Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-09-13
Irwin County Has i
i agricultural Meeting
court House Packed To Hear Sen.
George And Others

Last Saturday, Ocilla was the mecca
OF IRWIN County's most progressive
farmers, eager to hear the message
Wnich may, lead to bringing them out
VI the deplorable condition which the
poli Weev'l and the zone crop" system
has led them to.
Inc meeting was called to order at
o:O0 T. M: by Judge Oxford, who in
t.oduced the Kiwanis choir who led in
singing a stanZa of america" in
winch the entire audience Justify io;n-
ed. including about thirty negroes in
me gallery Hon. John w. Greer. of
cor ifle, one ct the best informed men
IN this section on diversification on
the farm, was the first speaker and
Haue an unusual strong impression on
MS audience with his earnest presenta-
ton OF the urgent need of the farmer
ana the duty OF the townspeople, the
banker, merchant and professional man
TO enter into the fight for the preser-
vation OF the agricultural status of
the counties which are threatened with
total annihilation by the persistence
OF our farmers to plant cotton as their
sole money crop.
Dalrylng, poultry and hogs, accord
ing to the speaker formed the best and
quickest weapons to fight the period
OF hard times and a sure return to
the supremacy of the state as the EN-
pire State of the South
Senator Walter George, statesman,
farmer and banker, spoke interestingly
and effectively on the condition of the
cotton farmer, and gave by his own
experience in the past few years, on
his farms in Doo1y County, some con-
crete examples of the value of calcium
arsenate as boil weevil destroyer
Tenants of his who inteligently ap-
piled the poison, made half bale of
cotton to the acre, whilst Others who
, failed to apply tin neighboring farms
with the same land and same cu1tiva-
ton and same fertilizer, made pitia-
Bile failure, just as the majority of
the farmers in this and other South
Georgia counties. Senator George
stressed the value of better marketing
facilities, in which the towns must
join in creating aud the need of hav-
Ing farm demonstration agents to as
sist. the farmers in making and dis
posing OF their crops at profit after
they are made. "The millions of dol
lars sent out of the state for food and
feed products annually, all of which
could and should be produced on
Georgia farms, would enrich this
State as nothing else would and in
less time-to accomplish this, accord
ing to the Senator, we simply need to
change our system of farming, cut the
cotton acreage to five acres to plow
and use the balance of the land for
food and feed stuffs, all of which
would find ready market within our
own State-or could be shipped out or
fed to live stock at profit.
Educate Georgians to use Georgia
farm products and start with the ed
ucation of the children in the schools
to Loyalty support home products as
a matter of state pride and the young
women, leaving schools, soon to be
heads of the family budget, would get
the habit to demand Georgia products
for their table,, Senator Georges dis
course, interesting and inspiring, was
given close attention for over an hour.
Mr.. Bishop of the Ashburn Cream
ery made a plea for more dairy cat
tie on the farms, utilizing the by-pro-
duct in feeding chickens and the pigs,
all of which would furnish cash dur
ing every month of the year and put
the farm operations on cash basis,
in itself great saving from the usual
term prices paid by farmers.
A resolution to request the County
Commissioners of Irwin County to en-
gage one or more farm demonstration
agents was unanimously adopted. The
resolution was presented to the meet
ing by Col. Rice of Ocilla.
The song on page three of this is
sue was rendered by the Kiwanis Club
of Ocilla and its local references
brought smiles to the faces even OF
those whose troubles gave the inspir-
alton to the parody.