The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-05-18
a GREENVILLE FARMER.
Improving Land without Fertilizers
ana by Raising Cotton-CIean CuI-
turc the Secret Of Success


and by Raising Cotton-CIean CuI
turc the Secret of Success.
Lar, CAN'T in Piedmont Headlight
Last Wednesday my friend Bob Hell.
lams, OF Greenvillc. came down to see
me and take in the sights Of Spartan.
burg. Bob is one Of the biggest-heart-
ed fellows in the State. He is con.
structed on the hea-bit,cn sorrel order
of beauty, but what Bob lacks in looks
he makes up in clevernoss. He is the
son-in.law of Capt. White, of the
Windsor Hotel, and brother-in-law to
| Dillingham;. We think his satanic
majesty must have owed the Captain a
grudge and paid him of in sons-in-law.
But the Captain Says he is proud of his
| boys, and would not object to some
more old debts being l!quiduted with
the same kind Of twO.legged CURRENCY,
Bob HelIams has been living in Green.
willie for 10 these many years, and of
| course on reaching the bustling. busy
city OF Spartanburg he felt like Poca-
hontas when she first landed in Lon
don. But it don't take long to accli-
mate Bob Hellams, and he soon made
himself at nome. He spent the greater
part OF his time at Becker's drinking
soda water and eating goObcr candy.
Late In the evening we met our friend,
ana he was inhIted with soda water
lifc balloon, and SO stuck up with
molasses candy that you could have
used him for hy.papcr. Bob wanted
TO know where they got their sweet
ened water at, and if it came from the
Glenn Springs he had heard so much
about?
Bob Hellams runs a furniture store
in Greenville, and also owns one of the
best farms in the South. 1t only con
tains JIG acres, but for years he has
made q net profit on the place, besides
supporting his family, of 81 600 per
annum. | have heard IL great deal
about his model farm, and unravelled
my friend of the. following informa-
tlon:
Mr.. Helams says that when he first
bought the place mis- friends ridiculed
the idea OF making Il living thereon,
and one facetiou,ly remarked that it
was the best place in tho country to
haul corn corn to. The land is u thin
grey soil. But Bob went to work, and
without the application Of any manure
except guano, and with the production
OF cotton as his principal crop, he last |
year made on 80 acres 80 bales Of cot |
ton weighing 100 pounds each, and |
hut for the crousnt would have made
10 bal 5. The total value Of the entire
SiptS pltuuCcU ou VI acres was ~. 0UO. |
Now, this shows what can be at com
pllshed on our poor lands under scicn-
tifc t:llagc and good management.
L asked Mr.. Helams what kind of
manure he used, and if he sowed down
his land in COW peas? He replied that
the only manure he used was the usual
quantity OF guano per acre, and as cot
ton was his only principal crop, and it
took the whole year to make and gath
er it. he could not improve his land by
But he always made
1t rule to raise his own supplies.
Mr. Hellams then went on to explain
that he had brought up his land" by
clean cultivation-never lutting Il blade
ot grass or bush grow to be cut green.
he explained that when vegetation
was growing and you destroyed it in
The green stage You also destroyed the
germs and su bstance OF the soil around
Il. Take, for instance, 9 forest tree.
TO cut down that tree while the sap is
up means loss to the land for many feet
around it, for the fertilizing properties
have gone up into that tree with the
sap. 1T Is the same way with grass,
weeds or any other vegetation. II you
permit them to grow, and then before
they die down and the sap goes back
INTO the soil, cut them up, you rob
your lands OF its fertility. 1t matters
not how small the sprig Of grass
when cut green, you take that much
substance from the ground around it.
MIR. Hcllams then went On to explain
the reason sorghum cane improvcrsh-
ed gronr1 was cutting it while green.
II you pl Az your land in cane and let
it die down aud the substance contain
ed therein go back into the ground it
will be the richest spot on the place.
Mr.. Hellams says there is no crop that
will so rapidly bring up our thin lands
as cotton, If you never let a sprig Of
grass grow in the fields. 1t thoroughly
natures, and returns to the soil each
year more fe, tility than it takes out.
Bob Hellams is also a chicken fancicr
and has promised me some of his fine
fowls