University of South Carolina Libraries
ft i)c f?flattbmau atto Sontjjron SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1900. The Sumter Watchman was found? ed In 1*19 and the True Southron in III?. The Watchman and Southron now ha* the combined circulation and Influence of both of the old papers, and Is manifestly the best advertising medium in Sumter. If a county treasurer can swipe eight or ten thousand dollars of pub? lic funds and then get a clean bill of health upon payment of ft\e thousand dollars, a premium Is being paid for dishonesty. Why not make the bondsmen of the defaulting official pay In full and send the embezzler to the cbalngang for good measure? A county treasurer who steals the funds Of which he is the custodian Is a worse rarest snd deserving of greater punishment thsn the house-breaker who robs a store or bank. If the leg? islature approves the compromise in the Wdgcneld county case it may as well pass a taw permitting all thieves to go free upon repayment of seven? ty-live per cent., of the amount sto? len. There have been entirely too many emhesslements, shortages or mistakes in bookkeeping. call them w|kst you will, in South Carolina. within the last few years, and the only way to put a stop to It is to prosecute a few of the rm beul era to the limit of the law and put them In stripes. There would be a marked and Immediate Improvement in bookkeeping, where? by the State and counties would save some tbor.sands of dollars every yvar. ? ? i It is the duty of the County and City officials to inaugurate immediate? ly a syst um of curtailment of expenses and the practice of the most rigid economy. When the dispensaries close on November IK the annual Income of the County will be reduced by more than $16,000 and this deficit cannot be made up by Increased taxation un? til the legislature meets in January, gnd the proceeds from this Increased levy will not be available until taxes pre collected in the fall of 1010. Hence the most rigid economy in County ex pendltoie? is absolutely necessary, un? less a large and burdensome floating debt Is to be Incurred within the next twelve months. This applies to the city with even greater force, for the deficit cannot be made up by addi? tional l nation, Inasmcuh as the max? imum iv vy for ordlnaT city purposes Is now being collected. Economy and retrenchment are the watchwords. ? I ? If the prohibition law enacted by the Legislature of South Carolina 1? good law, how much better is the or? dinary cftlsen who orders his liquor and stores at home for personal use than the Mind tiger who orders his liquor and sells It to the thirsty boose artist? To obey this law to the let? ter would render prohibition too much like tel it abstinence to suit many who believe in prohibition for the masses but have a decided aversion to total abstinence for the individual. g, ? i Senator Tillman, astute politician that he U, recognizes that the prohi? bition wave is a political movement eosely akin to that which was inau? gurated by the Farmers' Alliance In 1118-00. and realising that his politi? cal future may depend upon Identify? ing himself with It, has abandoned his profitable lecturing tour in order that he may procure a seat on the band wagon. He does not propose to be shouldec d out of his easy berth In the Senate t?y a newly arisen leader of the prohibition movement. A MKAT SIJCF.lt. A. A. HoausM A Co. Have Installed an Up-to-Hate Machine. A. A Strauss it Co. have Just in? stalled one of the latest grocers' con? veniences In the shape of a meat sheer This machine is found in all the up-io date grocery stores in large eitlen and Sumter has reached the size wh< re these machines can ope? rate snd ptease customers. This ma? chine hmdles And slices dried beef, break fa t bacon, boneless ham, sau sages and In fact any meats without hard bone Its work seems nigh perfect as the feeding attachment can be regulated to cut aliens ranging in thickness from 4H slices to the Inch to large, thick sb ea. Straus*' grocery is to be congratu lstec* in being the first firm to recog? nize what the housekeepers pf Sumter require and they tell us that they are always Sffj tu purchase any fixture that aids the housekeeper in work snd saving The arrival of this machine means 1 lot to the grocery buying public of Sumter. You can gat what you are getting and fuf thet M iff 000 It siloed. It |? worth the trip t ? Str.iu--" store to see the rnaehltie u ,,, k The automobile hlghwaj I i Colum? bia, paralleling the Atlantic Ooail Line, would afford gftOl sport for the autolsts who enjoy sp.hug against express ti .im Farmers' Union News -AND ? Practical Thoughts for Practical Farmers (Conducted by E. W. Dabbs, President Farmers' Union of Sumter County.) The Watchman and