University of South Carolina Libraries
F? D. R. OOKKR GIVES SOME SOUND ADVICE. __ Tells How Cotton Acreage Can Best Reduced. Raise Foodstuffs^ He Urges. Mr. D. R. Coker, of Hartsville, has sent out the following letter: "Although cotton planting time is only six or eight weeks off many cotton growers all over the South have not yet determined on what policy they will pursue as to the apportionment of their acreage and as to the use of fertilizer. Advice is being showered upon them in such volume and of such diverse tenor,, however, the advice being offered by the wisest iarrn economists coincide. All say roduce cotton acrage and raise adequate food stuffs. And in the wisdom of thiB program I most heartily concur. *"I have not, however, seen any formula presented which will allow each farmer to figure for himself the correct amount of his acreage which he should plant In food Btuffg end in cotton and 1 propose to here lay down what I consider the correct rule. "First, however, let us discuss conditions which must be met by any proposed program. Statisticians tell us that we will have a carry over of about nine million bales on August 1. < They also tell us that the South pur- 1 chases hundreds of million8 of dollars worth of corn, hay and other food products which can and should be raised here. It is a notorious fact that most plantations do not produce a sufficiency of syrup, sweet potatoes, .vegetables and friuts for the consumption of landloard and tenants and few are adequately stocked with cows and hogs. There is a market in every town and factory village for large quantities of the vegetable and animal products which can be easily raised on every farm.-We have right. at home, therefore, a market for a| vast amount of food products now! produced elsewhere but which can and should be produced hero. "The nine million bale carry-over i next August will consist very largely of low grade cotton of poor, weak staple. For several years the carry over of this kind of cotton has. been rapidly increasing until now such cotton is only- bringing about, 60 per cent of the value of the cor-; responding lengths of high grades., With the exception of the past three years the margin between the bare cost of production of high grade cot-1 ton and its selling price has rarely j amounted to the difference in the sell- i ing price between high grade and low grade cotton. (By bare cost of production I mean only money expenses plus a bare living to the laborers.) With the possible exception of one year (1919-1920) never in my recollection has low grade cotton returned to the grower its cost of production. Yet year after year we see many planters all over the South putting in a cotton acreage which they know cannqt be gathered in a reasonable picking season by the labor on their 1 plantations. Year after year we see quantities of cotton in the fields in November, December and in some)1 years as late as March. "Under boll weevil conditions only early varieties should be used and early planting practiced. The bulk ! of the crop, therefore, will be open 1 by the last of September and the en- ' tire crop must be gotton out of the I fields by October 15 or at least by | November 1, in order to insure a : grade of middling and better. ' "Under the conditions, prevailing 1 during the past thirty years, with the ' possible exception of one, the farmer 1 who nut in a ereater aereaee than he ' had available labor to pick in six or ' eight weeks has pursued a policy not only unprofitable to himself but also destructive to the whole cotton industry, for he is the man responsible for 1 long years of low prices and for the,1 present enormous carry-over of low j grade cotton which is now keeping ( the price far below tho cost of pro- 1 duction. "Succinctly stated, my formula which can be reduced from the above i discussion is as follows: Raise all the'] food stuffs adapted for growth in! ycurth section which are required for | the consumption of the total farm population, both human and animal,! with a reasonable margin for sale to; the nearby towns. Then raise only as' much cotton as the labor on the farm i can gather quickly enough to pro-! duce nothing below the grade of middling. Let the balance of the land lie! out or plant it in some soil improving crop. If the foregoing formula is strictly applied to every plantation the reduc nun iu. iue conou acreage win ue very great. "I have little hope that the campaign for reduction by agreement will bring adequate results. Most farmers are individualists and will figure out a program which they thrnk will best meet tbft requirements of the situation. If we can focus the attention of very planter upon the fact that low grade cotton rarely if ever' returns the cost of production and the J further fact that its production has been responsible for the woeful situation today existing we have accomplished the primary thing necessary to effect acreage reduction. No farmer is going to deliberately do something which he figures in advance will be unprofitable and further no farmer wants to be considered an enemy to the cotton industry as a whole. So, the business judgment of the great body of cotton growers and an aroused public sentiment will, I think, accomplish an adequate reduction if this matter can be properly "presented to the entire South before planting time. "Just a further word about the use of fertilizers. If anything has been clearly demonstrated in the agriculture of the eastern cotton belt it i8 that cotton can be more cheaply produced (even at low