Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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. *' ’ 5 SSMPf.' • bv^flK * >,AC, . :V '. : K*‘ ■ W - ; : ^ ' '’< ■ ■ SW&’-'l . ^ESa3&Nnw •'P .;• , -. . McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICR, SOUTH CAROLINA Thursday, March 11, 1937 ttcCORMICK MESSENGER Published Every Thursday Established June ft, 190Z EDMOND J. McCRACKEN, Editor and Owner Entered at the Post Office at Mc Cormick, S. C., as mail matter of the second class. i SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One Year $1.00 Six Months .75 Three Months .50 damping-off and to obtain better stand. Agricultural Engineering Check over farm machinery for needed repairs. Plan terraces before planting to give them extra width and height. Repair screens on doors and v/indows before the fly season opens. If you have a small stream or other source of water supply on your farm, investigate the possibili ties of irrigating a small truck patch; irrigation is good insurance against dry weather. Sunday School Lesson BY REV. CHARLES E. DCNN Jesus Praying for His Disciples. Lesson for March 14th. John 17:14-26. Golden Text: John 17:22. As Dr. Fosdick points out in his helpful little book,. “The Meaning cf Prayer,” prayer is dominant de sire. “Every wish,” wrote Mrs. Browning, “with God, is a prayer.” Now a desire or a wish, if persis tently cultivated, is certain to be fulfilled. If a man really wants goodness he will get it. And remember that it is the law of prayer that we become what we desire. Hawthorne’s h^ro Ernest, in the famous story, “The Great Stone Face,” by meditation upon the peaceful dignity and calm grandeur of the Old Man of the Mountain, came to wear a similar expression on his own face. So by thinking upon and praying for the noblest, the truest, the best, we be come noble, true, and perfect our selves. But what about our prayers for others? In the light-priestly prayer of Jesus, chosen for our lesson, he is praying for his disciples. Was it answered? Not entirely. The peti tion “that they may be one, even as we are one” is a pathetic re minder that Christendom is still sadly divided into competing sects, despite the large amount of unity achieved in recent years. The in tercession of the Master, then, fervent and genuine as it was, did not result in that unity he craved. The church split into pieces, and only at this late day are we be ginning to take our Master’s prayer in earnest. All cf us know how often our prayers for our dear ones meet with frustration. Luther prayed ardently for the recovery of his dying daughter Magdelen, but she passed away in his arms. How of ten in such a crisis the heavens seem as brass, and God appears to have departed on a long vaca tion! But it is foolish to deny the reality and help of God at such a time, and lapse into a rebellious or agnostic attitude. For the Lord knows best, and we must trust his providential love and care. txt March Farm Calendar Early Spring Guide On Care Of Livestock C’emson, March 1.—Providing for ample feeds and proper feeding are the most important matters > attention to livestock in March, say Clemson specialists, in their spring livestock calendar. Animal Husbandry Give brood sows special atten tion at farrowing time. Large lit ters mean greater profits. Place sows and young pigs on territory uninfested with parasites Cull out the unproductive sows Plan to plant some Biloxi soy beans for hog gracing. Use barley, rye, and oats for grazing with beef cattle and hogs. I Give the ewes special care at lambing time. “Lambing time is th" ^''nhe^d’s harvest.” Prefer oats to corn when mules start heavy work. Sow lespedeza in permanent pas tures. Dairying Remove cows from onion-infest ed pastures five hours before milk ing. Clean up lots and haul off lit ter to destroy breeding places for flies. Use some acreage cut from cot ton for more feed crops. Silage and -legume hay make ideal roughage feed for next win ter. Plant one-half acre per cow in pearl millet or Sudan grass for summer grazing. Clear brush and apply 200 pounds of superphosphate and one ton of ground limestone per acre to permcr^nt pastures. Sow lespedeza on permanent pasture sod if none is present. Poultry Raise baby chicks separate from old birds. Provide feed for chicks in clean troughs or hoppers. Get chicks into sunshine early. Clean brooder houses regularly. Plant green feed for summer. Arrange to secure stock for flock improvement next season. -xx- Clemson, March 1.