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gijspi be Litton (5a3ette Published Weekly Entered at the Postoffice at Tifton, Georgia, as mail matter of the second class. fno. L. Herring.... Editor and Manager THE TIFTON GAZETTE, TIFTON, GA n FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1916. Official Organ City of Tifton and Tift County, Georgia. SATURDAY NIGHT. When Stegall Stopped Growing. Stegall was a runt. Although scarcely past middle age, his face ■was wrinkled and old. His stature was but big boy size, and his whiskers were sandy and scraggly. But there was a twinkle in his wat ery blue eyes that proved youth still lingered inside. One night, as we shared the featherbed in the lean-to shedroom of the big log house, tir ed but not sleepy after a day of replanting corn following a spring freshet and an invasion of field larks, he told me why he had never attain' ed manhood’s growth. Stegall had a habit of taking a chew of to bacco on retiring, which was not so bad, as he always turned his head sidewise to spit against the log wall. But as he talked, he lay flat of his back and tobacco amber would trickle down his throat. He would clear, "ahem!” to relieve this and the amber went up, descending on friend or foe alike in a little shower of spray. One soon learned to jerk the cover over his head when the warning sounds came, but nevertheless, it kept a fellow busy even if he was doing nothing but listening “Old man Johnson, who lived two miles across the creek from us, had six gals, and every one of ’em was as purty as red shoes with blue strings. It was a great gathering place for boys on Saturday eveningB and Sundays, and I spent the best part of my week-ends there. "I was unusually large for my age, ’though only thirteen, looked sixteen. That didn’t make any difference with Ma, however. She had kept roe in frocks as long as she could, be, cause I was the youngest and there were no gals, and after I got into shirts I thought she never would let me have pants. You know, boys in them days wore long shirts, without pants ’till about the age they want to put on long pants nowadays, and knew nothing about underwear, except in the winter. It was cheap er and saved washing and sewing—and be sides, pants cloth was mighty scarce, for we ^jmade it at home and wool was so high Pa wouldn’t leave out much for the wheel and loom, "Well, I was still wearing long shirts when the gals got to looking good to me. Sometimes strangers might laugh a little, but the folks around in the settlement were all used to it. and , - the majority of the boys were in the same fix I wuz. i?. "I’ll never forgit 'tell my dying day the last p; ’ Saturday ev’nin’ I wore a long shirt. It was f -the ev’nin’ I stopped growing. It was summer time, and we knocked off for the week at 12, , .1 hurried through with my jobs, put feed in the j! troughs for the stock, cut kitchen wood of sap '• and poor heart and carried in for Sunday shucked corn for the hogs and left it wher; Pa could get it Then I drawed a tub of water ^ with the well sweep and piggin bucket, strip ped under the wash shelter and scrubbed with homemade lye soap, put on a fresh ironed, clean white long shirt, and was off fur old man Johnson’s. “Five boys had beat me there, and they and the gals were all out on the piazza, it ■ was long and wide, with a long shelf holding 1 two cedar water-buckets and two tin washpans f just to the left of the front steps. There were ^ circular holes cut in the shelf for the pans to set in to keep ’em from wearin’ out, and on » the two piazza posts hung clean, sweet-amellin’ p Water-gourds. On the ground in front, watered ( by the dumpings from the pans, grew two big t‘ cape jessamine bushes. to the house, made the old man drive up a cow that wuz givin milk, and raised him by hand. Old Missus Johnson finally put him out of the house but he had the run of the balance of the place, and was as mean as gar-broth. He staid in the yard all the time, and would hook or butt everything over that wasn’t too big fur him. Besides that, he would chaw all the cloth he could pick up, especially if it was a little salty. You know how some cows are, that way. MissuS Johnson and the gals had to hang their washing out uv his reach, and even then he got lots of things they didn’t want ’im to have. They called ’im ‘Buck.’ Well, ’bout the time it looked like the gals would go into highstericks and the boys would throw spasms, I cracked a joke I thought was my best, just to finish ’em. Then, oh Lordy! i felt somethin’ cold touch the small of my naked back! I tried to turn and look, but something held me fast. I craned my neck and looked over my shoulder, across the water-shelf. There was that infernal Buck, standing with his fore feet on the edge of the piazza floor, and he had chewed my shirt nearly up to my shoul ders! (I guess the flutterin’ white attracted him, and it may have been a little salty with sweat.) The boys and gals had been watchin’ him, and that was what wuz nearly killin’ ’em. It wuz his nose I had felt. “I give a jump, and yell and pulled, but Buck had swallowed a couple of feet of the cloth and I was fast. It was homespun and wove and a horse couldn’t tear it. But my jumping scared Buck, his feet slipped off the plank ends, and his coming down jerked me underneath the water-shelf to the ground. "I lit on my feet, pullin’ and squallin’. Buck bellowed and pulled, and I thought one time would carry me off, for he was sure strong. Finally, I got a good toe-holt, set myself and pulled