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THE S. C. TOBACCO CROP. Mr. John C. Sellers Makes Some Practical Suggestions To the Editor of the News and Courier: I am very much interested in the discussion of the tobacco situation as shown in recent letters by Messrs. Sprott and Cothran and the comments of the editor of The News and Courier on the editorial page. These gentlemen are no theorists or book farmers and discuss "what they know and testify what they have ex perienced," and their opinions are entitled to great weight. I think after all the misunderstandings and cobwebs are wiped away we can all agree on this one thing, "our tobacco markets open too early and close too Boon." To bring about a longer marketing season some of us advocated in 1915 a compulsory grading and bundling of all tobacco before it could be offered for sfile on the warehouse floors but there was such a difference of opinion among farmers an<b warehousemen and tobacco buyers that the scheme fell through and the grading law failed to pass the Legislature. | Many of the farmers insisted that ' they didn't know how to1 properly grade tobacco, that it was expensive and that- they were anxious to get rid of their tobacco so as to have the maney to gather their cotton, whioh began to open about the close of the tobacco season, all of Which was true \ and could not be gainsaid or denied. Some of the warehousemen and buyers insisted that they had Interests In the North Carolina ana Virginia or Kentucky markets which they could not afford to neglect, and therefore could only stay here a short limited time and then "hie themselves away to pastures new.'' Twenty-five to thirty years ago when there were a few warehouses in the State all tobacco was graded and tied up (not that grading and tieing up really adds anything to the value of tobaccp, but the time required to put tobacco in condition to grade does add to its value), warehouses were not open for the sale of tobacco till sometime in August, and they remained open longer than now, because the crop could not be gotten ready for market and the warehouses of those days usually kept a large force of graders on hand to help out the'farmers wh0 could not grade at home. It was soon found that a large part of our tobacco was for the export trade and exporters preferred the loose feaf (for even if they buy " - 4 the bundled up looacco me mot thing that is done when it reaches the stemmerles is to unite the bundles preparatory to extracting the stems, and this tieing up is simply a matter of time and money,.) the buyers let it be known that they would pay k just as much for the loose leaf as I they would for tied up tobacco of the same quality and farmers soon found out this was true by grading and tieing up one-half of a curing and carrying the*other half and selling both at the same time and receiving j&s jpueh for one ?e~the other. It was then "that all king's screws broke loose," as' the boys used to say, and as soon as the fires died down on the curing of sand lugs the local papers would announce that all warehouses would be open next Tuesday wflh a full corps of buyers on hand all anxious to pay the high dollar, so bring on your tobacco while the price is high, etc., and from then till the North Carolina markets oP?n it is hurry, hurry, rush, rush. Many farmers take the tobacco wltich ?1 ? oiixai) Qstnrdfl# was Iimaueu uciug vutcu night, get it in order Saturday and Sunday night, take it off the sticks Monday morning, tie it up in cotton sheets, load it on a wagon, carry it to market and sell it the same day, and there is no man living who can tell what its value is in its then condition. It is a well known fact that if tobacco is taken from the curing barn in proper condition, carried to tt\e l pack house, bulked down while still L on the sticks and securely covered up with sheets it will wonderfully im* prove in a very short while. As the farmers say, "it comes to iwlf" in from three to four weeks. All Ihe fine color it is capable of showing that has life in it. If when a suitable (day comes, not too dry and windy nor too damp, you will take down that tobaccatand take it off the sticks a stick at a time, throw out the burnt and grpen leaves. You need not grade it, as Mr. Cothran clearly shows in his recent letter, and carry that tobacco to a warehouse you will get the highest price that quality of to bacco will bring. As an experiment last year, I had a barn thus treated divided into two piles, onefl thought, a little better than the other, but when sold on the warehouse floor they both brought Identically the same price, 50 cents a pound. You can't fool the buyers. If your tobacco has the quality and is In good condition when offered for sale you will get the highest price that quality of tobacco will bring; otherwise you will get aay low old price. I have been planting *"The News and Courier crop" twenty-five years and