The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1900-05-31
SWINGING s1vvl TT. Circle.
People and Places Within 20
Miles Of Bamberg.
FARMERS AND THEIR FARMS.
What a Staff Correspondent Of The
Herald Saw and Heard Along the
County's Highways and Byways.

LEES, >. u, May oo.
Madam! This is the greasiest coun-
try in the world -.
The other day the venerable wife OF
that public spirited citizen and best OF
farmers, Captain J. c.. Mcmillan, in relat-
ing some of the trying experiences she
passed through during the war, quoted
this as the vehement expression of one OF
Sherman's plundering soldiers, who stop
ped at her house on that famous victorl-
Gus march, which left in its wake desola-
ton and the other horrors of wars devas-
tation. The Ehrhardt section has always
been noted as the land of corn and wine,
of milk and honey, but this naive refer
ence to it's always abundant meat product
has kept me busy thinking for the past
two or three day. In putting my expert
ences on paper weekly, | find difficulty,
not in noting interesting facts and Incl
dents, but in culling from. the mass Of
material gathered during six days swing
Il always rest on Sunday sequent matter
enough to make letter on some particu-
lar subject.
Since the big picnic at Mount Pleasant,
where the abundance of the greasy land"
was displayed and disbursed in spirit of
prodigal hospitality that caused me to
open my eyes, l have been swinging
around through this section of the coun-
try, because of the big roller mill at Den
mark, has become the centre or rather
the circumference of Bamberg's wheat
growing circle.
The wheat harvest is upon us and the
big reapers have begun to clatter through
the broad fields of golden grain, and the
ebon-faced Graders are making the air
musical with the rymthic swish, swish of
their. blades. There is two hundred per
cent. more wheat raised in Bamberg
county this year than in '99, and the indi-
cations are that the acreage will be large
ly increased the first year of the Twentj
eth century. The average yield per acre
will be about ten bushels, and the grain is
very little affected by rust. By the way,
speaking of this pest which discouras S
many would-be wheat growers, Senator
Mayfeld tells me that the National De-
partment of Agriculture has discovered a
wheat which the officials have decided is
absolutely rust proof. 1t is rank grow
er, the yield is greater than other varle-
ties, and the -four product is superior to
the finest grades turned out by the West
ern mills. hope this is true, for want
to see wheat sown on every farm in the
State, and I'll tell you why. But first let
me say something about agriculture in
general, and particularly of farming in
Bamberg county. We often hear the ex'
preston, "Pity the poor farmer" but If a
man owning land in this county will give
the soil intelligent and careful cultiVa,
ton, whether his holding be one-horse
or an hundred-ho farm, this pitiful cry
will cease in few years, and there will
60 up instead the ejaculation: ENVY
the rich agriculturalist"
But to come back to wheat. have
stated that the average yield will be ten
bushels to the acre. Five bushels OF
wheat will make barrel of fiour--four
which I can testify from experience, Is
far superior in nutriment to the best
foreign product that can be 'boughten.'
This flour, if purchased by the farmer
would cost him on the average OF 50 pei
barrel. That will be SIC per acre receiv'
ed for the average yield. In addition
there are the shorts-superior to the
best buckwheat for making batter cakes
worth at least 50 per acre more, and
the bran, and second-class flour, the value
of which will pay all the expenses OF cul'
tivation, including the cost OF fertilizers
So, in reality, the farmer, after his har'
vest, is over, has $40 per acre profit, OF
its equivalent, in his pocket, and his
his land is ready for the reception OF an
other crop. What shall it be? Peas, OF
course. Two hundred pounds of acid pei
acre will be needed to fertilize the wheat
land, and this will cost him $1.1O: Add
to this bushel of peas worth 70 cents
and he has in the ground crop that will
give him an average yield of two tons OF
fine hay to the acre. For this product
there is always ready sale in the Bam,
berg market, and your big horse and mule
dealers headed by G. Frank Bambsrg
| with Jones Brothers, D. H. Counts, Thos
Black, Major Hays, ct al, following, will
gladly give him $12 per ton for it un'
baled. This will net him $24 more pei
acre, and his land, because of the cost
less peayine fertilization will be ready
next year for another crop Of wheat
| without additional manuring. There is
another little wrinkle that l learned
while riding through an extensive wheat
field the other day. If the land planted
in wheat this year bore a crop of corn
and peas last year, and the peas were
sown broadcast, and, after gathering al
the peas you want, the vines were plowec
under there will be such reproduction
this season that you can save the 70 cent:
bushel for peas to replant. This fielt
that rode through had been so treated
and now, just as the wheat is ready fol
the sickle, these fugitive peas are burst
ing through the soil in all directions ant
thick enough to obviate the necessity o
a replanting. This far-sighted farmer
therefore, in reality picks up $s4 C1
every acre that has produced him $1'
worth of good -four, at cost of about $;
per acre-a more, profitable crop thai
corn and half as remunerative as cottol
at cents pound. There is anothe
fact to be taken into consideration in thi