Newspaper Page Text
SlfE MINE Hi FOOD
PRODUCTION 111 THE SOOTH.
1. ulford Knapp, Chief. Office of Ex
tension Work in the South, States
Relations Service.
\s the planting season draws near
er ( he necessity for SAFE FARMING
iu 191” becomes greater. The agricul
ture of the south is surrounded by a
cloud of difficulties. Shall we plant an
increased acreage in cotton and neg
lect to produce the food for the peo
ple a nd the feed for the growing live
stock industry? Shall we gamble ev
erything on the supposed high price
o' cotton, or shall we steer a safe
course and produce the food and feed
tor the south this year? This is the
all-important question about which I
came to talk to you. The present is no
time for speculation. The family, com
munity, state and national life is too
greatly dependent upon the correct
and safe course for 1917 to permit ot
our giving any consideration to a pro
gram which is hazardous in the ex
treme.
Are our memories so short that we
have forgotten 1914? Do we flatter our
selves that a dependence upon all cot
ton is safe now because the peculiar
conditions of 1916 enabled the farmers
v'ho could grow cotton to profit great
ly from their year’s labor? A system
which brought poverty 1914 and af
fluence in 1916 is not a safe system
because nobody knows what it will
bring in 1917.
There is an even more important
reason why.the south should produce
the food for its people and the feed
for its livestock in 1917. This country
is trembling now upon the very brink
of war itself. War means that the de
fensive and offensive powers of this
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D 1 ICHEWINOOIhTk j|j
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*hewHafter every jnee/
Cotton Seed That Are Fit to Plant
Wannamaker Cleveland Big Boii
Why send away for planting seed when you can get just as good or
better grown here in Bartow county, therefore, better suited for your lain].
There are none better to be had at any price.
$2.00 per bushel in small lots.
25 bushels or more at the farm $1.75
A. H. HALL, (Highland Farm.)
* jy? t
< ountry must be heavily drawn upon.
W e have never faced a war, in more
than a century, with a first class for
eign power, if the war comes now,
which now- seems inevitable, it will
disturb the economic conditions
oi this country. The strength of a
country is measured by the strength
o f all its parts. If there is a part of a
country which can not carry its own
burden, which can not support itself,
which depends upon other sections of
the country for its living, it is a de
pendent section and can not be a
tower of strength in the country’s hour
of need.
The most reliable data shows that
the south annually imports in the
neighborhood of six or seven hundred
million dollars worth of foodstuffs
from the north and west. East state
will know what part of the huge sum
it is responsible for. When transporta
tion lines are seriously disturbed, eith
er by strikes or by wars, when the
country must turn its attention to for
eign foes, when disaster seems upon
us, then is the time when we wish for
the old days of a self-supporting agri
cultural iu the south. The war in
Europe today is mainly a contest for
a supply of food. A country without
food and with an army at its door or
a navy blockading its coast is practi
cally conquered. The strength of the
south years ago was in a different sys
tem of agriculture from what it has
now. Cotton is a great crop; there is
no better crop to exchange in the mar
kets of the world for cash; much can
be said in its favor, but if w r e raise
it and nothing else we are weak at a
time when we need strength sorely
THE BARTOW TRIBUNE-THE CARTERSViLLE NEWS, APRIL 12, 1917,
and strong at times when all goes wefl.
1 have no patience with this idea
coming from the cities and towns that
the farmers of the United States as a
whole should enormously increase the
production of food for the nation. In
those sections where every farm crop
is a food crop and a large part of the
lands are already occupied and tilled,
farmers can not seriously disturb their
system or enormously increase their
production without great danger. Agri
culture readjusts itself slowly and
undeY such circumstances there should
be only such stimulus to production
as the natural tendency of the times
will warrant.
Here in the south, where we have
from 50 to 106 per ceut more of grow
ing season than in the north, and with
an opportunity to harvest food crops
more days in the year than in any oth
er section of the country, what ex
cuse can we have for getting our milk
from Wisconsin in tin cans; our gar
dens from Michigan and Maryland in
tin cans; for having our smoke houses
in Kansas City, Chicago, Cincinnati
or Omaha, our flour bin in Minneapo
lis, and our granaries and hay mows
way in the northwest thousands of
miles away?