no year have I failed to get more for tobacco than from an equal area of cotton, no matter how high or how low either may be. I have never realised the high prices some have. My a highwater mark was for the crop of ?nr, t. Kofnro loot whpri T Cot a little F over $316 per acre on a crop of 12 ' acreB, and believe I would have ^ reached the $400 mark on a crop of fifteen acres last year had it not been for the heavy July rains, as the 1919 ^ crop was the best I ever made. Just about the time everything is working smoothly without too much crowding in the warehouses and the crop is about one-half sold the word goes out from the warehouses to the farmers that at a specified date in the near future all warehouses will close for the season as the buyers will have to leave for the opening of the North Carolina markets. Then it is, Mr. Editor, that confusion and pandemonium break loose. Every warehouse is filled to overflowing. Tobacco is piled to the celling in the driveways while outside long lines of, wagons in every direction are wait-| ing (often in the rain) a chance to unload on the warehouse floors. Inside weighers, warehousemen, auctioneers, buyers, statement carriers , and bookkeepers are working hard j all day tG clear the floors and for hours nothing can be heard but the monotonous jargon of the auctioneer as he. cries each pile separately and the quick, jerky response of the successful buyer as he blurts out "Mark it B." And this condition of things I is repeated from day to day till theji warehouses close and the buyers leave. How can we remedy these conditions? First. I would be in favor of a ^regulation among warehousemen or a j law on our statute books requiring < every warehouse to remain closed until at least one riionth after curing becomes general, say about the first week in August. This would enable farmere to bulk down their tobacco so as to get same in the best possible condition for markqting, and then if . the buyers insist on leaving us before the crop is sold let the farmers hold ' their tobacco bulked down in the pack houses, and when convenient, ship to 1 Rocky Mount or Danville and get the ' fancy prices nqw being paid on those markets. Farmers, as a rule, can eas- ; ily do this for with the high prices of cotton and tobacco of the past few years most farmers are out of debt .and are now riding in automobiles | instead of buggies and ox-carts as in the olden days o'f 4-cent cotton, and at the mercy of a commission merchant at the ports. And then, why cannot we have our own native tobacco buyers just as we have cotton buyers on every market, who stay with ' us from year to yfear are making a good living and -are on the job rrom January to January? It has always beeji a source of wonder to me that so ftew of our young men have gone into the tobacco buying business in the past thirty years. They readily become expert cotton buyers and why they 1 don't combine the two I can't understand. They supplement each other and make a year-round business. It is just as easy and fliore convenient for the farmer to drive his wagon ;load8 of cotton on the street in front ! of the tobacco warehouses as it is to I drive up Main street, crowded as it usually is with passing automobiles, wagons and motor trucks. The warehouses are usually near and convenient to the freight stations, and when the cotton is sampled and sold to buyers it is easily delivered and weighed at the depot. Both cotton and tobacco are paid for by check on a bank. The young men who come from North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky to buy our tobacco are usually a splendid set of men, affable pleasant and agreeable, with plenty of "pep and get up" about them, and I have no prejudices against them and really like them, but they are birds of passage and don't stay iong enough with us t0 prove their real worth or to inspire our complete confidence. Let us encourage our young men to learn the tobacco buying business and then our warehouses can be kept open till the last pound is sold without a great rush and hurfy. The early and persistent advocacy of the crop by the lamented Dawson put the biggest kind of a feather in the cap of The News and Courier. It surely has been a godsend to this Pee Dee section. Looking back to the , gloomy days of 4 cent cotton I don't see how we ever could have pulled through had it not have been for The News and Courier crop. And then the coming and settling among us of such men as Mr. Cothran, Geo. Yarborough the Dicksdn brothers, Edwards and Clark,*of Mullins; Winn, of Marion; Watkins of Dillon and many* others throughout the tobacco belt have added much to the splendid citis^risnip of our state. Geo. Yarborouglraame to Mullins many years ago as a young tobacco buyer. He and his boys are now leading warehousemen and successful farmers. He has reared and (educated a large family, graduating his children in the colleges of the I State and one of his boys, Lieut. 