Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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HIFICATION ON SOUTHERN FARMS Some Reasons for Getting Away Front One-Crop Idea. VITAL PROBLEM FOR FARMER ?fast inaugurate a Safe and Sane Byr j tern of Farming to Enrich, Instead j of Wearing Out Our Lands? \ Cotton Exhausts Humus. (By O. II. AL.FOKD.) Thero aro two problems before ua tot solution. However, tho most real and vital problem beforo uh just at >tMn tlnio is to get our fnnners to prac tice a safo and eano system of farm ing; one that will inchido crops to en rloh instead of wear out our lands; one that will include plenty of good: Jive stock to consumo tho surplus prod ucts and tho leguminous crops that must be grown to enrich tho land and to mako manure to still further onricb. the land?a syHtem of farming that will grow tho necessary corn, oats,, wheat, rice, sugar cano, vegetables, fruits of all klndB, poultry, hogs, mules, horses, cattle, sheep and other live stock for homo uso and to sell at a price tho pcoplo In our towns and cit ies can afford to pay. The too oxcluslvo culture of cotton has exhausted tho humus, tho life giving principle In our soils; tho wash ing of tho clean cotton fields has gono en to such an oxtcnt that millions of acres of the best land In the cotton belt havo been ruined. Tho too exclu sive culturo of cotton makcB it neces sary to send the money obtained for cotton north to pay for corn, oats, pork products, mules, horses and other farm products. Tho too oxcluslvo cul ture of cotton has caused overproduc tion, thoreby forced the price far below an equitable one, so tbut thero has been but littlo more than a bare liv ing for cotton fnrmers. Tho too ex olaslvo culturo of cotton ostabllBlied the credit ByBtom. As long as our farmers ralBo their supplies at home there is no necessity for tho credit system. The too exclustvo culturo of cotton compols ub to buy on crodlt and dump nil of our cotton on tho mar ket in tho fall in order to satisfy our creditors and thoreby forco tho prlco down. If these stntomonts bo truo, why have tho farmerB in tho cottoD belt not practlcod diversification moro gen erally long ago? Many Buy that the fftrmerf i???? t>eon compelled to ulant cotton to get credit, and at tho low prices of cotton, which so long pro vailed, woro unable to got out of debt and go forward unhampered on an Independent basis. This is no doubt true of many thousands of farmers. Thero aro, of courso, numerous rea sons for tho too oxcluslvo culturo of cotton, but the argument UHod by most cotton farmers Is that cotton Is tho most profitable crop to grow and that the larger the area in cotton tho larger the profits. These cotton farmerB us ually show by llguros that an aero of land that will grow 40 bushels of corn will grow one halo of cotton and that the cotton will sell for more money than tho corn. Now, como, let us reason together for a few moments. Tho success of any system of funning cannot bo judged by tho crops or tho next earn ings for ono year or for five years. Any system of farming that Impov erishes the land is a miserahlo failure, no matter what tho profits may be for ono year or for tlvo years. Our prob lems largely depend upon maintaining Boll fertility, and for this reason any system of fanning that causes a de cline in tho fertility of tho soil ts a ebame and disgrace to our farmers. Our greatest asset Is tho fertility of our soil. Just In proportion In which oar soils nre worn out, in that propor tion Is our prosperity diminished. No living man bus ovor acquired tho art of ^rowing good crops of grain, grass "tfcotton or vegetables on poor land. thr soil always means small yleldB; mill yields always means poor peo j|, and poor people always means t. crodlt system, very littlo educa ? ition, uncomfortablo homes, poorly equipped farms, and, in fact, all that retards civilization. , In passing, pormlt mo to suggost that corn with peas In tho corn and >peas grazed by hogs, and oatB follow ed by soy beans or lespedeza will tako the place of a large part of the cotton, and tha. you will make as largo net profits from the salo of these crops as you mako from cotton. I.ami that will mako one-half to three-fourths ^ "hale or cotton per acre, on tho aver age, one year with anothor, will make ;30 busbols of oats and 20 bushels of sov beans, or two tons of lespedoza 'hay. The oats and soy beans or lespe deza hay will sell for moro cash than tthe cotton. And wherein theso crops and corn nnd oats used in a rotation ?nurposs any ono crop system, lies In the fact that the fertility of the soli [is increased whllo with the too ex jclusive culture of cotton tho fertility rapidly decreases. 1 Tho most destructive and energetic 1 insect that the world has ever known is gradually covering the cotton belt. 