If the risks incident to farming in
the cotton territory prompt farmers
end business men to advocate a safer
; system of agriculture in (he past few
years, there are ten times as many
reasons for pursuing a safer system in
1917, no matter what may be the price
| of cotton.
Let us not be unbalanced by the sup
posed high price of cotton. Cotton is
not high, relatively speaking. Prior to
July 1914 for a lAmiber of years the
price of cotton averaged close to 12
cents per pound. Since last fall it has
averaged close to 18 cents per pound,
an increase of .10 per cent in value,
but to raise cotton and exchange for
I the revenues received from its sale for
| the food for the family and feed for
j the livestock will not, at the present
i time and under present food prices,
! enable the farmer to make as much
he made when cotton was 12 cents a
, pound.
No one knows what the price of cot
: ten will be if the war lasts or if the
war closes. You do not know’ whether
it will be 18 cents or 6 cents next fall,
and neither do I. What is the use of
speculating about conditions that no
man can fathom?
Remember that in 1916 we had a
peculiar year. We paid old debts out.
of the high price of cotton, —debts,
many of them contracted at a time
when food and feed were much lower
! in price, and this was true of the year
| itself because the prices went up dur
; ing the latter part, of the year. The
same condition does not exist in 1917.
It is true that the south has made
I great progress in the production of
food and feed in the Last ten years,
and it is true that we were more near
ly self-supporting in 1916 than in years
1 previous, but we have a long way to
i go before we can truly say that we are
I on a safe basis. From 1909 to 1916 the
; production of cotton in the cotton
| states increased 15 per cent; the acre-
I age in corn increased 22 per cent and
j production 39 per cent; acreage in
| wheat 102 per cent and production 129
! per cent; acreage in oats 84 per cent
and production 106 per cent; acreage
i it; hay 39 per cent and production 65
per cent. The point I am trying to
make is that having gone this far on
a safe program are we to be turned
back because of the supposed high
price of cotton?
The retail credit price at which food
can be purchased measures the value
of your cotton under such a system,
and not. the cash market price at
which you can sell your cotton. The
price of salt or mess pork has in
creased 50 i>er cent; bacon more than
50 per cent, and ham, eggs, butter and
lard practically the same. Corn, oats
and hay, on the peerage, have increas
ed as much and more than cotton,
\ bile Irish potatoes and Hour have in
creased more than 100 per cent. A $9 t
bale of cotton at the present time will
purchase no more in the way of food j
than a S6O bale would three years age.
Do not be deceived, cotton Is not high,
and the fact that it is 17 or 13 cents,
per pound now' should not be a temp
tation to the farmer to risk all on a
large acreage in cotton under present
conditions, whether the war conies or
whether we have peace, whether cot
ton be high or low.
Rut you will say I am going to urge
you to go into other things. In the
main my advice is to raise such things
as will enable you to live, to feed your
family and your livestock, with some
surplus to sell to the nearby cities and
towns, but not to go into the great bus
iness of raising food crops for foreign
markets. I realize that our market
system for locally-grown food crops
has not yet beeu perfected. We have
a great deal of work to do along that
line.
Self-preservation has been said to
be the first law of nature, and, if so,
the first law of the south during ihe
season of 1917 ought to be to grow its
own food, because that means self pre
servation.
By SAFE FARMING I mean a sys
tem of farming which supports the
family upon the farm, provides ample
forage and other feed for the livestock
and grows some crops for cash sale
upon the market. Here are the simple
items of our SAFE FARMING pro
gram:
The Safe Farming Program.
1. A home garden for every family
on the farm. From one-tenth to one
fonrth acre, well located, well tilled
and tended as carefplly as any other
crop on the farm, planted in rotation
to time the vegetable crops so as to
have a continuous supply for the fam
ily table as many days in the year as
possible. To this should be added one
fourth of an acre of potatoes, either
Irish or sweet, or both, to be used as
food for the family. An acre of sor
ghum or sugar cane should be pro
duced io supply the family with
scrap if means can be found for grind
ing the cane and making the syrup.
