Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1906-10-24
COTTON CONDITIONS
Crop is Much Shorter Than il
Was Thouglll to Be
BADLY DAMAGED BY STORMS

WA SAep o1 1it.o "oN"
Exceed if Equal That Ct Last
Year-stotms; Rains, Frost and
Boil Weavil Responsible.
Columbia, special--Mr. E. .. Smith
president bf. the squtl Carolina Cot
ton Association aud ield agaitt Of the
general cotton association, returned
from trip over the cotton belt and
gave out en- interesting statement OF
his observations. MI. Smith says;
Since September 25th l have
visited every Golio;i Stats; winding
3up at Orangeburg, S. c., Monday,
October Sth. My Tip, therefore,
covered d period in which the Gulf
Storm that covered eastern Louisiana
all of StissEsisEipti; frta,tsas ind Ala:
sbama occurred. The conditions; DE-
4 fouad them previous to the. STORM.
did lst trarri!r5 Tie sxpcetatioh bt
a yield very greatly in excess Of lasl
year. The effect of the storm can
Sl.ever be fully estimated until the
:fnal yield II tiis gtat1 js known
There Certainly has never been a more
sdisaststohs $tot}d jfi its effect upon
cotton in the history OF cotton grow u
Ing, In the States where it ragged
,f;sorst OF least 60 per cent o.; the eli:
tire iiathred Lfop Was opij55nn; lie Ilald.
were white from Alabama 10 Texas.
In the low lands the cotton was beaten
down, and ever lsrge territory watei
:froM three 10 five inches deep Gotvi;ef;
tedsths grouhd and d great amount Of
cottoR Hot Sat obeH ;Eas si,britGrged
and all the open cotton that was
beaten out was runined. The continu.
edsWet weather, subsequent to the
storm, sG (; caused 2 great deal to sprout
ins the boil aiid rotting 0f lie pldiiI
was greatly Impaired by the force
osstAe #ind Sid tie effeSts df the
rain Since then tie unprecedented
cold wave, accompanied with killing
frost, has practically covered the ell
tiraSeasteth ]ialf Of The eott6M kelt;
FIN Texas and the Territories,
where neither storm nor frost have
YETI been, we found that the YIELD
sspfYMised sste be in excess of last year.
BBtissteyeisil this section thsa final out,
nbl emati Cal ,sf6r, TOR tile reason
3taaat p5ll &dfHiI IF aaafefpil lsf and boil
3Weexl have covered Il greater terfE
tory than ever iii the history Of
Texas. The eitirai; BraSos Wiley Of
central and eastern Texas; III tact
the entire cotton producing part Of
Texas has not made any cotton since
the 10th Of Septracbcr, nor will ii
make any 11ore, on account of the
boil. #eetit. f'hcfcfera Il frost III
Texas would have practically no cf.
feet dl tli5 nltinate yield Of hcl
crop. The boil weevil has Offended
this yeG;., over the entire Red River
Valle.4 in Tezas aud iit9 western
and southern Arkansas and into Ok
lahoma and Indian Territory, and is
now Within twenty miles Of the Mis-
sissippi, probably haviiig srhssed this
river this month, Therefore, in MY
opinion, the yield Of this crop viii
not very greatly exceed, if it does ex-
ceed &c at all, the yield of last year.
To SUN the whole matter up, The
conditions are tEicSs:: irHa ~eetiJ
has made top crop in Texas I'M.
possible; my citizen of that State
will tell you that no more cotton
will be made in the cotton growing
section Of Texas this season. East of
the Mississippi the storm damage,
and a theh iii addition to that. the
frost, has cut off any possibility Of
any further maturing and the de-
strnctlon of that that was partially
matured, The crop was conceded by
all to be from two to three weeks
late; the frost is from three 10 Toul
weeks early. Therofrc, taking these
conditions all together, the ohtturn
OF this crop must be exceedingly
small in comparison with what was
expected few weeks ago.
"The headlines in one of the South
Carolina newspapers a few days ago
were a little misleading, in that they
made it appear that I advised the
farmers 10 sell their cotton at ten
cents a pound. What I said then ]
repeat now: That ihc association
fixed the line in their Judgment be,
low which no one should sell a pound
Of cotton, at ten cents. / advised
the farmers that from this figure up,
according to the market, il they were
under obligations and had debts to
meet, to sell sufficient cotton 10 meet
their obligations aud to use theil
judgment, based upon the informa-
ton that we could give them as to
the conditions as to what they would
do with the balance.
Cheap at 1g 1-2 Cents.
~ also said that cotton was cheat
at twelve and one-lialf cents pei
pound, from the present outlook. ]
think every conservative cotton man,
both buyer, grower and spinner, will
concede this to be true. 1t will cer-
tainly have to bring that price if the
obligations Of the South, incurred in
making this crop. are met. If ever
there was a time when prospects
favored higher prices, this is the
time. And if the farmers will but
market their crops eonsewatively /;
not rush it to market. in my judy
ment, they will be richly rewarded
for so doing
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