Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-01-13
ALLENDALE PROGRESSING
Farmers Of That Section no Longer
Worried by Boil ReeVil.
PRACTISING DIVERSIFIED FARMING
Beating the Bug BY Growing Other
Crops Besides cotton-Raise Cab
base and Cattle ana Many Other


/ Products.
The Youngest and the smallest coun'
ty in the state, forging ahead to mec
and cope with the changed conditions
in South Carolina agriculture, takes
first place among the boil wecvil In
tested counties by reason of the ad'
iusted program Allendalc farmers have
put into force and effect whereby they
prosper in spite of the pest that makes
the growing of cotton prccarious.
Boil WeeviI Defeated.
In other words, writes Walter 'E
Duncan in the Columbia Record, Allen
dale farmers have met the boil weevil
on his own terms, and defeated him.
Not yet are these progressive farm
ers of Allendale county ready to erect
in the public square of their county
seat a monument to the boIl weevil, as
did the people of a certain town in AL
ALBANIA in gratitude for their emanci-
patton from an all cotton program. But
brought fa ce to face with the economic
necessity OF turning away from cotton
as their crop of main dependence, as in
the past, Allenda.e farmers have dem
onstrated to the rest of the state, that
they can live and prosper, as tllers OF
the soil, producing and selling other
crops besides the cotton they were
reared to regard as the one and only
money crop in South Carolina.
They have met the boil weevil on his
own terms and defeated him at his own
game, not by sticking stubbornly to
cotton and endeavoring to grow the
fleecy staple in spite of the swarming
pest, but through following the more
sensible method of changing their ag-
ricultural program. If the coming O!
the weevil has made cotton culture too
vcnturesome an enterprise to be risSed
by the farmer who does not care 10
gamble against overwhelming odds and
certain disaster, what is more logical
than the substitution, in a soil that viii
produce anything, Of various other
crops that the boil weevil cannot de-
stroy? The one prob EN- arising is that
of turning these other crops into mon
ey. This problem Allendale has gone
far toward solving. At least Allendale
farmers, through the close cooperation
and the enterprise and progressiveness
demanded of the times, found money
market for such products as they have
grown this year and last on the acres
heretofore painted to cotton.
Formerly Cotton County.
Before the coming of the wecvil the
section of country now compasscd in
Arcndalc county--thc county being on
~ few years old and formed after the
cotton pest invaded this Statc-produc-
cd around $1,000 bales Of cotton year.
This year only about 1000 bales were
grown in tho county. AS a striking IL
lustrltiuu of the ravagcS of the cotton
pest, on one plantation in the lower
part Of the county live 80 negro fam
lics. Formerly and normally these
families would produce from 125 to l5O
bales of cotton year. This year it took
all Of the lint cotton the thirty-th three
families picked to make one bale. Ob-
viuusly, to ward off starvation, the
change from cotton was not only wise,
but necessary.
Confronted with these conditions the
farmers of Allendalc county instead OF
cont ntcrting themselves with bcmoaning
their fate or giving up the ghost, sci
about first to provide for their own lar
dcrs and becoming live-at-home farm
ers, with their smoke houses and corn
cribs full, turned their attention next
to marketing the surplus of food and
feed stuffs they had produced.
An Exporting County.
When hllenda'e was an all cotton
county the farmers sold their cotton
and bought with their cotton money
the other things they needed and which
life demands. In this respect Allendale
was no different from other South Car
olina counties. Corn and hay were
shipped in from the Middle West
Among other things, Allendale farmers
bought meat raised in other sections
| Food products were imported by the
carload. But the tables have been
turned. During the present year Ship
ments OF Allendale- grown products
from Allendale TO other sections. in
clude:
! Thirty TO thirty-tive cars Of corn. Al
! least 200 cars could have been sold. II
! is an interesting fact that most Of this
corn was shipped to Greenville and
| Spartanbmg, in The heart of the cottor
! country.
Thirty three cars Of hogs since Apri
l. Three or four years ago no Sucf
thing as shipping hogs out Of Allenda
county was heard of. TO the contrary
they were shipped in.
! Sixteen thousand bushels of oats, al
of which were marketed by the county
farm demonstration agent.
One hundred and fourteen cars o.
hay-pea vine, peanut and velvet bean
Eight cars of velvet beans.
one thousand bushels of rye. Mos
of the rye grown this year was kept fol
seed