Friday, September 7, 2018

Extension Serving Helping Eastern Carolina Farmers Grow Wheat for War Effort, 1918

“Preparing for a Liberty Wheat Harvest,” from the editorial page of The Daily Times, Wilson, N.C., Sept. 7, 1918

Eastern Carolina farmers are going right ahead with plans to grow sufficient wheat to bread themselves next year. Great interest is being shown in the government’s request for more wheat from North Carolina. Inasmuch as western North Carolina already grows a large acreage of wheat, Eastern farmers will be looked to for most of the increase of 116,000 acres, which is 10 per cent over last year.
The Agricultural Extension Service published 15,000 copies of Extension Circular No. 71, “Growing Wheat in Eastern North Carolina,” and the demand has been so great from farmers in the Coastal territory that the supply is almost exhausted.
Reports of the preparation being made for sowing wheat are daily reaching the Extension Service. District Agent R.W. Freeman of Wilson says that much interest is shown in all Eastern counties, from Wilson to Dare and from Northampton to Brunswick. County agents are busy making arrangements to provide good seed wheat so that it will be easily accessible to farmers who desire good seed. The following extract from the weekly report of County Agent Pace of Brunswick County is an example of the way the Farm Demonstration Agents are helping with this important government project.
“An order for 510 bushels of seed wheat was placed this week. The outlook for wheat on every farm in Brunswick is good at present. We will order as much as the farmers want and the Citizens Bank of Shallotte is glad to lend money to any farmer who needs it for purchasing seed.”
Mr. Freeman says there will be a great Liberty Harvest in this section next year and every farmer will eat biscuits made of wheat from his own bin if the Government’s campaign continues as it has begun.

No comments:

Post a Comment