The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1902-11-05
A Great Southern Plantation.

Messrs. W. P. Harris, J. D. M.
Shaw and Jonas Gray, of Laurens
County, we're in party of seven Or
eight farmers who recently visited the
great farm of Hon. James NJ. Smith
in Ebert County, Ga, and on their
return the Laurens Advertiser inter
viewed Mr.. Harris, who spoke inter-
estingly of his trip as follows:
"Mr. Smith runs about 200 males, :"
he said, "and for 130 of these he uses
wage labor. This last lot of mules
he keeps in one lot. -
Chow much does he cultivate?"
the reporter asked.
"He owns about Is, 600 acres and
this year he will make 2300 bales of
cotton. Of course this lis short
CROP"
lis Mr.. Smith regarded very rich?"
''Yes, his fortune is in the millions.
He made his money farming. Of
course having gotten good start he
made other investments and owns stock
in various enterprises now, but farm
ing was the basis of his fortune.
Farming made him capitalist
To what do you attribute his sue
cess??:''
aTo three circumstances, Mr..
Harris replied. First his land, in
Ebert County, is well located. 1t
is ridge land as level as can be found
in this region, the place is only SO
miles from Greenwood. It is what
we call mulatto land, about such as
lies beween the Henry Fuller place
and Waterloo. In the secnd place, Mr..
Smith has wonderful control Of his
labor. Much of his labor has been
with him 10, Is and 25 years. He is
positive viii his laborers, but kind.
If one does not show uplin the morn
ing the doctor is Immediately sent to
his house. The work cut out for the
day must be done, if it takes till mid
night. In the last place, he practices
economy and knows how to practice
it. There is absolutely no waste. l
believe he would have 100 bales Of
cotton in the seed moved from one
ware house to another without losing
a dozen locks. He buys shcuk collars
for the mules and causes them to be
lined with duck. They last two or
three times as long in that way. Every
where on the vast place the same re-
lentless system of saving everything
prevails. -
"Mr. Smith is not an intensive
farmer Mr.. Harris continued. "He
uses about 175 pounds of fertilizer to
the acre, at least he intends to use
this though they usually get in per
haps 200 pounds. He gets it very
cheap, buying acid, kainit, etc., in
bulk. Thus he save the price of bags.
He has his own oil mill and also his
own ginnery-four 70-saw gins.
These cannot keep up with the cotton
as it is picked. He has good roads
through his farm and owns his own
railway, met US at his own railway
station. He has sold good deal Of
land, having at one time owned per-
haps 25, 600 acres He employs about
six or eight white foremen and Of
course has his own store. His labor
seems contented and happy. He keeps
about 300 bead of cattle and showed US
100 head of beef cattle averaging about
1000 pounds to the head. We saw
one field of 600 acres in corn. He cuts
vast quantities of hay. Rye is one of
his favorite crops. He plants land in
cotton after cutting the rye from it in
the spring. He is enabled to do this
on account of the nature Of the soil aud
this is great advantage. He can
raise later cotton than we can.
''We greatly enjoyed our visit. 1t
was valuable experience. -