Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-10-19
Holding Cotton.

1t is said that in Texas, If not in other
States, when the late drop to below 10
cents pound for cotton came, many
farmers who had bauled the staple to
market for sale promptly "tuIned
aronnd' without unloading and carried
it back home. In some instances they
actually withdrew their cotton from
warehouses in which they had previously
stored it. If these reports be true, they
argue that the farmers who produce the
cotton arc beginning to assert their right
to have a voice in determining the mar
kct price of the same, at least to the eX-
tent of firmly within olding it from sale
and from storage and other expenses
until the price offered shall agree wiCh
thei. views. In this view of it the con-
ditlons are encouraging as showing the
assertion of an independence, the alb
sence of which has long been weak
point in the farmers relation to the cot
ton market. This condition is doubtless
the joint result of a degree of prosperity
attained by the farmer, due 10 the unusu
ally satisfactory prices at which most Of
tho cotton was sold last season, and a
confidence in the future course of prices
inspired by the price reached last spring
and the prospective shortage in the sup
ply of cotton that seems to be evident
notwithstanding the bcarish reports of
the condition and prospective outcome
of the present crop.
What will be the effect of the weather
conditions that have prevailed over the
greater part of the cotton belt for the
last five or six weeks no one can say with
any degree of accuracy Certain it is
that few weeks ago, when the dry, hot
weather, which continued throughout
the month, was making itself most felt,
the very general belief among farmers
was that the crop had been cut oil very
materially. The late August blooms, or
at least the greater part of them, dropped
from the plants, and what is known as
the top crop" passed away as dream
(as it generally does). 1t became evident
to the farmers that practically nothing
could be expected from these late August
blooms. Every one knows that cotton
blooms showing later than September
to 10 are no good. But we have had no
blooms of these dates, nor since, to
amount to anything. But the bulls"
now claim that the very same hot, dry
spell has had wonderful effect in
maturing the crop suggesting that the
outcome and final yield will be greatly
increased.
Thus we see how the very same condi-
No Of iS hn
basis of the prophecies of both sides of
the market. The truth is the weather
conditions have conSpired to do two
things: (D TO cut of the promise and
prospect of a late crop of bolls, and (2)
to encourage and even to some extent to
prematurcly open the bolls that passed
the critical stage without falling off. This
prompt and rapid opening and the fine
weather for picking has resulted in har-
vesting the crop and putting it into the
hands of the gnncrs very rapidly, and
the receipts at the ports and in the in
terror" have been swcllcd to abnormal
proportions. The truth is, a crop that
was considered late crop six weeks
ago is coming into market as an early
crop on account of weather. conditions
favorable only to early harvesting and
not to increasing the actual size of the
crop. The fact is, the crop is nearly all
open and in many sections nearly all has
been harvested and ginncd.
But the prophets are wide apart in
their estimates OF course, they are,
and always are, at this season OF the year