prices) with the use of a fair and well balanced ration of fertilisers that without. b Baaed on present prices for cotton, 11 do not think that the average farmer ean afford to use less than f 12 or Bl V ID MLLON i . $16 worth of fertiliser per acre, the formula and amount of course varying with the type and condition of the soil. "Very little fertiliser has yet been bought and if the farmers are to plant their crops on time no'time is to be lost in securing their supply. A little further delay will mean late deliveries, late planting and the risk of the destruction of the crop by the boll weevil. "(Note: Of course the principlest uiBcuasea uDove apply to tobacco and other money crops as well as to cotton. Farm profits are usually too narrow to allow for the production of low grades in any money crop.) "DAVID R. COKER." "Hartsville, S. C." "February 14, 1921." o SWEET POTATO HOUSE We will get a charter for <6,000 this week incorporating the Dillon Sweet Potato Storage Company. We have forty subscriptions to the capital stock of the company, each subscription being for one hundred dollars. We would like to secure twenty morn subscriDtions for S100 00 nach If you wish to encourage the most promising new industry in this section come to the Carolina Milling Co. and let us have your subscription for one hundred dollars. We expect to build a three compartment storage house under plans of the Department of Agriculture, forty feet by one hundred and ten feet, and capable of curing and storing fifteen thousand bushels of potatoes. We have bargained with the, new cotton warehouse to buy from' them a lot 150 x 150 feet facing the town power plant on Jackson street. We wish to assure our friends that the house will be ready for business long before your potato crop can mature. We suggest providing yourself with an abundance of good Porto Rico seed potatoes. While shipped in plants may be secured we think it much safer to grow your plants insuring a desirable variety of potatoes free from germs of decay and known not to carry to your fields nut grass and other pests. We wish every prospective customer expecting to store potatoes to vommunicate with us promptly, stating the acreage you expect to plant and how many crates you wish to provide storage space for. A community about twenty five miles frt>m Dillon has made application to ship in fif-, teen hundred bushels of potatoes for storage. We will of course hope to fill our house by taking on local po- [ tatoes, but if our farmers will not engage our facilities it may be desirable to take in some potatoes to be shipped in on the railroad. In closing this article I wish to quote from a recent bulletin: "As an example of what can be done with sweet potatoes in a community, Longview, Texas, commenced to build the sweet potato business a few years ago and soon became the largest sweet potato shipping point in the world. In 1914 there were thirteen car loads shipped from Longview, in 1915, 177 cars; in 1916, 320 cars; in 1917, 425 cars; in 1918, (a dry year) about five hundred cars, and in 1919 a little les3 than one thousand cars. This shows what can be lone in a community where curing plants and markets arc established. Land in that vicinity that was worth f25.00 per acre in 1915 is now worth pne hundred and fifty per acre and nany men, both farmers and pusiness men, who had practically nothing five years ago have become financially independent and made it n the sweet potato business." Wade Stackhouse. o A flnrmon lnvnnfA** 4a oo a Iiava viviuiuii lurvnvvi iq oaiu tu nu?vperfected a method by means of which he ia able to take an ordinary slieap violin and make it the equal ar superior in tone to the masterpieces of Stradivarius, provided the violin is unvarished. o There are Tew persons who would find the journey of life interesting without a lot of stop-over privileges. Eight and one half per cent of all deaths in this country are attributed to heart disease. CORPORATOR'S NOTICE Notice is hereby given that pur- j suant to an Act of the General As- j stmbly of 10 20 providing for thei manner of incorporation of joint stock companies and corporations the! undersigned will apply to the Secre-! tary of State on Monday the 28th day of February, 1921 for a Charter for a potato storage warehouse, the name thereof to be the Dillon Sweet Potato Storage Co., with its principal place of business at Dillon in the County and State aforesaid. Wade Stackhouse. Wade Stackhouse, W. Murchison, J. D. Manning, 2 24 It. Corporators. !? . - . ! Station to S The rates for this service tively lowand it is particula for use by traveling men there will be some one in office who can talk to then houses and agencies who ? 1 r% ? , otner trequently find it and economical. Ask Long Distance for SOUTHERN BELL Ti AND TELEGRAPH I i II i|| li BilA MLLOM, MXH OAB^ NOTICE OF ELECTION. ' No tit? la hereby given that a general election will be held in the town of Little Rok, 8. C., on Tuesday the 22nd day of March, 1921, at which election a Mayor and four aldermen will be elected to serve for a period of two years. Books of registration for the registration of all Qualified electors. both male and female, are open at the Bank of Little Rock and will remain open until 12 o'clock hoon on the 14th day of March, 1921. Every citizen of the United States who has been a resident of the state two years, the county one year, the towti four months, and shall have paid six months before the date of said election any poll or property tax then due and payable shall be registered. The ballot boxes will open at 8 o'clock a. m. and close at 4 o'clock p. m. The following managers of election have been appointed to hold said election: M. S. Britt, J. H. Meadors, Abe Iseman. A. D. POPE, Mayor. 