The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1900-07-19
TOBACCO IN SOUTH CAROLINA
What tho Weed has Done for ono See.
ton or tho State.

| ton OF INC Sthte
Mr.. N. L. Willet writes as follows TO
tho Augusta Chronicle
was anxious to look into that por.
ton of South Carolina that has in the
past several years gone into tobacco
growing and has thereby prOspered so
] greatly. was glad therefore to stop
u day at Darlington, s. c., with my
friends, MIR. and Mrs. G.. w. Hewitt,
who own one Of tho finest homes In this
thriving town OF 4 800 souls. Darling.
ton soils now 100000 pounds tobacco
leaf, Timmonsvile over 1000, 900
pounds and Florence equally as much
these three towns being all In tho
same county. This leaf Soils for from
q to &c. u pound to % and 3OG. This
difference in price obtaining princi-
pally from differences In sol. and cur
ing OF leaf. The proportion Is this :
Ten COY acres in tobacco is the equi-
valent Of 100 acres In cotton--rcturn-
ing say $50 an acre and the tobacco $50
to $3.50.
The tobacco industry has brought u
a large number Of tobacco raisors into
this county and land that five years
ago was Of only nominal value today
brings ready sale at greatly enhanced
values. Mr.. Hewitt told mo OF one
|
ton farming for sixteen years and WAS
bankrupt who in four years had under
| tobacco raising now owned the place
having paid out nearly $1,000. These
people havo found, too, that the best
tobacco lands are the light, wOrn-out
cotton lands.
The season for tobacco growth Is
much less than cotton. Tobacco plant
ed, say in April, is all eady coming to
market. July and August, In place OF
being dead months, are live business
months in Darlington. From July to
| December are tobacco market months.
The caro- Of the tobacco plant is Il mat
| ter Of 50 to Is days. Now compare this
time with the six or seven months
| ut edcd for cotton
TO grow tobacco at q profit requires
more brains than to grow cotton. 1T
| requires, too, experience. 1t requires,
| too, Il certain outfit that costs some
money To the grower. Then enough
| must be grown in Il county to warrant
the putting up OF warehouses-c0stn
each about $5, 900 in the nearby town.
Tho drying houses to be put up on the
plantation arc Of logs and mud. The
| town warehouse Is a wooden long one
story affair with big windows In the
roof.
The acreage OF tobacco is so small
| 10 to 100 OF cotton that tho cotton
| acreage OF Il county nccd not be largely
| decreased because OF tobacco growing.
| Tobacco might be largely the surplus
! crop. The railroads running out OF
Darlington have about as much cotton
as ever and yet now added to this have
> 00O, 600 pounds OF tobacco leaf. be-
lievc it would be a good idea for the va
rious railroads out ~ Augusta to look
into this tobacco business. The opening
Of this new culture in a new county
must como, feei, largely through the
railroads. Primary soil experiments
must be made, few tobacco culturists
! imported, farmers cooperation secured,
| etc. The railroads can do this and If
the experiment succeed they will be
| repaid 100 fold. The Atlantic Coast
! Line few years ago abandoned Il the
use OF wood on it's engines between
Wilmington and Wilson, N. c., and
substituted coal. TO keep these poor
piney woods choppers from starvation
-almost--the railroads looked up
straw berry culture for them. The road
| innugurated the business successfully.
The poor wood sellers are today far
| better of than ever and the road haul
ed this past season 800 cars OF straw
berries Ia new species OF freight to
| them) out OF the territory.
| The advent OF tobacco in and about
Darlington has raised the county, |
might say, almost out Of poverty into
aliuence. All lines OF business are
good. After looking over the town
full Of 81, 900 and $4,000 residences and
all we'll kept said to Friend Hewitt
that | did not believe there was a poor
man in the town. Ho told me that in
mo day he had counted 400 country
wagons in town.
| The advent OF tobacco In the county
had done for tho wealth OF the county
just what the artcsian wells have done
| Tor it's health. This used to be worry
| unhealthy district. Chills and fever
| came with each summer and fall The
artusinn we'll has banishud this. Dar-
| lington has nine or ten wclls--all over
tlowing wells. Their depth is about
!25 feet. The water is quite cold and
has just enough OF sulphur and mag
nesia in it to be OF constant medicinal
| help to all low country dwcllcrs. The
| town has q good water systom from one
OF the wells. The last we'll bored by
the town only cost 500 an amount
that many an up country well costs.
| Those OF us who live outside OF the
'artcsian well district know nothing
cOmpar atively OF the value OF these
wells to q town and county.
Darlington ID famous for her live
oaks, known ~ Darlington oaks. +"
They are found only in and about the
town and are different in type from
the coast live oak. They arc as large
as our lower Broad street oaks, but arc
more spreading. | am familiar with
coast live oak forests, but Darlington
surpasses them all. The tree Is an
evergreen and this tree Is thing Of
beauty all the year. Darlington ia
distant from tho coast about the same
number OF miles Hs Is Augusta and
has the same latitude. | am convinced
that Augusta c0Ild add these oaks II
she would try to her tree system.
have arranged il 20 that the city or
any OF her citizens can got this ncxt
fall supply OF these Darlington oak )
for experimental planting--if they SO
wish it.
-Ollicially the talking OF the census
| yus rpmr,lptp1 In Naw Vnrk lu.t krj-