The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1912-11-07
LIFE AND TIMES IN
"LAND OF FLOWERS. "
MIR BASS CONTRASTS AGRICUL-
TURAL CONDITIONS BETWEEN
FLORIDA AND THIS STATE.

Ii has been quite while since my
last letter to you, and there may
have been some wonder at nv pro-
longed silence. The fact is, | have
been so blue" over the political
conditions in South Carolina that l
have had no heart to, write ,and have
supposed that the attention of the
people of Williamsburg was so en-
crossed with the same matter that
they had little mind for anything
else. Now, however, that the agony
is over, or rather, that the agony
will continue two years longer has
been definitely settled. they may
welcome some diversion, though the
diversion be of indifferent quality.
Hence we will resume the journey
of our story.
In my last ! stated that, taken as
whole, the soil of Florida is per-
haps poorer than that of any other
State east of the Mississippi river.
This statement is to be taken just as
it is written and in its entirely, and
is not to be dismembered and any
one part taken separately. From an
agricultural standpoint, most of the
land is poor, portions poorer than
any land you ever saw, perhaps, and
some so poor that two red-headed
women could not raise row on It.
There are spots which are so abso-
lutely barren that one cannot imag-
inc why the Lord made them, ex-
cept to hold the world together.
Yet there are lands as fertile as can
be found anywhere-in fact, some
of it produces crops that are almost
phenomenal.
The soil is by no means uniform.
1t Is exceedingly spotted. No
locality, no neighborhood in the
State has the same class of land all
over it II is even said and on high
authority, that there cannot be
found in the State, and especially in
this southern part of it,a single ten
acre tract that is of uniform soil
throughout. So far as my observa-
tion goes, this assertion is correct.
Within five hundred feet of my
place is land so poor that some say
you can't raise an umbrella on it;
yet right beside it is land that pro-
duces crops worth a thousand dol
lars, or over, per acre.
should explain that this means
vegetable crops and not regular field
crops. And, further, in considering
the productive lands of Florida and
the returns received from the crops
grown on these lands, we should al
ways Lar in mind that these pay
ing crops mature when they bring
very high prices, and these high
prices cause US to look at the amount
of money received rather than the
amount of crop produced. In this
way these high prices cause the
land to appear more productive than
it really is. This is really the secret
of the whole matter. | think may,
with safety, venture the assertion
that there is hardly any really very
rich land in the State | know of
none better than you have right
there in Williamsburg. ! could
name several places near Kingstree
that are the equal in fertility to the
lands of the most famous truck gar
dens in this section, and which, if
transported to this section, would
bring some thousands of dollars per
acre. A neighbor of mine, whose
place is only a few feet from me,
whose lands are no better than Mr.
Everett's, bought place Of five
acres three months ago and paid
S15, 900 for it-$3,000 per acre. The
difference is, Mr. Everett must raise
cotton, corn and so on, at regular
fixed market prices in competition
with the world, while my neighbor