The National tribune., 1908-09-10

lOn 10 contest IN Soutn Cdrolina III
1889, in which II farmers took part.
c. A. Murphy, oe Spartanbprg County,
won, with the marvellous yield of 4.2S4
pounds of seed cotton to the acre. Tho
lowest yield III the contest was 1.935
pounds, but the average of the whole
number was 2.7s1 pounds. This 10
more than IA times the average per
acre in the South.
j. A. j. Henderson, of irwin County,
gathered couple OF years ago S26 baleS
OF cotton from 34a acres, The crop
brought him upwards of 20,6e0. Both
| long and short staple cotton grow In
| this section: the former, known as Sea
Island, yields from 100 to 500 pounds
to the acre, depending upon many
things. This is the highest price cotton,
and brings double the price of the short
or upland grades. The Floradora or
Egyptian cotton also grows here profit
ably. Cotton is the best American cash
farm crop. The South has a monopoly
of its production. Since the civil war
English mill owners have sought to de-
velop the cotton-growing industry in
Asia, Africa and South America, but
without success. They have decided
that the world must always look to The
South for a majority of this wonderful
staple. The field for its expansion Is
not yet reached, as only one acre in II
| Is planted to cotton in the South. The
mills of Georgia last year used over
Z5O.0oe,000 pounds The vast impor-
| tance of the cotton crop is not measured
by the value of the product alone, but
also by the wealth It brings to the farm
| ers and the employment afforded to
hundreds of thousands of factory work.
! ers in the North and South. That this
country sells to foreign countries ST.
10000 of cotton or cotton goods for
every day in the year is but one item.
| Cotton Is one of the easiest crops to cui-
tivate, and no crop makes so slight a
| drain upen the fertility of the soil end
| for none has modern enterprise found
| so many uses for its several parts Tho
| cotton plant yields In fact, double
! erop-a most beautiful fiber and a seed
yielding both oil and feed, which, altho
| neglected for long time, is now worth
| one-sixth as much as the fiber.
In 1896 there were about 100 bales of
cotton marketed in Fitzgerald This
year it is estimated that there will be
$1,000. That means about s750,000 for
. the lint alone, exclusive Of more than
pin money for seed.
| Corn.
| The yield of corn varies from 10
| bushels up. Lee RoIlings, an Indiana
| man, living on one of the colony tracts.
| last year gathered rs bushels from a
| measured acre. The crop this year
promises exceedingly well. A field seen
by the writer at the edge of the city
two and three ears to the stalk. Ina
contest between three farmers in Irwin
county, Just over the boundary result
ed a year or two ago in the production
OF 73, "a and 8S bushels respectively,
Ine winner received a wagon load OF
corn from each of the losers. H. w.
Bussey, farmer of Ben Hill County.
reports 183 bushels of oats to the acre.
Potatoes, Irish and sweet, make large
Yields, and crop of each can be grown
on the same land. The sweet potato is
a fine feed for stock.
Two crops year can be easily raised
of various products Where oats are
cut the last OF Nay or 1st of June
good crop of hay or cotton can be raised
and 1t does not require heavy fertiliza-
ton to obtain good results and keep up
the land. On land where melons are
grown, fine crops of peas or other forage
crops can be raised after the melons
have been gathered and shipped.
The fame of the Georgia watermelon
is as wide as the Union. About 10000
car loads are annually shipped to North
ern States and to Canada, and most OF
them are from south Georgia. Mark
Twain had just finished a Georgia
melon when he said in the Century
Magazine: 1t is chief of this worlds
luxuries, king by the grace of God over
all the fruits of the earth When one
has tasted it. he knows what the angels
eat. 1t was not Southern watermelon
that Eve took; We know it, because she
repented.''
While the snow is still on the farms
OF the North. and the farmer Is cutting
the ice in the drinking troughs in his
feed yards, the gardener of Georgia is
watching his crops grow and preparing
to make his first shipment by refriger-
ator cars on fast trains to Northern
markets. When the Northern farmer
is putting in his first and only crop Of
h. \, H.,
ting in his second one. his first one hav-
ing left taste for more of the same.
kind in the mouth of his Northern
neighbor. In the Northern States, on
the parallel of the Great Lakes, man is
barred from his garden for six months
in the year.
Tobacco does WELL but no attempt to
grow it on commercial scale has ever
been made, but in Counties south of
here it is being raised under shade at
value of from $500 to $1,000 an acre.
Sugar cane makes zoe gallons or moro
of sirup to the acre, or its equivalent in
sugar. Rice grows freely.
The hay crop i san important one.
There are more than a dozen standard
cultivated grasses. besides the noted
wild wiregrass, which is the source
of feed for live stock running at large
without care. Cow peas and the velvet
bean are wonderful forage crops. The
peanut of commerce can be profitabIy
raised.
Live Stock
Live stock of all kinds horses. cattle,
Sleeps, goats, hogs and poultry. are
raisedhere at little expense. Cattle gen.
orally run out, Winter and Summer, ex-
cept when farmer wishes to enrich
a piece of land by penning cattle on it.
Sheep are subject to few diseases here.
and pay well for the mutton alone.
Hogs are fed on chufas. peas and sweet
potatoes, with an occasional ration of
corn for a few weeks before killing,
but they thrive and grow fat running at
large.
Poultry is not given the attention it
should be. There are several farmers
giving special attention to it with profit.
J. P. Patterson, who came from WASH
ington County, Pa, four years ago, is
having fine success with Plymouth
Rocks and Partridge Cochins. He has
made shipments of fine birds from Ten
neSSee to Florida.
The honey bee is also a splendid as
sistant to the Georgia farmer as
money maker. The abundance of f1ow-
ers, sweet with nectar, and the long.
mild seasons, combine to make the bee
business a profitable one for all engaged
in it.
Nature is prodigal in floral wealth.
and where intelligent aid is rendered by