2. Produce enough corn on each
farm" to last the family and livestock
with certainty for one year, with a
little excess for safety.
:!. Produce sufficient oats and oth
er small grain to supplement the corn
as food for one year with certainty,
remembering that these small grains
conserve the soil in winter and pro
vide some grazing for livestock.
4. Produce the hay and forage
crops necessary to supply the livestock
on the farm for one year, with a little
excess for safety, not forgetting the
legumes which add fertility to the soil
and produce the best hay.
5. Produce the necessary meat,
eggs and milk for the family. The
n eat; should be produced by increased
attention to poultry and bogs because
of the rapidity which these can he
produced. Every family should have at
least two cows so that one can be in
milk all of the time. A sufficient num
ber of brood sows should be kept, to
produce the pork for the family, with
some excess for sale. The number of
laying hens should be increased and
carefully tended to produce eggs and
poultry for the table with a sufficient
excess for sale. The average number
TONOLINE IS BEAUTY AID,
ANNOUNCES SPECIALIST
Mildred Louise Talk of Interest to
Women.
( As health is a first aid to beauty
this story, told by Mildred Louise,
beauty specialist, of Boston, .Mass.. Is
or unusual interest.
“I can recommend no better health
giver than tonoline,” said .Mildred
Louise.
“I was for many months a victim of
stomach trouble and nervousness. I
had suffered terribly from pains that
followed eating. Headtache also would
add to my worries. Poor digestion fin
ally brought on nervousness.
“Relief came, however, when I took
tin- advice of several women who said,
“Take tonoline."
-Mot long after I started the tonolitu
tieatmont, my patrons began to re
mind me of the improvement in my
tottdit n. And because health is the
quickest way to beauty, tho improve
ment was particularly noticable in my
fftOfs.
“What tonoline really did for me I
cannot say. 1 am so grateful that I am
very ■willing to recommend tonoline
publicly.”
Tonoline is a purely vegetable prep
aration which goes to the seat of com
mon maladies—stomach and kidney
fouble, catarrhal affections of the
mucous membranes, liver ailments
n.d impurities of the blood—and
quickly restores proper action. Tono
line is being explained daily to many
people at your druggist.
Notice:—As tonoline is a wonderful
flesh builder It should not be taken by
airy one not wishing to increase his
we ght ten pounds or more. Although
n any reports are received from these
“ho have been benefltted by tonoline
n severe < a -es of stomach trouble and
nervous dyspepsia, chronic constipa
tion, etc.
—soc BOX FREE—
FPFE TONOLINE COUPON
AMERICAN PROPRIETORY CO.,
Boston, Mass.
Send me by return mail a 50c box
cf your celebrated flesh builder. I
enclose 10c to help pay postage and
packing.—(advt)
ot poultry per farm should be gradual
ly increased to at least fifty. The live
stock on the farm should be gradually
increased as a whole so as to consume
the otherwise waste products of the
farm and make the unprofitable and
uatillable lands productive. This
naans attention to the breeding, care
and feeding of poultry and hogs, beef
cattle, milk cows, etc.
6. When the living has been amply
provided for, grow cotton for the main
money crops. Where the boll weevil
has recently invaded the farm and cot
ton raising is somewhat uncertain un
til farmers learn how, reduce the nor
mal acreage planted to cotton and
plant such crops as soy beans, pea
iuts and velvet beans as cash crops
or to feed livestock for cash sales.
7. Plan to sell or exchange the sur
plus products of the garden, the or
chard, the poultry, the livestock, the
eggs and the feed crops to cover the
necessary running expenses of the
farm and save the cotton as the real
cash crop.
The excess amounts which i have
interred to should be sold by the
farmer to supply the needs of the
nearby villages, towns and cities. My j
friends, if we bad the agriculture cf j
the south organized on such a simple
basis as 1 have here outlined we would j
still produce enough cotton, but we
would produce it under conditions
which would not bring the hazard
which the all-cotton system has always
brought, us. Our big crops have often
been a menace because they glutted
the market and brought lower prices,
which our partial crop failures have
some times made us rich. Such a con
dition ought not to exist. To meet that
situation, whether it be low prices, bad
weather, failure of seed to germinate,
a wet spring or a dry spring, plant
disease or drouth, the boll weevil or
tinny worm, foreign war, or what not,
wc cut out the risks and make our
fa ruling operations safe and secure ii
we follow the fundamental principles
I have laid down.
