Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-04-27
Miseellansu,1s geading.
"ENLieHTENED sELFIsHNEss."
What a Northern Man Is Doing at
Aiken to Help the People.

Aiken to Help the People.
News and Courier.
Columbia, April 19.-"The Policy oi
Enlightened SeIfshness" Is what Mr.
Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., has largely In
view in his demonstration farm wors
near Aiken. MIR. Hitchcock believes
| that the way to elevate man Is to
show him how to make money, and nc
will do the balance himself in nine out
Of ten cases.
I recently had the pleasure Of spend
ing the day with Mr. Hitchcock on hii
demonstration farm, which Is abou'
eight or ten miles outside Of Aiken. In
this brief article 1t will be unnecessary
to laud Mr.. Hitchcock for the grea,
and ever increasing work that he Is
doing for the development OF the city
of Aiken, and to indicate his present
interest in that development. The point
of this story is the great work he Is
now undertaking in showing the pos
sibilities-if there are any--in what is
known as the sand ridge" Of this
state.
There are tens upon tens OF thou
| sands Of acres Of land extending from
Sandbar Ferry across the state In 9
line touching Columbia, to the North
Carolina line, where Chesterfield Joins
1t. This sand ridge of this state hai
in an agricultural way been the laugh
ing stock Of the agriculturists.
Mr.. Hitchcock acquired five thousand
acres of land about eight miles from
Aiken, and up to within a month age
it was spasmodically and unsatisfac-
torily cultivated. 1t was a typlcaI
piece Of sand land. Mr.. Hitchcock
was attracted by the newspaper ac-
counts to the government undertaking
in demonstration work through the in
fuence of Commissioner Watson, and
he soon got in touch with Mr.. Watson
and the result is that the government
is giving its active cooperation to this
experiment.
Mr.. Watson realized as soon as the
offer was made him that 1t was the
biggest thing that had yet been pre-
sented to his department in the way
of demonstration work, and here was
typical tract Of sand land with mar
of means and enthusiasm to back VI
the proposition to see If anything bus
iness-like could really be accomplish.
ed. Mr.. Watson saw that the best tai
ent got in touch with the situation
because he realized that this was the
first large undertaking in the consid-
erable sand belt of this entire region
to show what were the possibilities Of
this particular strata.
Mr.. Hitchcock Paying the Bills.
Now, the situation is this. Mr. Hitch
cock agreed to turn over his bank ac-
count to the extent Of whatever was
legitimately necessary to pay for the
labor and expenses in connection with
the experiment of showing whether ol
not a typical sand belt farm can be
made profitable.
On the other hand the United States
government, through the influence OF
Commissioner Watson, has delegated
Prof. Ira w. Williams, state agent In
charge of United States farm demon
stration, to take immediate charge OF
this experiment. Mr.. Williams, OF
course, will have the cooperation OF
the various experts connected with the
government work all the way from the
dairy experts to the plant breeders
from the bureau Of plant industry, the
idea being to get the very highest type
of talent to suggest what should be
done and how 1t should be done.
Mr.. Hitchcock is to let the govern
ment experts do the directing, and II
is upon them that the responsibility OF
failure Of the enterprise must rest
aside, Of course, from the money thai
is invested.
In the matter Of labor there Is to be
no unusual experimentation, and loca
colored labor is to be used as hereto
fore.
The Main Idea.
The idea of the demonstration WORK
is to take this tract Of five thousand
acres Of land, that has not heretofore
been able to make taxes, and see II II
Is possible, by a system Of rotation OF
crops, varied lines Of planting ane
economies, to make this an absolutely
profit earning farm, and IL so to lei
the owners of the tens of thousands Of
acres Of sand lands of this state know
exactly how it is done, and II they wish
to follow the lines Of tested work they
can do so without going through the
experimental work.
If course, 1t is a most unusual anc
most gratifying thing to find man Of
such abundant means as Mr.. Hitchcock
to back up" such a proposition. ant
Mr.. Hitchcock impressed me as being
4 man Of ideas, and one who Is really
anxious to do some good in this life
| for others.
Mr.. Ira w. Williams, who Is the
government representative in immedi-
ate charge of the work, has had ter
thousand dollars of Mr.. Hitchcock:
money placed at his disposal, and If II
Is necessary more will be at his com.
mand. Mr.. Williams's idea is not tc
see how much money he can spend, but
to spend his money so that every dol
lar will count, and that every dollar
will be an actual profit making in
vestment. He takes the position tha
it would be easy enough to build ul
this land by high fertilization and in
vest, say, $50 an acre on the land, but
his idea is to continue this land as
cheap land by not investing money ir
1t, but to see what can be done by prop
er and judicious fertilization, and par.
ticularly by crop rotation.
| Although Mr.. Williams has hat
charge of the farm for only a few
weeks, he now has very considerable
portion Of it in rye, and it is his pur'
pose to turn this rye under and give
the land it's first experience in what 1:
known as humus growth. Prof VIII
| liams's idea Is to get this land in 6
Ikl- IL