The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-11-05
TOBACCO CROP
ADDSTOW WEALTH
OF THE FARMER.
Southern Grower Finds
DiversificatiOn Panacea
For Most OF Ills
BY II. NJ. PARRISH
(By Leased Wire to Age.Heraldl

Of cotton, which with its ever-present
weevil menace has kept the larder Of
the farmers bare for the past four or
five years, peachs and tobacco have
been added, with the result that the
farmers have come into their own.
Their day of fat and plenty is now at
hand.
A banner peach crop, most too boun-
tiful, in fact, for the realization OF
highest prices sufficiently large cot
ton production. with the product selling
around 2S cents per pound; and rec
ord tobacco crop, one lot bringing the
remarkable and record high price OF
$1.5O a pound, have brought about the
change for the better.
Tobacco Biggest Factor
And the tobacco. at present under
the process of marketing, is the CHIEF
contributing cause to the farmers Jubl'
lation.
From the days when first the golden
leaf, tanning in the fields, began te
bear promise of good yield, estima'
tions were made of bountiful supply
adequate demand and good prices. But
that the estimators fell far short of the
true conditions is rapidly making ltsel1
evident.
They failed to estimate that the
farmers would realize from the sale oil
their tobacco undreamed of high prices
They made no mention of jubilatior
tc follow-and therein they erred.
For the growers of the golden leaf
have hauled the tobacco into the many
giant warehouses, have listened hap
PLY to the barking voices of hoarse auc
tioneers, and have been enabled once
again to enjoy the privilege of sitting
back and letting the money roll into
their pockets.
Record Price Foreseen
1t is a picture quite happily con
trasted with that of few years ago
The tobacco, large quantities of which
have been knocked down at 40 and DC
cents per pound, is on the road to the
establishment of a record price.
An average pound price of 25 cents
for the entire sales is believed conser
vative estimate.
This years crop is authoritatively
estimated to be three times the size OF
last years and demand is such that
selling has become simply a matter Of
having the product on hand and bar
gaining for the best price.
From the dull, listless hopelessness
Of discouraged farmers, the success OF
the tobacco marketing has turned grow
ers to fevered activity and markets pre-.
sent stirring picture, Farmers are
hurrying about with pleased express
sions and an air of hopefulness abides
that preparations are already under
Gov ha MI ~
ger and better" tobacco crop next sea
son than ever before. Farmers have
realized that it is cotton alone and
starve, or diversified farming and
plenty. AndEfhey have decided in favor
of the latter.
New Berries.
What are the new berries you have
developed" / asked Mr.. Burbank.
For all his achievements, Luther Bur
bank is the most modest man and, like
most scientific workers, more interested
in his experiments and studies than in
talking about them. AS a matter of
fact he has developed new varieties OF
apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums
prunes, cherries and ounces. He has
introduced more than sixty varieties of
plums and prunes, crossing strains of
European and japanese with those of
our native American species.
He has developed plums of gigantic
size-stoneless plums-plums which
bear in midsummer-plums which are
so firm as to withstand shipment across
the continent. He has developed new
fruit, the plumcot, a cross between the
plum and apricot. Then there is the
primus berry, a cross between the dew
berry and the Siberian raspberry; the
phenomenal berry, happy crossing be-
tween the dewberry and the Cuthbert
raspberry. and, last but not least, the
crystal white blackberry.
plants are pliable," Burbank said
in answer to my question how he had
achieved his many varied successes.
You can teach them to do almost any
thing. BY crossing l get variations,
and then 1 select and select. When l
see exceptional qualities of desirable
type 1 save the seed of this exceptional
individual and continue the same pro-
cess of selection among the progeny
through successive generations"
Burbank has made fundamental
study of the laws of heredity and APP
piled them to his plant experiments.
Selection or line breeding with the
method of cross pollenizing the differ
ent varieties or species are responsible
for the many new kinds and varieties
of fruit, flowers and vegetables which
he has developed.
II have just completed a big con-
tract with Japan" Burbank continued.
ito furnish them a special tree of large
leaved mulberry tree which will be of
great value to their silk industry"
A special kind of wheat developed by
Burbank, which is unusually large and
white, is now being introduced all over
the world.
The new Burbank tomatoes ripen a
earlier and peel easily when
fresh, while he has trained the peas
to ripen all at once and to bear two
crops year.
On some beds we observed paper COW
erings. II do that to prevent the
growth of weeds and also to save the
moisture" Burbank explained. ~
learned that from the Hawaiian
Islands"
Modest About Posing.
We passed the mimosa, the sensi-
tive plant which closes its leaves at
the human touch. Burbank himself re-
sembles it a little, for when asked to
pose for his picture he obviously tried
to evade it. But when pressed again
he finally gave in with sly smile say
ing like the Indians "I'll let you if
you give me a quarter"
We were walking down paths Dor
lered by lovely Shasta daisies which
combine the strains from the European,
A ,arican and IonaneSp daisy
You have been so successful in mix
ng up different races and breeding
fruits and flowers interna tionally-
why could you not breed an interna-
-ional race of men that would forget
heir old hates, unite all their good
qualities and thus produce a stronger
ind finer human race? Would that
help solve the eternal question of in