Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1882-11-02
[From the Charleston News and Courier. I
Red Rust-PrOof Oats.
rifE BEST MODE OF MAKING THE CROP AND
OF SELLING 1T WHEN MADE.


rifE BEST MODE or MAKING THE CROP AND
OF SELLING 1T WHEN MADE.
CoKEsBURY, 8. c., October 17.--In
your issue of the I'd Of September you gave
prominence to nottoe Of mine upon the
subject of selling oats. That notice gave
me orders for my crop thrice over in less
than twenty days. viii you onoo more
please allow me few words in your columns
upon the general subject of the ost crop,
which | wish to address to the farmers of
middle aud lower South Carolina?
First, SOW the oat crop as carly as prac-
ticable, not later tnan the 18th of October.
aud preferably in September, if possible.
Apparently inconsistent advice, for | havo
not yet sown half my own crop, nor Gao
eow until rain, for We have had no rain
siooe 10th Of September, and my land is
like pavement.
Secoud. Dat land should be as thorou qhl "
ploughod and narrowed US if for cotton or
any other staple crop, and in January or
February following, when the weather is
dry and the oats have begun to "stool' or
tillcr, from one hundred to one hundred
aud htty pounds of ammoniatcd phosphatea
should be broadoasted over each acre, aud
The land Immediately soarifed with two
horse h1rrow The process will seem de-
structive, but experience has shown that
such cultivation is exceedingly beneficial
to the crop.
Third. There are three essentials to
good seed oat. it should be rust proof.
wintor-proof aud weight proof To my
mind there il no valuo to be attached to
color. A bushel Of tho brightest red oats
may be sown in halves uron two qualities
OF land red clay and light sandy. AT har
vest time tho oats sown on the red clay land
viii be the darkest, somo of the grains may
indeed be black. Those sown on tho ga nd =
land will retain the bright color. Weigh
them; the red clay oats arc tho heaviest.
For this reason the farmer who cultivates
sandy land should change his seed annually.
Tie cat!icr sown oats too on the sane
quality of land arc heavier when harvest cd
than those sown later.
FourthIy, and most vitality. Abbevillo
County has exported this year perhaps 800
O00 bushels Of oats. Doubtless 200, 1000
bushels have gono from the Abbeville
farmer to tho low country farmer through
the merchants Of this and the other end of
the limo AT whose cost and to whose
profit? If grow 1000 bushels of oats for
sale and you farmers of Sumter or
oraugeburg Counties want to buy thst
many to SOW, why should l sell to a
merchant hero to bo sent to merchant
there, both of whom make profit, before
you can SOW your crop7 10 say that o
merchant should not deal in oats is non
sense. His money is his own, let him buy
aud sell what he pcnses, and if he is shrewd
enough to see profit in such traffic, it is
his privilege to take advantage of it and no
one bames him. Surely do not. But when
farmer needs seed to plant, aud knows
that his fellow farmer Crews such seed for
sale, wherefore the necessity of having one,
much less two men step 10 between them
and make net profit at the expense of both?
Look at it thus. Twenty merchants in
AbbcviIe bug 200, 900 bushels of oats at
from S3c. to $50. per bushel and sell o..
from $50 to 400. per bushel, realizing On
average net profit of only three cents per
bushel say, the aggregate profit is $4,000.
or SsO0 each 10 Blk weeks The same
profit is made at tho delivery end of the
line. These Sl2 900 are taken from the
producers unnecessarily. Had this amount
oeeu retained by them it would perhaps
have paid their taxes, and the meroha o Is
could not have felt that thoy were damaged
to the amount of farthing.
But may be asked how would remedy
the evil if my complaint be just2 by the
easiest possible means. If the farmers
were organized as they should be they
would huve constant and direct eommunioa.
tioos with each other, and all such peces-
sary commercial transactions as tho buyinp
aud selling tho pcrishablo products of the
farm, or supplying each other with seed
and implements, could be done without
paying heavy commission to q third party.
Now havo advised to harrow small
grain, and have already been asked, "wtat
harrow would you advise me to use?" i'll
were to reply through your columns who
would resp tho benefit? have gone to
considerable expense to secure the best har,
row, aud only secured it by experience. To
the farmers my experience would be in-
valuable; but the agent of tho harrow
manufacturers would be. perhaps, tho first
man to profit by its publication, and as up:
as not ho would be a dry goods merchant
or druggist. | cant SEQ legitimate NOR
chandlse 10 such traffic myself others
may, and find no fault with them for
their opinion.
[ can very we'll see, however, that ro-
vival of tho Grange organization in South
Carolina could and would save tho farmer
of the State million of dollars year, and
injure no other profession o dime. But
who can organize the farmers to their own
protection? Echo-. Very respectfully,
d. WYATT AIKEN.