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TOBACCO-CROWN PRINCE AMONG
GEORGIA CROPS SAYS THE
KIWANIS MAGAZINE
FLOURISHING TOBACCO MARKET ESTABLISHED
THROUGH THE ACTIVITY OF THE KIWANIS
CLUB OF VIDALIA, GEORGIA
c
Editors Note: The following
splendid article on tobacco is re
produced from the September is
sue of the Kiwanis magazine, and
gives the tobacco situation al
most in detail for this section up
until the time it was written for
the magazine. However, since
that time much has been accom
plished in the way of a large
market here and the growing of
this weed, many acres of tobac
co have been planted; more
barns have been built for the
‘ curing; two sets of buyers will
be sent here which means that
, more tobacco can be handled,
and, in addition to making this
‘ a permanent mart, another la»ge
warehouse has been built here,
consisting of 50.000 square feet
of floor space, and built by men
of long years experience as to
bacco buyers. Mr. Vann, a mem
ber of the new firm, stated in
an interview several days ago
that “had he not confidently ex
pected that Vidalia would lead
the state in pounds and highest
prices, he certainly would not
have thought of building here
in our city, another large ware
house.”
The citizens of Vidalia and the
immedate section have always I
felt that Vidalia would lead all
markets in the state and it is 1
gratifying to know that this |
opinion is now held by these gen
tlemen of tobacco experience.
Vidalia sold 3,800,000 pounds
last year, but fully 1,500,000
pounds were hauled or shipped |
to other markets on account of
i
> ™ -itrA;/
STREET SCENE DURING MARKETING SEASON
the congestion here occasioned
by having only one set of buyers
but with double sales this year,
tnd an increase of 30 per cent in
acreage in this section, Vidalia
will sell at least 6,000,000 to 7,-
000,000 pounds. As Vidalia led
all other markets in price last
year, the growers of this section
will no doubt market their crop
here, since double sales will take
care of the offerings without de
lay.
“Cotton is still King among Geor
crops, but tobacco certainly is a
member of crop Royalty, say Crown
Prince or Pretender to the throne,
and while the acreage in cotton for
the past ten years has not materilly
increased, the acregae in tobacco
has increased heavily every season.
The crop has grown in volume and
importance until it is now given every
prominence during the market sea
aon. The State Department of Agri
culture issues weekly bulletins deal
ing with the poundage, high and low
price and average, and the newspa
pers run daily market columns deal
ing with the same features wired to
them from all the markets of the
•- • n
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Jo*a* I>_ - **' —* '* -K M^<*yVy'3BT t , / < p l -'\■;-^’>*si •'
i XlMm n
£ fjry - &y ' ! %jfc*e-'* •IBL«’. " ~» - '*£* JavSft \ i ♦•'''Tv jJk*
Ctate, w r hich numbered twenty-three
last year. Nearly fifty warehouses
in the twenty-three towns which sup
ported a tobacco market were oper- <
o
ated.
i The epic of tobacco; its rise into
promnence as a factor in the agri
cultural life of a great state and its
importance to the grower as a cash
crop, has not yet been written, but
when it is the part undertaken by
Kiwanis in the development of this
new Pertender to Crop Kingship in
Georgia will loom large, although the
work was assumed by Kiwanis only
as a part of their every day program j
of building.
All sorts of tobacco may be grown
in Georgia, but the crop having the
heaviest demand from buyers is the
light golden leaf from which cigar
ettes are made. This grade of to
bacco is made nil over Southeast
Georgia, the farmers having learned j
by experience to grow, cure and mar- ;
.ket the crop to the best advantage I
and the marketing has been so sys-j
tematised that the crop is marketed i
for cash and shipped away before the I
heaviest movement of cotton comes >
from the 'lantations.