Southron having decided to double its service by semi-weekly publication, would improve that service by special features. The first to be Inaugurated is this Department for the Farmers' Union and Practical Farmers which I have been requested to conduct. It will be my aim to give the Union news and official calls of the Union. To that end officers, and members of the Union are requested to use these columns. Also tf> publish such clippings from the agricultural papers and Govern? ment Bulletins aa I think will be of practical benefit to our readers. Ori? ginal articles by any of our readers telling of their successes or failures will be appreciated and published. Trusting this Department will be of mutual benefit to all concerned, THE EDITOR. A"' communications for tl is Department should be sent to E. W. Dabbs. Mayeavllle. S. C. A letter received from Mr. E. W. Dabbs, editor of this department, in? forms us that he is laid up with a se? vere attack of neuralgia and unable to write anything for this issue. We trust he will soon be well. NOTICE. Members County Union will please bear in mind the Sept. 3rd meeting at Oswego. I have a card from Dr. S. C. Mitchell from Lake George, N. Y . promising to be with us that day to deliver hjs lecture on "Community Life.' I trust we will also have with us President Perritt, of the State Union. E. W. DABBS. Pres. Sumter County Union. TILE DRAINAGE. (In Four Chapters?Chapter II.) Continued. At the risk of repetition there is one more experiment that T would like to make to further Illustrate the theory of underdrainage. Suppose we take a cubic yard of clay as It rested unbroken in its nat? ural bed; a part only of this cubic yard, as I have before shown, con? tains clay. The remainder of the cubic yard of space is made up of voids existing among the particles of clay, and these so-called voids are filled either with air or water accord ing as the soil is drained or not drained. For example, fill a barrel with dry earth. You still have room In the barrel for a large quantity of water. Let water run on to the earth In the barrel no faster than the earth can absorb it. For a long time the water will not run off from the top of the barrel, but eventually it will begin to flow over the surface of the soil and off the top of the barrel, and now you have the condition of a wa ter-logged soil. Every farmer knows that it would be useless to plant a grain of corn in that barrel of watei soaked earth with the expectation of capillarity and there exposed to rapid evaporation. Soil when very loose loses Its capillarity and becomes th* very best of all mulches. The constant tendency of a drain four feet deep to to have' four feet of porous soli above it. A soil of four feet will absorb more rain than a soil of two feet. The auger hole in the barrel four feet from the top will dis? charge more water In a given time than the same size hole two feet from the top; so will a drain four feet deep discharge more in a given time than one two feet deep; because they are both acted on by the pressure of the water in the soil above them. Every one knows that the only way by which the rain that has soak? ed Into the soil can escape where there is no outlet for it below, Is by evaporation at the surface. It may not be equally plain to all, though It is equally true, that when water is converted into vapor a certain amount of heat is removed or made latent. It is this effect that causes the cool sen? sation when the moistened skin Is ex? posed to the air, and precisely the same effect is exerted upon the sur? face of a wet soil by the sun and the wind. The application of this bit of philosophy has led to the manufac? ture of ice in the hottest climates, and I once made use of it to cool my drinking water in a country where it was necessary to keep our supply of this in overland cisterns. I would sus pend by a cord a porous earthen ware Jug of water where the air could cir? culate freely about it, and the evapor? ation of the water from the oater sur face as it slowly exuded through the wall of the Jug, had such effect on cool? ing the water in the jug as would make it pleasant to drink, while that taken directly from the cistern would be warm and unpalatable. When we wrap a wet napkin around the head and hasten evaporation by fanning, we cool the head. When we sprinkle the floor of a warm room with water it is the evaporation of the water that cools the atmosphere within the room. By way of reducing the cooling ef Its producing a healthy plant. The, seed would rot. Again, suppose this j fert of evaporation to tangible figures: } it has been proved that for every gal? lon of water removed from a soil by evaporation the soil has been robbed barrel, instead of being two feet deep, to be as