The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1896-02-26
The Story ofPuddin' Swamp
Richest Tobacco Lands in the
Low and Middle Country.

Richest Tobacco Lands in the
Low and Middle Country.
Darlington, February ID Business
carried me through portions OF Sum
ter, Clarendon and Williamsburg
counties week before last, and some
surprising things occurred. | traveil
ed through that portion of South Car
olina where these three counties
touch and found it very hard to real
ize that I was in South Carolina The
country was unlike the other portions
of the State that l have seen, but this
was not what struck me most forcl
bly, 1t seems that was in the
heart of the new South Carolina to-
bacco lands, and have never seen
people more dead in earnest on this
or almost any other subject. The
farm houses were mole numerous as
a rule than l ever saw them Gin the
country" ;" and very many of these
houses showed that they had only
recently been built. I was accom-
panied by Mr. J. g Brockintou, of
Kingstree, on this trip and our
Journey was from Kingstree up
through the sections previously re-
ferred to.
At Kingstree, on Black River and
Broad Swamp, these wonderful to-
bacco lands commenced and they ex-
tended beyond Douglas Township in
Clarendon County to the farther side
of Lynchburg and Shiloh in Sumter
county Some of the readers of
The News and Courier and all South
Carolina tobacco men are familiar
with the celebrated Puddin swamp
grades of South Carolina tobacco.
This femous "Puddin' Swamp" sec.
ton is undoubtedly itch in this pecu.
liar respect. The grade of tobacco
attracts attention wherever it is seen
and when this ''far away" section is
visited strong combination reveals
itself and one no longer marvels at
the general excellence of the to-
bacco.
In the first place the lands 10 stu
alton and soil could not we'll be i'm.
proved upon. The country gener
ally is low and marshy, but high
ridges are on every side of these low.
damp places These ridges have the
gray, loamy, upper soil, the soft,
large grained, yellow sub soil with
clay about two to four feet deep.
Natural drainage is perfect, mnch of
the land is new, having only been
cleared during the last year or two,
and "new grounds were even more
rapidly coming in response to the
axe, the spade, the plough and the
fire of the farm owners. The farms
were all comparatively small and l
saw very few colored people. By
day and night the smoke and fires
from clearing up the new ground"
were seen in almost every section
and new tobacco farms were the
rule.
saw numerous house and barn
'sraisings," where fifteen to twenty
neighbors met at one place and die
all the heavy work of building a
house with the necessary outbuid-
ings. When one was completed a
new one received their time and
labor, and very few hired hands were
seen anywhere.
Barbecued pigs and hogs of The
News and Courier prize stock of
1895 were giving great, though un-
willing. zest to the occasion, and
savory odors mingled with the work
and the smoke
A strange thing here was the fact
that in this country section so many
new houses and farms were seen, and
I was told that FIVE years ago some Of
the we'll beaten roads that we were
driving on were only a part of the
"pathless woods and the "forest
primeval - Five years ago Messrs
J. E. and R. R Tomlinson began
cultivating tobacco here, having re-
ceived information and instruction
from their kinsmen, Mr. D. VI. Smoot,
of Darlington This gentleman is a
pioneer of South Carolina tobacco men
ana he did good work in the cause
when he started these live, energetic
Clarendon County pioneers to work
on the same lines
The Messrs Tomlinson were
laughed at at first, but, but only for a
very short while On their two
beautiful farms they cultivate tobac-
co almost entirely and their neigh
bors, far and near, are following
their example.
Another st ange thing here is that