Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-03-18

men that made the hand hills blossom.
First of them was DR.. Seaman A
philosopher. There are probably peo-
pie in the Carolina hills who never
heard that Roosevelt went 10 Africa
ard are still ignorant of Bryan's fond
ness for grape juice. but there are
none who do not remember and revere
Seaman \. Knapp. He came to the
sand hills to study the cotton boil
weevil. He found a community of
Highland Scotchmen living in the val
leys and bottoms, where they raised
enough food for their own consump-
tion. The Vast rolling areas of the
sand hills had never felt the bite of q
plow- They were regarded as fit for
nothing, after the timber had been
cut.
DIR. Knapp knew that Boston got all
its truck from a sand fiat and New
York from
Knew the Big Cities sand bar
Got Truck From Sand. -.
land. The truck section back of Nor
folk is made of sand. and SO is F'lori-
da. which supplies nation with VIM
ter vegetables. He knew that the sand
hills had future. not only in truck,
but in corn and cotton. both of which
grow in the sand if properly fertilized.
But these people had never used fer
tilizer. and. Furthermore. they had no
money with which to buy it. for they
sold almost nothing. DIR. Knapp had
to build up the rudiments of commerce
before he could do anything for agri-
culture. He began by stimulating the
people in every way to put their prod
ucts on the market and to raise
money crops
Oncs some people came to him for a
N crder to make money for a neigh
:,orhood church. He asked them what
hey would sell at the bazaar. They
said they would make things to SELL
Or. Knapp saw his chance to get in a
lesson in practical economics. He
pointed out that IL members of the
community made things. sold them to
one another and used the money for a
community enterprise they were pro-
ducing exactly nothing. Their time
was wasted. He therefore made his
contribution only on the condition that
II be used to plan cotton on the ground
where the church was to be built. All
the neighbors were to help care for the
patch. When the cotton was harvested
the proceeds would be devoted to a
building fund. DR.. Knapp's project car
rted. and the whole community had
practical demonstration of how to raise
and market money crops.
DIR. Knapp also distributed high grade
TO plant ii by promising to buy all
they raised at So a bushei. He never
had to pay this price. because all the
other farmers were envious of the tall.
heavy crop which grew from the
fancy" corn. and promptly bought all
that was harvested for seed. So corn
planting spread apace, and already the
farms were reaching up the hillsides
and out of the bottoms.
= ::
The cotton business got its big boost
came south look
Cotton Business ing for planta-
Is Given Boost. frs, 70 ths fa
nous .Albemarle county. and asked the
price of the rich cotton lands in that
state. They found they could buy all
they wanted for 500 or s300 an acre
but they had been instructed to pay
only $50. So they went 10 the sand
hills, where the soil seemed much the
same. and bought great tracts OF the
rolling uplands Here. to the amaze
Tnent of the natives. they covered hum
dreds of acres with growing cotton.
Other men with capital followed, and
also others without capital. Both
classes generally succeeded. Cotton he =
came the money crop of the sand hills.
The most romantic incident in the up
building Of the hill country. however.
was the tanning OF the scuppernong
grape. This sweet and juicy fruit is n
native Of the swamps and creek bot
toms i'll the sand hill country. Its vines
tsngle themselves over vast acres. and
bear great quantities OF the fruit,
tiers OF three. TIE old-time Scotch
settlers quickly acquired fondness
FOR this delicious wild grape. and trans
planted ii 10 their dooryards- Nearly
every homestead had its scuppernong
vine somewhere III the yard. from
which the fresh fruit was gathered and
eaten Some Of these vines covered al
most an acre Of ground. and produced
far more grapes than the family could
use: but no one ever thought Of mar
keting them. They are extremely per-
ishable, and too sweet to preserve with
sugar.
There Is. however, one other time
honored way of using the grape. and it
occurred TO a certain man from Norfolk
who visited the sand hill country that
the scuppernong would make an ex-
Ce1lent wine He accordingly made the
farmers an offer for all the grapes
they could bring in. chose name for
his wine. advertised ii widely and
began the manufacture on a considera-
BILE scale. The new beverage an
immediate success. 1t was impossible
to supply the demand. Several COM
panies were organized. bought land in
the sand hills and began the cultiva
ton of the scuppernong vine on a
large scale. 1t was dragged from the
obScurity of swamps and back yards
and given wire trellises to climb upon,
and il sold in the market for about
twice what California grapes bring.
The wine made from ii became the
most expensive domestic wine except
champagne.
The movement toward prohibition
has given the scuppernong industry an
uneasy feeling. but unless legislated
out OF existence il has every promise
of prosperous future.
went into the making OF the sand hills
was the Germa n
Germans Are First fruit growers,
to Raise Peaches. success -, 80
Ing peaches in this country. The San
Jose scale had long made peach rails
ing apparently Impossible, although
the soil was admirably suited to the
trees. Along came a German horticul-
turist and announced that the scale
had no terrors whatever for really
scientific man. lie proceeded at once
to raise peaches in large quantities
successfully in his footsteps
The sand hills are cmphaticslly a
new country Long ridges covered with
pine trees and wire grass; tangled bot =
tom SWamps. where deer and turkeys
snd foxes hound. are still the greater
part, But here anu there. most unex-
pectedly. you ride upon vineyards and