deep as a good soil. Bore a h?le in the barrel four feet from the top; the water will now run out slow? ly, down to the level of this hole. But the soil above the hole will be rei? ther wet nor dry. but In a condi? tion that we call moist. That is to sa>. each soil particle will be encased in a film of water and the soil will be wet only in the sense that the pebbles In our sieve were wet after the sur? plus water had drained from them. Now let us see what takes place when the water is withdrawn through the auger hole. When the water be? gins to leave the Interstices in the soil, the atmosphere, of whose pressure I have already reminded you, begins to force itself in to take the place of the water; and now you have the condi? tion required for healthy plant growth. However, If the water has been allowed to stand In the soil for a long time, the soli will have so run together as to need stirring if best re? sults are expected, and this stirring of the soil would be analogous to the breaking of the field before seeding. To those objectors who claim that the crop will now suffer for water un? less It gets frequent rains I will say that our barrel was not limited as to depth, and that the water will run down only to the level of the auger holo. and no further. All the soli be? low the hole is still saturated with I WatST which is being continually \ drawn upwards about the roots of the erop by the capillary action of the Soil. Had the bob- in the barrel beet bored before the water was tur ned on the soil would have (lib d with Water only tip to the level of the hole, and ail additional water would have pass? ed out. This explains why, after wet weather seta in. deep drains begin to discharge water sooner than shallow drains. Our object in stirring Ihe surface of your ii? hi in cultivation la t<> pro Ivide a mulch ? prevent the molstur< of as much heat?heat that would be beneficial to vegetation?as would raise 5 1-2 gallons of water from freezing to the boiling point. Dr. Madden found that the soil of a drained field from which most of the water had been removed by the drains below, was 6 1-2 degrees F. warmer than a similar soli undrained from which the water had to be removed by evaporation. This difference of temperature corresponds to nearly 2, 000 feet difference of elevation. The foregoing explains why a wet soil, though exposed to sun and wind, is still a cold soil. Heat can not pass downward through water, and if the soil is saturated the warmth of the at? mosphere can not penetrate it. Heat is propagated through water by circu? lation. The warm water rises as the cooler water passes downward to take its place. Those lands where the water col? lecting in slight depressions of the surface, remains for some time after a rain need draining. A very good test as to the advisability of draining any land would be to dig a hole three feet deep, and notice if any water comes into the hole out of the sur? rounding soil after hard rains. If it does that land needs draining. Bome Judgment is required in making this test, as the soil below the bottom of the hole may be dry enough to absorb a large quantity of the descending water before it is tilled, and thus cause the belief that the water Is passing out below. It the water is not finding an outlet below it will at b ngth till the soil below the hole, and eventually rise into the hole, which, u Ihe rains continue, may Anally be fill? ed to ihr surface, To the former who sees his land under every Vicissitude <>t weather, th. re aie other indications of the need of drainage, Those dark damp spots that appear on the surface "t his from being drawn to the surface by (plowed fields after the surrounding and has dried, indicate that the wa er is being sucked up from below as ast as it is taken up by evaporation u the surface. Those placet where i s<?rt of semi-aquatic vegetation springs up in his crops are unmistak- j ible signs of .the need of drainage. Tn Iry weather, those largo cracks that appear in clay soils, showing that the ground had been cemented together and swelled by the presence of too much water; the twisted corn, show ing that the plant had not been able to send its roots deep into the subsoil on account of the presence of water that it now needs but can not reach because its roots are too shallow, all 4 indicate the need of drainage. Farming on retentive soils without adequate drainage is always a hazard? ous occupation. Work that might have been done in winter or early spring is often delayed until late in the season, or if the farmer succeeds in getting in a good winter's work the rains, coming later, upset all his calcula? tions; and he may find himself almost as much behind at seeding time as he would have been had he succeeded in accomplishing