The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1898-07-28
GREAT WHEAT YIELD.
Banner Whcat Farmer at Charlotte,
y. C.-!roriy iiu>hcls to tho Acre
Wheat Crowns: i'll ;hc South.

y. [.-EUriy iiu>hclS to tho Acre
Wheat Growing i'll ;hc South.
There has been rails Ell at Charlotte,
y. c.. what is no doubt one of the
lar-cst crops of wheat ever Yaisedin the
South, not only IL Ike number Of acres
planted, but IN the bushels OF wheat
per acre. Tie Charlotte Oil and
Fertilizer Company Lave no acres, aud
the president OF THIS company, Mr.. Fred
Oliver, 10, making 21U acres virtually
in one crop. The Oil Mill Company's 5
land has been cultivated with cotton for
eight years, the past five years raising
bale of 500 pounds per acre. Mr..
divers land has been cultivated by
him for three years, and produced last
year SO pounds of lint per acre. Both
cf these farms were as poor as ary land
il the county. aud would not produce
under the management of the colcred
renters over - to 100 pounds OF lint per
uc:c.
Nr. Oliver, as manager for the OIL
mil and for his own farm, decided 1t
did not Iay 10 raise cotton at five cents
per pound even when 800 pounds per
acre could be produced, and concluded
TO abandon the cultivation Of cotton
and try wheat. The wheat was planted
very late, rs it was first necessary to
gather the cotton crop. The first seed
lug was done the last week in Novem-
Der and the last the last week In De-
cember. The stand was so poor on &C
count OF being so late sown that Mr..
Oliver almost decided to plow itup, but
finally concluded to see it through. The
grain was put in with drills about one
and one-half bushels per acre, and $50
pounds of very high grade fertilizer
per acre was used The crop now cut,
but not all threshed, will no doubt give
nearly if not fully forty bushels of clean
wheat per acre on the average, oiAstotal
of 10000 bushels on $50 acres. The
wheat is of very fine quality and OF three
varieties-Red May, Fulcaster and
White Clausen. About 1000 bushels
have already been threshed and clean
ed, and is very free from cockle-in
fact, not single grain of cockleseed
has yet been seen. MIR. Oliver expects
to sell the entire crop of the oil mill
and his farm for seed.
The Oil Mill Company has purchased
a very complete plant for threshlng
the wheat and baling the straw direct
from the thresher, having a capacity
of 900 bushels of wheat and baling
fifty tons of straw Fer day of twelve
hours.
1t is certainly an object lesson for the
South, Nor tn, East and West to find
such a wheat crop growing IN North
Carolina, and should be the means OF
creating a demand for land in this
healthy section of the country from ell
quarters of the United States. If the
wheat growers of the Northwest can
afford to pay S2j to S75 per acre for
land to produce fifteen to twenty-five
bushels of wheat per acre, and to raise
only one crop per year, how much
better would it be for these farmers to
go South, where the land can be OBJ
tanned for SO to $40 per acre, where
farm labor can be had for forty and fifty
cents per day, where green fodder for
the mules can be cut at least nine
months in the year, and, above ali,
where the lald will produce two crops
per year instead OF one.
After harvesting thu wheat the same
land will grow and mature a crop of
corn, Irish or sweet potatoes, peanuts,
or a crop of cow-pea hay. The land
this big wheat crop is on will ali be
planted in COW peas, aud Mr.. Oliver
expects to harvest three to four tons Of
cured cow-pea hay per acre. This hay
sells for more money than any Northern
hay brought South, and at the present
time is bringing $lS per ton. The
crop of wheat will cost for fertilizer,
seed wheat and all preparation of land,
sowing and harvesting, not over 81 rer
acre. The baled straw will surely be-
two and a half tC&s per acre, and will
bring S. to SS per ton, or more than
enough to pay for the entire crop, leav-
ing the wheat as net profit. The cow
pea crop will cost about $40 per acre,
as the land will be fertilized about as
heavily as for W heat. This crop should
pay a profit of at least 225 net per acre.
which, added to the wheat profit of S35
to $40, will make net profit per acre
of not less than $50, perhaps as high as
S75.
The cow peas will be harvested in
time to SOW wheat on the $50 acres be-
fore December /. What is being done
on these two farms is simply a revela-
tion to ali South and North.