X .nuu 1 || v
Established 1844.
THE PRESS AND BANNER
4 ABBEVILLE, S. C.
The Press and Banner Company
Published Tri-Weekly
Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Entered as second-class matter j
post office in Abbeville, S. C.
Terms of Subscription:
One Year $2.C
Six Months $1.C
Three Months * .?
Foreign Advertising Represe"tati\
AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATIO
FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1922
V CROP DIVERSIFICATION.
We are all talking these days aboi
crop diversification. We will not d
versify, we fear, until we are force
to do so. But we will be thus force<
And when we are we may profit b
the example of Allendale.
We hare heretofore had a goo
deal to say about the peanut indus
try in that county. This industry, ac
cording to reports which come to ui
is now on a firm footing. The firs
year, it is said, the?people overdid th
1- -r _i?j.: u,,?. ? !,
won Ul j^iauuug ycaiiui>D( u ww w*
past year a smaller acreage wa
planted by each farmer and result
have been satisfactory.
, Now Allendale is one of the ne\
counties of the state. It is in fact th
newest county in the state. It is al&
the smallest, and it has a less amoun
of taxable property than any othe
county in the state, it is said, inot
withstanding this Allendale Count;
the past year produced and shippei
the following:
33 cars of hogs, of which 23 car
were co-operative cars?that is mor
than one person was interested ii
each car;
16,000 bushels of. oats;
114 cars of hay, (peanut, peavin
and velvet bean varieties;)
8 cars of velvet beans;
1,000 bushels of rye;
10,000 bushels of peas;
6 cars of Irish potatoes;
; 8 cars of sweet potatoes.
2 cars of cabbage;
2 cars of beans;
' 10 cars of native cattle;
1300 cars of watermelons;
26 cars of cucumbers; and
26 cars of cantaloupes.
That is the record from April lsl
to sometime in December, we believe
nee the last named date, other car
of sweet potatoes have been shipped
It is also known that a good deal o
corn and other crops not mentione
above have been shipped by privat
parties, of which no record is kept.
Not a little of the progress mad
in that county is due to the effort
of one of the best county demon
stration agents in the state. He ha
assumed a leadership which is india
pensable to progress. That progress
engendered of such leadership, ha
shown that the people in the emalles
and poorest county of the state cai
make money and grow in prosperity
without growing cotton.
What Allendale has done Abbevilb
can do. Ait that we need Is a 9piri
of cooperation, a "ill to work, aw
good leadership.
- A COUNTY AGENT.
bur suggestion for the employ
ment of a county demonstratioi
agent in this COUftty ha? tfl&t Witl
an enthusiastic response. Number
of farmers have approved the idea
It is believed generally that a goo<
fJoTTirmBtra-Hnn ocronf in /?nim+.'
w;ll help us to go ahead in the mat
ter of crop diversification in thi
county.
A meeting of some of those inter
ested in farming was held here yes
terday at which the delegation fror
this county was requested to apprc
priate as much as $1250 for securin
the servicea of a good agent for th
present year. That request will b
laid before the meeting of farmers t
be held here next Wednesday an
they will be asked to take some a<
tion in the matter. It is believed thi
all the progressive farmers cf th
county are in favor of the emploj
ment of a good man for this work.
We all know that the times ar
hard and that taxes are as certai
as they are hard to pay. But taxe
do not seem to grow less, and th
only way to meet them is to increas
our ability to pay. The amount sue
gested will take about one-fourth o
' " : i
one mill. Each man who pays taxes
on one thousand dollars will pay fif
teen cents towards the salary of the
agent, and that is not much, that is,
if good is to be accomplished by his
employment. The county demonstra
tion agent is not a highly paid of
ficial. He is required to own a car
and operate it at his own expense.
This costs about $750 a year, count
up-keep, depreciation and running
expenses. He receives $1500 from the
state and federal government, and
>0 i thus an agent in this county, if we
'0 j appropriate $1250 would receive in
0; all $2750. Deducting the $760 for
? car expenses he ^ould receive a sal
re ary of $2,000. Considering that a
N ?nian to hold the position must be a
graduate of an agricultural college,
and must spend a good deal of mon
ey on accouijl of traveling around
he county'and elsewhere, it is evi
dent that the salary is not large.
We dislike to advocate the pay
ment of any amount which will be a
burden on the people, and it is a
time to practice economy in matters
of necessity, but we believe that a
poor agent is the worst kind of econ
omy, and if we are to have an agent
here at all, we had better make such
an appropriation as will secure the
services of a good man. Such an
agent cannot be secured for less than
the amount suggested we believe.
