The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-05-02


ping season, unless special matters
make it necessary for him to tay in
Charleston. He has. Of course, tele-
phone connection with the world from
N1egge:r, as we'll as from Charleston.
Or his plantation he has some four
or five mfes Of SPUR track for the
convenience Of getting up daily ship
ments, and on each spur are one or
more shipping sheds. He has to get
up from five to ten thousand crates
of cabbage daily.
Always Busy. Never TOO Busy
In all this he shows no excitement.
but moves with precision and with
no undue haste. He is, OF course,
very busy man, but always has time
to listen to business proposition
and he decides them quickly when pre-
sented. He is always pushing his bus
mess; never day passes that he does
not give attention to some of the de-
tails: of his great business.
The shipping season for cabbage
begins about the middle of March and
ends about the middle Of May; by July
the corn is laid by, and Mr.. Bitch
takes a. short holiday in the mountains
or elswhere with his family. By Oc-
tober he is back in harness, and then
it is touch and go" all through the
winter.
On any shipping day at Meggett
telegrams come in from all parts OF
the United States by scores and doz-
ems. They are promptly answered.
and with never a hitch or murmur.
Nothing but busy Office on Wall
Street in New York city is to be
compared with the rush and pressure
always felt here during the shipping
season.
Outside of farming Mr.. Bitch acts
as a broker, buying large quantities OF
farm produce and |reselling at a profit
His Judgment is so good that he rarely
makes mistake: He hs made mucn
money in this way.
During the season Of 1905, together
with all other truckers, he lost money
planting, but understood to what the
loss was due and went at it bravely
again this year. SO far everything has
planned out well.
Other Kind Of Truck.
Besides growing cabbage Mr.. Bitten
is a heavy planter Of Irish potatoes;
he has fifty acres in English peas, and
he is experimenting successfully with
celery under an old and experienced
grower. He has put in two acres as
trial. The plants are now doing splen-
didly and are almost ready for bleach
.g This will be done with boards,
IS hoard bleached celery is considered
5est for many reasons. 1t brings more
:, the market, and this is reason
enough.
Ee also grows a large amount Of
cucumbers, onions, beans and other
garden stuff. After this is all of he
plants corn and cuts hay from sections
of the place not planted. Mr.. Bitch
IS great believer in heavy fertilizirg
lie uses three thousand pounds 10 the
acre for cabbage, and his land readily
takes this enormous amount.
In his mnnner he is quiet and un-
assuming, but determined when he
takes a stand. He is slight in build,
and Of quick, nervous movement.
His ideas are broad, as is TO be ex-
pected, and he thoroughly believes
South Carolina to be the garden spot
Of the hemisphere.
This is slight outline sktch Of the
man who can upset all the worlds
markets with his cabbage and prac-
ticlly dictates its price under nor
NAL conditions. The richest and most
powerful rice planter that ever lived in
the palmiesr days of rice planting was
small business man compared to
Norman H. Bitch.
The many things cited by no means
form the whole round OF his activities.
They are we'll night numberless. He
possesses an interest for the world, be-
cause he is the first cabbage king of
the earth. And this surely is a scep-
ire worth welding, a throne on which
one may sit and wrong not the hum
blest of Goi's creatures, nor YET quail
before earth's proudcst James Hen
~ Rice, Jr., in Charleston Post.