Newspaper Page Text
Our Farming Interests.
The following is a synopsis of the
very able and interesting address de
livered by Colonel Thomas Hardeman,
during the Agricultural Convention at
Columbus:
He commenced by alluding to the
late financial storm, which Georgia had
stood better than many other States.
She ought now to recuperate rapidly.
He does not belong to the gloomy class.
Georgia has neither been dead nor sleep
ing in the past few years, though the
first years after the war she was op
pressed by bad laws and worse leg
islation.
He would not compare our present
with ante bellum years, when plenty
ruled over the land, because it would
be unfair. He would take periods since
the war and show that the State had
steadily advanced in wealth.
In 1866 we had unfriendly legislation,
but still some progress was made. In
1868 the lands in the State was valued
at §79,000,000, or §2 per acre; in 1873,
§101,000,000, thus showing an increase
in five years of §22,000,000.
City and town property showed an
increase during the same time of §lB,-
000,000 ; merchandise, §5,000,000 ; live
stock, §13,000,000 ; household and
kitchen property, nearly §400,000.
Plantation property showed nominally
a decrease, but this was an error, owing
to the fact that in years past articles
were included which are now entered
under other heads. In sheep, the State
showed a reduction, but he hoped this
would be remedied.
The State yielded twelve bushels of
corn per acre, and on this basis he
demonstrated that the increase in six
years had been four million bushels.
The consummation devoutly to be
wished is for returns to show a loss in
cotton and a gain in cereals. The last
three years show 100,000 to 300,000
more bales of cotton produced than be
fore the war. The State this season
will show a production of 600,000 bales,
against the same last year.
He proved conclusively, from actual
returns, that large crops of cotton and
small grain crops did not yield as
much money as small cotton crops and
large grain crops.
Some of our manufactories were
burned during the war; yet the State
now has twenty-six cotton and woolen
factories against twenty in 1860. The
State has now fourteen iron factories.
The State now shows a total valua
tion, after deducting the exemptions,
of §259,000,000 against §191,000,000 in
1868 ; showing in six years an increase
of wealth of §68,000,000 —of which
§22,000,000 were in land and §2,000,-
000 in stocks.
It is objected that though the State
has thus gained in wealth, planters
have not. Why ? There were rail
road monopolists and capital extor
tionists before the war. They cannot
be the causes. Before the war, farm
ers had their smokehouses and corn
cribs in Georgia ; now they have them
in the North and West. They have
planted so much cotton as to reduce
its price and leave no margin, and by
having no rotation of crops, have de
teriorated the fertility of the land.
He showed from returns that Atlanta
alone had received §20,000,000 of West
ern produce for distribution in Geor
gia. That received at Columbus, (does
not go by Atlanta,) Savannah and
other points will swell this amount to
§30,000,000 or §40,000,000, all of which
could be saved by raising supplies at
home.
To abolish liens, planters must raise
supplies and then cotton, and thus they
will be independent of factors. Let the
prodigal return to his father’s house.
He advised planters to farm for
themselves. Georgia has largely in
creased her wealth, as figures have
shown, and closed with an eloquent
appeal to all to stand by their noble
State and retore her reign of wealth and
prosperity.
We are much gratified to be able to
state that the management of the Di.
rect Trade Union has already received
offers from Missouri to ship cotton,
through their agency from that State,
as soon as the company is thoroughly
organized.
Under the new regime oi Colonel
Sage, and the other officers, tl e At
j lanta and Richmond Air-Line Rail
i way is achieving a greater prosperity
i than ever before. It is a magnificent
road, excellently managed, and the
present administration desrves unqual
r fiedpra's'.
-
GEORGIA
Grange Manifesto.
The National Convention of Patrons of Hus
bandry, recently in session in St. Louis, unan -
mously adopted the following address to the
people of the United States:
‘‘Profoundly impressed with the truth that the
National Grange of the United States should
definitely proclaim to the world its general ob
jects, we hereby unanimously make this declara
tion of the purposes of the Patrons of Husban
dry :
“First—United by the strong and faithful tie
of agriculture, we mentally resolve to labor for
the good of our order, our country and mankind.
“Second—We heartily indorse the motto, ‘in
essentials, uuity; in non-essentials, liberty; in
all things, charity.’
“Third—We shall endeavor to advance our
cause by laboring to accomplish the following
objects:
“A developed and higher manhood and woman
hood among ourselves.
“To advance the comforts and attractions of
our homes, and to strengthen our attachments to
our pursuits.
“To foster mutual understanding and co-oper
ation.
“To maintain inviolable our laws, and to stim
ulate each other to labor to hasten the good time
coming.
“To reduce our expenses, both individual and
corporate ; to buy less and produce more, in or
der to make our farms self-sustaining.
“To diversify our crops and crop no more than
we can cultivate.
“To condense the weight of our exports, selling
less in the bushel and more on the hoof and in
fleece.
“To systematize our work, and calculate intel
ligently on improbabilities.
