The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-01-06

Ale llOIlSdSoQ was l1lLoQ. anu a. " &.
SraDham lives today on 130 acres Of
he original Brabham tact.
: Educational advantages we're dis
inctly meagre. The only school he
.Iver attended, he said, was the ''old
,Y,eld' or public school a few months
.Fhen quite a small boy and got only
j smattering of the three rs. But |
aave always been a student, teaching
nyself.' Both his mother and his
Sifc; who died several years ago, were
highly educated women, and it was
these who guided his laltering efforts
through the devious paths of self-edu-
:ation. Commenting on his struggles
20 acquire information, he said: 1t
seems that much of the very little
know came to me by intuition. |
lever read line in Shakespeare until
I was 21, and, strange to say, | found
fhere many passages | knew, al
though l had never seen them.' He
lis an omnivorous reader, particularly
on subjects related to nature study
and has contributed many letters to
on cotton production.
Back in the sos Carlyle Mckinley,
then on the editorial staff of the
Charleston News and Courier, chal-
lenged Mr.. Brabham's idea of produc-
ing an upland long staple cotton. A
spirited controversy was carried on
through the press. And if the cot
ton planter didn't withstand the in
cisive arguments and skilled logic of
the forceful writer, he did contrive to
breed a hybrid long staple upland cot
ton from the sea island long and up
land 'short' which is now grown
generally over the State.
Besides the moral impetus and in
tellectual stimulation such creative
enterprise gives, the economic value
of the venture, if successful, would
be one of the greatest achievements
of modern science. The use of chemi-
cal dyes in textile manufacturing
would be obviated in that. natural
colored threads could be fed to the
looms for the various patterns of cot
ton goods.
Bred Hybrid Cow Pea.
Mr.. Brabhain was no less success
full in his efforts to grow a different"
COW pea on his farm in Bamberg
county The Brabham is a hybrid be-
tween the Whippoorwill and Iron. 1t
partakes of the character of both par
ents, having the tall habit and pro-
lificness of the Whippoorwill and the
same resistance to wilt and rootknot
and ability to hold it's leaves late as
the Iron. Enormous yields have been
and crop can be made
where no other will thrive. The yield
from this is always in excess of any
that has been tried in the sand
lands of the southern half of the
State.
AS far back as 1897 one cotton
farmer in South Carolina produced
four bales of cotton to the acre.
Again this year Lexington county
farmer more than duplicated this
18th century record. In 1889 Capt.
2. J. Drake established a worldwide
corn yield which yet remains intact,
when he measured 255 bushels of
corn from an acre of land Just a
few years ago Jerry Moore, an H.
year-old boy, became the champion
corn grower of the world when he
raised 229 3-4 bushels. These maxi
mum yields wonderfully revitalized
corn and cotton production through
out the South and were powerful fac
tors in demonstrating the value of in
tense cultivation. But the produc-
ton of natural colored cotton might
produce even a greater revolution in
cotton culture, as we'll as solution