for all I was wuth. Something give somewhere, and I was free! Down the walk I went for the front gate. Buck right after me, and bellowing with every jump! "Of course, I ought to have backed away, as they say courtiers get out of the presence of royalty, but I didn’t have time to think. My first impulse wuz to git away, and I went. The only thing to do, once my back was toward the gals, was to git away as fast as I could There wuz a long walk down to the front gate but I cleared ten feet at a stride. I didn’t stop to open the gate, but took it with a long jump and hit the ground on the other side runnin’ Buck stopped at the gate, but I didn’t slow up I knew as long as my back wuz in sight, the gals could see. They had squealed and hid their faces, but I couldn’t trust ’em, and the boys were hollerin’ with what breath they had So down the lane I went, my toes throwin’ up showers of sand behind me, and the wet end of what was left of the back of my shirt catching up and touching my shoulder-blades about ev< ery ten jumps. It was a few hundred miles to the end of the lane, but I turned the fence cor ner at last and no longer felt the eyes of those gals hitting my naked back like pinpints. They talk about the unprotected rear of an army I know just exactly how it is. And no Ynnk ever run at Manassas like I did that day. kept on running ’till I got home and hid in the shuck-pen until dark. “I never went back to Johnson’s, and I would walk two miles to keep from meetin one of the gals. “I never growed any more after that day. 1 MERCER’S GOOD EXAMPLE. Another splendid example has been set by Mr. J. R. Mercer, of Dawson. For many years he has been practicing crop diversification and five years ago tried intensive wheat growing, So successful was his experiment that the acre age has been increased in that section of Ter rell from year to year until now wheat is one of the standard crops. Having shown that he was not obliged to grow cotton, Mr. Mercer now expects to prove that he can grow cotton. Hearing that the guinea fowl was a voracious eater of the boll weevil, he began last spring buying all the grown guineas he could get and setting guinea eggs. As a result, the Dawson News tell us that he now has about 700 guineas, and pects to increase the number to 1,000 by the time the weevils make their appearance in the cotton next spring. These guineas will be dis tributed among Mr. Mercer’s tenants, and are expected to do their part toward picking the weevils from their cotton. Nearly all birds and fowl are enemies to the boll weevil, because nearly all of them feed on insects and bugs. The Gazette has urged farmers to prevent the slaughter of birds on their lands and to procure the largest drove of turkeys and chickens possible. A man in Texas informs the editor that a drove of turkeys kept a twelve-acre field of cotton clear of weevils for him one year. We do not pay enough attention to raising domestic fowls in this section. Chickens are always scarce, eggs often hard to get and both bring fancy prices. During the early winter, turkeys bring from $2 to $4 each, according to size, on the Tifton market, and while the rais ing of them requires care, it is attended with very little expense. Why not keep the hunters off your lands this winter, and increase your flocks of fowls as fast as opportunity offers? Turkeys are no experi ment, nnd they will hunt the weevils. Guineas are as yet an unknown quantity, for they are prone to wander, but they are industrious feed ers, and once they are shown where the weevils are will doubtless need no further attention The writer has often wondered why more peo ple in South Georgia do not raise guineas sipc eggs have been so high. The guinea is a ma chine that will produce eggs like a Connecticut invention was said to once shell out wooden nutmegs. A sport of childhood was finding a guinea nest, and sometimes one would contain as many as 100 eggs. We will watch the outcome of Mr. Mercer’s experiment with interest. We are sure his guineas will yield handsome returns in eggs, and expect them to make themselves a factor in the solution of the boll weevil problem. Mr. Mercer has done the farmers of South Geor gia a favor in making the experiment. A SUGAR REFINERY. Attracted by the steps being taken at Tifton to provide the farmers of this section with cash market for other crops than cotton, Mr, E. R. Garrett writes from Sumner to suggest that a plant be put in here for the manufacture of sugar from beets. The sugar beet will grow here and affords very satisfactory yield. Mr. Garrett says he planted these beets this year and they grew to weigh from five to twelve pounds each. The editor remembers a crop of these beets grown by Major P. Pelham some twenty years ago on his Deerland place, in Worth county, which “The boys and gals wuz settin’ on two pine B«ve some wonderful specimens, benches along the log wall. Of course, bein’ While the sugar beet has never been culti the last comer, I went to the water-bucket for vated here for market, if a refinery was provid a drink, although I didn’t want any, and then turned with my back against the water-shelf to talk awhile before pickin’ out the gal I liked best—already had her picked—and settin’ down by her. "I was a right smart cut-up in them days, and the other young folks had laughed at me 'till it turned my head. So instid of settin’ down I begun to crack jokes at the boys and palaver the gals, and when they got to gigglin’—which was an easy job, 1 was soon sayin’ all the fool things and