We have not talked with the mem
bers of the delegation from this
county. But we do not believe they
are self-opinionated about the mat
ter. "this being a matter for which the
people at large must pay, they would
likely be interested to know the
it i
^ views 01 me people 01 ine county.
r It might be well, therefore, for thej
farmers in different parts of the
? county to write Senator Moore, or
J
j Representatives Putman and Cox, in
care of the Senate or House, at Co
lumbia, giving their views on this
matter.
0 '
Of one thing however the people
should be advised. If a county dem
onstration agent is to be employed
and if he is to do satisfactory work
8 the present year, he should be em
ployed at once, so that he may get
here and get down to work before
the farming season opens.
\ ?
SPRAYING FROM AIR.
i\
Some two weeks ago we said edit
orially that stranger things than the
fighting of boll weevils with airplanes
might happen. Before the people
hereabouts had quit smiling at the
fllMr(7Pcfinn atona waro hoint* folron
y "v4V wv,4*t> vw?ivm
* to try the very experiment which we
suggested, as will be seen from a
I reading of the following article #tak
j en from The New York Times:
^ "The long fight with the cotton
boll weevil was nearing a crisis at
the close of last season. The little pi
rate was almost at the top line of ?he
cotton zone, and apparently had the
conquest of the former king of our
commerce nearly in his grasp. Mil
lions on many millions had been
^ spent by the Government and the
^ planters to" hold him back, only to
^ face failure year after year.
"But now the weevil's days are
said to be numbered. A powerful ally
:s coming to the rescue. The weevil
is to be fought by the airplane.
"The Committees on Agriculture
in House and Senate will this winter
take up and discuss an appropriation
for the purpose of utilizing-the avail
able airplanes of the army in experi
ments over a wide a^rea of test in
spraying calcium arsenate to poison
the weevil.
"Tha Apartment of agriculture has
taken up the matter and the details
)f the problem of airplane spraying
are being examined in the light of
up-to-date experience.
"The project of airplane spraying
is based on a single experiment con
ducted recently in Ohio with what
must be regarded as complete suc
ess. On the farm of Harry A. Carver,
i- ,iear Troy, in that State, was a fine
n block of Catalpa bungei, one of the
>- familiar lawn trees, whose globe
haped head with its dense shade of
e j neart-snapea leaves, maKe it popular
e nnd desirable. There were in the six
o acre block 5,000 fine six-year old
d trees, worth in the neighborhood of
$25,000. Last June the catalpa
it sphinx caterpillar suddenly fell on
e this grove and within a short time de
J- foliated it. . Machine spraying was
tried with only partial success. The
e grove, however, rallied, and under
n the favorable growing conditions of
:s the season renewed its leafage only
e to be again attacked by the worms
<e a second time in August.
r-| "The problem appealed to ento
if mologists generally in the State, at
- y
'V-*' V,"
-- ? ? . r ? -*1
the State University, the experiment
station and the local officers of Cleve
land. Among the latter the City En
tomologist, C. R. Neillie, a resource
ful and indefatigable friend of trees,
gave special attention to the woeful
plight of the catalpas. To him came
the happy thought of using the air
plane. The best types of dust spray
ers using gasoline engines could not
get the .poison up into the tops of the
trees and there the worms had the
grove all to themselves.
"With the remark that 'only birds
could get the stuff up there' the
thought flashed through Mr. Nellie's
mind that it might be possible to do
the job with an airplane. As quickly
as he could get connection over the
telephone with the army officers of
the Air Service at McCook Field at
Dayton, he stated the problem and
asked if the army would be willing
to cooperate in a trial of airplane
spraying. First Lieutenant John A.
MacReady, one of the eight engi
neering students stationed there, hap
pened to be the man to whom the
appeal came. His instant answer was
that if the matter had the approval
of his senior officer, Major Maxwell
Kirby at Fort Benjamin Harrison,'
he would be at the service, of the en
tomologists. Major Kirby also wel
comed the job as one that the Air
Service could do, and in a few days
Mr. Nellie went down to Dayton and
worked out with Edward Donnoy,
the designer of the Engineering Di
vision of the Air Service at McCook
Field, the form of a distributor to be
used on the airplane.^
"Happily no better place could
have been resorted to than the Air
| Service Engineering School at Day
iton. Mr. Dormoy is an expert in de
sign in connection with airplanes,
and he soon hit on a simple arrange
ment for managing the spray of the
dust. This was a hopper to hold 200
pounds of calcium arsenate in the
form of a fine powder ground so
that 95 per cent, of it would pass
flimnnrVi a ttriro oiava nn4-k 1 A AOfk
Vtuww^u ? nuv 0t?T? ItlVM IVjVV V
meshes or holes to the square inch?
about the fineness of phosphate rock
prepared for ordinary agricultural
purposes. This hopper was attached
to the side of the plane to the rear
and below the occupants so that they
would escape t?ie dust. A small reel
with spoonlike arms operated by a
crank was built into the lower part
of the hopper to feed the dust and
get it spread out into the currents of
air created by the propeller blades of
the plane.
