Save a Piece of Georgia History

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Save a Piece of Georgia History

When I travel around the state and tell people I work for the Georgia Department of Agriculture, often the first thing out of their mouth is “Do you work for the Market Bulletin?”

The second thing is “I just love the Market Bulletin.” Then they will tell a story about something they bought or read or how they remember seeing their parents or grandparents reading it.

The Farmers and Consumers Market Bulletin is a valuable source of news and information as well as a marketplace for Georgians to buy, sell and look for a wide range of products and services. That is as true today as when the Market Bulletin began in 1917.

Georgians place free advertisements for what they are selling or what they want to buy. In a recent issue I found ads for fresh worm castings, lucky buckeyes, martin gourds, alpaca raw fleece, green emu eggs, peacock feathers (and both India blue peacocks and Java green peahens), free-range chicken eggs, silver-laced Cochins, Barred Rocks, Domineckers, saddles, balers, tillers, tractors, troughs, farmland, firewood and windmills.

Among the want ads were “Responsible person needed for horse care early morning and late afternoon.” And “Tall bamboo wanted; will thin out your grove for canes over 20 feet.” And “Looking for old-fashioned white English peach trees and red Indian peach seeds.”

Some of the most popular ads are ones for old-fashioned or pass-along plants and seeds of vegetables and flowers that are sometimes hard to find in the nursery trade. Looking at the common names of some of these plants is like taking a course in Georgia folklore. Consider these: fever tree, hummingbird vine, money plant, four-o’clocks, running okra, white half-runner beans, grancy graybeard, balsam, milk-and-wine lily, Job’s tears, yellow rose of Texas, touch-me-nots, multiplying onion, maypop and “old-timey daffodils.” (I’m always curious to find out what is meant by something like “old-timey daffodils” just as I am always touched to read a “heaping teaspoon full” of a particular seed offered.

The economic benefits of the Market Bulletin are broad-based: from the ads that make a few dollars for the elderly woman selling “re-seeding petunia seeds” by the teaspoon or thousands of dollars for those selling larger items. Among those seeking or offering employment or services in a recent issue were a man in Monroe “able to clean out chicken houses,” someone who will “Bushhog your land or haul your horses” in Dallas, and a “Lady on fixed income needs someone to plow a small garden plot in the Toccoa area, reasonable.”

Beyond the positive economic impact that comes from products sold and services rendered, the Market Bulletin has performed another important service throughout the years of bringing people together from across our vast state. When I think about all the people who have come together and benefitted from the Market Bulletin in its long history, I get goose bumps.

At the Southeastern Flower Show I spoke with a lady who had ordered numerous items out of the Market Bulletin over the years. She was clear in her assessment: “Oh, the plants are wonderful. We’ve found a lot of good things, but it is the PEOPLE we’ve met and the FRIENDS we’ve made that have really made it worthwhile.”

Out of curiosity, I looked at an issue of the Market Bulletin from 1933 – the depth of the Great Depression and the year my parents were born. I came across “19 yr. old young man wants job on farm. Honest, truthful, without bad habits. Prefer dairy or poultry. For home and small salary. Chester Loyd, Folkston.” There were ads for people selling seed varieties I hadn’t heard of: ‘Nancy Hanks’ watermelon and ‘Whatley’s Prolific’ seed corn. There were ads for comfrey, horseradish and sugar figs. I don’t know if Mr. Loyd found his job. I hope so. So many people were leaving the farm in the 30’s that it was encouraging to see someone wanting to stay. I don’t know how many descendants of those horseradish and comfrey plants and fig trees are growing across Georgia. I hope some still are.

I hope that people of a new generation will get to continue the tradition of making money, friends and connections through the Market Bulletin. However, that may not happen if the Market Bulletin cannot get enough paid subscriptions.

To keep the Market Bulletin alive, paid subscriptions have become essential. If it does not garner enough subscriptions to pay its publication costs, the Market Bulletin will cease to exist.

Subscriptions are available to Georgia residents at a cost of only $10 per year (26 issues); out-of-state-subscriptions are available for $20 per year. Out-of-state subscriptions must be within the United States or its territories.

To start or renew a subscription, send a check or money order payable to Market Bulletin, along with your name, complete mailing address and daytime phone number (in the event the Market Bulletin office needs to contact you concerning your subscription) to the following address: Market Bulletin, Georgia Department of Agriculture, 19 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW, Atlanta, GA 30334-4250. New subscribers may also pay online with a credit card at www.thegamarketbulletin.com Please note there is a $1 convenience fee added for online subscriptions.

Please don’t let this beloved publication die. Please rally behind the Farmers and Consumers Market Bulletin by becoming a subscriber and encouraging your friends and family to join with you in preserving this Georgia tradition.

-- Arty Schronce

Arty Schronce is Director of Public Affairs for the Georgia Department of Agriculture