The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-07-27
YORK'B CHAMPION WHEAT FARM

One Thousand Bushels Raised on
Ninety Acrcs-.Dry Weather Cut
Down tho Yield.
The Yorkville correspondent OF the
News and Courier says:
Probably tho largest quantity OF
wheat ever raised on one farm In York
County was threshed last week, on the
farm Of Mr.. +. b. McClain and, while
the average yield per acre has often
been exceeded in this section, still the
result ID very encouraging whom all
the circumstances In c0uncutiOn with
the preparation of the land, the
weather, ETC., are taken into cOnsidera-
tion.
Last year almost the entire farm
was planted In cotton and corn, and an
extra large crop was made, but owing
to the low price Of cotton the profits
of the year work were not satisfac-
tory to Mr.. McClain, and he concluded
crops were not finally gathered until
about the lst Of December which is con-
sidered full late for wheat sowing, but
nevertheless the land was prepared
and the seed wheat put In the ground,
the work not having been completed
until about the middle OF January,
owing to continued wet weather., which
rendered it impossible to prosecute
the work Of seeding without Interrupt
ton.
Ninety acres In all we're sown, and
the yield, measured, was 9l3 l 2 bush
els. The standard weight of bushel
OF wheat is 60 pounds. A number Of
measured bushels were weighed and
On this basis, and 1t is the commercial
one, there were isl pounds of
wheat, or ], 200 bushels, which makes
tho average yield per acre II 10 BUSH
els.
The varieties sOwn were Virginia
red chaff" and "purple straw A
number OF experts have pronounced
the quality as being as fl ne, If not the
finest, they have ever examined. One
special patch yielded at the rate of 80
bushels to the acre. The ground was
carefully measured with a tape line,
and the wheat with standard half
bushel measure. There was small
fraction over three-fourths acre of the
The fraction over three. fourths Of an
acre was not sufficient to have pro-
duced more l-2 bushels.
Part OF the 80 acres was good land
part average, and ten to fifteen acres
poor. On the latter Mr.. McClain did
not expect to raise over seven or eight
bushels to the acre under favorable
conditions, and did not realize over
five, his object In sowing it being to
place himself In position to SOW peas
on it after the wheat was harvested,
and thus improve and build it up. He
said to your correspondent, in discus
sing the matter, that he reasoned this
way: That land will not pay much
r
the chances are that l will put it in
cotton, therefore, will SOW it in wheat
and follow with peas. In the end the
land will be better and, while the
wheat may not pay, the improvement
OF the land will"
In regard to the net profits on this
crop your correspondent Is not pre-
pared to make an accurate, detailed
statement, but will give an approx
mate estimate which will not mics the
exact cost materially one way or the
other. The total cost was not far from
1925. which amount includes expense
of preparing the land, fertilizer used,
seed, sowing the same, harvesting,
twine, hauling, fuel used by engine in
Shreshing, etc. On this basis the not
will readily bring 81 per bushel.
Three fourths OF tho straw was acci-
dentally burned by sparks from the
engine used in threshing. Its COM
mercial value was in the neig hborhood
Of 500.
There was no rain Of sufficient
volume to wet the ground on which
the wheat grow thoroughly after April
10, and 1t is generally estimated that
this cause alone decreased the yield
not only Of Mr.. McClain's wheat, but
OF all In this section, not less than rs
per cent