The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1916-03-18

. Agriculture.
history Of the State. Before the War
Between States there had been more
cattle. hogs and every form of live
stock in the State than at present, ex-
cept the mule. Of which there were
more now. The reasons that diver
sification has not been more generally
practised," said DR.. Long, "is that
there has been no markets for the
products Of the farm.
There must be q market for them and
the business men should provide this
market, for the farmers did not have
the proper financial backing and con-
nections which the busineis men had.
and could not establish these neces-
sary markets for themselves.
/. Now Will give you the solution
to the problems Of marketing grains
and live stock. It II the establishment
Of = packing house. for no sensible
farmer will want to sell lbs grain, II
he can find q market for his live
stock and convert It into meat"
DR.. Long at this point went into
details a. to the establishment Of the
creameries In the State. Of which
there were four. he said. These had
been started small and Clemson Col
lego had insisted that they shoufn APP
point the men to operate them. The
business men who had taken stock in
them were told that they must be sat-
isfled with eight per cent. interest on
their money. The enterprise was not
an investmsut for them. but the plac-
ing Of their money IN q plant for
the public bsnent. and It, was only ,ss
such that they would receive tte
kfsa3eik bapsnt althsasA they we're
assured eight per csnE interest on
their stock. Whatever money more
than that was fnads was SVEN to
tho farmers TO encourage them TO
work up their dairy business All Of
the creameries had proven successful
under tho slEillful guidance which the
denomination department had pro-
vided. He said that recently q
ready market has been found for the
products turned out by the creameries
and At the present rate Of increase. In
six years sovth Carolina would pro-
vide every bit Of the butter 1t used.
The establishment Of tho packing
house would be on the same plan. 1t
would require capital Of $4,000 and
the money would not be put into the
plant az an investment. but 1t must
be given as public benefit, for 1t
would bring increased prosperity to
the community. He could not prom
isc any dividends the nrst year. but
after that he couiA promise eight per
cent. dividends. The money paid for
the live stock would 60 back to tho
community where the stock came
from AMI the enterprise would there
fore benefit every community within
a radius of many miles which took
advantage Of the opportunity 1t Of
forded.
At thia point Mr.. Long stated that
he did not know yet whether there
were sufficient hogs in the Pee Dee
section Of the State to warrant the
establishment Of q packing plant here.
One would be established at Green
Vile and II there were sufficient swine
he wanted one In the Pee Dee section.
He stated that he had sent out cards
to all OF the demonstration agents In
the State to find out the number of
hogs raised last year, tn ;ber for
homo consumption and for sale, and
the number which would be raised
this year. In about two weeks this
Information would be on hand and
he would know how to proceed fur
ther In the matter. He stated that
IL only ore was established, 1t would
prove of great bencgt to the State, as
the rate on live stock in South Caro-
lima was the cheapest of any State In
the union. There were comparative
ly few farmers. Mr.. Long stated. who
knew what marketable hog was, and
the live stock industrv wo,1d have to
be gradually worked up. II the pack
ing house was esta blished 1t would be
In a small way at first and gradually
increased as the live stock industry
was built up.
MIR. Long stated that only those
persons who had visited the sections
which had established packing houses
could realize the difference in agri-