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4 the • in bJt 8 ATLANTA, GEORGIA, JANUARY 8, 1874. Correspondence from the Granges. We most cordially invite Patrons, and farmers generally, to write us local news, interesting to Patrons, or pro motive of the interests of the Order, or of general agriculture. Give us items in regard to the progress of the Order in your communities. Send us the facts, and if you have not the time to “ primp” them up, we’ll prune and dot and dress them in the best we have in our stores. Will not the ladies, also, give us short articles upon any subject interesting to them ? We know there are many facile pens now idle, which could grace the pages of the most re fined and elegant literature. We ex ten 1 to you a medium through which personal graces of mind may be en hanced, and public good accomplished. Give us the light of your intellectual accomplishments. Home Industry. The best way for Georgians to make themselves independent of the monop oly of those alien to their interests, is to patronize home industries, giving these the preference over those man aged by capitalists who have nothing at stake in the welfare or progress of our State, and who look upon the pur chaser of their wares, here, as only an individual who can be politely and sys tematically fleeced in the shape of dis proportionate profits. It seems to be a hard matter for us to get out of the- old ruts of former habit, and to exercise our brains and natural gifts in our own behalf. How ever, we are mending slowly but surely, and it behooves every good citizen to give his assistance in promoting the work of liberation. Beneficial Effects. The beneficial effects of the Granges in putting a salutary check upon the spirit of extortion which has, in many instances, characterized the dealings of railroad managements, with the farm ing interests of the country, notably in freight tariffs, are already to be seen m the lowering of the rates of freight on several of the leading railways of the West—among these, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. Grain can now be shipped over these roads at a con siderable reduction from the extrava gant rates charged heretofore. A clear purpose, courage, and patience, cannot fail of reaping legitimate fruits. The moral effect of the Grange organ ization, freed from the taint of dema goguism and political chicanery,is truly astonishing. Hanner Grange County. By reference to the list of Granges in the several counties, published else where, it will be seen that Harris county bears off the palm. There are fifteen Granges organized in this county. We could not have expected any less of her enterprising citizens, ‘especially when such wide awake philanthropists as Hunt, Hudson and others, lead the van. That old host, Washington county, ranks next with her fourteen Granges. All we have to say about her is, if any county keeps long ahead of her in anv of the elements which goto con stitute good citizenship, her inhabitants must l>e no kin to Rip Van Winkle. All honor, fellow-Patrous, to your zeal and fidelity. ’ The Ileawoii Why. Th) Grange is lecomu g popular in Califor nia.— Exchange. Os course it is, and everywhere else i where men think. Vast numbers of . our best citizens have been for years 1 disgusted with the manner in which ’ monopolists, especially those who have I charge of the great routes and means ’ of traflic.and travel, have lorded it over the farmer and planter; but for want ’ of a co-operative union, a corporate or ganization to take care of their inter, ests, they have failed to accomplish the | p good so much desired. things i have changed, “ The Grange is beeom i ing popular,” because it is an organiza ' tion of and for the people, thoroughly in earnest in its work to crush out ex tortion, fraud, and unprincipled deal k ing, wherever it can be found. jTS a.« THE GEORGIA GRANGE. Diversity of Agricultural Pursuits. In giving attention to the subject presented —the diversity of agricultural pursuits —nothing should be expected beyond a plain and practical view of the present situation of the agricultu ral interest and facilities of the South, a comparison of its present labor system with that of a decade since, and a refer ence to what has been accomplished in other countries and sections by other peoples, whose labor has always been controlled and directed by hire. If it is shown that a new system of labor can be made profitable, under a new system of farming, and that the old routine can not be so successfully pur sued with the labor planters are now compelled to depend upon, a discussion must be productive of good. In what we are accustomed to refer to as the prosperous days of the South, the planter was independent of every thing except the seasons. He had lands, in the possession of which he was undisturbed, located in a climate adapted to the production of almost everything known to agriculture. In addition, he had unlimited control of the labor necessary to enable him to place in market that crop which he had been taught, and often realized, con trolled the mercantile operations of the world. In other words, he fancied “Cotton was King;” and being sit uated in a position that enabled him to monopolize the fleecy monarch, every