2 24 4t. NOTICE OF FINAL DISCHARGE. Notice is hereby given that Jno. L. Dew, administrator of estate of Mrs. Bethea C. Dew, deceased, has made applicatiou unto me for final discharge as administrator and that Thursday, March 3rd 11 o'clock in the forenoon hag 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 on or wwvic xx u ciucx iu iue iorenoon on March 3rd, or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. JOE CABELL DAVIS, Judge of Probate, j 2 17 4t. Dillon County. ? Why a j>2Suffer? ? Wonders for Me/' k P Declares This Lady. "I suffered for a long time with womanly weakV^k ness," says Mrs. J. K Bm Simpson, of 5? Spruce Jl St., Asberflle, N. C. "1 1^4 m Anally got to lbs place ^j ^ where U was an effort for VjKKL me to ( . 1 would have 8^ a bearing-down pains in my side and beck - es- KM Sp*Mtjsettleacrossmy back, and down la my side there was a great deal at soreness. I was nervous asd easily Hpa~ .... n CARDUI The Woman's Tonic |7V| "1 heard of Cardui and decided to use it," conC ^ tinues Mrs. Simpson. "I m^d saw shortly it was benefiting me, so I kept it up a and it did wonders for Wrjd me. And since then 1 have been glad to praise Cardui. It is the best j* ? woman's tonic made/' ? Weak women need a Ya|M tonic. Thousands and thousands, like Mrs. HWA Simpson, have found v^aruui or Denem tcruiem. Try Cardui for your trou- WA fcfi ALL Bs | DRUGGISTS P 'tation Calls | are attrac- i rlvvaluable iLmI I convenient rates and details. 1LEPHONE ffJBLfl COMPANY T+gfr ~ . '^w-rr-1 fUg>W KJHA,. ! ? >A1 MORNING, VMBUAKT H ML 1 flkAVCI B I FERTILI TRADE MARK , ***** ;rs.R 3 ^ Vvi^v**' i -"vk * ' ^:>r I'M I /C M -%y / // . vt , ' * ? ARE There is no -11 111 ???1^?? ?? Harvester C Rfanns .^tr DURING the past month, reports have c charges have been made, sometimes dir this Company has adopted a policy of refusing t< in order to compel the purchase of new ones I Such a policy has never been considered by tin Ordinarily we ignore such reports, becau company, no matter how fair and high princi] criticism. The facts are this Company has al repair service and has used every effort to raal we can truthfully say that the repair service i goods are sold is equal if not superior to that i We call attention to the fact that machinery something new and originated by the farmei were really an outgrowth of the movement sta associations in connection with the Council < servation' measure. Perhaps no other agenc "National Repair Weeks" as this Company. The farmer needs machines which will he < machines can be repaired so as to render efi would be foolish to purchase new ones. Whe his old machines or buys new ones is a ques making his decision, we give to every farmer aMnranro fKaf a lull Company. Today, our repair stocks on the territory a cent greater than ever before at this time of I million pounds of repairs are shipped from I day in the year. Thirty million dollars' wort | insurance for the farmer when he needs this t | In every International Harvester Works n parts first and even when furnishing them h of new machines for which we had orders, n i At every one of oijr 91 branch houses trail 1 orders are filled and shipped promptly. Th< where with an assortment of repairs in stoc render every assistance. I I his service which this Company has rend have purchased its machines has been a ma and is the foundation of the cordial good-will < We feel it is due the Company and thos< that we give the widest publicity to the fact maintained and improved, and that any chart International Harvi CHKAOO ?::^i ECONOMICAL > economy in cutting expendi1 bring you a profit That is ze. Royster's Fertilizer econyou by making your land and produce larger, finer, surer > your Royster Dealer olace your order now. Royster Guano Co. J a. Richmond, Va. Lynchburg, Va. C. Charlotte, N. C. Washington, N. C. . C. Spartansburg, S. C. Atlanta, Ga. 1. Columbus, Ga. Montgomery, Ala. ,, Ala. Baltimore, Md. Toledo, Ohio ???"w???BB?? Company | >ty False ome to us that at farmers' meetings ectly and sometimes indirectly, that ? supply repair pai , <* for old machines i. This statement is absolutely false, lis Company nor suggested to it. se we have learned that any large pled, is subject at all times to unjust ways recognized the importance of Ice IHC service the best. We believe j furnished wherever this Company's I iurnished on any manufactured line. f "Fix-up Weeks," instead of being 1 j s in 1921, as some seem to think, rted by manufacturers and dealers* j af National Defense as a war cony has done so much to promote efficient and economical. If his old i ficient and economical service, he ther the fanner utilizes and repairs tion for him to determine. But in who owns any IHC machines the will always be provided by this vailable for the farmers are 21 per the year. An average of a quarter IHC factories for every working h of repair parts are now ready, as 3ervice. lanufacturing orders call for repair i as meant cutting down production epairs have always had preference. led men are on duty to see that all >usands of dealers scattered every:k are always ready and willing to lered through the years to those who itter of great pride to the Company, existing between it and its customers. I 1 U/hn hflv** nnrrkaso^ ire marViinoo B : that this service of repairs will be I 5es to the contrary are untrue. I ester Company | F* USA I