The Wilmington morning star., 1947-12-06
BY H. A. STALLINNGS.

DIV L. a. .
SUPPLYING drove to Supply
to talk with ]. E. Dodson, the
agricultural agent for Brunswick
county, and had the genuine
pleasure and privilege Of chat
ting with q philosopher. You
cannot sit around and converse
with Dodson without enjoying his
viewpoints. He is the rare type
of philosopher, the one who
keeps both feet on the ground
and is not theoretical. We would
prefer writing about Dodson's
philosophy instead of his conclu-
sions as county agent, but that
might be personal. In addition
newspaper man never repeats
off the record comments.
| Dodson estimates the reduc-
ton in tobacco acreage will cost
Brunswick county $50, 1000 in 1948.
How much of that 100000 can
be recouped? Here are the con-
clusions Dodson has reached.
all the time let the farmer give
his attention to making a living
on his own farm, and not having
to purchase a living. If he does
this, the farmer is Independent,
no matter how small his profit
| is, and he cannot be crowded
off his farm by any reduction in
tobacco acreage, by any depres-
sion, or by any economic crisis.
He can live and keep on living
by means of his own farm.
Second, The main hope of get
ting back part of this $50, 900
lies in increased livestock pro-
duction and increased sweet po-
tato production. Dodson empha-
sizes that if the farmer will give
stricter attention on the prepar-
ations, the care and fertilization,
the suckering, and the other de-
tails of raising and marketing
tobacco he can make just as
much off the reduced tobacco
acreages he did off the pre-
sent tobacco acreage. If this
were done, the loss from tobacco
would be nil and the increases
in livestock and sweet potato
acrea oe would he net gain.
Dodson practices what he
breaches. He has farms of his
own and he is not wholly depen-
dent on tobacco money. He has
two thousand laying leghorn
hens. He averages seventy dozen
eggs a day. He sees that the
eggs are prepared for market,
clean, fresh, in attractive car
tons with his name thereon. The
freshness is guaranteed. AS
result he sells all of his eggs
within a radius of thirty miles
of his farm, the main markets
being Wilmington and Shallotte.
Some advantages of Bruins
wick county are that it has very
few tenants. Most of the farms
are owner-occupied. Therefore,
if each farmer makes his own
living on his own farm, there
will be no unemployed caused
by the tobacco loss. Southport
provides for the small farmer
who has some time to spare pro-
fitable employment in the fish
ing industry. No county values
subsistence farming but until
each farm is sef-supporting this
fishing employment at Southport
lis an important factor.
Another thing found in Bruins
wick county not encountered in
others is a large income from
timber. The Regal Paper Com
pany, The international Paper
Company, the West Virginia
Pulp and Paper Company have
large holdings. At present they
are saving and cultivating their
holdings generally, and are buy
ing pulp wood from small timber
owners. If the small timber own
er follows carefully the details
of the scientific marketing of
timber, he has a timber income
each year, he steadily improves
his timber total, and his timber
actually becomes an endowment
fund, and only the interest is
spent each year. The interest
being marketing that helps and
improves the timber holdings.
The timber income in Bruins
wick county is quite large.
AS everyone in North Caro-
lima knows the fish, shrimp and
oyster income in Brunswick
county averages two million dol
lars a year. Two million dollars
lhelps anv county.