—Get ready for a better year in farming, say extension specialists in suggestions for March. Agronomy Make, save, and use farm ma nures and compost in producing crops. Before buying fertilizer, study carefully the needs of your soil for plant food to feed the plants grown on that soil. Buy materials and mix fertilizer so that plants will be supplied with food most needed. Horticulture Set out fruit trees if not already set. Plant raspberries and blackber ries any time this month. Prune and spray fruit trees. Cultivate and fertilize orchards. Plant hardy vegetables now. Insects and Diseases Remove bands from apple trees, scrape rough bark off, and kill the over-wintering codling moth larvae. Burn twigs severed by the pecan twig girdler. Grow corn as far as possible ( from last year to control billbugs and borers. Control cutworms with poisoned ( bran mash. Dust tobacco plants with derris dust to control flea beetles. Plow under leaves and shucks In pecan groves as an aid in scab control. Plant wilt-resistant tomatoes, such as Marglobe and Break-o- Pay. Treat cotton seed to prevent Sweet Potatoes As A Cash Crop 4. IMPORTANT POINTS ON CUL TIVATION. (By A. E. Schilletter, Extension Horticulturist.) Demonstrations last year in South Carolina clearly showed that fertilizers carrying a high percent age of potash are essential in pro ducing a high yield of U. S. No 1 sweet potatoes. Based cn the re sults of the demonstrations, a fer tilizer carrying 8 per cent phos phoric acid, 3 per cent ammonia, and 8 to 10 per cent potash, ap plied at the rate of 800 to 1000 pounds per acre, is recommended (Several excellent home-nvxed sweet potato fertilizer formulas are available in Extension Circular 152, Sweet Potato Production, by E. H. Rawl. This publication is available from your county agent’s office.) The question might be asked When is the proper time for plant ing vines? We would answer that we have found from experience that the most satisfactory planting time on the average for South Car olina is soon after June 1. If plant ings are made much later than July 1 and ideal growing seasons do not prevail, there is a possibil ity that the crop may not mature properly and the yields may be unsatisfactory. Another important factor in planting sweet potatoes is the spacing of the rows. These should be three to four feet apart and the vines should be set eight to 12 inches apart in the row. This is particularly important when the Louisiana strains are used, because of their early maturity. It is also important that cultivation should be sufficiently often to keep down weeds and grass. The last cultiva tion should work the soil to the olants and leave them on a rela tively high bed. On low land or wet-natured lands, high beds are very important. We might add that this last cultivation should be given before the vine growth is excessive and becomes rooted in the soil. (This is the fourth in a series of articles on Sweet Potato Growing in South Carolina.) et. // -tXT- Insure Truck Crops By Poisoning Mice Barnwell, Feb. 27.—“Untold dam age which is done by mice can be prevented by an insurance policy of poisoning truck crop fields at a very small cost”, says W. C. Nettles. Clemson College Extension Serv ice entomologist. “This has been oroved through watermelon dem onstrations in this section of the state. “Most of the commercial melon ^rop in the state is grown in wire- worm territory, and if mice eat the seed and the crop is late,* serious wire worm damage frequently oc curs”, Mr. Nettles says. On one mouse control demon stration, the untreated field show ed 100 per cent damage, while the same field treated with poison bait showed a damage of only 17 per | cent, the greater damage being done at the edge of the field, H. A. | Bowers, assistant county agent, re- j ports. The field, which was fairly overrun with mice, was poisoned three times, at a total cost of only 35 cents. The poison used on the demon- straticrs consisted of one-fourth of an ounce of strychnine sulfate, | one pint of simple syrup, and one pint cf water. After this mixture was boiled and cooled, two to three saccharine tablets were added. The bait, made up of com and peanuts, was soaked in the mixture for several hours. A number of rows were selected through the field, and the bait was put in hills just under the ground, as if plant ing a crop. The bait can also be scattered along the edges of the field and around stumps, unless the demonstrator is afraid of killing the birds in the field. After each application of the bait, the hills in which the bait was placed were examined. Each time practically all the bait was eaten, and dead mice were found around some of the hills. Agricultural Research Popular With Farmers Clemson. Feb. 20.