do to help your condition"
eel am going to do just what L
did before we all went prosperity
| hoo ly IN
and work like hell, and 1 am going
to live Just as cheaply as the Lord
will let me live the farmer an
swered.
Great Peach Section
| "Of course" laughed Mr.. Britt, Il
told him to keep the mules. He'll
pay me when he can, and I believe
he will make a substantial reduction
in the Indebtedness next year, de-
spite the boil weevil and other
things"
Epson county's normal cotton
production is $4,000 bales. Last year
the county ginned only 2,400. The
bool weevil destroyed the other. In
consequence, conditions, generally
speaking, are not as fine and dandy
as they once were.
But as Mr.. Durham observed, Up
|
dependent solely upon cotton.
1--WE have a great peach section
here-the best, we believe, in the
south, and we are engaging more
extensively in this industry every
year. said Mr.. Durham.
EYES," interrupted Mr.. Britt, Cup
son county shipped last season $50
cars of peaches-the finest you ever
saw-and they brought back to our
people $250,000. Epson county
peaches sold for a premium of so
cents per crate above the market"
| In considering the future it is i'm
portant to observe right here that
Mr.. Dunham's statement about the
gradual extension of the peach in
dustry was bit conservative. Over
100000 trees have been planted al
ready, and, in addition, not a few
pecan orchards are coming on.
''And besides the actual produc-
ton of peaches, our people are en-
gaging in selling budded trees" add
ed Mr.. Britt. cover 1000 bushels
of peach seed have been planted and
will be budded. These will be dis
tributed at from $50 to $125 per
thousand
Good Crops
Although the cotton crop suffer
ed from the weevii, the farmers of
! Epson produced an unusually large
lot of corn, oats, hay and grain
plenty of corn, in fact, to carry them
through the winter. Some wheat
was produced, and is being rolled
for home consumption at a little
roller mill in Thomaston. An abun.
dance of sweet potatoes, gallons on
gallons of sorghum and a fair sup.
ply of pork and beef have helped the
situation throughout the county.
There are eight or ten potato cur.
ing. houses in the county, and guam.
titles of sweets hive been stored and
cured. They will be shipped next
spring on rising market.
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