Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1921-10-20
VOL. IS
FIRST s. C. PEACH con-
VENTION HELD IN CHERAW
Successful Meeting.

Tuesday, Oct 18th, in response to an
invitation sent out by the Board OF
Trade of Cheraw working in conjunc-
ton with DR.. w. w. Long, Of the Ex-
tension Dept Of Clemson College,
who called the meeting and Mr.. ]. M.
Mcbride, Agricultural Agent of the
s. A. L..<R. R., who for the Seaboard
railroad secured the services and
brought to Cheraw for the meeting,
Mr.. R. C.. Berkman, Expert Peach
Grower, Of Macon, Ga.
Mr.. T. S. Evans, President of Che
raw Board Of Trade, opened the meet
ing by welcoming the visitors to Che
raw, saying Cheraw was proud to
have S. c. first peach convention held
in the town. He then asked DR.. w.
W. Long to preside over the Con-
vention.
DR.. Long said in part that we all
like to see our predictions come true.
That it was gratifying to him to see
the sand hills coming into their own
as he predicted 10 years ago that
some day these lands would be con-
sidered most valuable. Speaking Of
the condition facing the farmer to-
day he said that the men who had
been most successful in solving the
boil weevil problem were the ones
who had co-operated with the busi-
ness men and who were helped by
the business men. He called atten-
ton to the fact that this was the
business mans problem as well as
the farmers and the sooner they real
ize II and got busy the better. He
said 1t was foolish to try to raise all
sorts of produce crops, that the far
mer must diversity with fool proof
crops. Ignorant farmers and negroes
could not raise every sort of vegeta-
bles for market He advocated the
growing of a limited amount of cot
ton in spite of the weevil and adding
such other crops as could be grown
successfully at profit, and said it
was up to the business man in the
towns to find a market for this pro-
duce and handle the marketing end
Of the business.
DR.. Long then introduced Mr.. r. {.
Burkman, expert peach grower OF
Georgia and owner of large orchards
in several states.
Mr.. Berkman said that years ago
he started in the peach industry whcro
the men in this meeting were start
ing today and had learned what h
knew Of the business by experienc.
they would have to do the same. Ha
stated that the peach was not new
fruit but was grown so far back d.
1856. Georgia was the first South A
lantic state to start commercial peach
growing in the late sixties. He said
they started on a small scale and had
grown until the past year Georgia
shipped 10000 car loads Of peaches
bringing into that state between eight
and ten millions of dollars. The first
thing he advised was that the grow
ers organize and that it was not too
early to perfect an organization at
once. He then pointed out the needs
of an organization. Continuing his
talk on peaches Mr. Berkman said
that he had just harvested his 10Th
consecutive peach crop without a
failure and that he had seen some OF
the land in this vicinity and he knew
of the climatic conditions and there
was no reason why growers in this
section could not do the same. In
speaking of some of the land shown
him near Cheraw Mr.. Berkman said
he considered it ideal in every respect
for peach growing.
He urged his hearers to pay parti-
cular attention to the variety Of
peaches they planted. He said he had
no patience with the so-called early
varieties such as the Mayflower, Unee-
da and Greensboro that they could not
be grown in quantity and that it
took quantity to be successful in COM
mercial peach growing. Every small
grower in a neighborhood should
plant the same variety so as to be
able to make up solid cars.
He said he considered June bud
dings the best to plant in the early
Fall when their size was about that
of a lead pencil and would stand II
to Is inches above the ground when
planted. Year old trees were alright
to plant but should be cut back to
Just above where the lowest limbs
would sprout He said he could not
impress too forcibly the necessity
of planting the trees so they would
stand ony II to Is inches above the
ground. June Buildings would be as
far advanced at bearing time as year
ola traae He warmed hiS hearers