no work at all. Th? land has been run together by the heavy rains and has become as hard in the rapidly lengthening days as it would have been had it not been broken at all. The farmer, at this stage in the year's work, and often before he has a single acre of crop started off to growing, has already given up all hope of making a good crop, and will content himself with doing "the best he can" and trust to "luck." It is true, that the seasons are sometimes favorable, and he may make a fair or even u good crop; but too often the seasons are unfavorable and his year of patient effort may be without profit to him. He looks upon failure this year as one of those nec? essary evils that must be encountered in any business, and over which he has no control, and hopes that the next year may be a better one. Sup? pose he makes four fair crops and loses the fifth crop; he still makes some shift to continue his business. What other vocation could stand such losses? Suppose he could have saved that fifth crop by drainage is that all he would have saved? By no means; the drainage that would have saved the fifth crop would have made all j the other crops better. The cops which in those rainy years hardly repaid the cost of cultivation might have re? turned a good profit; and that drought year when only a fair crop was made might have been remem? bered as a year of abundance. Underdrainage is not in its experi? mental stage. In England after the good effects of draining retentive toffs became generally known, the work of draining went on very rapidly, and it soon became difficult to rent those soils in their undrained state. Whether underdrainage does or does not pay is the question that comes to the mind of the farmer when contemplating such work. I shall give no long array of figures to show that underdrainage pays, but will merely call his attention to some effects of underdrainage, perhaps in his own field, that he may have no? ticed without referring them to their true cause. The difference between the fine corn iringing a deep ditch cut through some rich bottom and the stunted corn a little further out where the land has been made almost a marsh by excessive rain, is the effect of un dtrdralnage. The promising crop growing on the well cultivated banks of your creek or canal, while a little further out from the creek you have given up trying, has been made possi? ble by the soil drainage effected by the deep channel of the creek. Perhaps the good crop extends a hundred feeet or moie from the creek and then dwindles down to nothing. What if there had been another deep channel out there, and parallel to th< creek? It would have made good an other belt a hundred feet wide, and so on across the field. But in the place of the open channel a line of small lilcs placed at the seme depth would have answered the purpose just as well. Some swampy lands that In their undrained state were worthless, have become the most valuable of lands af? ter drainage. Of course all that such lands make above nothing at all, must be imputed to drainage. But it is safe to say that underdrainage alone has Increased the yield of the average farm lands at least twenty-tive per cent. This seems to be a conservative estimate, and the twenty-five per cent of the total yield, before draining, may be considered at having been ad d-d to the farmers' profltt. A field on my own farm that 1 have drained, in a series of years before drainage did not repay the cost of cultivation. The same land after drainage has for twelve years been the most reliable land on the farm. 1 shall lat.a- on, give all details of the work of draining this land.-?Jesse Gt Whltfteld In Southern Cultivator. if Supervisor Owens, of Rlchland county, insists that the highway Bhall go by earner's Kerry and declines to adopt the Wedgefleld route, the plan to connect Sumtcr and Columbia with a good road bids fair to fail. Coming ! Coming ! Coming ! Haag's 3 r Mighty Shows 3 3 3 3 3 Sumter, ? Tuesday, August 31st, 1909 i Afternoon and Evening. Be Sure to Baby Camel, Somersault Elephant, Monster Free Street Parade. O'Donnell^Co.i Sumter, S. C. Mid-Summer Sale -OF Muslin Underwear I \X7" ?E are cleaning up stock prior to going to market. If you need anvthing in Muslin Underwear now is your time to buy. This is the opportunity to save money. .50 Muslin Skirts .39 75 " M .57 1.00 M M .87 175 44 1.39 .25 L'd'sDrawers.19 .50 M M .39 75 M 44 -59 1.00 M M .83 Yours, O'Donnell & Co. A Fair Proposition In the daily routine of business the banker should be reimbursed for actual outlays; and not only for this, but lor the rseof^?^capitaj, t i mc and labor he should 4WtKBB*+mw v^n the basis of this prop? osition, w jr^o tender you our very best service. First National Bank, of Sumter