The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-12-02
WINAsBoRo DAIRY PROJECT.
A Letter From Dr.. Nesom, of
Clemson College, Which Should
Give Great Encouragement to
the Projectors.


the Projectors.
The discussion of the establishment
of cheese factory at Winnsboro has
brought forth the following letter
from DIR. Nesom, of Clemson College,
which was written in reply to COM
munication asking him in regard to
the practicability of such enterprises
in this section. His letter contains
many practical suggestions that ought
to be helpful at this time when there
is a search for new enterprises for the
farm as we'll as for the factory:
81 am delighted to hear that the
prospects for cheese factories in your
section are good. / have frequently
taken occasion to remark that the
principal reason why farms ali over the
South are decreasing in fertility and
value, as they are in Fairfield County,
is that our sysem of agriculture forces
the sale of field crops, instead Of
animal products. If all that will do
to feed animals we're fedsson the farms,
where it is grown and the manure re-
turned to the soil, poor lands would
soon be thing of. the past, for it
should be remembered that all clay
and sandy lands in this section are
susceptible to the highest state of fer
lization. This is not true of prairie
and lime lands Before we can have
cheese factories We must have plenty
of good dairy cattle, and before we can
keep these cattle economically we must
have good pastures, hay meadows and
grain fields to produce all the required
food on the farm.
'.Some things produced may be ex-
changed for others, as the exchange Of
cotton, cotton seed and milk for cotton
seed meal. Some seem to doubt the
ability of South Carolina farmers to
produce feed in abundance For the
benefit of the doubt I will say that
Northern cattle man. who recently
visited this State told me that cattle
could be grown here and maintained at
half what they cost in the North. We
have the three rennisites for any stock
country namely.sa good soil,a warm
climate and plenty of rainfall There
is nc doubt that dairy cattle are the
most profitable Of any class if shsy are
properly handled and ready market
is found for their products. The dairy.
man near the city, y,1where he can sell
fresh, sweet milk, gets most out of the
business, while those in the country
and at small towns are forced to resort
to the manufacture OF butter and
cheese, so as to get the products in a
condensed form to enable hin. to trans
port them to distant markets at the
cheapest possible freight rate. Butter
will yield about half as much as the
sale of sweet ruilk, but when the
cheese factory comes along it will pay
as much for the milk, as it will bring
if made into butter, and the, dairyman
is relieved of all the trouble of making
and marketing his butter Experts
claim that milk in this State will
make more cheese and better cheese
than the same amouut of milk will in
the North. This is 70 doubt true,
and is possibly due to the fact that
much of the milk here is gotten from
Jersey and other dairy breeds that give
a rich milk, to favorable climatic con-
ditions and luxuriant feeds. Dairy
cattle in the rural districts can only
be made profitable by using the dairy
products in the manufacture of butter
and cheese, and if they cannot be used
it is better to discard them altogether
and breed beef cattle, so that the
animals themselves may be sold for
food at profit