The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1915-09-21
PICK COTTON QUICKLY AND Z
SELL 1T SLOWLY. Z


The Progressive Farmer.
There's the slogan and shibboleth
we would suggest to cotton farmers
now-Pick Cotton Quickly and Sell
1t Slowly. in the matter OF picking
, the impostance OF promptness-the
utmost promprness-wasv very effec-
lively summed up by a former state
demonstration agent who recently de-
clared in our columns:
From careful observation we are
certain that under average condi-
tions a field that will turn out ten
bales of cotton if picked in Septem-
ber and October, will hardly make
more than eight bales II left in the
field until December or January
Then the reduced price due to poor
grades will probably result in fur
ther loss to the value of two more
bales. In other words. the man who.
instead of picking his cotton as 1t
opens, leaves it in the fields until
average loss of around 40 per cent
of it's total value.
The utter wastefulness of many of
our folks in this respect is almost
sickening. Men, women and children
will work through the hottest days
OF summer to keep the cotton culti-
waited and free from grass, and then
throw away their profits by failure
to pick promptly when the gentler
warmth of autumn makes it a JOY to
be outdoors.
The farmers profits are none too
large when he gets the biggest prices
the market offers. Let him not throw
away by careless ana delayed pick
ing any hard earned dollars so much
needed by his wife and children.
Let's pick the cotton quickly. And
then let's sell it slowly. All the ar
ticles in this weeks paper point
clearly to the wisdom Of this course.
l. Authorities point out the great
depression every season from dis
tress" cotton and flooded markets.
prices advancing later, as was the
rushed on the early market were sold
at six and seven cents last fall, but
it was ten cents before planting end
ed. What then ought a 100000
bale crop to be bringing by 1916
planting time?
.. Warehousing is the key to sue
cess here, and a state warehouseing
system is needed in every state.
Notice Mr.. McLaurin's report that
farmers can borrow so per cent of
the value OF the cotton stored in the
South Carolina warehouses. And
notice Mr.. Harding's report that the
government will stand behind the
banks in financing the crop.
g. Warehouses are also needed
to prevent the weather damage to
bales left out in the open after they
are ginn ed-a loss which Mr.. Nathan
Adams on page z estimates at $685.
10000 a year to Texas farmers
alone. This is shameful.
d. Notice also that the Arkansas
Farmers Union is helping farmers
grade their cotton and sell both cot
ton and cotton seed in pools-work
farmers in every county should or
sanize and do for themselves. Why
not in your county?
It's easy enough to blame England
and the government and everybody
else a thousand miles away. but the
first thing to do is to get right in our
own cotton patch by having the cot
ton picked quickly; then take in the
neighborhood by getting neighbors to
hold, grade, warehouse and sell to-
gether; then reach the market town
by having a committee interview the
bankers there and get them right,
and then take in the whole state by
demanding a state warehouse system.
Pick quickly and sell slowly and
the twelve-cent battle will be won