The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-27

done a great deal of damage to the cotton and it is hard to estimate the
 ,er cent of a crop that will be made. regard ten bales to the mule. on good land. as fair average crop. Now l estimate my cotton crop this veor at six bales, to the mule and that, you III ss, .is it.st little above a half crop.
 But my crop is great deal better then the average cotton crop in my section, and [ think tho majority of the sarm- CTS around me will make four bales to the mule instead of six. You will see that this brings down the crop average,
 in my estimation, to about 50 per cent. of a full crop. As to corn, that 5 the rub. We have made very poor corn crop and what has been made is badly damaged by the storm. Putting eve'y-
 thing tosether, unless @ poor cotton crop is made in Texas, thus raising the
 price of the staple. we are going to have a hard time making buckle and tongue
 meet. And on account of the short
 corn crop next years crop of cotton and
 corn is going to be an expensive one to
 make. | am generally very hopeful.
 but this time cannot help but take
 A gloomy view of the crop outlook in
 the county of Lowndes."
 Mfr. Haynes b . very successful
 planter and what he says about the
 cotton and corn prospect ought to go
 long ways when estimating the yield in this section.
 About the Oil Discovery.
 The Article that was published in The Advertiser Sunday about tho dis- covery of oil on Mr.Joe Bakers Shack elford place was generally discussed in Selma Sunday. MT. Baker is one or the wealthiest men in Selma and he has the means to sink the bored well deeper, if he sees proper, and if he thir ks there Is a chance to discover oil by going down a few hundred feet daeper. he win be certain to do 90. de is not a man who will sleep over sup. posed mine of wealth without spending d few thousand dollars to find out whether it is there. 1t has been an open secret for many years past that either gas or petroleum existed under selma, l for at a depth of 400 feet an oily clay has been struck, which will burn for several minutes when a match is ap- piled. oil experts will be brought here and the matter thoroughly investigated, however, before Mir. Baker spends any money boring deeper for oil. He will get the orinion of these experts, and if | they have reason to believe that oil In paying quantities underiics Selma. then | the public may expect to hear some thing further from SelmaIs oil reser- | voir ater on. 2. There is a theory, however, that goes | to support the pre- position that there Is oil underneath the Shackelford place. On the kenan plantation. about a mile
 beyond the Shackelford place, there Is | a pond. This pond has been covered
 with an oily substance for years, and since the discovery of oil at Beaumont, Texas. Mir. Tom Keenan has had sov-
 eral fine propositions to bore for oil
 on his place. But he has not got ex-
 cited over the flatterihg offers, but
 has kept perfectly cool. and it Is re- | ported on the streets this morning that
 a cc ncession has been gotten from MT. Keenan and that a company has been
 organized and that the work of boring | for oil will soon commence. The rumof
 even goes 50 far as to say that the
 company has been organized, and that
 Mi. s. M. Payne, an ex-policeman of
 Selma. who has had some experience
 in the oil regions. has been engaged to
 bore the well, and that he will have a
 one-fifth interest in the oil fields of the
 keenan estate should be succeed in
 striking oil. There is no excitement here over the supposed discovery of oil A
 great many do not put any
 credenee in the reports whatever.
 but among capitalists and spec-
 ulators there is strong hopes that some
 thing may develop that will lead to the discovery of oil underneath Selma. Ii
 such proves to be the fact. Selma may
 get to be the center of a great oil re- zion. and if So our fortune is made With the Alabama River open the year
 round and with down grade from the
 supposed oil region to the river, it
 would be an easy matter to get the
 output to market, both by railroad and
 water. There is an expectancy here
 that something great Is In store for
 the Central City.