'Geo. H. Yarborough, Jr., a graduate 'of the Citadel, made the supreme sacrifice on the battlefields of France. I think a multiplication of warehouses is not to the best interests of the tobocco business. Most of our anjbitious little towns as soon as they are incorporated seeing what tobacco has done for Mullins, Timmonsville and Lake City, which forty years ago were . barely "wide places in the road," and are now flourishing young cities, erect warehouses that cannot serve the farmers as efficiently as the larger markets. It would be much better if all the warehouses in a county could be concentrated in a few cen ters in each county and thus the season for selling could be much lengthened and the foreign buyers kept with us till all the tobacco could be sold gradually and without the rush ami tiurry, as now. In this day of good hard-surfaced roads and motor trucks distance does not count as in the olden days. , John C. Sellers. Sellers, March 2, 1920. NOTICE OP FINAL DISCHARGE. Notice is hereby given that Mrs. Jennie B. Gaddy, executrix of the estate of John W. Gaddy, deceased, has made application unto me for final discharge as such administratrix and that Thursday, March 25, at 10 a. m. in the forenoon has been appointed for the hearing of the said petition. All persons holding claims against the said estate are requested to file them with the administratrix on or before 10 a. m. in the forenoon on Thursday, March 25, or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. JOE CABELL, DAVIS, Judge of Probate, 2 26 4t. < Dillon County. Habitual Constipation Cured in 14 to 21 Days ! -LAX-FOS WITH PEPSIN" is a speciallyprepared Syrup-Tonic-Laxative for Habitual 1 Constipation. It relieves promptly but should be taken regularly for 14 to 21 days to induce regular action. It Stimulates and | Regulates. Very Pleasant to Take. GOr i per bottle. CITATION. The State of South Carolina, County of Dillon by Joe Cabell Davis, Probate Judge. Whereas, LeRoy Williams has made suit to me to grant unto him letters of administration of the estate and effects of H. W. William^. These are, therefore, to cite and admonish all and singular the kindred and creditors of the said H. W. Williams, deceased, that they be and appear before me, in the Court of Probate to be held at Dillon on Thursday, March 25th next, after publication hereof, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, to show cause, if any they have, why the said administration should not be granted. Given under my hand this 10th day of March, Anno Domini, 1920. JOE CABELL DAVIS. Judge of Probate, 3 11 2t. Dillon County. NOTICE OF FINAL DISCHARGE. Notice is hereby given that Mrs. Mollie Smith and J. L. Cottingham administrators of the estate of S. Frank Smith, deceased have made application unto me for final discharge as such administrators and that Thursday, April 9, at 10 a. m. in. the forenoon has been appointed for the hearing of the said petition. All persons holding claims against the said estate are requested to file them with the administrators on or before 10 a. m. in the forenoon on Friday, April 9, or this notice will be plead*in bar of their recovery. JOE CABELL DAVIS, Judge of Probate, 3 11 4t Dillon County. A TWICE-TOLD TALE. One of Interest to Our Readers. Goods news bears repeating, and when it is confirmed after a long lapse of time, even if we hesitated to believe it at first hearing, we feel secure in 'accepting its truth now. The following experience of a Dillon man is confirmed after four years. W. C. West, carpenter, Hampton St. Dillon, says: "Heavy lifting caused my kidneys to get out of order. I had pains in the small of my back and was so sore I could hardly keep going. My head ached and .1 had spells of dizziness. Colds settled on my kidneys, making my condition worse, and the secretions were unnatural. I heard of Doan.'s Kidney Pills and used them as directed. They soon relieved me of all signs of kidney trouble." The above statement given December 21, 1914, and on January 29, 1918, Mr. West said: "I am always ready to recommend Doan's Kidney Pills after what they have done for me. My kidneys have been strong and healthy and my back has been strong ever since I recommended tnem Derore. 60c, at all dealers. Foster-Milburn Co., Mfgrs., Buffalo, N. Y. 3 11 2t. No Worms in a Healthy Child All children troubled with worms have an unhealthy color, which indicates poor blood, and as a rule, there is more or less stomach disturbance. GROVE'S TASTELESS chill TONIC given regularly for two or th:ee YfteIts will enrich the blood, improve the dlgcrtfcm, and act as a General Strengthening Tonic to * .he whole system. Nature will then throw off or disxl the worms, and the Child will be in perfect health. Pleasant to take. 80c per bottle tt? QulnlM That Dots Not Afftct the Hud Because of it- tonic and laxative effect, LAXATIVE BROMO QUININE is better than ordinary Quinine and does not cause nervousness not ringing in head. Remember the full name and look for the signature of B, W. GROVE. 