The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-12-23
FUTURE COTTON CROPS.
Manufacturers Record Investigates
the Prospect.
Some People Think the Limit of
Production has been Reach
ed, Others that there is
no Limit.

Baltimore, Dec. 20.-The Manufac
turers' Record, in continuation of its
discussion of the cotton crop, as pre-
sented last week, has submitted to the
commissioners of agriculture and the
presidents of all the agricultural col
Ieges of the South, to several hundred
leading cotton manufacturers, oil
mill men, commission merchants,
bankers, growers and others the fol-
lowing inquiry:
Is there danger of permanent de-
crease in cotton production in the
South? If so, is it due
(1) To deterioration of seed by rea-
son of the best seed being sold to oil
mills; or
(2) To decline in the fertility of
the soil by reason of bad cultivation
under the tenantry system or
81 To lack Of farm labor since
the industrial development of the South
has drawn many hands from the coun-
try to the cities. or are all three Of
these factors to be reckoned with?
The Manufacturers Record begins
with the publication of replies in this
weeks issue, and expects to continue
for several weeks to present the views
of the best-informed people of the
South on these questions, so vital not
only to this section, but to the whole
world. Dealing with the replies, it
says:
"The letters published today deal
mainly with the conditions which pre-
vail in toe Carolinas and Georgia.
Following these will come next week
letters from the far South, in which
the conditions may be presented as
entirely different from those in the
upper South. The letters published
show a wide diversity of views, but
the predominant note in all of them,
with few exceptions, is that scarcity of
farm labor will make it difficult for
the South to increase its production Of
cotton. This scarcity is due in part to
the tendency of the white tenant
farmer to cotton mill employment,
most pronounced in the older textile
communities, where he and his family
secure more profitable work than on
the farm, and in part to the trend of
more active negro laborers away from
agriculture to mining, railroad and
kindredswork. 1t is pointed out that
this condition, which is becoming
more pronounced every year, would
make it difficult for the South to pick
a larger crop, even if it could be rais
ed. This condition presents an urgent
need for immigration to the South to
fill in the gap left by the increased
employment of whites in the cotton
mills and of negroes in mining and in
railroad construction. and in the gen
eral trend of negroes away from farms
to cities.
"With but few exceptions, it is
claimed that there is no deterioration
of seed, but that, on the contrary,
farmers have been careful to use the
best seed for planting, though a few
writer's insists very strongly that there
is a deterioration in seed, claiming
that the best seed are sold to the mills
and that the fertilizers used are not
equal to the seed for the maintenance
of the fertility of the soil, and that
thus the consumption Of seed by oil
mills is a disadvantage in the long
run. Comparatively few admit any
deterioration in soil, and where this
is reported, it is claimed to be due to
the thriftlessness of the negro tenants,
who do not appreciate the Importance
of maintaining the fertility of the
land. With scarcely an exception,
however, the small crops of the last
few years are claimed to be due, not
to any of these causes, but to the
abnormal weather conditions, which
cut short the yield. While some think
the South has practically reached,
under present conditions, it's maximum
output Of cotton. there are other
equally well-informed men who claim
that there is scarcely any limit to the
increase of the cotton crop of the,
South. This side of the case is pre-
sented by one of the most careful in
vestigators of the South, who says
that there has been no deterioration III
the seed and none in the soil, and to
this adds:
g We have made two short crops,
from causes that have, in the past and
will continue to recur from time to
time. We may next year make 22o
pounds of cotton per acre. The acre
age will probably be 30, OCO, 600. This
will give US a crop of something like
13 500, COO bales. Manufacturers have
tai Ken many people from farms. Those
left on the farms work better, because
cf better conditions and rewards. The
South is not yet seriously suffering
from lack of farm labor, but has reach
ed point where the labor, formerly
much idle, has been absorbed in prof.
table employments. 1t is good time
for quite a lot of thrifty immigrants
to come South. The range Of cotton
production per acre seems to be about
l5O pounds on the low side to 225
hounds on the high side. 1t seems to
be ranging up and down nov, about
as in all time past. y