'There Is one hope and only one hope for the farmers, and that Is tho diver sification of crops. Tho adoption of |a Bane and safe system of farming? yone that will grow grasses, leguminous crops, oats, corn, hogs, sheep, cattle, mules, horses and some cotton will metre the boD weevil problem. .Tfce credit system is tho corse of tbe ootton belt. It sweeps tbo earnings of toll from the masses into the coffers of tho few. Some years aro the com missioner of agriculture of Georgia, after careful inquiry of several hun dred, found that tho average rates charged tho farmers for extension of credit i'rora April and May to October and Novembor was 54 per cent, per I "annum over and above the cash price. I Wives and children were compelled to work In tho heat and cold from Jan uary until December to pay tho 54 per ?cent, credit profits. Diversification of crops will abolish tho credit system. Wo are sending millioiiH of dollars .to other sections of tho country every [year to pay for pork products, mules, fhorses and othor farm produci?. Dl .versification of crops will keep this money at home, our bunks will soon ,"be full to overflowing and tho rate of lutorost lowered to say C per cent, be icausn of tho abundance of money. Then we will havo the neceHsary .money to pay good teachers better sal aries to teach longor terms, to build 'Comfortablo homcB and good roads ?and properly equip our farniB. Diversification Is tho only remedy >for low-priced cotton. Thero Is no ?ane man who does not know that wo will get more money for 12,000,000 than wo will for 15,000,000 bales. Tho history of tho past 20 years Is proof 'jpo&itrvo of this statement. We all "know that large crops of cotton mean a low prlco and that a low price for cotton means poverty and wretched neos all over tho cotton belt. This be ing truo, why will our farmers and their wives and children toll in the heat and cold In largo cotton fields to grow largo cropB of cheap cotton to pay for high-price corn, oats, bacon, lard, mules and other farm products with the profits of sovoral middle men, supply merchants and railroads added? Tho growing of every farm product ?necessary for homo use will curtail tho production of cotton, raise the price to nt least 12 cents per pound and ennblo us to ubo the money obtained for cotton to build good roads, mag ntfieent homes, churchos and school houses and fill our banks to overflow ing. Lifo on tho farm will then be froo, unfottored by the bands of prom issory obligations and our position in the world mado conspicuous by that lndopendenco which the farmer alone can enjoy in tho fullest significance of tho term. Every farmer should raiso his own farm-work stock. It 1b true that mil lions are sent out of tho cotton belt each year for mules and horses, but this la not the main reason why your attention is called to this subject at this tlmo. Probably ono of the two chief causes of poverty In the cotton bolt Is tho one-horso plow. Tho small mule and a turning plow is a guarantee of shallow soil devoid of vegetable matter. A shallow soil devoid of veg etablo matter means small crops and poor farmors. Farmers who buy their work stock never havo enough for tho econom ical production of crops. We have about one-fourth the horse powor and earn about one-fourth as much money as farmers In some other sec tions of tho country. Farmors who buy food stuffs to feed plow teams novor raise sufficient farm work stock to supply their needs. We buy feed stuff and this is the main reason why we have about ou<M'ourth as many horses and mulos as farm era In other sections of the country. Wo cnn save tho millions of dollars paid out for mules and horses each year and bring In millions from the salo of mulos and horses, but a great or profit will come from securing in this way sufficient work stock tor economical crop production. POPULATION AND PRODUCTION 48 Millions SI.561.000.000 $2,045.000.000 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 $2.797.000.000 142 $3.160.000.000 $3.S7u.0OO,O0O ERADICATION OF QUACK GRASS Badly Infested Field Should Be Plowed From Five to E'jht Inches Soon as Crop Is Removed. (By ANDREW UOSS. Minnesota Experi ment .Station.) Where a field Is badly infested with quack grass it should bo plowed from five to eight inches deep as soon as tho hay or grain crop is removed. All portions of tho grass must be turned under. Within a fow days tho plow should be followed by a disk harrow with tho disks set straight at tno first timo over to avoid turning any of tho sod. Tho disking should be repeated onco or twice a week for six or eight 1 weeks and occasionally after tbat un til freezing weather. Short crop rotations are useful in j koeping quack grass under control and when arranged so as to provide an opportunity to attack tho quack grass I at tho right time they will permit ' eradication of tho weed without los ing the use of tho land. Good Plan. In the long run it is always a good plan to give a cow a dose of some laxative at the first symptom of ud ?der txooble. A HEROIC DEFENSE Story of "The Last Cartridges" and the French Marines. THE BATTLE AT BAZEILLES. Commandant Lambert's Simple Report of tho Deaperate Conflict With the Bavarians That Was Immortalized In Ds Neuville'* Famous Painting. A fumous Kreuch battle painting called "Tho Last Cartridges." the work of Alphonse de Neuville, represents the desperate defense of an old house ut Bazellles by a handful of French ma rines agulnst great odds. Doubt huv lng been cast upon the authenticity of this episode, the French government has published tho Official report made by Commandant Lambert, who com manded tho detachment ut Bazellles. Tho report is simply a plain, unvar nished recital of the events of a thrill ing and heroic