cuttin* up all the monkey shines 1 lould think of. "Never in my life had I made sich a hit a3 I did that evenin’. Everything I said was fun- ■ ny, and I just loomed. You know what a fool & boy can be when a gal giggles? Well, 1 was fell of that and then some. , "Purty soon I noticed that the boys were jhmghing as much as the gals, and it looked yflce these would go into fits. Two uv ’em cram- |Wd,Jtheir apurns in their mouths and choked. The boys laughed .and rocked, and hollered. I kfelt nerMc, like a clown we saw in the circus in Albany. "Old man Johnson had a bull yearling that ;was the pet of the place. His mother died of the hollow-horn the second winter before when be was a tiny calf, and the gals had toted him ON WHEAT GROWING. At a time when every farmer in this section is looking for a profitable crop to take the place of cotton, of especial interest is the bul letin, issued this week by the Second Congres-j sional District Agricultural School, “Wheat in. Southwest Georgia.” This bulletin was pre pared by S. L. Lewis, principal of the school, and gives all necessary information in regard to wheat growing in this section. Part of this is based on experiments made on the school farm. Wheat has been grown very successfully there, and an average yield of over fifteen bushels per acre obtained. The average yield in the United States is 13 4-5 bushe.ls to the That above the average has been ob tained her.e disproves the fallacy that this is not a wheat country. It is not a wheat coun try because it has always been a cotton coun try. The Gazette does not advise the Southwest Georgia farmer to grow wheat for market. At present prices this would be profitable, but we have no assurance these prices will hold long. But every man who runs a farm should grow enough to supply its needs for bread and feed- stuffs. This would make it unnecessary to grow cotton to buy bread. Being a cotton country, the average farmer knows very little about growing wheat. When he undertakes the business, he will 1 probably make costly mistakes unless he consults some one who knows. The bulletin gives just the information the man new to the business needs, and those contemplanitg putting in a few acres of wheat this fall should write the school for a copy. It will be furnished free. Commenting on the fact that the order of Pour le Merite, the highest German military decoration, has been conferred upon Lieut, Arnauld della Perriere, commander of subma rine U-35, for having sunk 126 enemy ships, the New York World notes that so far the German government has failed to disclose the name of the commander of the submarine that sunk the Lusitania. Only a small official circle in Ber lin knows the identity of the man who perpe trated the greatest crime of this war of ruth, lessness. and those who know maintain a sig nificant silence. Which leads to the comment Whatever attitude the German government takes in its diplomatic notes toward the sinking of the Lusitania, whatever German statesmen say or whatever German newspapers print, the real German opinion is to be found in this un broken silence of one year five months and twelve days. NOT ALL PIE. IF YOU APPRECIATE SERVICE t joy pat- Drug You will ronizing Store, for re gar diets of how small your pur chase may be, we rush your order to you at once. This is another reason why this' is the “Most Popular Corner in Tifton.” Have you your bulbs yet?' line of Hyacinthi cissus, Freesia am nese Lilies. Don’t forget us when you want anyth! Standard Pr< medicines. Phone 185 Brooks Pharmacy - v M? "Th* Nott Popular Corntr in Tifton” U BEN HILL COT FIRST PRIZE ed they could doubtless be raised at a profit The soil is much the same as that on which handsome yields are obtained in the West. But before trying the sugar beet, we should utilize to advantage our sugar-cane crop, the larger part of which is wasted by injudicious handling, especially in years when the yield is large. Something over a year ago two Tifton busi ness men, realizing the opportunities offered, took steps toward establishing a syrup refinery here. Other matters interfered and the plans were not carried to maturity, but the Gazette understands that the project has not been abandoned, and such a refinery may be put in before another fall. If it is, another ensh market will be offered for a crop which the wiregrass farmer knows all about raising. After a syrup refinery, it may be that the susrar beet industry can be developed until sugar refinery will be warranted. Just now, however, Tifton has her hands full. With the maturity of our packing house and kindred project*, we will be ready to take the refinery under advisement. With cotton selling around twenty cents, banks bulging with money and prices in all lines aviating, there is a tendency to paint the con dition of the cotton growers in hues a little more roseate than the facts warrant. Lest we forget, it is well enough to take a look at the other side of things: While cotton is bringing a record price, it must be remembered that the bulk of the crop was sold by the growers below fifteen cents, and that very little is on hand for twenty. While fifteen cents was a phenomenal price, yet everything the grower bought with his fif teen cent cotton money except his newspaper was paid for at figures so high that he actually received, in equivalent values, less than ten cents a pound, compared with four years ago. Although this is still October, the cotton crop has been out of the average grower’s hands for weeks and with his fall purchases