Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1924-09-11
ton of pecans.
Independent Farmers

l
All of the foregoing statistics
which necessarily are esti-
| mates. but carefully and pains
takingly made and as accurate
as possible-go to show that,
while Ben Hill County can hold
it's own with any other county
in South Georgia in point OF cot
ton production, its agriculture is
in no sense nor measure depend
ent upon that crop, AS a matter
of fact, many of its most pros
porous and contentcd farmers
grew not a stalk of cotton this
wear. and some of them never
devoted an acre of land to. that
crop since they have been farm
ing in this county.
The Hunter brothers. M. E:
and F. j., for instance, two OF
the most progressive and pros
porous farmers in the county,
who cultivate jointly $40 acres
a few miles from Fitzgerald,
have not grown a boil of cotton
since the weevil made its ap-
pearance in this section. They
also have 130-acre farm in
Irwin County. Of their Ben Hill
County farm, 30 acres are in
soy beans, two in Soudan grass,
one in Napier grass, the remain
der in corn. velvet beans and
other feed crops, most of them
following oats and they have a
large acreage in permanent pas
ture,
OF course, they produce an
nually large quantity OF syrup,
melons, cantaloupes, etc, and
this wear they had a small acre
age of tobacco as money crop.
But they rely upon their dairy,
nerd for their major source OF
income the year round They
have Is grade Jersey cows, with
nine heifers to add to their
source of milk supply this fall
and next spring, sell butter and
cream every day in the year;
and their surplus skim milk and
they feed to hogs
and laying hens.
H. A. Troupe, another Ben
Hill farmer, started milking
cows commercially in 1910. He
has Is milk animals, Is OF them
on the list of producers turnout
the summer, His hogs and hens
carry the overhead of his
dairy, leaving the income from
his cream-approximately STU
per COW per month-.net. He has
a fine flock of pure-bred White
Leghorn hens and drove OF
grade hogs, and expects this fall
to dispose Of all of his off-grade.
swine and restock with pure7bred
animals. He says he never was
without money except during
| the wears wheE depended en-
tirelv upon cotton" He cult
Yates $50 acres; 20 in cotton,
the rest in feed and forage crops,
and that next year he expects to
plant ue.hng Lut crops that can
be fed to his live stock and mar
keted in the form of milk, eggs
| or meat.
Permanent Pasture
L. l. Parker has IL grade
Jersey cows. four milking all
s,n,n,er from which he sells
cream netting around $40 to $lZ
Iper COW each month. He expects
this fall to stock up with White
lIenphorn hens and purebred
Ihogs. He has 500 acres, three in
cotton, the rest in different field
crops and is starting a fine per-
manent pasture.
| DIR. ]. M. ]. Luke, a Fitzger-
aid physician, owns fine dairy
herd on his farm near towp, real
izing, gross, around $500 per
month from the cream produced
by his Is purebred Jersey cows,
which are manoged by expert
dairvmen. B. F. Purcell runs
proftably dairy and farm near
| Fitzgerald. He came here from
Franklin County two years ago;
] Twenty-seven years ago, Fred
Ivemeyer came to Ben HILL
County from Illinois. primarily
for the benefit of his wife's health
I which in the Northern state was
wretched. She has not realized
the meaning of the word sick
ness since making the change to
this climate. Born in Germany,
Mr.. Ivemeyer is one of the most
proficient farmers in this coun-
ty, and he and his two boys Gull
tivate 100 acres and milk COM
mercially four cows. They have
"a acres in cotton this year, the
rest in feed and sundry other
field crops The family also
keeps a flock of laying hens the