—Requests for copies of the recently issued 49th Annual Report of the South Caro- ina Experiment Station are notice ably numerous, as are calls for re sults of tests by the station on many phases of agricultural re search, says A. B. Bryan, agricul tural editor. This indicates a wider interest, he believes, in the appli cation of scientific research to practical farming. In this connection the agricul tural editor calls attention to a statement by Dr. H. P. Cooper, di rector of the station, regarding the services which the station renders to farmers. “The South Carolina Experiment Station performs services of two types for the farmers of the state”, says Dr. Cooper. “One of these in cludes investigations of a technical nature which have as their objec tive the securing of scientific in formation of fundamental import ance that can be applied to the solution of agricultural problems wherever they occur. Research of this type must usually be carried on over a long period of time and involves relatively large expendi tures for equipment, supplies, and well trained workers. As examples of such work might be mentioned the technical study of the response of crops when grown on different soil types treated in various ways, and the investigation of the dis eases responsible for poor stands of cotton. Federal funds are used for this kind of research. ‘ The other type of work which the station carries on might be called service work. Scientific in formation which has been pre viously secured through technical research is applied to the solution of local problems. Local fertilizer experiments, time-of-planting tests, and experiments on the con trol of insects and plants and dis eases are examples of this kind of service. The results when secured have valuable application locally and may be of much greater im mediate importance to the farmer than the more technical research upon which they are based. Work of this character cannot be done with federal funds, the use of which is limited to the more tech nical research, but must be financ ed with state funds.” 7 JU.. m i- K j,. S23 The 60-horsepower Ford V-8 engine was first developed for Europe, where fuel costs are high. Two years’ usage there proved its unusual economy. When the “60” came to this country this year, the Ford Motor Company made no mileage claims—waited for facts, written on American roads by American drivers. Now Ford “60” owners are reporting averages of 22 to 27 miles on a gallon of gasoline. That makes it the most economical Ford car ever built! Best of all, the Ford “60” is just as big and roomy—just as handsome* sturdy and safe — as the famous 85- horsepower Ford V-8. And it sells at the lowest Ford price in years. If you want a big car for a small budget—a car you can drive with pride and profit—see the thrifty “60” soon! 1936 Cotton Contest W inners Annouiieed Columbia, Feb. 27.—State prizes in South Carolina’s five-acre cot ton contest, “for better yield and staple value”, conducted annually by the Clemson College Extension Service, were awarded at a special meeting here yesterday to Mrs Carrie B. Smith, Johnston, Edge- field county, and P. M. Arant, Pageland, Chesterfield county. Mrs. Smith won first place in the contest, cash prize $750, on a five- acre yield of 6640 pounds of lint, Coker Clevewilt, strain 4, staple length 1 1-32 inches. Mr. Arant’s second place with cash prize of $275 was won on a five-acre yield of 6265 pounds of the same variety and staple length. District prize winners were: Low er district — first, $200. Taft Thames, Manning, 4330 pounds. Watson’s Dixie Triumph, 1 1-32 inches; second, $125, H. L. Martin, Black ville, 4440 pounds, Co.ce Clevewilt, strain 4, 1 1-32 inches Middle district—first, J. F. Hop kins, Mayesville. 