The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1924-08-19

Acres This Year
Cotton, king of money crops, is rap
idly taking possession of new emf
pire-a vast domain formerly classed
as a desert, known to students of
geography only quarter of century
ago as the Llano Estacado, or Staked
Plains, says an O'Donnell, Texas, dis
patch to the Baltimore Sun. No land
surface is more distinctly marked than
these plains of western Texas and
eastern New Mexico
1t is a raised, level area commonly
referred to as the cap rock" 1t is
defined from the broken country that
lies below it by a rim that circles the
outer boundary and which for the
most part has a sheer, precipitous
drop ranging from 100 to 1000 feet
In this Outbound part of Texas
the cattle baron opposed the coming
of the farmer with all the power at his
command. 1t was not many years ago
that ranchmen ridiculed the idea of
anyone being able to make living
growing crops hereabouts. He pointed
out that water, even for domestic pur-
poses, was unobtainable.
Water in Every Part.
The pioneer farmers disproved this
statement by boring wells and finding
the pure water to practically mex
haustible quantities only few feet
beneath the surface.
The cattlemen finally gave way and
during the last few years there has
been an invasion of the region by
farmers such as perhaps was never
before witnessed in any part of this
commonwealth. Only few ranches
remain intact, and most of them are
about to be divided up and placed in
cultivation.
One of the greatest inducements,
perhaps, to the growing of cotton in
this region is the fact that no boil
weevil has ever been seen above the
"cap rock" 1t is the generally accept
| ed theory here that this dreaded and
destructive insect would have been
here long ago if prevailing climatic
and other conditions had enabled it to
survive and propagate.
Altitude Defeats Pests.
1t is the common belief the chief
reason the boil weevil and other cot
ton pests cannot gain foothold IN
this new cotton empire is because of
the high altitude and latitude. The
South Plains which comprise the
great part of the cap rock" agricul-
tural belt range in altitude from 5000
to 5000 feet.
The area Of the "cap rock" table
land is a remarkable geological freak,
| il such it may be called 1t is OF an
irregular oblong shape, running north
and south, for about 2l0 miles and
east and west about 1870 miles at its
widest point 1t extends into eastern
New Mexico for perhaps 90 miles and
its northern boundary is in the edge
of the Panhandle proper, just south
of Amarillo Its total area is approx
miately 100000 acres, Of which
about 100000 acres lie in Texas
and 100000 acres in New Mexico.
First Real Crop in 1905.
1t was in 1900 the first crop of cot
ton was grown in the South Plains.
Whether il was ginned no one seems
to know. In 1905 c. c. McLaurin,
pioneer farmer originally from Mis-
sissipi produced 10 bales of cotton on
IS acres on his farm eight miles north
west of here.
About FIVE years ago the farmers
of South Plains began to awaken to
the possibilities of the cotton industry
and the potentialities OF the soil and
climate for that purpose. Since then
the growing of the staple has increased
by leaps and bounds. One of the inn
portant things accomplished is the de-
velopment in large measure OF type
of cotton which natures in 100 to ITO
days. as compared with the normal
period of 100 days in the o1d-fashion-
ed cotton belts of the south,-1 IS said
The plains cotton is of low growth,
but it has the advantage Of cotton in
other regions in that it retains its
! fruit and puts on" abundantly. Yields
of bale to the acre are not unusual,
while half-bale is considered an ordi-
nary crop Another big thing to the
/ farmer here, from an economic stand
point, is that he does not have to
"chop" his crop; that is he does not
have to thin out the plants. The low
growth permits the bushes to stand
together close in row.
Mile-Long Burrows Rule.
The level, treeless contour Of the
land enables the farmer to do his
blowing and first cultivating of his
cotton crop by means of tractor pow
err Great numbers of small tractors
are in use for this purpose in the
O'Donnell section and all over the
South Plains for that matter. Burrows
mile long are the rule rather than
the exception.
1t is roughly estimated there are
more than 100000 acres in cotton in
the South Plains this year This is
considerably more than double what
it was last year.
AS direct result of the rapid de-
velopment of the cotton industry in
the South Plains towns and rural COM
munities all through the altitudinous
domain are growing with almost UNI
believable rapidity. Scores of new cot
ton gins have been erected and cotton
Itr