The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-09-28
A Sure Enough Farmer.
l-orh'rille ENQUIRER.

w men NIX. l.. buXter McCluln, OF
iOrkviiie, first yentured into the farm
shakes of the head and knowing winks
of the eye by those who had "bcen
there" But now there is disposition
to suspend Judgment. "Springdell"
farm shows more evidence of improve
ment during the past few years than
any other farm the reporter knows of
in all York county, and people who
were ut first disposed to be skeptical
are now watching Mr.. McClain's Oper-
atiOns with much more than curious
interest.
A reporter for the. Enquirer went
over the farm II few days ago. There
are 175 acres of cotton, about l25 acres
of corn, and considerably more than
100 acres OF peas. There are some
other side crops, of course, and the
Jersey cattle. Berkshire pigs and fine
poultry are all doing well. Ordinarily,
an account of these would make an
the big crops mentioned, the cattle,
pigs, etc., are mere incidents.
The cotton crop is one of the finest
to be found i'll York county. BY the
picked acre, ten acres, or as Il whole, it
will compare favOrably with the best.
Many farmers who have seen it say
they have never seen the like. In one
field of IS acres, it looks as if every
acre is good for Il bale, and as if some
are n few thin places which, compared
with the balance, look poor; but even
these are high above the average i'll
promised production. A man of or
dinary size might walk between the
rows of acres of the best cotton, and
except for the moving of the foliage,
his presence could not be detected so
yards away. Most of the cotton will
average At feet high, and the reporter
0 feet by actual measurement.
And it is not all weed-nOt by large
per cent. Nothing but fine seeds were
planted, and they have all come true to
their kind. From top to bottom the
stalks nrc well friited. Fifty bOlls to
the stalk are as common as six bOlls in
an ordinary field, and from 100 to 100
b0lls to. the stalk are by 10 means rare.
There has been some rOtting of bolls
however, is principally down close to
the ground, where, on account of the
remarkably thick foliage, it is impos-
eible for the sunlight to penetrate. But
even this hardly seems to be u draw
back. If only rs per cent should be
gathered, the crop would still promise
to be remarkable. The loss, however,
so far, promises to be SO trifiing rs to
be unworthy of consideration. People
have begun to estimate the crop OH the
175 acres ut 15O bales. Mr.. McClain
but upon receipt of bona fide offer of
100 bales for the prospect, as it stands,
replied, 81 prefer not to gamble"
TO tell how this cotton crop was
made would be another story. The
Enquirer has already, at differed times,
thrown more or less light on the sub
jecS. There are some who would natu-
rally suggest ''plcnty of money" From
all the reporter knows OF has reason to
believe, the proprietor of Springfield
has all the money that is needed for
his operations, but this is by no means
the explanation. There has been
brains and good management. Mr..
McClain would, no doubt, rather have
the prospect of getting 8 cents for his
crop; but, at the same time, nobody
hears a word from him in complaint
against the seemingly inevitable
cents. Even at this price, he seems to
be sure of q handsome profit.
AS fine as it is, the cotton crop is by
no means the most striking feature of
Mr. McClain's farming operations this
year. With an assurance that seems
to be a guarantee of success, he has
undertaken to blaze the way for the
people of this section with new
method of harvesting and handling the
corn crop. People all over the county
have been complaining of their inabil-
ity to 'pull fodder" OH account of the
unfavorable weather conditions. Mr..
AicClain has not troubled himself about
fodder pulling; but his corr has already
been harvested. It was cut off close to
the ground and is now standing in
great shocks, strung out along the bot
toms and across the other fields ON
which it grew.
Fodder pulling is thing of the
past" said Mr.. McClain, in explana-
ton: Except in South Carolina and in
portions of North Carolina. In other
corn growing States they harvest as
you see l have done. had two men
to go along. before, and at proper in
tervals tie the tops of four stalks-twO
from each rOw-tOgether. Behind
these came men with hoes cutting
down the remaining stalks, and others
gathered and shocked them up. Fol-
lowing the gang came others with
twine. which they. tied around the tops
of the shocks to keep the wind from
blowing the corn down.
"The proper time TO begin harvest
ing is about when the fcdder would he
ready 10 pun. 1t you will notice the
ends of the stalks, all rest on the
ground. Well, they continue to take
nourishment in that way and supply
the ears of corn with alf the moisture
they need right on up until the corn is
thoroughly cured. The shocks should
be allowed to stand in the field for
several weeks, and, if desirable, it will
do no harm to let them stand until
December. The corn will be found to
be in perfect condition, and the stalks
and fodder will also have feed value.
"To those who are most thoroughly
up on the subject, experience has
proved that fodder is not worth the
pulling. There is 10 discount on the
value Of fodder MS feedstnff; but to
pull it from your own corn costs more
than it comes to. In the first place, it
Injuries the corn seriously, and in the
second place the labor expended in
saving 1t amounts to almost, if not
quite, as much IN it's market price.
Take my corn crop in its present con-
ditiOn, for instance. To put it there
cost me just $98 less than it cost me
last year to pull the fodder off of it.
After | got the fodder off of it last
year Istill had the corn to pull and
haul up, and after that there was still