“To discontinuance of the credit system, the
mortgage system, and every other system tend
ing to prodigality and bankruptcy.
“We propose meeting together, talking to
gether, working together, buying together, sell
ing together, and in general acting together for
our mutual protection and advancement, as oc
casion may require.
“We shall earnestly endeavor to suppress per
sonal, local, sectional and national prejudices,
all unhealthy rivalry and all selfish ambition.
“Faithful adherence to these principles will
insure our mental, moral, social and material ad
vancement.
“Fourth—For our business interests we de
sire to bring producers and consumers, farmers
and manufacturers, into the most direct and
friendly relations possible. Hence we must dis
pense with a surplus of middlemen, not that
we are unfriendly to them, but do not need them.
Their surplus and their exertions diminish our
profits.
“We wage no aggressive warfare against any
other interests whatever. On the contrary all our
acts and all our efforts, so far as business is con
cerned, are not only for the benefit of producers
and consumers, but also for all other interests
that tend to bring these two parties into speedy
and economical contact.
“Hence we hold that transportation companies
of every kind are necessary to our success, and
that their interests are intimately connected with
our interests; and harmonious action is mutual
ly advantageous.
“Keeping in view the first sentence in our de
claration of principles of action, that individual
happiness depends upon the general prosperity,
we shall therefore advocate for every State the
increase in every practicable way of all facilities
for transporting cheaply to the seaboard, or be
tween home producers and consumers, all the
productions of our country.
“We adopt it as our fixed purpose to open out
the channels in nature’s great arteries, that
the life-blood of commerce may flow freely. We
are not the enemies of railroads, nor of naviga
ble or irrigating canals, nor of any corporation
that will advance our industrial interests, nor of
any of the laboring classes.”
“In our noble Order there is no communism,
no aggrarianism.
“We are opposed to such spirit and manage
ment of any corporation or enterprise as tends
to oppress the people, and rob them of their
just profits.
“We are not enemies to capital, but we oppose
the tyranny of monopolies. We long to see the
antagonism between capital and labor removed
by common consent and by an enlightened states
manship worthy of the ninteenth century.
“We are opposed to excessive salaries, to high
rates of interest, and exorbitant per cent, profits
in trade. They greatly increase our burdens,
and dr> not bear a proper proportion to the pro
fits of the producers. We desire only self pro
tection and the protection of every true interest
of our land, by legitimate transactions, legitimate
trade, and legitimate profits.
“We shall advance the cause of education
among ourselves for our children by all just
means within our power. We especiallv advocate
for our agricultural and industrial colleges that
practical agriculture, domestic science, and all
the other arts which adorn the home, be taught
in their course of study.
“Fifth—We emphatically and sincerely assert
the oft-repeated truth taught in our organic law,
that the Grange, national, State or subordinate,
is not a political or party organization. No
Grange, if true to its obligation, can discuss po
litical or religious questions, nor call political
conventions, nor nominate candidates, or even
discuss their merits in its meetings. Yet the
principles we teach underlie all true politics, all
true statesmanship, and, if properly carried out,
will tend to purify the whole political atmosphere
of our country ; for we seek the greatest good to
the greatest number.
“But we must always bear it in mind that no
one. by becoming a Grange member, gives up
that right and duty which belongs to every Amer
ican citizen, to take a proper interest in the poli
tics of his country. On the contrary, it is a right
for every one to take an interest in the politics
of his country. On the contrary, it is a right for
every member to do all in his power legitimately
to influence for good the action of any political
party to which he belongs. It is his duty to do
all he can in his own party to put down bribery,
corruption and trickery ; to see that none but
competent, faithful and honest men, who will
unflinchingly stand by our industrial interests,
are nominated for all positions of trust; and to
have carried out the principles which should al
ways characterize every Grange member, that
the oftice should seek the man, and not the man
the oftice.
"We acknowledge the broad principle that
difference of opinion is no crime, and hold that
progress toward truth is made by differences of
opinion, wlule the fault lies in bitterness of con
troversy. We desire a proper equality, equity,
and fairness ; protection for the weak, restraint
upon the strong; in short, justly distributed
burdens, and justly distributed power. These
are American ideas, the very essence of Ameri
can independence ; and to advocate the contrary
is unworthy of the sons and daughters of an
American republic.
“We cherish the l>elief that sectionalism is and
of right should be dead and buried with the
past. Our work is for the present and the fu
ture.
"In our agricultural brotherhood and in its
purposes we shall recognize no North, no South,
no East, no West. It is reserved by every pa
tron, as the rigtit of a freeman, to affiliate with
any party that will best carry out his principles.
“Sixth—Ours being peculiarly a farmers’ in
stitution. we cannot admit all to our ranks.
