Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1924-09-11

1 one Vi tuOoN "A't
adopted this systemtrthe cow
hog-hen plan--is sta on his
land and making good.
Cotton Yield
This year the county IS pro-
ducing $1,000 acres of cotton, as
! against 1880 acres in 1928, with
the prospect of yield almost
four times as great as that OF
Hast year. The 1923 cotton pro-
duction of the county was only
| 1000 bales. County Agent Ow-
ems estimates the 1924 yield at
between 5000 and 5000 bales,
Asked as to the responsive
| ness of the farmers and business
men of Ben Hill County to adj
vice on growing, poisoning, etc,
the county agent replied formal
ly. $50 far, very satisfactory
! this year." and this, no doubt,
accounts in large measure tor
the 1924 success in raising cot
lton-Mr. Owens advice i'll posi-
tive terms, being to hold down
the acreage to the minimum and
| to cultivate and poison inten-
sively.
But this year the story of cot
ton is by no means the story OF
Ben Hill agriculture. as it was
to too great an extent in former
wars. Conversely ,liere is the
real story
Four or FIVE years ago Ben
Hill farmers, a few of them, be-
gan growing tobacco III a sort
OF experimental way. Last year
the tobacco acreage was oO
acres; this year it is $50 acres,
which has made bumper yield
of the weed, selling at top mar
ket prices. The feed crops acre
age this year is from 80 to- 50
per cent greater than was that
of 1928; there are something like
l,50O acres in permanent pasture
this year, as against negligible
acreage before the boil weevil
'hit." Between so and 90 Ben
Hill farmers are now milking
cows commercially, and some
thing like Is per cent OF the
county's farmers are, for the
first time in their lives, assidu--
ously following the approved
Regulation cow-hog-hen plan OF
FARMING
Mich Cows
In the "all-cotton" days a
one-armed man could count on
his fingers the number OF cows
that were being MIXED CONNER
cially on Ben Hill farms. This
year the county is supporting
H., 500 head of mich cows, and
that number undoubtedly will be
at least doubled this fall and
winter, after the feed crops now
growing become available for
| use. Five years ago there were
| five cream separators in the
county. last year the number had
grown to between Is and 81;
this year it is somewhere be-
tween so and 90.
That, in part. is the real story
of Ben Hill County's rural sta
tus.
In midsummer, 1924, the
county contained between 10000
and $4,000 hogs-big, little, old
and young. Low pork prices dis
! couraged the hog industry to
such an extent that probably not
more than 5000 hogs will be
grown out and marketed in the
county this year, but on account
of the marked upward trend Of
the market and the prospects OF
record high prices in the near fu-
lture. it is safe to predict that the
swine population of Ben Hill
County, or of Georgia as
whole. will be doubled, if moi
.rehled. in 1925.
A few years ago the farmers
Of this county produced few
more hens than were needed to
produce eggs and meat for home
consumption but at the present
thine Ben Hill contains between
$4,000 and $4,000 chickens, the
major portion of the flocks be
ing handled commercially by
farmers and farmers wives. II
is impossible now to print the
record of the vast number OF
chickens and of eggs that have
been shipped from the county
thus far during 1924.
This is more of the real story
| of Ben Hill agriculture:
In the county are rs individ-
ual pecan groves. aggregatlng
something like $50 acres; be-
tween 500 and 900 acres in peach
les, divided among a large num-
her of home orchards and three
commercial orchards. 1t has been
demonstrated that Ben Hill can
lpnoduce peaches prohtabiy on a
commercial scale. and also that
Iperhaps no county in Georgia
lis better adapted to the produc-