Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1926-12-30
I. C. Westbrook, Cotton Special
State College of Agriculture

u, State College of Agriculture
Out of every period of adversely
arises new thoughts and ideas which
result in higher standards Of eff
cheney and more economic production.
Necessity is indeed the mother of in
vention.
There has been much talk about
the eighteen million bale crop OF cot
ton and its disastrous effect upon the
South. There is a feeling among
some classes that if the South could
get away from cotton entirely. pros
perity would reign and everybody
would be happy. Would this be the
case? The pastures farthest away
look the greenest. Despite the low
price of cotton, there are Georgia
farmers who are making as high as
$500 net profit per acre for their
cotton this year. They are doing
IL at time when some of their neigh
bors are barely making enough to
pay for their fertilizer.
The cotton farmers who make a
profit every year are those who OBJ
tain large yields per acre. The cot
ton farmers who just break even or
lost money most years are those who
have low yields of cotton per acre. A
very simple problem, isn't it?
The average yield of cotton per
acre in 1925 was 1853 pounds of line.
The average cost of production was
about Ice per pound, which was close
to the average selling price. The
farmers who obtained bale per acre
produced it at a cost of &c per pound
and made net profit of $4,000 per
acre. The higher the yield per acre,
the lower the cost Of production, and
! he greater the margin of profit. The
cost of production for the 1926 crop
is only slightly less than the 1925
crop. The average yield for Georgia
this year will be approximately ITS
pounds of lint cotton per acre.. Com
pare the average man" with the
bale per acre or more man and solu-
tion for the problem is evident.
While production of large acre
yields involves all of the practices in
cident to good farming, there are Ger
tain phases of the problem that should
receive special attention. They are
as follows:
/. Installation of practical soil
building program.
2. Planting cotton only on the
best land.
8. Cutting out of marginal or low
producing lands which will not pro-
duce profitable yields of cotton. Di-
verting these lands to pasture, hay
and timber.
a. Intelligent and liberal fertili-
zation.
s. Thorough preparation and till
age.
6. Liberal use of high quality
seed.
z. Control of insect pests.
We will never solve our cotton
problems by running away from
them. Unfortunately this has been
the tendency in the past, not only on
the part Of our farmers, but with
our business men and bankers as
well.
1t has ben the custom during
years of over-production Of cotton
and low prices for the farmer, bust
ness and bangor to say don't talk
to me about cotton" 81 don't want
to hear about it. "Cotton is the
curse of the South" etc.
Do you suppose the dairyman
would learn to be better dairyman
if when visited by adversely he should
go into the hog business and refuse
to think or discuss dairying? Ger
tainly not. The only way to solve
dairy problems is by thinking in
terms of dairying. Why shouldn't
this same principal be applied to cot
ton? We will never be able to make
cotton yield the prosperity to the
South that it should until we can
get our people to thinking cotton, to
appreciate instead of abusing, the
heritage that God has given US. Why
should we assume this attitude? In
order to grow more cotton? No. It,
would mean the production of less
cotton. 1t would mean putting cot
ton production on an economic basis
"a profitable basis. 1t would mean
large economic yields per acre. In
order to make the most money out of
cotton, it must be produced at low
cost, and in order to produce at low
cost, large yields per acre are es-
sential.
To bring about high yield per acre
and low cost of production will ne
cessitate concentrating on small
acreages. 1t will mean cutting out a
large part of our cotton acreage that
has been producing cotton at a loss
and helping to bring about over-pro-
duction. 1t would leave us land
enough to produce an abundance of
food and feed as well as other cash
crops. 1t will enable us to enlarge
and improve our pastures. thereby