Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-23
PROF. IRA w. WILLIAMS.

PROF. IRA w. WILLIAMS.
81 am glad l came. 1t has been one
of the most pleasant and profitable
days l have passed in long while. l
have understood all along that you
York county people were making good
headway along agricultural lines: but
I was not prepared to see so many
gratifying evidences of progress as l
that York is one Of the finest counties
in the state, and hereafter I shall make
no hesitation in saying So"
So spoke Prof Ira w. Williams, state
agent of the Farmers Cooperative
Demonstration work in South Carolina
last Wednesday afternoon. Prof. Will
liams had come up to York county to
instruct Mr.. John R. Blair. who Is to
succeed Mr.. c. J. Hughes as county
agent, and while here accepted an in
to accompany Rev. ]. l.. Oates
and the editor of The Enquirer, on a
drive they were arranging to take into
the country to the home of Mr.. T. M.
Oates, about eight miles east Of York.
vile. Prof. williams accepted the in
vitation on the ground that 1t would
give him all opportunity TO see some
thing Of the country, and so pleased
was he with some Of the things he saw
that he did not hesitate to express
himself with much enthusiasm.
Along the road to the home of Mr..
T. M. Oates, there are crops Of various
descriptions, good, bad and Indifferent.
There is good cotton and sorry cotton,
good corn and sorry corn, but the
poorest crops are in the nation Sec
ton, for about two miles east Of Fish
ing creek. There, there are some
crops for the cultivation Of which Mr..
Williams did not think that the own
ers averaged 10 cents a day for their
labor. But it was not all bad. In most
cases. where there was complete failure
on one side of the road there was fine
success on the other side. and 1t was
interesting to hear Mr.. Williams point
out the difference and attribute 1t al
together to the comparative energy
and intelligence Of the owners in
charge.
One corn crop that struck him with
much interest, was in a field on the
north side Of the road just east of the
home of Mr.. James Wallace. He
scrutinized the field closely, and said
that the corn was as fine as he has
seen for some time, especially from the
standpoint Of seed selection. In eXpla-
nation of what he meant he pointed
out the uniform build Of the long.
healthy stalks and the remarkably
large proportion Of them that carried
two we'll filled ears each, with the ears
close to the ground. He said the field
was an ideal one from a seed stand
point. and that he would look further
into the matter. He was also struck
with another small patch of very fine
corn on the side Of the railroad within
the limits Of TirZah, and referred to
the grower as doing pretty well, even
though he might be competing for
prize.
On the farm of Mr.. Oates, Prof. Will
liams saw a number Of things that in
terested him. One of the first things
TO attract his attention was what he
though was cotton wilt. Dead black
ened stalks Of cotton scattered among
the green stalks over a distance OF
twenty yards. seemed to furnish evil
dence of the real thing. He noted the
specimens from the surrey; but said at
the time that it was a little strange
for he had never before seen or heard
Of wilt" on red land. Later the at
tention Of Mr.. Oates was called to the
matter. and Mr.. Williams alarm was
somewhat allayed when Mr. Oates ex-
planned that the dead stalks were
probably the result of a stroke of
lightning a few weeks before. The
only thing against this theory was the
scattered condition Of the damage
Prof. williams made a careful eXami-
nation Of the stalks, found that there
was no evidence of decay in the roots
and agreed with Mr.. Oates that the
trouble was due to lightning.
The subject Of the red spider was
gone into quite fully with Mr.. Oates on
the strength of ravages Of this pest In
one of the fields; but 1t developed that
Mr.. Oates had already done about all
that could be done to remedy the trou-
BILE by sprinkling the affected plants
with sulphur.
Mr.. Oates is we'll informed far
mer and a hustler. Ordinarily, he
does not think much Of the theoretical
book farmers" but he was not long
in finding that Prof. Williams is a very
practical man, who not only knows
how things should be done, but how to
do them, and as the result of two or
three hours association there was es-
tablished a great deal of mutual res
pect.
All along the road, Prof. Williams
made frequent remarks about the
splendid work that had been done by
the ROAD nanQS. II Was lHe Sdlllt III
York, EbeneZer and Bethel townships
In fact he was astonished and when he
was made to understand that what he
saw was the result of the 2 mill levy
and the SO capitation tax, he remarked
that it was pity that the York county
law is not general throughout the state
Prof. williams is very much inter-
ested in the creamery proposition now
about to be put in operation in York
Vile The creamery and dairy busi-
ness is his specially. and he stands
high as an expert in this line. He said
to the editor of The Enquirer that II
the stockholders would hold conven-
tion just before they began operations
and let him know a week in advance
he would, if they so desired. come up
and give them a practical talk as to
how to avoid pitfalls and how to en-
sure the greatest success of the enter
prise. He insists that although the
undertaking may meet with some diff
Culties, the creamery idea is a first
class one and the farmers who manage
right should make good money out OF
the sale of milk alone. The other ad-
vantages incident to intelligent cattle
raising he said, will come in addition.