Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-07-21
The tsCrop.

a correspondent of the, weekly News
proposes Ia, as brief aslnanner as possible, I'd
coll to tho lattention of your renders
somo facts that may have escaped their
attention, and which, to my mind prove
most conolusively the superior advantages
both os food and money crop, oats offor
to tho ogriculturist Of South Carolina over
corn, crop that exceeds by one fourth the
acreage devoted to our great staple Cotton.
ona receives probably not less than ono.haf
OF all the attention bestowed upon the farm
crops Of the State. aud which, strange to
soy, yields the poorest return in money
Of oil our principuf crops. shafl quote
from tho statistical report of the Agricul-
tural Department for 1870, aud any one
can, by reference thereto, satisfy himself of
the accuracy of my statements.
The average yield of outs per acre for
this State is put down at fifteen bushels,
that Of corn OF saven bushels or just two to
ono, greater disproportion in favor of oats
than is found in uny other State of the
Uuion. Now believe it is fact almost
universally admitted aud practically do.
monstraticd es we'll as scientifically proved
by analysis that, pound for pound, oats is
at least as valuable az corn for stock food.
Thus we eco there is on average loss of sixty
pounds best grain food to eaoh acre oulti-
vatod in corn, and while have no data by
which to compare tho relative value of the
corn loddor und oata straw feel safe in
asserting that tho difference is in favor of
the latter.
Tho average minimum cost Of planting,
oultisating and harvesting tho corn crop is
not less than six dollars per acre, while the
average cash vuluo Of the corn produced
per acre is only $500, cntailiug an average
loss ef not less than 38 cents for every acre
planted; now the average maximum cost of
sowing and havcstug on acre of oats is not
more than five dollurs, whilo the average
eosh value per ucre Of tho oats produced is
given ot 5000 leaving net profit of
80 ~ per acre. Notwithstanding this
trlking difference in favor Of oats, We arc
told that the entire number OF acres devoted
during the year 1879 in this State was only
$4,000, while that of corn was 1,203,6OO
or only one of oats to fifteen of corn.
Now let US see what was the actual oncy
loss to the farmers of the State by pursuing
this mistaken policy. Totul acreage in
corn l,293,6OOx73 average yicld-9 9,702,-
600 bushels at rs cents average price per
busheis-S7 ,276 500! had this land been
planted in oats We would have the following
result: l,293,60o acres xl5 bushels,
average yicld--l0, ,404 900 bushcl. at G8
cents average price per bushcl-SI3 1884,.
~, or 40 amount exceeding by $685.
220 tho actual cash value of tho corn,
enough to liquidato onc-hulf Of the State
debt. and in grain food on amount equal to
1883 0G4 bushels corn, or enough to hevo
given every horse and mule in the State
one peck each day for 43 days.
For want Of time and confidence in nv
ability to do justice to the subject, | shall
not attempt comparison OF the relative
advantages Of these two crops as a supple
mental crop to cotton, which feel satisfied
must continue 10 bc tho lending and slmost
exclusive money and export crop of the
South, not so much That it is necessary for
h,r to rpise cotton, but that the necessities
of tho world require that it shall bc to hor
advantage to raise it. II this oommunica-
tion be tho means of advancing in tho
slightest degree the cause Of oats culture
10 the State, the efforts of The writer will
bc fully compensated. Hoping to elicit
some discussion of tho subject through the
colnms of your paper,
am, yours for agriculture.
V. P.CLAYTON.
baskerville, S. c., June 8, 1881.