Evening journal., 1918-03-01
wE Mrsr NcnEAsr corToN pROpucTIoN.

IN AVE you Travelled In Southern territory over
II the southern railway say from Washington to
Birmingham Alag If SO, you cannot fail to have no
ticcd how worry OF the cotton fields cleared Of
stumps?
Ask a native Che reason for this and he win tell you
t due to absentee ownership That is. the owner OF
the land lives in one OF the cities and rents his pana
tion divided up into sections, TO tenant farmers
shares that the owner rule is not Interested in
having fields cleared because he e satisfied with his
income from the crops and therefore, has no incentive
TO incur the expense Of clearing
This has never seemed TO be good argument. It is
against human nature. DO you often see man ten
times a millionaire who isn't working his head of try
ing to make his fortune twenty mlllon7 Not because
he needs the additional ten million; not because he has
any way spending the additional income, but simply
because pronounced trait Of human nature to want
as much il possible to obtain. oliver Twist, the
creation Of Dickens fertile Imagination, was normal
boy. He wanted more" Investigation would disclose
the fact that there more Oliver Twists among the
cotton plantation than there credited with
being. It is simply because each has not figured out
what 10 means to him in dollars and cents TO have his
cotton fields cleared Of stumps. No normal man is sat-
isled with an income OF five thousand dollars year
II there be any logical way Of making it six thousand
It is an insult to the Intelligence the business acumen
Of the plantation 10 accuse him Of being thus
abnormal in this respect. The only reason he hasn't
cleared his fields is because he simply hasn't thought
about it.
lner6 IS every lOEcdl reason why cOllou utus Suouu
be cleared during 1918. The world faces alarming
shortage OF cotton necessary to plant culti
and pick Il is scarce wages higher .than ever
before. There question about the demand for the
crops question about the crops being highly profit
able for at the time Of this writing cotton selling for
thrtytwo cents per pound Ten TO twelve cents
affords the planter very satisfactory profit.
The average cotton field yields approximately half
bale per acre With the stumps removed this average
can easily from twenty-five to hundred
per cent.
The cost Of the clearing would be mein most
more then met-by the in value Of one crop.
AS the clearing has to be done but once all Increases in
| future years would be clear gain.
There never will be favorable time for the
plentaton to have this clearing done than now.
Cotton at thirty-two cents pound gives him surplus
which he can expend without missing IL at all in the
work. 10 is as II Providence had rendered to him the
money on silver platter
Few persons realize the amount Of space taken up
by stump The area will maintain several cotton
plants. Here in Delaware 10 win maintain several stalks
OF corn and many stalks Of wheat.
But that isn't the only consideration. Having the
sumps out enables the planter to modern machinery
for cultivation That means doing the work with less
| labor and that in turn means greater profit
Again the use Of modern machinery more
thorough cultivation That doing the work with
less labor and that in turn greater profit
Another most excellent reason for dsposing Of the
stumps is that cotton production is decreasing due to
the depredations OF the boil weev This little pest
and winters in the litter found around the sumps
BY blowing up his winter habitaton, his family life be-
comes less happy and his numbers automatically de-
crease The converse OF this that by using the space
occupied by the sumps for additional cotton plants the
crop becomes enough larger TO counterbalance, OF
/ partially So the destructiveness Of the weevil.
II the stumps be removed with dynamite, the sub
soil is broken up by the blasting and increased crops
may looked for This is especially so if the planta
on located on the Piedmont plateau, where the red
clay sub-sois prevail Some really astonishing results
reported by the cotton planters who had used dyna
mite TO break up the sub-so When this is done In
conjunction with stump blasting, 10 really costs nothing
because the expense charged to clearing rather thar
to cultivation.
Extracts from reports Of planters who have tried
dynamite for sub-solung show that they have prontec
! largely by the results.
With cotton almost as urgently needed ITO win th
! war" as food with the money handed TO the planters
with which 70 clear their fields, with greater income
absolutely sure by dsposing Of the sumps It Is incon
ceyable that 1915 may not witness the exodus Of mos
Of the unsghty and expensive obstacles 70 rcientn
cultivation.