energy, every resource, and all the climatic advantages enjoyed, were de voted to a single purpose —to raise cotton to the exclusion of almost every thing else. Whether this, under then existing circumstances, was or was not the wisest policy, need not now be dis cussed ; for the past, it is maintained, can furnish no safe precedent to di rect the present or future. We must adapt ourselves to new circumstances, and in agriculture, “ accept the new situation.” Formerly capital, skill, judgment, and well-directed and industrious labor were necessary to insure success. All these we have now as fully as ever, except the labor. Unfortunately the latter cannot now be controlled with the precision, and to the extent essen tial to attain the remunerating rewards once realized. We have the same fer tile soil, upon which the same sun shines and dews fall, that were wont to aid the workings of the husbandman, and he has the skill and personal ener gy he formerly had. But in labor he is deficient. It is estimated that through inefficiency and other causes, the labor of the country has been reduced one half. Yet we have the same quantity of tillable lands. Hence it is beginning to be generally acknowledged that a change of system must take place, and the planting interest must adopt some plan that will, with the labor that can be controlled, employ all the acreage that is tillable; and thus, while pre venting capital invested in lands from lying idle, at the same time enable the planter to extract from the bosom of mother earth, as rich returns as were heretofore enjoyed. The remedy proposed is a more diver sified system of agriculture, —the cultiva tion of all the crops to which the soil and climate of the South is adapted. It is not deemed necessary to refer to the general and long continued success that has attended this practice in other countries, and other sections of our own country. The facts are well-known, and admitted by all ob serving minds. What has been done elsewhere can be done here. To assert otherwise would be an insult to the intelligence of the country. It is as sumed, therefore, that upon reflection, and after the experience of the past few years, Southern planters will admit the necessity of a change in their agricul tural management. We respectfully urge that it shall be in the direction indicated. 1. By adopting a system that will embrace the cultivation of all the crops to which our soil and climate adapted, the whole of our lands can, most pro bably, be employed profitably with the labor now available. If, however, this should be found insufficient, the planter ! can, by the introduction of machinery and implements that would be entirely unsuitable in the cotton field, yet of practical benefit in growing the cereals and grasses, supply the deficiency of human muscle, and thereby compel his lands to contribute to his reward, to their utmost capacity. 2. The system proposed would enable the planter to give attention to a rota tion of crops. Herein, it is believed, ' the greatest benefits would accrue— benefits not only of present pecuniary reward, but of a continued and lasting character. It is admitted that our ex clusive system of husbandry, while it has resulted in heavy reti ras of dollars and cents, temporarily, has also cer tainly proven exhaustive of the soil. To this we may attribute the many thousand of acres of “ old fields ” that are to be seen. To this may be at tributed all failure to keep our lands up to their original standard, or to improve them. Our forests were cut down as fast as cultivated, lands began to fail in productiveness of the exclu sive crop, and the acres which had once yielded such rich returns in cotton cul ture, and might have been equally as profitably cultivated otherwise, have been, from year to year, “ thrown out.” This system of depletion has gone on to such an extent, that well-grounded fears of final and utter impoverishment were reasonably entertained by a few thinking men some years ago ; and, for tunately some of these, notwithstanding the adverse circumstances by which they were surrounded, chained their prac tice and resorted to what was then styled, in derision, “ variety farming'' They demonstrated the advantages of the course they adopted, by cultivating all their lands with less labor than before, by reclaiming lands that had been “thrown out,” and at the same time reaping as rich returns in the ag gregate, as did their neighbors. Refer ence need not be made to the results of diversified farming and rotation of crops in the Northern and Western States, w’here “old fields” are un known, for here in fertile and heaven favored Georgia, a few of her sons have given practical examples of what can be done upon her broad acres, in the way suggested. We refer to these practical examples with confidence, be cause they will prove more convincing than any argument that can be ad duced. 