series of engagements in which undaunted bravery and reck less courage were truly displayed and which would furnish abundant mate rial for a dramatist in need of a text for u stirring play. This Is the brief story as It was recounted by the brave commandant: Lambert had been wounded by a ball in the leg and was unable to walk more than a few steps. With a few officers and a detachment of his soldiers, cut off from the main body of the French army, he took refuge in an isolated house at tho highest point In Bazellles and defended It against the Germans. Firing from the windows and any other openings that they could find, tho soldiers Inflicted heavy loss upon tho enemy, who swjirmed through the streets of the town. They believed that they would soon be rescued by tholr own troops. They still heard the sound of their mitrailleuses and the detonations of the French chnssopots, which they could distinguish perfectly well from the sounds of the guns of the Bava rians about them. They did not know that these sounds came from n French force as hopeless ly walled In as they themselves were and that the main body of their coun trymen had deserted them. At ono time, seeing a chance for their escape. Lambert tried to send his comrades away while he and a few soldiers were to remain and fall Into the hands of tho enemy, but they re fused to go. Meantime projectiles of all sorts were raining Into tho old house. Bullets perforated the doors and windows until but little remained of them. The building was entirely surrounded by tho Fifteenth Bavarian regiment. A bombshell crashed through the roof, bearing down with It several men. Others were cut down by VttVtt? rlan bullets. But the light went on for a long time, and the Frenchmen were able to keep their assailants at bay. At last, however, the ammunition gave out. As the last cartridges were fired the men. having heard the Bava rians* demand that no quarter bo given j those Frenchmen because of the heavy losses they had Inflicted, proposed to issue from the building with charged bayonets and sell their lives dearly in a hand to hand conllict. Rut their coinifiandcr, the wounded Lambert, waited until the last car tridge was tired; then he limped through the door and confronted the swarming Bavarians alone. He de clared that If they killed him It would be time for tils soldiers to die. and it was possible that he. their commander, could make some terms for them. As soon as he limped out and stood with folded arms a dozen bayonets were at his brenst. Ho would have been killed in another instant if the Bavarian captain had not, at tho risk of his own life, precipitated himself upon the French otllcer and beaten back his own men. Infuriated by the frightful loss which the defenders had Inflicted upon their own regiment, they would have put the whole detachment to death. The Bavarian captain prevailed, and the Frenchmen were made prisoners of war. The Bavarian officer congrat ulated the French commander warmly upon the desperate and heroic stand they had made. Right and Left Hands. As regards the moral significance of the right and left hands, a highland friend who is something of n Gaelic scholar gives mo the Interesting Infor mation that in Oacllc the right and left hands become respectively the "south" hand and the "north" hand. The moral aspect of It conies out in tho Gaelic Idea of the south as rich, well favored and fortunate and the north ns the reverse. In the "south" hand are carried riches and honor. The north handed man is unlucky. And now we know why It is so many Scotsmen go south ward!?London Chronicle. Fled the Wrath. Friendly ?Constable~Come, come, sir, yon must pull yourself together; there's your wife cnlllng you. Festive Gent? Wlia she call?hie?calling me. Billy or William? Constable?William, sir. Fes tive Gent?Then you bet I'm not goln'? hlc?'ome.?London Opinion. Monopolist. New Janitor ? Don't you see that sign. "Beggars Not Allowed In This Building?" Beggar?Yes; I put It up. I'm tho owner.?New York Globe. A man can know nothing of man kind without knowing something of himself.?Beaconsfield. WIRELESS WAVES The Electric Voice That Speaks Through the Ether. SETTING UP THE VIBRATIONS. This Is the Work of the Oscillator, Which Is the Electr ic Mouth, and Its Message Is Caught by the Resonator, Which Is the Ear of the Apparatus. More truly tbnn uuy other tele graphic device, the wonderful wire less is a speaking voice, it makes itself hoard just as the huuian voice dues by a series of waves moving free ly through space. When I speak my voice is sent out in undulations of varying length and frequency through the air. When the Wireless "speaks" its voice is conveyed by undulations in the ether, which Is it more refined medium than air. cart., lug the waves of light and electricity as the air carries those of sound. The oscillator of the wireless Is a "mouth." sending out undulations in tho ether as our mouths send out mi dotations in the air, and tho resona tor of the wireless Is an "ear." catch ing the ethorlal waves as they im pinge upon It. as our ears catch the atmospheric waves that strike them. We see nothing wonderful in vocal sounds, because nature gave us in our needs one Instrument to produce them and another to receive them, ltut she left us to