Under boll weevil conditions in Ala
bama, Georgia, Florida and Mississip
pi the safety of the people demands
that farmers produce their living. The
system I have outlined is not only the J
material but ,Ls the all-important pro
gram to follow this year or any other
year under boll weevil conditions. ,
Under such conditions the farmers
must have some other crops to sell.
A little excess in the way of food and
feed an excess of animal products,
suggested in this outline, will give yoa
the necessary relief.
Rvery banker, merchant, wholesale
dealer, business man and professional
man in cotton territory is interested
in this program. Their security de
pends upon the safety and security of
the agriculture. If agriculture is to be
good security and safe security, its
ability to live and prosper, no matter
GROCERIES
, . 7 r i"itnfiV l i-'*r- , i; il^******-"" t. ~ vTm ~'-—-'., *■**.*■*
Staple and Fancy
You want the’ best—you want
the freshest.
When you buy from Matthews’
you are sure to'get the best and
freshest, and atfpricesfthat cannot
be duplicated.
For Honest 1 Goods and a Square
Deal Try
' ■ '~ T ' y "".yyiam
F.E. Matthews
Notice is hereby given that the Commuta
tion Tax for the year 1917 is $3.00.
All persons subject to street tax may pay
this amount or work ten days upon the
streets of said city as provided by law.
The books are now open for collection
of this tax and all persons failing to pay
will be served with notice to work. By
order of the Board of Commissioners.
This March 28th, 1917. "ijH
W. W. DANIEL, City Clerk.
what the conditions may be, is of
supreme importance. Not only is this
important but it is important that you
should know that under stress of un
foreseen circumstances this same agri
culture shall be able to feed you. A
business man who lends his aid and
encouragement to an unsafe system
of farming may be imperiling the very
existence of himself, of his people and
of the nation.
If the south this year can produce
more oi her food and feed and draw
less from the north and west she will
be in a better and safer shape herself,
and the entire nation will be better
fitted to defend herself against her
foreign! foes and assist her foreign
friends in case of war. It is the very
essence of our agricultural defense. It
is almost a patriotic duty. The one su
preme important problem this year in
the world is food. With a normal acre
age and a good season the south can
do this and still produce cotton
enough. There is no necessity for an
enormous increase in the cotton acre
age. With the acreage of last year or
the year before and a decent season,
there will be plenty of cotton. This is
not a matter of such supreme impor
tance as is this problem of enough
food here —not in lowa, in Wisconsin
or Minnesota —but in Georgia, Ala
bama, In South Carolina, in the south,
within reach, not dependent upon in
terrupted transportation facilities,
I would advocate the same thing df
there were no war in sight; if we
were at peace and everything was
prosperous, for the simple reason that
1 it is the safe and successful system of
agriculture. It requires possibly great
er effort and greater diversity ot
knowledge, and, therefore, a better
trained citizenship, better homes, bet
ter farm®, better fertility and better
opportunity.
When the clouds brought on by the
devastation of the boll weevil, or the
black clouds of war bring distress up
on the people and things become un
certain, at times when it behooves ev
ery man to set his house in order and
be ready for the last supreme effort
of family, community, county, state
and nation, this problem of producing
the food supply under a safe system
o! farming becomes at once the most
important problem of all. I can not
too strongly urge that every attention
this year be given to the garden, the
corn, hay, the conservation and breed
ing of poultry and hogs, milk cows,
beef cattle and other food products in,
the south. In this is your greatest safe
ty for 1917.
I emphasize it again, for 1 can not
make it too strong—The South Must
Feed Herself.
The Quinine That Does Not Affect The Heai
lecause of its tonic and laxative effect I .AX A
riVK IIROMO QUININE is better than ordiuj>r
Quinine and does not cause nervousness w
'nKing in head. Remember the full r.ame fin<
mk for the signature of K. V/. GROVE. 2Sc