3. True political economy has ever maintained, that the material interests of any country or section are enhanced to a greater or less degree, according to the extent that the people succeed in becoming independent, or producing within themselves as many of the ne cessaries of life as possible. This has ever been the experience of nations, and observation will convince us it is the case with families. Self-reliance always succeeds; without it dependence .fol lows. The experience of the South, as the result of an almost exclusive expen diture of time, capital and energy, in a single direction, has been a bitter one of late years. We have seen the pro ceeds of our favorite product expended year after year for the common neces saries of life. The pickings of our cotton fields have been po ired into the graneries and smoke-houses of the North and West. The liquidation of mortgages given for supplies—for corn and bacon that could have been produced much cheaper at home— has, in too many instances, left the planter at the ■ end of a year of toil and anxiety, no better off than when he commenced. This is the his tory of many. If, on the other hand, the policy of diversified farming had been adopted—if the supplies that had been purchased at such high rates, and for which such enormous interests were paid, had been raised at home, and the expenditure avoided, how dif ferent would have been the result' If the planting interest had made the raising of supplies for home consump tion its primary object, and cotton culture secondary, who can estimate the difference in its favor ? It is claimed, then, that the difficul ties encountered are the result of a mis direction of our own capital and labor, j e have been controlled too much bv a single idea, actuated by a solitary ! purpose. A few, however, have acted otherwise, and while they have thus , assured their own prosperity, they I have, also, become public benefactors. ' They have taught us that our soil and ' climate will produce all that enters into ( the necessities of the human race, and many of the luxuries to which we are accustomed. They have demonstrated | that after our facilities to render our selves as independent as is necessary, I are emploved. we vet have a larse 1 .‘ ® i margin upon which the world can be made to contribute to our wealth. They have shown us that the produc tive powers of our soil and climate are not excelled, that our mineral resources are as rich and our water powers as valuable, as are the same features in any land. For this knowledge we are indebted to them,—and when we realize the extent of that indebtedness—when we profit by this experience and follow their example, then will our graneries be filled, our country become self-sus taining and independent, and our waste places be reclaimed. For this con summation every energy should be directed, and the wise and prudent will labor constantly and zealously, for this, with full confidence in a permanently beneficial result. In this connection we urgently re quest our readers, and every intelligent farmer in the South, to read and pon der the “ Essay on Diversified Farming,” in this number of The Grange. It is from the pen of one of the most suc cessful Georgia farmers; a gentleman as thoroughly at home in agricultural matters, as he is trenchant and inter esting with the pen. An earnest peru sal of this thoughtful and practical article will be time profitably spent, by all who desire to promote the best interests of our section. Power vs. Bight. The Grange organization is, in its principles, as old as the hills; it is simply an illustration of the old feud existing be tween Power and Right —the first rep resented by the vast money concerns, the financial princes, the privileged cor porations of the land, and the latter by the poorer middle classes of all coun tries, the husbandmen, the mechanics, the laborers, those, in fact, who obey the divine injunction, and earn their bread by the sweat of their brows—by honest toil. These classes must, in the nature of things, be opposed to each other, and the province of good govern ment is not to use one power for the destruction of the other, but to regu late the rights of each for the benefit of all, and to prevent Power from over riding Right, which it will always do unless restricted. The Georgia Grange. The following is from the Blackshear Geor gian, one of the ablest of our State exchanges: We have seen a few numbers of this elegant and instructive paper published at Atlanta, Ga. Not only each of the five hundred Granges would" find it of special advantage to subscribe for that excellent weekly and keep it on file, but members of Granges, by amply sustaining the paper, would secure a fund of regular useful information; not elsewhere ob tained to an equal extent. We have no antip athy to the circulation of The Grange within ' the bounds of our circulation, and not afraid to endorse and recommend its extensive circu lation. We envy not the temperament of the editor who regards the eulogy of another paper as a disparagement of his paper. The field is wide enough, and great the many who can read, and ought to take one or more papers. By cultivating a taste for reading, the number of readers will be increased. The country needs such a paper as The Georgia Grange, devoted to.agriculture, useful information, and the welfare of the Patrons of Husbandry. We wish The Georgia Grange every success. The Co-Operative Plan. The St. Louis Republican explains the co-operative plan of the Granges of the order of Patrons of Husbandry. They propose, through agents,to deal directly with wholesale merchants, and