"When the day came for the ex
periment to bg tried out Lieutenant
MacReady flew up from Dayton to
T^oy, about twenty miles, bringing
Mr. Dormoy with him. J. S. Houston,
Associate Entomologist at the Ohio
Experiment Station under Professor
H. A. Gossard, was assigned to go in
the plane with Lieutenant MacReady
to work the crank of the distributer.
The wind was blowing strong, and it
was found that the plane need only
to pass up and down at the side of
the plot of trees; the wind took the
powder over and spread it thorough
ly.
"Long after the plane had passed
the grove for the last time the dust
was slowly settling down on the trees.
Like a trail of long white cloud the
poison was wafted upon every leaf
and twig throughout the plantation.
Effective dusting, Mr. Houston says,
was accomplished over a space 600
feet wide, the dust being found 150
feet on the far side of the grove, the
grove itself being 400 feet wide. The
plane moved out 50 feet from the
trees at the windward side of the
grove and from 20 to 30 feet above
I thfe tops of the trees.
"Three days after the grove was
sprayed by the airplane the ento
molofrists went over it and found that
they had made a complete job of it.
Mr. Houston says that 99 per cent, of
the caterpillars had been killed; and
were strewn on limbs and trunks and
ground everywhere, and the place
was indescribably nasty with the re
mains. At the rate of time required
for the six acres, it was estimated
that an airplane can dust thirty acres
a minute, so far as the actual time of
flying and dusting is concerned. In
the most conservative computation,
with the co-operation of the entomol
ogists and field experts, a machine
ould, it is said, accomplish in regu
Jar systematic work fully twenty
nes as much spraying as the best
id most effective form of machine
spraying now used in orchard or
shade tree insect control.
"It is on this decidedly interesting
trial of the-airplane in spraying that
the Department of Agriculture is ex
pecting to build up the plan to fight
!
US
'the cotton boll weevil. There are
many details that etand in the way
of such ah effort In the first place
spraying for the boll weevil is done
in the night, when the dew has gath
ered on the plant and the insect in
taking a drink gets the poison into
his 'pantry.' At first the field men of
the department said the idea of us
ing the airplane for spraying cotton
could not be made to work because of
this condition. But the army air ser
vice men at once said night flying un
der the suggested conditions was
feasible.
" 'We have men trained for just
this sort of flying,' said one officer
who took up the subject. 'We have
observation planes, bombing planes,
pursuit planes, all planned for night
work, and the service is full of men
who are equal to all that is called for
in this proposition.'
"The greater difficulties are likely
to come in organizing work of such
a peculiar liaison character between
the flight service and the field ex
perts, the' scientists who must study
out local conditions and the commu- '
nities of planters. The general plan,
so far as it has been sketched out
thus far, proposes a belt of flight
stations distributed across the en
tire length of the cotton belt. The '
airplane assigned to cotton spray 1
work can move from one part of its 1
special field under its own power and i
carry a moderate load of the poison <
dust Before the actual day of spray- i
ing in any qjie community the field 1
agents are expected to organize over ]
the telephone, by means of newspap* 1
er notices, Post Office posters and the 1
liberal commandeering of 'flivver'
couriers.
"Obviously, the first trial of spray
ing from the air must be experimen
tal. It'is hardly possible to estimate
in advance the cost of such work.
It might prove impracticable. Calci
um arsenate costs about ten cents 1
a pound, and the season's cost of the s
poison and the labor of putting it on 1
with the cart sprayer now generally 1
used is between $4 and |5. There <
are not a few nlanters who ?orav ao <
thoroughly and so often in the hope
of ultimate complete eradication of
the pest that their avenge spray
costs are around (15 an acre. These
are exceptional, however, and even1
maraigraiiUiUEfiimiifimn
Invest You
I With The.
