The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-09-15

and pay off his. Indebtedness. Money
Is plentiful and there is no need for
him to rush his cotton on the market
and glut it during September. Octo-
ber, November and December, as he
has so often done in the past. II no
| ware house Is near him it will pay
him to ship cotton to the one the
nearest at hand. Our farmers should
this fall make a supreme effort to
market their cotton gradually, and
only at remunerative prices. Already
the spinners are counting on buying
their supply of cotton during the first
few months of the cotton marketing
season. as they did last year, and az
they have done for many years. They
expect the bulk Of the cotton to be
thrown on the market in three or
four months. the beginning of the
selling season. This they hope farm.
ers will do, so as to depress the price,
| Now. brother farmers. let's view the
situation from a business standpoint.
You have been told for a long time
that supply and demand was the only
thing that figured in the pricing of the
| staple. I want to say to you that the
demand is now much greater than the
| supply. So it is evident that you have
the situation in your hands. We can
not make this year, according to the
| best estimates. more than eleven and
a half million bales, and this means
starvation crop.
| Statements from Cotton and Gotten
Oil News, of Dallas. Texas, are to the
effect that the boil weevil has devast-
ated the fields of two States, that
J Louisiana and Mississippi are suffer
ing from pests and that reports re-
ceived at the government bureau Of
entomology at Dallas from the bell
weevil areas" of Mississippi and
Louisiana show that AN average Of 80
per cent of the cotton boil squares are
infested at present with the weevil
In the Baton Rouge neighborhood.
DR.. Hunter. who Is In charge OF the
Southern field crop investigation, says
that IS per cent Of the; squares are
infested. while In the vicinity Of
Natchez. Miss. % per cent Is a falt
figure. This. Or. Hunter SsAys. Il a.
bad as the worst years Of tho weevll
ravases in Texas. In all sections OF
the Mississippi bottoms. where thi
weevii Is at york. DR.. Hunter has
established ssibstations, and it Is from
these that tho reports mentioned
above came. Regarding the condition
in. Texas. ats sthe prssent time, Or.
Hunter said: B; - - -
West Of line connecting weather
ford and Austin. the dry weather. has
had the effect OF practically reducing
the damage incident to the. boil wee
vii to nothing. Through the central
portion Of the State the damage is
considerably less than it was last year.
But at the same time this report must
not be considered as meaning that the
cotton crop will be better. for it will
not. In the same proportion that the
dry weather has affected the boil wee
vii, it has also affected the cotton
stalks"
Texas Is the hope of the past. Not
in the recollection of the oldest inhab-
itants has the blighting effect of a hot
wind of the first three days of last
week been paralleled. That spell has
cost the South fully half million bales
of cotton. 1t is the worst spotted
crop. too. within the recollection of
the earliest settler. The damage to the
crop in the Southwest, and especial
ly Texas. is little short of disaster
and cotton should be selling for a
, high price.
l know some farmers have sold
their cotton for future delivery and
they will deliver it just as fast as they
can. Just think for moment wha,
such q man has done He has furn-
ished ammunition to the enemy tc
shoot him with. He is killing the
, goose that has laid the golden egg
, And the man who sells his cotton this
way is one of the worst cotton bear.
ON the market.
. OF course, such men will be GLAD
t for cotton not to so higher than they
have sold. So do not be scared wher
YOU see them delivering their cotton
[ 1t will soon be out of your way. Let
Q mcnt sell whenever the price viii