Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-11-23

other crops that are even more
profitable to raise than cotton?
| Can not considerable money be
| raised from poultry raising in
the south? Would it not be well
to have a larger number of DEM
onstration farms? Any sugges.
tions along this line will be APP
preciated.
In response to your inquiry, per-
NIT me to say that do not believe
| it desirable or practicable to inst1-
tute any plan whereby the cultiva-
ton Of cotton will be abandoned
throughout the south for one year.
Even under the bane of boil weevil
infestation, our cotton crop in Geor-
gia this year will probably be worth
SIPS, 100000. If, through legislative
enactment, its abandonment were
necessary, from what source would
this very large sum of money be Sc
cured? There is no other crop that
can be made to take the place Of
cotton Immediately. There is none,
in fact, which ever can take its
place in this section Of the country.
It will always be the money crop
of the south even if the yield per
acre, as you point out, is notorious
| ly low.
We must raise the standard OF
production. This Is quite possible.
[ think the scourge our people are
undergoing now will force them to
do this. Certainly, weevil damage in
this state can be minimiZed another
year rs to SO per cent over what we
suffered during the present season
~ ~ royon1ipS q1rn16V
known, and which may be unre'
servedly put into practice. The fact
that lots Of people will not use them
is unfortunate. 1t is equally unIor-
tunate that all the people in the
world are not rich and prosperous.
agree with you that al-cottou
of itself is a mistake. When II Is
made q surplus and money crop
however, it occupies an entirely oil
ferent economic position from thae
ordinarily accorded it. Our people
are learning something about diver
sification, and they are increasing
the output in this direction very ms
terially along a number OF Well-o.S-
fined lines. For instance, the Yalue
of our agricultural crops and live
stock products in 1922 will be ap-
proximately 100000, 900. Therefore,
we will have $275,O00,000 of revenue
from other than cotton sources. IN
other words, we are getting between
50 and $3.50 for non-cotton sources
as compared with 81 from cotton
sources. I think there will be a
widening in the direction indicated
in the years to come.
The time for producing cotton
with the indifferent negro and the
mule has passed. What we need
now is 10000 trained leaders, or even
SO, 900 who may go out on our farms
and plantations, assume immediate
control thereof, live on the land and
see that cotton cultivation is organic
ed and directed along constructive
lines. A movement in this direction
has begun. 1t will, Of course, take
years to work it out, but I believe
we are on our way.
Certainly we need to emphasize
poultry raising IN the south, and par
ticularly in this state. We are still
importing $20,000,000 worth of poul-
try products annually. We are max
ing progress, nevertheless. This year
we have nearly one hundred students
enrolled in the poultry husbandr7
courses. This shows that our PEG
pie are thinking very intensiveiv
about this subject and it's possibIi
ties. No doubt domestic fowls will
help in the fight aga. INST insects. I'm
fortunately, we have no evidence in
available form as yet which Indicates
that they may be made to aid ma
terially in the intimidation of wee
vii damage.
I hardly think we need any addi-
tional demonstration farms. We
have hundreds of these scattered
over the state now. Our country
agents are responsible for the dem
onstrations which have ordinarily
been made on these farms. Thou
sands of people have been shown
hundreds of times that we can rails"
a bale Of cotton to the acre where
we have been raising only one-thlrd
Of a bale. 1t has been demonstrated
to the satisfaction of the people Of
Georgia that we can raise a bale
and upward per acre even under
weevil conditions.
The only remedy for the situat ton
as see it is INTEL gent supervision
through the agency OIL trained OK
perts who live on the land and d.
not try to perform miracles of long
distance farming from banks and
commercial houses situated in the
nearby towns and cities. I am III
favor Of putting on an educational
campaign of sufficient magnitude to
convince our people that the solu-
ton Of the difficulties by which they
are now confronted is to be brought
about primarily through the in
auguration of a new type of farm
practice in which scientific manage.
ment is accorded the recognition it
is entitled to receive.