to make, his taxes to pay and winter’s clothing and shoes to provide for himself and family, he has no cot ton to sell. Many still have debts left over from the two lean years, and there is no prospect of a cotton crop ahead to pay any of them next year. This has been a great fall for debt-paying, and many have paid. For that reason, bankers, fertilizer and supply men have more money on hand than for many years previous. But before we get the idea fixed into our heads that the cotton grower is rolling in wealth, it is well to remember that the cotton crop this year was a very short one, and that the high price of everything cut the purchase power of the dollar in half But the cotton crop would pay debts, dollar Considering the great things expected of them, the Rumanians are making a mighty poor showing as fighters. They marched across their border and occupied the enemy’s country bravely enough, but at the first real pinch of battle they turned and fled. The troops were green and when the seasoned veterans of two years of war hit them, their line broke and their organization crumbled like a pie crust. Rumania waited a long time to get'into the war, but it seems that she got in a year too soon for her own good. The Republicans, if they are responsible for the immigration of negroes to the doubtful states for election purposes, will doubtless be very much surprised if the Department of Jus tice arraigns them in the Federal courts. In that event, if the Department wants to convict, it will only be necessary to put Col. Roosevelt on the stand and let him prove what he said about the Republicans four years ago. Hamilton Second in Award* Georgia-Florida Fair. Valdosta, Oct. 28.—In the awar of prizes for the best county •gridd tural displays at the Georgia-Florida j fair, Bon Hill received first prize, 1 Hamilton county, Florida second, Lowndes third, Berrien fourth, Grady fifth and Pierce sixth. All of the exhibits were’ of unusual ex cellence, and there wss keen rivalry for the premiums. The variety of products was probably greater than at any previous fair. The fair closed tonight after successful five days run; the total at tendance figures are not available' yet, but it is understood that tween forty-five and fifty thouiai people saw the exhibits five dsys. Mi A6ED WOR rells How yinol Made] In her _ Wlckersham, 1 was in a run, and had lost fla me to try 1 bottles my gaining Ini Health and I of do my The In Mra Wl cause It coni needed to bull SOLD B1 Events on the eastern front seem to bear out reports that the Russians are again short of munitions. HOW PIGS PAY. From the Atlanta Constitution. In an interview in the Tifton Gazette, P. Hatcher, a progressive farmer of Thomas coun ty, says that there has been a great revival of interest in live stock in his section, and there i3 a brighter outlook for the hog and cattle in dustry there, as elsewhere in Georgia He tells of selling hogs for something over §25, when they “cost him so little to raise he did not realize that they cost anything!” That statement, of itself, ought to start pig raising campaign in every county in Geor gia! As to farmers who gave more attention to cotton growing than to stock raising, Mr. Hatcher says: “Where farmers planted a small acreage and planted early, they made fair cotton crops this year, but where they planted a large acre age and the crop was late maturing, they made tor dinar with i'ni'r.nrrora.'i.Sy “I*”'"""It ..i?! “5?* “* two years ago; in that respect at least, the cot- western part of the county are a failure.” The Thomasville Times-Enterprise. corn- ton grower is far ahead. Otherwise he is not in menting on Mr. Hatcher’s experience in profit- uch good shape unless he put by a few dollars for the hard times ahead. Now that the Georgia boys are on the bor der the country can feel. safe. If Mr. Villa does not belutve himself, he will get in trouble. Three excellent and seasonable bulletins are issued by the Georgia College of Agriculture. They should be in the hands of every farmer, and will be sent free on application, by postal card or otherwise, to the college at Athens. They are: “Seed Corn Selection,” “Oat Pro duction in Georgia,” “Home Canning of Fruit and Vegetables," and “Beautifying the Rural Home.” Two years ago, when you saw a man coming into town with a bale of cotton, you felt a littl sorry for him. It is the other way, now. The man riding in on a bale of cotton looks like a cross between Vanderbilt and Rockefeller. able stock raising, says: “The gentleman in question raised pigs, and he got splendid returns. He has learned that cotton was unreliable as a sole money crop this year, and he has faith in the belief that it will be still more unprofitable next year. We arc relieved to see that there is such a marked interest in raising of other than cotton crops, and of preparing to fight the boll weevil with the means and methods that have in other sections proven efficacious. We can raise cot ton. Nobody denies that—but we cannot raise cotton alone and live comfortably.’ - That is what has caused the revival of inter est in stock raising in Southwest Georgia—the knowledge that “we can’t raise cotton alone and live comfortably.” And on the stock raising plan depends the fulfillment of the prediction that numerous packing plants wilj be established, by home capital, to meet the demands of the stock rais ing sections. Agreements among the fai in which the kill the birds low any one el ing *he years Every mi ridding this or in keeping down to the these agreerni