lind out for ourselves how to produce and receive "vocal" waves in the ether. Since we had to make tho instruments (hat deal with them the otboric waves seem to us marvel ous, although they are in principle no more marvelous than the waves of air. Man began to use electricity for con veying intelligence by sending it cur rent of It along a wire. He pressed a button at one end of the line, and tho electric current passing along the wire induced a corresponding motion in a tapper at the other end. It was a roil mill bout way of employing an agon cy which we now know can be em ployed more simply and directly b,\ throwing away the wires and making tlii> electric waves "speak" straight through tile etiler. It is true that the language employed does not consist of the words of any spoken tongue, hut it is one that can be directly translated into any othci known to man, and so it is the most universal of all languages. .Now. let us see how it Is employed First as to the electric ?"mouth." When u charge of electricity is accumulated on a "condenser" a similar but oppo site charge is induced upon another condenser placed near. The air be tween them acts as an insulator he cause It Is a poor conductor of electric* Ity, But when the charge attains a certain degree of intensity the strain upon tin? air becomes too great, and a spark passes between the two con densers, by which equilibrium is re stored between them. The passage of this spark produces, so to speak, a shock in the ether, which, like the explosion of a gun or the utterance of a sound, sets up a se ries of waves in the surrounding me dlinn. which radiate away on ail sides. These waves in the ether produce the electric "voice." If the sparks are reg ulated in number and frequency the consequent waves ate similarly regu lated. ? An instrument for the produc tion of such waves is called an oscilla tor or exciter. It is a kind of vocal ap paratus lor speaking through the othci instead of through the air Hut just as we should have no know I edge of the passage of sound waves if we were not provided with ears to hear them, so the electric waves would go unregarded if we had no apparatus for receiving them, The receiving apparatus Is called a resonator, or detec tor. It may be sit uated hundreds of miles from the os cillator, but it will catch the wave-; as they undulate to It through the etlier. and it can be made to reproduce them in till audible or legible form by causing them to operate a Morse dot and dash instrument, as in ordinary telegraphy by wire. Hut the electric voice and the elec tric ear are in some ways more man ageable than tlie human voice and ear. We can only produce ami hear air waves of a limited range of frequency, and we cannot do much to alter that limit. Sound waves vibrating less than forty times a second or more than 40, 000 times are Inaudible to us. But elec tric waves varying in frequency from a few hundred up to hundreds of mil lions a second can be rendered per ceptible, and it is also possible so to const met the Instruments that they will send forth and receive particular ranges of waves and be mute and deaf to others. Then the distance over which the electric waves can be detected is al most Infinitely greater than that of ordinary sound waves. It takes a strong voiced man to make his voice audible across a little river, hut, as everybody knows, the electric cry of n ship In distress can be electrically heard from the middle of the Atlantic Acean. And there are enthusiasts who predict that before very long wo shall be nhie to speak by wireless to some other planet, if only there Is somebody there to hear and understand us!? Oarrett P. Scrvlss in Spokane Spokes man-Review. There Is no net, however trivial, but tins Its train of consequences, as thero is no hair bo small but eastu its ihndow. BUY HERE ?AND \ OBTAIN VOTES For every dollar purchase we will give 100 Votes in The \ Advertiser Contest. Our stock of Drugs, Stationery Toilet Articles, Cigars, Tobac co and Sundries is Complete and of the very best quality. Votes given on every purchase. V Ray's Pharmacy Prescriptions a Specialty. LAURENS, - SOUTH CAROLINA GASOLINE 20 cents Filtered Pure, High Grade AT THE ? i Bowser Filtering Station THE MOST CONVENIENT PLACE IN THE CITY TO HAVE YOUR CAR FILLED Eichelberger Bros. Telephone 33 Sullivan St. Near Public Square. COLUMBIA, NEWBERRY AND LAUKENS RAILROAD. Schedule Effective July 13, 1013. | Schedules aro published only as information, and not guaranteed. 50 54 52 61 63 66 8.00 a in 5.00pm 11.20am L,v 'Columbia Ar 8.38 pm 4.55 pnit 11.16 am 9.30 6.29 12.49 pm Prosperity 7.08 3.36 9.60 9.47 8.47 1.06 Nowbcrry 6.52 3.20 9.32 10.41 7.42 1.60 Clinton 5.58 2.35 8.44 11.04 a in 8.05 pm 2.20 pm Ar Iiaurens IjV 6.35 pm 2.00 pmi 8.20 am Nos. 52 and 53 daily solid through trains between Charleston and Qreon. villo. Arrlvo nnd depart fromAJnion Station, Columbia. Nos. 54 and 55 solid through trains between Columbia and Green villo. Arrive and depart from Garvals Street Station, Columbia. Daily except Sunday. Nos. 50 and 51 solid through trains between Columbia and Laurens. Ar rive and dopart from Gervais Street Station, Columbia. Operated on Sunday. only. W. .1 CRAIG, P. T. M., B. A. TARJRiEJR, Com'l Agt., Wilmington, N. C. Columbia, S. O.