thereby save the percentage hitherto paid to the country storekeeper. In some lo calities, the Grangers have - their own stores, conducted by an agent, who is paid a salary to transact their business for them. But co-operative stores are not numerous at present. All business transactions through the medium of the officers of the Granges, must be for cash. The manner in which the Granges propose to buy their supplies of sugar, 1 coffee, tea, hardware, implements and machinerv, is to pav into the hands of the agent the money when they give the order for the goods. The agent takes the orders and the money, with ten per cent, added to the market quotations, to serve as a margin to cover fluctua tions in price, and once every month or every two months, as the circumstances of the case demand, he consolidates the orders on hand and goes into the mar ket to purchase by the package the goods to be divided among the con tributors. This plan does not contem plate the establishment of regular co operative supply stores, but simply the purchase of supplies necessary for the communitv when needed. ■ . . Several large planters in Spalding county, according to the Griffin Star, have had their stock levied on, cribs nailed up, and cotton seized by the Sheriff for debts due their factors. What an eloquent commentary is this upon the foolish, suicidal credit system which our farmers have allowed themselves to suffer from, for so longa time ■ Cannot they lean on their own stout arm and a free crop, instead of liening their crops and their very existence upon ' speculative money lenders and Shylock • middlemen r The Patron’s Retrospect. As members of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry let us briefly review the ac complishments of the old year, and the aims and hopes of the new. Writers of heathen mythology were wont to sing peans to an imaginary Jupiter, because springing full-armed from Minerva’s creative brain. While recognizing not the orthodoxy of the obligation to chant praises at all to earthly gods, yet are we not unwilling to confess to hearty admir ation at the Jupiter-like growth of our Order in our grand old Commonwealth. Born, not of high estate nor with pride of pageantry, but of humiliating neces sity, this child of a solitary summer has waxed strong with manhood’s strength. The dawn of the old year broke unher alded upon his halls with no glad echo to footfalls of life and promise. Quietly, but resolutely, did a few stout hearts lend sympathy and support. To-day marshalled hosts surround this young champion of the rights and duties and interests of the agricultural world. But has full fruition attended the advent — have the anticipations of supporters been realized ? Candor compels a negative response I What are the obstacles ? Why partial disappointment; and what the remedies ? May we not ask, has it not been from want of proper conception of aims and principles ? Did you not, Fel low-Patrons, enter the ranks with “ fears within and foes without ?” You were contemptuously asked by those preju diced and uninformed of the beneficient purposes of our Order, “ What can illit erate farmers do for themselves ?” “ What can paupers effect in defiance of intelligence and organized capital ?” Did you not take counsel of your fears and become doubting Thomases, and thus counteracting just that measure of con fidence and support which was due the Order? Were not a few of us lured to affiliation by hopes of instant and boun tiful wealth? That Utopian dream has not been realized—hence disappointment and consequent lukewarmness! But has the order failed —will it fail ? Has hope lost anchor to a happy and fruit ful future ? We emphatically answer, never, never, never, if we be true to manhood and our common altar ! What had the Order to contend with—what material to organize and discipline? Why that class of our fellow-citizens, which looked to none other than the great God above fur guidance, and to the “ early and latter rain” for increase, yielding to no earthly director, their own brain their only chart—planting and planning in consonance with their own whims in beaten ruts, and the supposed demands of their own hearthstones— “ Lords of all they survey” it should not be expected that they become, in an hour, schooled to mutual and systematic effort and harmony. Unrelenting war impoverished and de moralized us, and tore down the fair fabric of good-will and confidence be tween man and man. The Grange, the faithful custodian of her melancholly ruins, comes in the hour of our need, woos to active embrace of these divinely appointed p inciples, and entreats our aid in again erecting this honored tem ple. Then let us practice and cherish her cardinal tenets, and mutual confi dence between brother and brother will be restored, willing discipline, rendered, and thorough and harmonious organiza tion of true and tried men be secured. Then will the fruits of fraternal co operation in every material and social aim lie known and felt. Then, with due diligence under the Divine favor, may you confidently expect golden harvests of plenty and peace. That Golden Pen. Gentle reader, was your kind heart made glad at the reception of a Christ mas souvenir ? We sincerely hope so. But if not, then you don’t know