The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-10-07
Opinions OF Hon. ID. Wyatt Aiken.

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tives.
Opinions or Hon. ID. Wyatt Aiken.
MIR. EDITOR: I am again in receipt
OF the South Carolina AgricuAwist, for
which find enclosed an annual subscrip.
tion. Would that every farmer in tho
State could be induced to send you an
equal amount and for the same purpose.
It is shame that the farmers or South
Carolina do not sustain an organ. through,
which they could weekly communicate
with each other upon topics not only per.
tanning to the farm, but relating to the
general welfare of the agricultural in.
terests of the State, South and country.
They have never done IL. Whether they
will ever do it, is question for the
future. 1t 10 no less shameful, and to me
matter of profound surprise, that the
farmers of South Carolina will continue
to BE- such devotees to cotton and plant
80 many acres of upland corn. The lat
Ter, uuier the most favorable circum-
stances, costs more than it is worth, aud
there ID not prospective fortune in the
former. If every acre Of upland now in
corn had heen sown laH: fall ii red oats.
and perhaps few acres of the present
cotton area also, and at least one. third
the cotton area planted in sorghum this
last spring, the State would have been
infinitely better off next January than il
can now possibly be. I have in the past
published 80 frequently my thoughts
upon these two crops, (oats and cane,
that hesitatingly send you the follow
ing report of portion of my oat crop,
harvested in May and threshed out about
the l4th of July.
Early iii September, 1879, 1 started
four plows, (simple shovels,) running
round" the cotton in field Of forty-two
acres. Behind these plows followed o
man sowing broadcast over the cotton
red oats las nearly as could gauge it)
at the rate of two bushels to the acre.
Behind the sower followed two more
plows with sweeps, giving simple fur
row to the row, and covering the seed
almost as fast as they were sown. Before
sunset or the fourth day the field was
sown, with about ninety bushels of oats.
Last February ] gave the contract to
some women on the plantation to knock
$40.
The last week in February I hired a
hand to broadcast two tons of Buper-
phosphates over the forty-two acres, the
fertilizer, railroad freight, hauling ard
broad.casting costing me $72.
During the latter part of May, 1880,
during my absence, my son had tho field
harvested In four days by four cradlers,
four binders and one to shock. In June
three hands, In three days, with one four
mule team, hauled up the crop and
stacked 1t where / wanted to house the
straw.
Three weeks ago was two days and q
half threading my crop, and would have
done 1t in ono day aud half. but for an
accident to my thresher. I will, how
ever, estimate the cost of threshipp at
one-e!eventh of the crop, rs public
.hreshers would have taken the lob at
that rate. measured up OF the :hresher
1900 bushels, "good measure, running
over, pressed down." &c., aud packed
away in the sheaf in the crib for fall
feeding what was estimated to be 25O
| bushels. To be sure not to 20 beyond
the net yield of the crop, will estimate
1t ut l $50 bushels, aHd I know it made
more than that. Now let's aggregate the
cost of the yield and learn whether there
is any money in red oat crop:
plows, 4 days, SIl per day......S So &c
man sowing days, at 50c....... 2 90
SO bushels seed oats, at 50c....... 45 90
Knocking down cotton stalks...... 10 0O
Fertilizer and broad .casting...... 72 OO
Graders, 4 days, at S1.50......... "a 90
binders, 4 days, of 81 each...... I6 OO
l man shocking 4 daye, at 81 60. G &c
days hauling up crop, at $6...... Is 0O
One-eleventh, 122 bushels, for
| threshing, at 50c................ 81 90
Now If 1850 bushels cost 1924, what
docs one bushel cost7 My arithmetic
makes it fraction over twenty.one cents
I an, aellinss nats sanidly .. saT sS:: -.
bushel, purchasers furnishing sacks; and
every ten bushels, as I measured then,
| from the thresher, gains bushel when
sold at the standard weight Of 32 pounds
to the bushe!, or the difference between
the thresher measurement and sale by
weight gains enough to pay the toll foI
threshing.
Take another view of it. If my crop
cost me 1924, that is just 668 bushels oil
oats, at Soc. per bushel. Deduct this
amount from the crop of 1850 bushels
and have 1872 bushels of oats, or 1891
as the net rent Of 42 acres of land for a
single year Besides this, have housed
| $50 for; and my land is now in stubble
ready for the fall turning, which I hope
to give it if we have rains in September
and October.
If this crop were an unprecedented
one, or my first, or en- exceptional one ia
this section, / might feel disposed 70
boast of it; but it is my fourteenth con.
secutive red oas crop, each of which paid
about as well as this, some far better
and / am satisfied 1t is not equal to the
crops made this year by some of the far
mers on tho Saluda side of AbbevilIe
County. It will be observed, too, that j
have estimated the labor all through al
Its highest market value, whereas nearly
ali OF 1t was done by my own mules, and
by laboreTs on my own farm, como oi
whom were wages hands, some tenants
and portion hired as above Estimated
| If could get the ear OF every farmer
in South Carolina, / would say to him
"Go you, and do likewise"
Very respectfully,
ID! WYATT AIKEN.
\ - The business of the world Is stesr