OF
Safe
You ca
$100.0
jfj Interest Beg
1 Next St
I
p Building a
i
} G. A. NEUFFER, .
j j Preside?
gaiimuiugrafararaigigii^
the small planter can carry his patd
through a season with an expeudi
ture of not to exceed $6 an acre to
spraying. Usually, the trouble is h<
does not have the $6 for the firs
acre. <
"The work will have to b? carriei
on by the general government with
out any attempt at dividing the worl
with the planter. First of all, th
spraying must be as general as poe
sible in every section. It would no
be necessary to use compulsion, a
was done in Texas, when the govern
ment and the State authorities join
ed to exterminate the pink cottoi
boll worm, and planters were requir
ed to suspend cotton farming am
were compensated for their loss fron
the public treasury. It is concede*
that all planters would gladly com
into any general spraying plan a
might be proposed for the use of air
planes. By some it is nrged that th
planters should themselves unite am
buy airplanes and conduct communi
ty spraying at their own expense
This idea ^ill no? make much prog
reae.
/ t
"The project is one for. the Feder
al Government to start and carr;
through. The Government alone ha
the money, the brains* and the powe:
to do what is needed to be done. Thi
loss in a single year of substantially
one-half of the ^entire cotton cro]
and the total cut down to about th
amount required for export, with th<
menaced consequent loss in foreigi
trade and the diminution of the sup
1
ply of raw cotton to the domesti<
textile trade, i| enough to suggeel
the importance of the complete Fed
sral control of the project The u?
jf the airplane; in forest protectioi
suggests the ground for drafting th<
lir service into the protection of on<
>f the most important argricultura
nterests we have. Modifications latei
nay be made in the organization anc
She' upkeep, but in the experimental
stage the general Government shoulc
teep control. The excellent field aer
rice now at work on the problem un<
ier the masterly guidance of B. R
Coadof the Bureau of Entomology
:an alone under Federal control tx
}f the best service to the project ii
it is to be undertaken at alL
. . . .{>' U
"It is believed that the army aii
service would welcome the proapert
waaRtmmR&m
TV /I
r Money
i
...IT WILL BE
and Profit
in save from $1
0 a month w
ins With Your i
;ries Opens
20th, 1922.
v .
*JI V AAn I
JIU LU(U1 I
of Abbeville.
it. Se<
[alitnugiiUHigizraiiiigiHfi!
; ..... I .
. # . ...
X', yi. . / ' gvj v
K* -<f
i 1
of taking up the work suggested. ,
There are now 11,000 enlisted men
I / *
in the air service, and over 300 ca~
det flyers usually under training. Out
of this large force there should be
little difficulty in getting the few
score pilots that would be required
for the system of fiyiag fields that
would make up the experiment over
the entire cotton belt.
"It is estimated that one airplane -
would be able, if stationed in its own
theatre of work permanently, to >'
spray 500 to 1,000 acres a day and
limited by physical conditions of
weather and wind, could be effective
in an area of 30,000 to 100,000 acres
This would compare with the govern
ment work of 75,000 in the season
of 1919. Cost comparison is some- '
thing to be worked out later, but' ifc ,
is clear that thepe may be unforseen ;i
economies m air spraying raft that
possibly in the end, depending on
the thoroughness and .complete ex
tent of organization, it May be cheap- -
er than the present method of cart
spraying. - ; ; (
"There are economic phases of
the cotton industry if airplane spray
ing should come into vogne tint
would doubtless tend tostabilfce
and enlarge operations. It is to be v
hoped that airplane spraying would ,
in tinfc, if prosecuted Wholehearted
ly and effectively, not! only screen as
growing erop from the weevil so'aa.
to seeure a paying yield, hut go even, v
further'and in some plftces entirely ':} }
'eradicate the weevil; or, if not that
be such a large and powerful factor
of control that intensive method* \
auxiliary to the airplape spraying
might do more than simply effect a
control up to the pyaiag point I*
other words, the public opinion be- '
hind such a proposition should oof*
port a generous mtUnre ofnpradj.
Haire in the hope of eradication." .
iw.Vi
. .''-i
Hoapita] without -wards, for poor
people, is being baih in New York.
\; , -SEB- V-j
; .A rvH ' C . ./ - : ;: , - M i
V ; "MOTHER OVIRE" V
.V- OPERA HOUSE V
* -TODAY mm* .SATURDAY! V
Viv?5e. ADMISSION 35c. V
l.UU to
.
ith us.
..
First Dollar,
January
If
Association i|
j. s. MORSE,
cretary & Treasurer.