6080 pounds. Co ker Clevewilt, strain 3,1 1-32 inches: second, W. S. Stroman, Cameron 5990 pounds, Coker Farm Relief strain 4, 1 1-32 inches. Upper dis trict—first A. W. Hall, Pendleton 5795 pounds. Delta Pine Land, 1 1-16 inches; second, J. M. Whiso- nant, Rock Hill, 4945 pounds, Co ker Cleveland 5, strain 7, 1 1-32 inches. The prize money was contributed by the Cotton Manufacturers As sociation of South Carolina, which has thus cooperated by donating $2000 each year the contest has been conducted since the initial contest was held in 1926 with prizes donated by The State, Columbia. “The chief aim of the contest”, says D. W. Watkins, director of the Extension Service, “has been the improvement of the staple length of South Carolina cotton so that the mills of the state may consume home-grown cotton, with better prices to the farmer for the improved lint, together with larg er, more economic yields per acre.” “That real progress is being made is seen in the fact that while in 1925 less than 20 per cent of South Carolina cottcn was 15-1G inch or longer, this percentage has risen to 94.7 per cent in 1935”, says R. W. Hamilton, extension agrono- j mist, who has directed these con tests; “and better still, 72 per cent i was one inch or longer in 1936. The contest has also materially aided j farmers in securing economic yields by better practices regarding va rieties, spacing, fertilizing, weevil control, etc.” -xx- Good Cash From Ho«;s Clemson, Feb. 27.—More hogs for market, more cash for farmers,! Extension Service workers report from various parts of the state, es- ; pecially in Pee Dee and other low country counties. Typical are these reports from Clarendon, Sumter, Dillon, Dorchester, Florence, Berke ley, and Kershaw. “During January our office ] handled 12 carloads, 1174 hogs, which netted $13,031.41”, says F. M. Rast, Clarendon county farm agent. From Sumter, J. M. Eleazer, county farm agent, reports that January was a busy month with hog marketing. “We shipped 27 cars and 4 truck loads. These con tained 2,508 hogs that weighed 489,440 pounds and brought $40,- 949.14 F. O. B. Sumter to 719 ship pers”, he states. “We shipped in January four cars of hogs, which netted the 61 farmers $7,215.91”, states Dillon County Agent S. W. Epps. A ship ment of 39 hogs netted one farmer $703.57, making a total of $7,919,- 48.” In Dorchester county, G. C. Meares, farm agent, directed co operative sales of hogs made by 65 farmers during January requir ing seven cars and four trucks to move them. The hogs were of good quality and brought mostly top prices. “As a whole, farmers have maintained good breeding stock and the finish on hogs shows that proper feeding methods were fol lowed closely”, says Meares. J. W. McLendon, Florence county agent, states that January was a busy month in marketing poultry and hogs. Eleven cooperative ship ments of poultry netted 1137 farm ers $6,711.20; and seven shipments of hogs netted 109 farmers $10,- 551.26, a total of $17,232.46. Berkeley county farmers began their 1937 hog shipments with three carloads to Richmond Jan. 19. Most of the 286 hogs sold for top, which cn this day was 1014 cents, according to J. H. Harvey, the farm agent. Thirty-eight farm ers cooperating in this shipment netted $4,305.61. W. C. McCarley, Kershaw coun ty agent, states that more interest is being taken in hogs in Kershaw county and several farmers are growing hogs on a small scale, using the Sumter market. One Kershaw farmer has 200 pigs to be marketed in May. Civil Service Exami nations Announced The United States Civil Service Commission has announced open competitive examinations as fol lows: Junior graduate nurse, $1,620 a year. Graduate nurse, $1,800 a year; optional branches: anesthesia, psychiatry, tuberculosis, trachoma, pediatrics, general staff nursing: Public Health Service, Veterans’ Administration, and the Panama Canal Service. Public health nurse, $2,000 a year, graduate nurse (general staff duty), $1,800 a year, nurse techni cian (bacteriology and roentgen ology combined), $1,800 a year, In dian Field Service (including Alas ka), Department of the Interior. Junior forester, and junior range examiner, $2,000 a year. Department of Agriculture, Department of In terior. Mechanical engineer (Diesel de sign), various grades, $2,600 to $3,- 800 a year, Navy Department. Full information may be obtain ed from the Secretary of the Unit ed States Civil Service Board of Examiners at the post office or customhouse in any city which has a post office of the first or second class, or from the United States Civil Service Commission, Wash ington, D. C.