Union County Historical Society
Blairsville, Georgia
Union County Ag Hall of Fame
Selected for 2011, the second year
~ M.D. Collins, Originator of Ag Education in Georgia
~ Marion Dyer, Farmer
~ Jim Dobson of the Ga. Mtn. Branch Exp. Station
M.D. Collins
Originator of Ag Education in Georgia
Mauney D. Collins, noted proponent of public education in the first half of the 20th century, was born in Union County, Georgia in 1885. He became State School Superintendent and headed the Georgia Department of Education for 25 years--longer than anyone in history. He was first Director and originator of the new State Vocational Agriculture Education Program in 1933. Under his leadership, Georgia public schools got a twelfth grade, school lunch program, rural school libraries, a teachers retirement system, increased vocational education, a nine-month school year, and many other progressive changes.
M.D. Collins also is remembered for his motto, Education does not cost -- it pays.
Marion Dyer, Farmer
1890 - 1974
Jewel Marion Dyer was born May 25, 1890 on a farm in Choestoe. He employed the same good practices of crop rotation and soil conservation that he had learned from his father, ever seeking to improve upon procedures and to work hard to pay for more land to add to his acreage.
Marion Dyer was known as an expert sorghum syrup maker.The average number of gallons he made yearly was 3,000. He had regular customers that came from as far away as Gainesville and Atlanta to purchase his specially cured pork. “Marion Dyer was one of the first farmers in Choestoe to begin practices of “truck farming.” He planted acres of beans to be picked and hauled to the Farmers’ Market in Atlanta as a money crop. He experimented with other truck crops, setting out acres of cabbage or collards, or planting patches of purple-hulled peas and sweet corn. He raised chickens and turkeys during the war.
When Union County set up a soil conservation district and had its first county agent, Marion Dyer participated faithfully in programs of conservation and farm improvement. He served on various committees and was an advocate of advanced methods of crop rotation and maximum yield.
Marion Dyer was the first in Union County to be in the “100 Bushel Corn Club.” The project began in Georgia in the 1930s. The purpose was to recognize farmers who used modern production techniques, chemical fertilizers and improved corn varieties. This was at a time when the average corn yield nation wide was 27 bushels per acre. This program continued into at least the 1940s.
Jim Dobson
of the Ga. Mtn. Branch Experiment Station
He received his B.S. degree at Clemson University and Master's degree at the University of Georgia and was Associate Professor Emeritus of Agronomy and former Superintendent of the University of Georgia's Georgia Mountain Experiment Station (now known as the Georgia Mountain Research and Education Center), Blairsville. He retired from the Station in 1991 after 38 years of service. He was the second of only four Directors (including the current one) the Experiment Station has ever had. The Georgia Mountain Branch Experiment Station of the University of Georgia was established in 1930.
The sweet sorghum variety “Top 76-6” is named in honor of Jim Dobson. He had a keen interest in the sweet sorghum industry in the mountains.
He was the longtime chair of the Blue Ridge Mountain Soil and Water Conservation District and a founding and continuing board member of the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition. In 2009, he was awarded the Holman Water Quality Stewardship Award.
Selected for 2010, the first year
~ John Bailey of the Ga. Mtn. Branch Exp. Station
~ Bluford Dyer, Sorghum Maker
~ Alvin Todd of Todd’s Dahlia Farm
Alvin Todd of Todd’s Dahlia Farm
http://dahliafarm.net/index/history
During the late 1920's Alvin Todd, with his wife, Zura Gooch bought a farm which was part of the original Jim Gooch (Mrs. Todd's g'father) land in Suches. They lived living in the original Jim Gooch 1870 log home. His wife's parents were very close neighbors; and he noticed her dahlia flowers she grew in the yard. With a start from her stock he began experimenting as he would any other farm crop. They did well for him, reproducing in sufficient numbers to offer dahlia tubers at 5 and 10 cents each for sale. The first advertising was in the Farmers Market Bulletin.
Over the years, the Todds developed their own unique way of growing, storing the tubers, processing them and marketing. They soon turned to commercial magazines that brought customers from other states. The ones used most were the farm magazines, such as Progressive Farmer and Farm Journal. Mr. Todd always said “dahlias are a man's flower” and he did sell to lots of men. But there was just as many or more ladies who bought through the mail order sales. Articles in the Atlanta Journal brought thousands of visitors during the blooming season. The fields were designed with walk ways so visitors could view the flowers up close.
The Todds sold their Dahlia Farm in 1970. Although they continued to farm nearby.
John Bailey of the
Georgia Mountain Branch Experiment Station
The Georgia Mountain Branch Experiment Station of the University of Georgia was established in 1930.
In 1932, John Bailey was named to head the station, a position he held until his retirement in 1972. The station earliest research projects focused on the potential for vegetables and fruits in an effort to upgrade the economy of the area. This early work revealed good variety selection with proper fertilizer produced excellent yields of high quality vegetables and fruits.
The station was expanded in the late 1930s and early ‘40s to include field research on feed grains, forages, soil fertility, dairying and sheep. A soil test laboratory, fruit stand and community cannery ( soon to be rebuilt here at this site) were built during this time by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
In 1938, the station entered a cooperative agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority. The purpose of the council was to promote economic usage of TVA fertilizers in the valley counties of Georgia. Station personnel showed that yields of feed grains and forages could be greatly increased with good fertilizer and proper variety selections. As a result, a farmer from Union County was the first in Georgia to produce 100 bushels of corn per acre.
Now the Georgia Mountain Research and Education Center, it has grown to 41 ongoing research or extension projects, Appalachian Ethnobotanical Garden and the Jarrett House Heirloom Garden.
Bluford Dyer, Sorghum Syrup Maker
When one thinks of Bluford Dyer, the first thing that comes to mind is sorghum syrup. While Bluford Dyer was one of the premier makers of sorghum syrup, he also developed improved farming methods for Union County, especially in the use of machinery for pesticide application. Equipment he adapted and methods he created brought greatly increased crop yields to Union County.
Bluford learned the syrup trade from his father, J. Marion Dyer, and he from his father, Bluford Elisha Dyer. Sorghum syrup was a better cash crop than corn. A gallon of sorghum syrup sold for fifty cents then, compared to only thirty-five cents for a gallon of corn liquor. The latter had long been a money crop of mountain farmers who could evade the federal revenuers or saw no moral hindrance in producing corn liquor. Sorghum syrup was "within the law," and much in demand when sugar was scarce.