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The only Pimento Pep
pers grown in the
United States, east of
California, are at Griffin,
Oa., where Mark Reigel
made about 10,000 bush
els in 1916. He invented
his own machinery for
roasting, peeling and
canning the peppers.
There is one other Pi
mento cannery in Cali
fornia, the balance of
those on the markets
being imported from
Spain.
At Fort Valley, in
Houston county, known
chiefly as a peach cen
ter, an enterprising cik
izen has recently in
stalled a complete and
modern plant for can
ning sweet potatoes,
with a capacity suf
ficient to handle the en
tire crop of this section.
154 FACTS ABOUT GEORGIA
A Few Actual Results
Raising Big Corn Crop at Low Cost
It is necessary to "know how" in order to get big yields of
corn to the acre, as well as of other crops. Tom Whatley of
Helena evidently knows. He averaged 61 bushels of corn to an
acre on 40 acres in 1915, at a cost of 21 cents a bushel. A few
of these acres made between 95 and 100 bushels each. He broke
his land well in the fall, turning under a small crop of cowpeas.
No fertilizer was applied at planting, but when the corn was
about 12 inches high about 200 pounds an acre was added, and
cultivated shallow with a double-row disc cultivator. When the
corn was some size, from 75 to 100 pounds of nitrate of soda was
used on each acre. Mr. Whatley also made an income of $197
an acre from three acres planted in Appler oats in the fall, and
Spanish peanuts in the spring. The yield was 82 bushels of
thrashed oats to the acre, which sold for $1.00 a bushel, and 50
bushels of nuts an acre at $1.50 a bushel. Each acre also pro
duced a ton of peanut hay at $30. The cost of planting and har
vesting was less than $50 an acre.
Three Tons of Alfalfa to Acre
More wheat, oats and hay planters are needed in Georgia.
Grains do not require the amount of cultivation cotton requires,
and the returns are greater and more certain. Alfalfa hay brings
from $20 to $25 a ton. John T. Moore, near Macon, made three
tons of alfalfa an acre in 1915 in spite of the drouth. He planted
oats in on the land in the fall of 1913, and after ^cutting these the
following spring, planted part in peanuts and part in cowpeas,
after having worked into the soil ten tons of stable manure and
two tons of ground limestone to each acre. Some of this crop
he cut and the balance was turned under. Then came the alfalfa
as noted.
Planting Alfalfa on Big Scale
A dozen or more farmers in Clarke County are declaring their
independence of cotton and cotton conditions by the alfalfa meth
od. One of these, who grew a small quantity in 1914 said re
cently : "If I had a hundred acres in alfalfa in good condition I
should feel that I had the means of competency." He explained
that he could raise livestock—cattle for beef or milk, mules and
horses, hogs and chickens, all at a minimum cost of production.
So extensively is this Clarke, Oconee and neighboring counties
group going in for alfalfa that one order in the fall of 1915 was for