The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1920-05-13
County Agent Epps Getting Results

When took up this work in June
OIL 1914 l decided that the first thing
for me 10 do was to make study OF
MY county and find out the needs OF
our farmers. As far as the growing
OF the three principal crops, cotton,
corn and tobacco was concerned, l
soon learned that our farmers knew
pretty well all there was to know
about this, but when it came to their
planting seed, l found that very few
were taking any interest along this
line. We found only two men that
were planting pure cotton seed, and
none that was taking very much in
terest in their seed corn. We also
found that the orchards of the coun-
ty had never been pruned or spray
ed so were in very bad shape. Found
only two old spray pumps and no
pruning tools at all.
The livestock of the county was al
so in about as bad shape as the
planting seed and orchards. A few
farmers had purebred boars and there
were a few purebred sows, but when
it came to the cattle. we found only
one registered bull and he was a very
poor individual.
In the spring Of 1915 a few men
selected Cleveland big boil, what we
thought was the best variety of cot
ton for this county, and since that
time our farmers have become more
interested along this line. For~> the
year 1919 we believe that fully nine
ty-five per cent of the cotton planted
in the county was of this variety and
We think that this percentage would
have been still larger but on account
of some wilt infested land we had to
use wilt resistant seed. This year,
OH account of the great demand for
long staple cotton, large number of
farmers has planted a portion of their
farms in this.
When it comes to the seed corn We
have not made quite as good showing,
but still we have made good pro-
gress. Two years ago weS got about
ten bushels of Pee Dee No. 5 which
We thought to be the best variety
of corn for this section. This ten
bushels of seed was pretty we'll scat
tered over the entire county. The
yield at the end Of the season was
very satisfactory, showing an in
crease in yield from ten per cent.
to as high as fifty per cent. per acre.
Here is where the work of the Boys
Corn Club played a very important
part. One farmer says that when
his boy joined the club five years
ago he was making ten bushels of
corn per acre. After watching his
boy and following the instructions
given the boy for his acre. he had
been able to increase his yield, in
three years, from ten bushels per
acre to twenty bushels. Two years
ago this same farmers son planted
pure seed on his acre, and his father
was so well pleased with the yield
that he planted his whole crop last
year from corn grown on this acre,
and says now that he made an aver
age of about forty bushels per acre
on his whole farm. Last year we
planted, over the county, something
over a hundred bushels of this va
riety of corn. and this year we bought
all the seed we could get from the
Pee Dee Experiment Station, and
besides a large number of farmers
had saved their own seed.
In the spring of 1915 we ordered
few bushels of velvet beans for
seed and succeeded in getting a num-
Der of farmers over the county to try
these. Since that time the acreage
IN this crop, which has proven to be
one of our best crops for soil build
ing and winter grazing, has gradual
ly increased until now we have sew
eral thousand acres planted each
year.
We have also made good progress
in the orchard work. In the fall Of
1915 we had to almost beg farmers