The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-11-08
WANT A SECOND cLEMso1,.
Another State Farmers College i
Suggested.
Bennettsville, October S0.-The Pee
Dee Advocate prints the follo.s;:.ls

|
Dee Advocate prints the follo":.l
editorial:
The suggestion has been made by
Col. Knox Livingstone and r. P. Ha-
mer, Jr., that there ought to be
a State agricultural college in the
Pee Dee section. This idea appeals
to us with peculiar force, and we be
lieve it will meet with the approval
OF the people of the entire state.
| An agricultural college should be
in an agricultural section. If the
boys of South Carolina are to be
taught to farm scientifically and sue
cessfully, they should experiment
with the soil and in the climate where
their education is to be applied. They
cannot be shown on a bleak and bold
hill how to make the best crops in
the alluvial plains.
It is we'll known that the great ag-
ricultural region Of South Carolina is
WI
1.-The State Clemson College is located
just as far away from this region as
it we'll could be to remain in the
State. It's soil and climate are as un-
like those Of the farming belt as
could be found in a days travel
Imagine a boy going from Mar!-
boro to Pickens or Oconee to learn
how to grow cotton Or corn? No
wonder that he becomes disguised
with the idea of farming after view
ing for a, winter or two the barren
hillsides Of the Piedmont. After re-
fecting about the matter, we are not
surprised that only two or three per
cent of the Clemson students take the
agricultural course.
We believe it would be different if
the college We're located where the
boys could see the crops growing like
those in Marlboro They would take
pride in cultivating soil that would
produce so richly and SO abundantly.
What q contrast between the starva-
ton patches and in the little ravines
of the up-country and such farms as
the Cook place, Loudon or the Moore
settlement, and what different ef-
feet they would have on the boy who
wants to learn how to make the
earth give up its gold.
We are not advocating the tearing
down Of Clemson, or it's removal to
the Pee Dee. There is work for it to
do outside of the legitimate sphere
of a great agricultural college, which
ought to be in the great agricultural
region of the South. Clemson is now
overcrowded with students. 1t could
spare half of it's 500, and do more
satisfactory work. It receives about
100000 annually from the fertilizer
tax. This is more than it needs and
more than is best for the healthy
growth of the institution and the
economy which it ought to practice.
It is equal to an income, at four per
cent. from an endowment Of s2,50c.-
O06. The larger part Of this is paid
by the farmers Of the lower and east
ern part of the State.
Clemson was intended to be al ag-
ricultural college, and the farmers
were taxed to support it with the
fertilizer tax. Since its location and
environments has turned it aside
from it's original purpose it is reason
able and right that at least part Of
the money should be turned into
real farmers college, and help to
build up the section which pays it.
Agricultural colleges have been
successful where the conditions are
favorable, especially in the fertile
plains of the Middle West. But who
would expect farmers school to
succeed in fhe deserted fields Of
Maine or in the mountains Of New
Hampshire? Harvard and Yale -four
ish in the East, and the agricultural
colleges of Iowa in the West.
The agricultural college Of South
Carolina ought to be located in MARI
boro, the county that has made the
most corn on one acre that has ever
been made in the world, and the
county that makes more cotton in pro
portion than any other county east
Of the Mississippi River.
And all of its professors should not
be men who have spent their lives il?
the school room and know nothing
about practical farming. The facul-
ty should include such men as P. L.
Rreeden, r. NJ Pegues, T. D. Nc
Call, C. F. Moore, ]. ]. Lane. c. P.
Hodges, W. E. Crosland and \. j.
Matheson.
,;+;,o,, of RennettS1-j1le SAWS he