! In order that some idea of crop
returns may be had by readers from
sections which do not grow the weed,
it will be interesting to know that the
average yield of bright leaf tobacco
to the acre for the past two years
lias run to nearly nine hundred
i pounds. Ths average is maintained
! because many of the acres produce
I twelve hundred to fifteen hundred
j pounds in order that other acres with
poor stands, hail and weather damage
abandonment and pest infested spots
may be included in the average. It
is thought with a season of average
| seasonal conditions and damage that
1 this average will in the future run to
one thousand pounds yield to the
acre. The average prices for the
weed, including every thing sold,
which runs from sand lugs to tips and
cure-damaged tobacco, has been
around twenty-five cents per pound
over a term of years. The price aver
age is obtained by taking the total
.amount of the money paid to the
growers and dividing it by the total
amount of pounds sonld. The prices
run from less than one cent per pound
for the damaged stuff to over a dol
lar per pound for the “wrappers” or
high grade leaf. Many barns of to
bacco grow’n and cured under favor
able conditions sell w-ell above sixty
cents per pound in sales that are re
ported averaging twelve to fifteen
cents per pound, this low average for
the entire sale being caused by the
inclusion of lugs, tips or cure-damag
ed tobacco. The warehouse are ready
at all times to weigh and sell anything
in the way of tobacco that is brought
to them for handling.
It will be seen by the*above figures
that the average acre of Georgia to
bacco yields a gross of $250 per acre.
The 1924 crop yield ran to nearly
sixty million pounds in this state and
the total money spent for tobacco by
the wholesale dealers made an im
portant factor in the commercial life
of this section from which the tobac-
i co came. The production was limit
| ed to a section in the feoutheaabelrtt
part of the state and the money came
to the producer ih the period of six
weeks’ time.
| A farm in South Georgia is com
posed of “forty acres and a mule,”
usually and is manned by a farmer
iand his family. The forty acres as a
rule are planted in cotton and tobac
co, food crops for the farm animals.
Cotton is grown with the least effort,
tobacco requires considerable atten
} tion and labor, and an additional in
vestment is required with which to
! provide a barn, which is used for cur
-1 ing the tobacco leaves. A bam of
' • approved stlye will take care of the
i tobacco from four or five acres
1 growth and the approved acrage for
a farm has settled at about four or
five acres.
nr ~' v ' ! . - ti
P' - - , vr.,- ■
ONE OF VIDALIA’S LARGE WAREHOUSES
It is also necessary to sow a bed in
which to grow plants, the bed being
prepared early in the year and under
clothe cover so that the seed can be
high pressured to plants and the
plants are set in tobacco patches.
Each plants requires a dash of fer
tilizer and a squirt of water at sett
ing to keep it alive while it is tak
ing root and to push its growth after
( it has oriented itself to its new be?!,
j It grows quickly and is a beautiful
plant with large leaves of dark green
speading to an expanse which early
! laps the leaves across the rows and
entirely covers the ground. The leaves
are very tender however, and subject
to damage, especially by pests and
bail. They ripen from the bottom
| towards the top. The leaves are tak
en from the stalks as they ripen, the
low leaves being called “sand lugs,”
the middle leaves, “stalf” and the
top leaves “tips.” All of it finds a
ready market. As the leaves are
taken from the stalk they are tied
on short sticks, and the sticks are
hung in the barns and fire is put un
der them. A funnace and system of
metal flues are installed so that the
heat may be carried to all parts of
the barn and regulated, alow heat be
ing required for the first two days
after which t is to a high
: temperature to dry the stems and
finish the color to a golden hue. After
tobacco is cured is then sorted or
graded, packed in tobacco sheets ac
cording to grades and brought to the
warehouses for sale. The warehous
es weigh the tobaoee, lay it in bas
kets which are arranged in rows so
that each pile is ready for inspection
,to the bottom and so that no time is
lost in the sale. The entire sales
outfit moves along the line of to
bacco at the rate of about two miles
per hour; the buyers on one side of
the baskets, an the sellers on the
other side. The sellers consist of an
auctioneer, a sales manager, who val
ues the tobacco for the farmer, and
checkers who mark the selling price
and the name of the successful bidder
on each basket. Behind these come
the shippers, who clear the floor im
mediately, putting the tobacco in cars
or on trucks so that the floor may be
cleared for the next day’s sale.
| In order to handle a tobacco sale
the warehouses must have ample
floor space and plenty or light evenly
dstributed, skylights being neces
sary for this purpose. The type of
warehouse most popular in Georgia
at this time contains from forty to
sixty thousand square feet of floor
space with a skylght to every one
hundred square feet,
j The warehouses are equipped with
i floor scales which handle instantane
i ously hundred of “buggies” and thou
sand of baskets. The man-kind is
especially selected, the auctioneer
must have experience and know his
stock, the sales manager must know
his stock, the sales manager must
know values and the checkers must
be a combination of adding and eal-
I culating machinery and chain light
ening; for the sellers w r ant their out
turn and check as soon as the tobac
co is sold, the price per pound must !
be run into the total figures, and a
bill made and sent to the office so
that a check may be issued in the ]
time it requires to tell the process. <
The buyers must have quick judg
ment also, for the bidding is snappy;
the highest price is accepted and the !
next pile offered a the rate of some- i
THE vidaliA A&vaNce
mercial success until the past decade.
