Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1909-06-02
AS TO THE CORN CONTEST.
Farmer Suggests Plan that Would
Help Owner and Renter.


Editor Keowee Courier: 1t seems
that S40O-or near that amount
has been raised for the purpose of
conducting corn contest in Oconee
county.
III l understand the object 1t Is to
encourage the raising of corn in our
county. This money Is to go to the
three farmers who make the most
corn on an acre of upland at the
least immediate cost iof production.
l am farmer on small scale, and
have been making my living by the
products of Oconee soil for twenty
five years, and | should Judge that
there are at least 1000 corn grow
ers in this county. | would advise
encouragement on this line; The
prizes would be offered to the ones
who are now ready to take the lead
in this great and important feature
OF rural life and activity-and they
are the men from 25 to 35 years Of
age. Why need We Encourage the
men who have all the advantages
over their entire communicable
men who are now up in the SOS and
COS, and have the advantages given
by reason of their fathers and grand
fathers labors before them? Take,
for instance, Robert l.. Symes, of
Mountain Rest. He lives now where
he has lived for thirty years. Then,
too, there are j. J. Ballenger, James
Bearden, J. Wade Dickson, j. H. Bar
nett, w. A. Bowen, w. l.. McMahan,
Daniel Ravenel, elijah Marett, S. p.
Stribling, and numbers of others
whose names l have not space to
mention. These will have to make
no special effort to far surpass the
best possible results obtainable
through the labors of the average
renter-farmer who is now beginning
at the beginning and making the
struggle for future progress.
Suppose this money had been di-
vided into twenty parts-ten for the
man who owned his land, and ten
Tor the man who has. to rent the
land he works. If the committeeman
had seen fit to let the premiums run
as low as SIS 1t would probably have
caused many cribs to have more corn
in them this fall than will the divis-
ion that was made. There is little
chance for the renter, who may have
to make his living here this wear
and yonder next year, to compete
with the landowner, who, year after
year, works and improves the same
land, and in this contest will have
all the advantages of twenty or thir-
ty years of cultivation to back him.
Last year i had field of
corn that was praised by many. and
one of my neighbors had fine field
of corn, and n brother farmer a few
miles away had very fine field O.
corn. Men who raised corn, ana
have done so for years, compliment
ed mine as the best in the county;
some| said 1t was the best they ever
saw. l measured 1t by the wagon
and got 81 or so bushels. ] would
say to those men, you surely have
not seen my neighbor's over the way,
and Mr.. IS across the country"
and their reply would be, eyes,
have, and yours as the best, and those
fellows report 80 bushels to the
acre. Brother farmer, suppose you
give all little hope for what will be
In the fall.
In my humble judgment the man
who needs encouragement in corn
raising in Oconee, If he enters the
contest under the present plan, will
come out with discouragement. He
VIII have to pay the laborer and the
fee for joining, and he may be dis
couraged. Give the poor boy and
the one-mule man free mans
chance. M, G.. Holland
Walhalla, May >29.