The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1921-12-08

Even the molasses mixture will not
prove effective in wet weather. The
rain washes. 1t off as fast as you put
it on. 1t is impossible to tell what
Kind of seasons you will have and the
safest plan is to plant only a few
acres to the plow. use a quick acting
fertilizer, work the crop fast and
even If the season is unfavorable and
your crop is a failure you have not
lost much" Mr.. Brabham owns both
stiff and light lands. He owns a place
III the lower part of the county and
place in the upper end. When gath
ering time came the results were the
same. 1 did not put the figures down
at the time. but my recollection is
that he told me he gathered about
40 bales from $50 acres. That was
the experience of one of the best far
mers in the lower part of the state
The general opinion seemed to be
that even though the county was
passing through its worst year with
the weevil-the third year that a
fairly good crop would have been
made with the calcium-arsenate-m
lasses treatment If the seasons had
been favorable, but one veteran far
mer told me 1t had been the worst
season he ever saw. The crop was do
ing fairly well until the July and
August rains came. 1t rained in tor
rents day after day and for weeks 1t
was impossible to work in stiff land.
1t was during this wet spell that the
weevil got in it's most destructive
work
G.. Frank Bamberg. livestock deal
er and large land owner, had ten
acres of cotton near his residence. 1t
was pet field. He ignored the heavy
rains and right after each rain he
the calcium arsenate- GLASSES treat
ment. AS fast as the rain washed it off
he applied it again and again. He
does not know how many applications
he made. but all during the long wet
spell he kept up the treatment. He
made Z bales on 10 acres. which
think. was the record for the county.
did not find out how much it cost.
but the treatments must have been
expensive.
'I cannot account for it," said II.
F Bamberg, another large planter,
"but the weevil seemed to work in
spots. saw fields in which the work
had been intelligently directed. The
squares were either picked up or
plowed under as fast as they fell, the
calcium-arsenate e-molasses treatment
was used literally. but still the crop
road where these methods Of fighting
the weevil had not been used where
the crop you might say had been neg
lected. saw fairly good crops made. "
Mr.. Bamberg said it was rs per cent
season and 25 per cent man.
l could tell Of dozens of other
cases, but it would be to repeat the
story over and over. There was some
little difference in the methods en-
ployed in fighting the progress of the
weevil, but in nearly every case the
results were the same. Light land
with good drainage. intelligent culti-
iyation and quick-acting fertilizers
made from 80 10 40 per cent of a
crop, but this was in spots, stiff LANDS
with good drainage made from 10
to 90 per cent of crop while stiff
lands with poor drainage and indif-
nothing.
The merchants and bankers take a
hopeful view of the situation. All
the stores are carrying average
stocks and the bank statements ana
lyze fairly we'll The banks have been
liberal with their customers. They
have not found it necessary to press
them. They too have received liberal
treatment from their correspondent
banks. Old debts are being gradually
liuuidated. Here and there where a
landowner line at the local bank is
too heavy and his crop has been a
failure he is going into the land
bank. This has relieved the situation
to a considerable extent. New money
is not available. but as one business
man told me, If fellow gets to the
point where he is compelled to get a
loan to save himself he usual
ly gets it. A banker told me
Saturday night that he had made
q new loan that day - some
thing unusual for this time of the
year. Good farming lands have not
deprecated in value; they are not on
the market, and IL a man is looking
for bargains in real estate he will
have to go somewhere else. Taken as
whole the situation was agreeably
surprising. The county is not broke
not by a long shot-and in the next