With this rather detailed descritpion j
of the entire process of culture and
sale, the reason for the failure is ap- ,
thing like four hundred baskets per
hour. If he misses a buy while it is
being offered here is no chance at
it again as it will be on its way before
the end of the next line is reached.
The selling season opens usually
the last weekt in July and the millions
of pounds of “Georgia Bright Leaf”
must be marketed before the second
week in September, so that the out
fits may be moved to the old belt
where the selling season opens on
that date, providing a maximum of
six weeks’ time for the marketing of
the Georgia crop.
Tobacco culture has been under
taken in various parts of Georgia for
several decades but was never a corn
parent. Whether the warehouse
should be built before the tobacco for
for its maintenance and the buyers !
the market were secured or whether ,
the tobacco should be grown and as-!
sured before the warehouse wa6 con- 1
structed was a problem. It was here
that the Kiwanians came forward with
their solution.
Surely, it is simple, because both
facilities for marketing and the crop
to be sold must be ready at the same
time. This called for organiation
and the Kiwanians were strong on
this point.
Locally, the situation was handled
in a logical manner. The capital for
building warehouse facilities was
pledged by the growers, and buyers
were promised by the important manu
facturers and exporters on condition
that the program be carried out as
outlined.
The first budgdt showed that there
must be marketed at least one mil
lion pounds of tobacco to make the
warehouse safe from financial loss,
and efforts were made to get acreage
to furnish the million pounds.
In order to pledge the acreage the
farmers must be promised expert as
sistance and advice in making a new 7
crop, and arrangements msst be made
for financing the seeding and the
barn building.
Each detail depended, it seemed,
on other details, and so committees
from the Kiwanis club formed the
machinery by which the details could
be co-ordinated.
The local market started with a
warehouse covering about ten thous
and square feet of space. The first
year’s sales amounted to less than a
half million pounds and a year later
the prices on bright leaf sagged so
that it looked as if the market would
have to be abandoned for lack of pa
tronage by growers. It was at this
juncture that Kiwanians stepped to
the bat again. The growers had to
be encouraged and this was done.
Later, it developed that the one-ware
house tow 7 ns were passing in favor of
towns providing better facilities and
more competition. Kiwanians organ
ized their forces again and at the
present time the local market is equip
ped with two warehouses covering
about two acres of ground space, the
houses are so arranged and lighted
as to merit the praise of very buyer
who has worked on the floors. The
growers who patronize the market
naturally profit by the fact that the
equipment is of the very best.
The first Georgia Tobacco Exposi
tion was held in Vidalia, and a mam
moth barbecue incident to the open
ing sale two years ago, brought over
six thousand visitsors to the city.
In the immediate section there are
now ready for th next season over
two thousand tobacco barns equipped
insures something like eight thous
vith furances and flues, and this fact
and acres.
Incident to the details under taken
by the Vidalia Kiwanis club in rend
ering assistance to the establishment
of this tobacco market a newspaper
plant was leased an doperated, the (
lease now r being two years old. This
venture has been very profitable fi
nancially and of untold benefit in all I (
lines of endeavor undertaken by the
club.”
FOR SALE—TboiCighfcr33 c-rcd (
Seek Roosters. “S £? ■‘arrr. ch
i-cstofrice. J. D .Todd. 4
DR. T. C. THOMPSON BURIED !
| TUESDAY AT CITY CEMETERY
(Continued from Front Page)
1 social life, being a worthy and cinsis
tent deacon of the Vidalia Baptist i
church where he was a member.
As a citizen, he was a progressive
spirit of broad vision, untiring in do- .
ing for the poor an drich of his town j
and community, socially, financially i
and professionally.
He was an unselfish, loyal friend, j
lavishing encouragement, love, sym
pathy and joy wherever he went; a
companionable devoted husband and
a father of highest and noblest ideals
for the little daughter who was the
light of his life.