how good we felt when that wee bit of an express package was brought into our sanctum, and was found to contain an elegant gold pen ! Well, wait; that is not all. We have often tried to find gold pens, with which this club fist of our’s could write, but they were always a little too long, or too short, or too stiff, or too limber, or too —cost too much or too something else, and we didn’t! But this pen —this golden pen—is per fection ! Nobody except that big-1 hearted friend, Bright Lundy, of Bibb, could have thought of such an appro- j . priate and appreciated gift. Thank I you, Bright ; and may you live a thou sand years, if you want to, and pens, * legions of pens—golden pens—do trib- j ute to your clever memory. |, Sulphate of lime is said to be a fine 1 agent for resisting the spread of decay ' 1 in potatoes affected with potato disease. ' c Interesting Announcement. A SERIAL STORY FOR THE GEORGIA GRANGE. » We take great pleasure in announcing < to our readers, that the Grange Pub lishing Company is engaged in negotia ting with an accomplished an gifted lady of Georgia, ‘.for the purchase of the manuscript of an interesting story, to be published as a serial in The Georgia Grange. The authoress is a member of one of the subordinate Granges, and her work is dedicated to the Patrons of Husbandry in the United States. This will be an additionally attractive feature of The Grange, and we earn estly urge Patrons and clubs to forward names of subscribers without delay, in order that all may receive the initial chapters of this work of genius by a lady Patron of Georgia. The Partisan Press. Neither the sneers, gibes, or direct insults of the political party press can make the people swerve from the plain path of duty, which the organiza tion known as Patrons of Husbandry, have pointed out to them. The duty of self-preservation is permanent, and the will-o’-the wisp lights, which the ? paid organs of faction are using in order to mislead the people, and cause them to enter the quagmires and moras ses of partisan politics, will fail to ac complish their nefarious work. The intentions and purposes of this farmers’ organization, have nothing at > all to do with the individual political ? opinion or bias of any one of its mem bers ; it is simply a self-sustaining ef fort to overcome the oppression and , selfishness of monopolies—a determin ation of the producing classes to break , down “ rings,” and the moneyed auto ( cracy, which ignores the rights of others. The Georgia Grange and the Monroe Advertiser. The Monroe Advertiser, of the 6th . inst. has the kindness to embody in its editorial column the address of E. Tay lor, Secretary of the State Grange, to ( the Patrons of Husbandry, in behalf of The Georgia Grange. We would have been better able to > appreciate the gratuitous advertise ment of the address were it not for the , rather uncharitable, and certainly un ( necessary, remarks which the writer in the Advertiser has seen fit to append. As it is, he has perverted the article from its legitimate intention, and changed a harmless compliment to a deceptive “Trojan Horse,” full of sinis ter insinuation, and covert malice. The writer says: “We present it (the address) to our readers that they may judge for themselves the propri ety of such a journal being conducted and owned by one of the leading officers of the State Grange and other prominent members. We call attention to the pertinent fact that the address is written by an officer who has con trol of all the patronage of that body so far as relates to advertisements. We offer no com ments at present, but desire to await the “de velopment of events.” We doubt whether any sensible man would so far ignore common sense, as to consider the honest management of any legitimate public enterprise an “impropriety;” why, then, should it become an impropriety because well known gentlemen of the State Grange are the promoters and conductors of one ? Had the writer appealed to the common sense of his readers before printing his absurdity, he would have spared himself the humiliation of being known as the author of published non sense. The other “pertinent fact” to which he calls attention is a fact, but not in the perverted sense he attempts to in sinuate. The announcement made in the initial number of The Grange,and publicly reiterated before the Commit tee, and in the State Grange Conven tion, that the publication of official matter, or of any advertisement what ever in the interest of the State Grange, or of the subordinate Granges, would be published free, thus saving to the treasury of our Order the usual heavy expenses for advertisements, is the best reply we can make. However, it is to be deplored that a spirit of vindictive, ness, very likely based upon personal disappointment, should force any one to the use of unjust insinuation, re gardless fc of the truth of facts. His naive statement, that “no comments would be offered at the present time,” is not to be regretted, because unpre- ( judiced persons will not require further < I commentary from such a source. We i! trust that “the development of events” will have a salutary effect upon our brother of the Advertiser, and induce Jrj him to retract his ineffectual, unjust and uncharitable, assault. ,3?