30a < * TRY THE PALMETTO CAFE, NEXJ TO HERALD OFFICE.?It. [ Spring SI Stetson Large line of The name "S r Shirts of Pretty I Pattern \ Crepe de chine and silk in a va- J riety of pretty c anu attractive colors. NOTICE OP FINAL DISCHARGE.1 Notice is hereby given that Gordon Page, administrator of the estate of Oscar F. Page, deceased has made application unto me for final discharge as administrator and lhat Friday, April 2, at 10 a. m. in the forenoon has been appointed for the hearing of the said petition. All persons holding claims against the said estate are requested to.file them with the administrator, or Friday, April 2nd, or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. JOE CABELL DAVIS. Judge of Probate, 3 11 4t Dillon County. UKKunurv 9 nvii^Ei. Having qualified as executor of the estate of Jonathan Lewis, deceased, notice is hereby given, that all persons holding claims against the estate are hereby notified t0 present same duly authenticated within* the time provided by law or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the said estate are ' hereby notified to make immediate payment to?the undersigned administrator. CARRIE B. LEWIS. Executrix or M. C. Woods, Attorney, Marion, S. C. 3 4 31. CREDITOR'S NOTICE. Having qualified as administrator of the estate of Samuel Watson, deceased, notice is hereby given that all persons holding claims againlt the estate are hereby notified to present same duly authenticated within the time provided by law or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted t0 the said estate are hereby notified to make immediate payment to the undersigned administratrix. AMANDA WATSON, 2 26 3t Administratriv. CITATION. The State of South Carolina, County of Dillon, by Joe Cabell Davis, Probate Judge: Whereas, A. H. Walters had made suit to me to grant unto-him letters of administration of the estate and ef. fects of W.m. James Walters. These are, therefore, to cite and admonish all and singular the kindred and creditors of the said Wm. James Walters, deceased, that they be and appear before me, in the Court of Probate, to be held at Dillon on Saturday, March 13th next, after publication hereof, at 1U o'clock in the forenoon, to show cause if any they have, why th'e said administration should not be granted. Given under my hand this 26 day of February, Anno.Domini, 1920. jwc. CABELL DAVIS, Judge of Probate, 3 4 2t. Dillon County. NOTICE OF FINAL DISCHARGE. Notice is hereby given that Mollie Smith and J. L. Cottingham, administrators of the estate of S. Frank Smith, deceased have made application unto me for final discharge as executors and that April 2, at 10 a. m. in the forenoon has been appointed henrinc nf the said netition. v All persons holding claims against the said estate ate requested to file them with the executors, on or before 10 a. m. in the forenoon on April 2nd, or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. JOE CABELL DAVIS, Judge of Probate, 3 4 4t Dillon County. bowing Hats stylish hats for men. itetson" tells all. W Standard make and warranted H as to durability. B E.T.ELLIOTT,Jr. Main St. 4] DILLON, S. C. lATTE FARE Have your plan j and DELINTED befi J- recommended by Stations. By Del a week or ten d; cold speDs in the1 tent, and obtain a of cotton, h addi At least half of yc bushel to three pec We guarantee that become mixed. \ I ty do the DEUNTI ?for you at 10 cent: THE DILtO sraggwga.: Corn Ever A complete every mod ment, extra 1 We grind ev day and ev -n..!i weeK. duu grinding cori Your corn ii you wait am or grits from J. H / , The former 0 N New \ Under New The New Yor give the patr< best that is to all times. Poj. Furnished R Galvanized Corrugate Have two thousand two 1 gated number twenty-nine I 6 in., 7 in, and 10 in. 1 ng | dred (1400) sheets V Cr i car that left factory Jan. ! | ought to use our Lead He ing. Send for circular. COLUMBI/ 82.3 WEST GERVAIS St. Subscribe to NTION 1E.RS 1 ting seed separated * )re planting This is tlio FYnfirimftntal 1 inting you can plant I ays later, avoiding Spring to that exmare unifonn stand I ition, you will save I mr seed, as a half J ks will plant an acre. |p your seed wifl not Ifeare now prepared WG and separating s per bushel. I N OIL NHL I w ?i? u Ground y Day corn mill, with , ern improvearge size rocks. + m M * ery hour in tbe ery day in the t especially lor n. , s ground while d you get meal your own corn David. , rridpntal Cafe I ow ork Cafe Management k Cafe is here to >ns of Dillon the be had at any and \nlnv? nvi.ios miai pi iv/ba. ooms for Rent d and V Crimped Roofing mndred (2200) slieets Corruguage Galvanized Roofing in ths. One thousand four hunlmped in same lengths. This is 21st, expected any day. You 3 aded Nails in putting on roof1 SUPPLY CO. COLUMBIA, S. C. The Herald--$2