The funeral was attended by
friends from all parts of the country,
I the church holding only half of the
j number. The music was planned by
I Mrs. Somers and a beautiful talk was
made by Dr. Brewton, the pastor.
He was assisted by Rev. Shaw.
The myriad flowers bespoke the
love and esteem of his many friends.
The honorary pall-bearers were as
follows:
Dr. Harvard, Arabi; Dr. McArthur,
Cordele; Dr. Ben Clifton, Atlanta; Dr.
j Claxton, Dublin; Dt. Palmer, Ailey;]
i Dr. Rivers, Glenwood; Mr. T. J. Ains- '
! worth Vidalia; Mr. R. M. Stanley,!
Vidalia; Mr. P. J. McNatt, Vidalia;'
j Mr. W. C. Somers, Vidalia, Mr. Royal
I Fapg>. Vidalia, and all local and visit- 1
ing doctors.
I The active pall-bearers were:
Dr. Willis, Ocilla, Dr. Hershell
Smith, Americus; Dr. Colson, Glen
wood; Dr. E. C. Thrash, Atlanta; Dr.
Bunce, Atlanta; Dr. Rozar, Macon;
Rr. Chas. Savannah and Dr.
Miller, Claxton.
Dr. Thompson is survived by his
widow, Mrs. Sadie Young Thompson,
' one small daughter, Mary Ethel, one
, brother, Dr. Cleveland Thompson, !
Millen, two sisters, Mrs. H. V. Thomp-
Ailey, Mrs. W. B. Green, Vidalia,
and other realtives.
McColskey Undertakng Company
of this city was in charge of funeral
arrangements.
GEORGIA HOG RAISERS
HAVE BIG ADVANTAGE
(Continued from Front Page)
dustry”
Dr. Sheets’ interest in the livestock
industry is in the direction of produc
ing better animals and must neces
sarily be prefacced by the effective '
work of Dr. Hall’s division.
“As I see the conditions here,’’re
marked Dr. Sheets, “better breeding,
and feeding and better management
will yield maximum results from the
feeding operations. Condtions are
favorable here for the very best re
sults in growing, and,finish
ing hogs for market.
“I have looked over the herds ,here
and to my mind it is here that the
very best methods can be profitably
used. I saw herds that are being
properly fed and they are the equal
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fT (Not Incorporated) j Jj
- • Have Resources Over < [|
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Banking quarters have been thoroughly remodeled, v\
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THE J. F. DARBY BANK I
i RAILROAD AVE. VIDALIA, Ga. |
Eight P»g m Ev»ry Wttl
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LODGING—CooI rooms and cool
beds, 50c per *ight; meals furnished
if desired. 310 First Avenue. 7-14-
21-28.
—We give you a skillful **""
i animation and fit you currently, us
'ing only the latest styles in frames*
1 «d mountings W. E. Walker.
—Wheni n need of cut flowers cK
Joral offerings, call on Mrs. W.
'jewis, phone 197. ts»
—See us for All Cedar Shingfr*
l hey will be in usr. when you are
-one, “they’ll last * lifetime”, s««
-g Jch" T. Ragan & Company .
Oi -*ewelr> "tore te complele
“.nl dep ndable. W. E. Yalker, Jew
ler anti ( , nt r tn t*ist.
FOR SA.LF— Thorough bred part
ridge cochin V v. vms; $7.50 per pair.
Young sloe 7 1 . * ">vize winners; $4
ner pair. ' ‘ Carter, Brewton, Ga.
gsa'
X’DLFhJ-- ~ .-■■rfs r-i name of
'jack. Co.c.V 2i i-i- MS* ****?'
(wool. WLV Noti
fy Chief o.* ?:!ics «j. —•- t‘os: x'u
firs]
if 7 I
jff • I
| -
of the best herds of any secton of
the country.
“I am a firm believer in the South
as a future livestock section, because
I am familiar with conditions.”
1 Both of these men, who are wide
ly known at home and abroad, expres
sed themselves on the possiblities of
sed themselves further most favora
bly on the possibilities of a general
ly improved livestock industry in
Georgia and said that although this
work may be somewhat in advaneg
of the ability of some of the farmers
to take hold of, it is exactly the right
time to find owt conditions, for then
future plans and operations may be
undertaken with reliable information,
resulting in omre satisfactory returns
to the growers of livestock.