Many are excluded by the nature of our organi
zation. not because they are professional men.
or artisans, or laborers, but because they have
not a sufficient direct interest in tilling or pas
turing the soil, or may have some interest in
conflict with our purposes. But we appeal to all
good citizens for their cordial co-operation to
assist in our efforts toward reform, that we may
eventually remove from our midst the last ves
tige of tyranny and corruption. We hail the
general desire for fraternal harmony, equitable
compromise and earnest co-operation as an omen
of our future success.
“Seventh—lt shall be an abiding principle with
us to relieve any of our oppressed and suffer.ng
brotherhood, by anv means at our command.
“Last, but not least, we proclaim it among
our purposes to inculcate a proper appreciation
of the anilities and sphere of woman, as is indi
cated by admitting her to membership and posi
' tion in our Order. Imploring the continued
I assistance of our Divine Master to guide us in
I our work, we here pledge ourselves to faithful
and harmonious labor for all future time, to re
turn by our united efforts to the wisdom, justice,
fraternity, and political purity of our forefathers.
Rotation of Crops.
'»
THE REMEDY FOR WORN OUT LANDS AND
THE MEANS OF PRESERVING CON
TINUED FERTILITY.
The following is from the pen of Dr. J.
Stanley Beckwith, that gifted Virginian who
drank in inspiration from that master of the
science agriculturalist, Hon. Edmund Ruffin.
It will richly repay the careful perusal of
every farmer, who earnestly desires to make
“two blades of grass grow where but one grew
before.”
We have been promised a series of articles
from this able pen.
The most remarkable feature in the land
scape which would attract the attention of the
traveler through the State of Georgia (and
Georgia is in this respect a type of most of the
Southern States) is the vast area of waste and
unproductive lands—lands once rich* and
capable of large return to the farmer; but now,
poor, worn-out and literally worthless, and
lost to all remunerative production; and we
are told that these are the lands which have
been cultivated and by culture worn out. What
a contradiction of terms! To cultivate is to im
prove, to foster, to moliorate; and culture also
conveys the idea of improvement, of mak
ing better; certainly not of wasting, destroying
and desolating. Still the term is used, and we
all are now in the habit of speakii.g of our
cultivated lands—when, in truth, by following
the rules oi culture as commonly accepted and
acted on, the expected and necessary result of
the process is ultimately to exhaust and render
waste.
Now, the question which should deeply
interest the owners or cultivators of these lands
is, is this the natural and necessary result of tilling
the soil and reaping its fruits, or has there been,
and is there still, some great misapprehension
of the laws of nature — some great and vital error
or mistake in the cultivation of these once val
uable and productive lands—which so rapidly
and surely tend to their exhaustion and waste?
It is this question we desire now to discuss, and
to try and point out the remedy which nature
herself indicates for the removal of the evil
and the regeneration of these old and worthless
lands, and the preservation of those not already
rendered unproductive, except by the use of
stimulating manures, too costly to be otherwise,
than uncertain as to the profit to lie derived
and, to say the least of it, very doubtful as to
whether the ultimate result of their use may
not be forcibly to extract every thing and leave
the soil irredeemably worthless. And here
science comes to our aid. The chemist tells
us that cotton, corn, wheat, tobacco, etc. re
quire for their nourishment certain mineral
substances, and upon analyzing the soil they
point out the amount of these necessary ingredi
ents possessed by our virgin soil, and the loss
of these particulars which follow the continous
cultivation, year after year, of one particular
crop. He will also show us that the residue
of one kind of crop prepares the land for
another differing in its character; in a word that
rotation is not only the law of nature but also the
law of improvement. That it is the law of na
ture, facts constantly before us abundantly prove.
Cut down a growth of pine and the oak springs
up ; cut down some oak and some other tree
takes its place; destroy one class of annual
weeds and another distinct variety takes its
place. That rotation is also the law of improve
ment as well as that of nature, has been amply
and satisfactorily shown by the result of judi
cious systems of totation as practised in England
—and all other thickly settled and highly pro
ductive countries —and wherever a systematic
and well arranged order of rotation of crops
has been practised in this country, the results
have been most satisfactory, and if connected
with deep plowing and return crops, such as clo
ver, peas, or any other of the leguminous or
pea-bearing plants, (all of which feed very
largely upon the atmosphere,) the result in a
few years has been a return of manyfold the
amount received before this system was intro
duced. Again, it is as well known that what
is called the hoe crops, that is, these that require
constant turning and stirring of the soil, are
particularly exhausting, from the necessary
exposure to the action of the parching rays of
the sun, and the wasting consequence of the
soil being kept loose and disintegrated
While the fallow crops, if we may use the
expression—for by it we mean such crops as
shade the land during their growth and at a
proper state of maturity are plowed in to supply
vegetable matter, which by its process of de
cay, decomposes the soil, so as to render it
capable of supplying the exhausting effects of
previous crops-while we say the fallow crops
naturally tends to improve the land, and enable
it to retain its vigor and productiveness, it is
not a necessity that these improving crops
should not be also remunerative. The clover,
in sections of the country where it may be
grown, (and Central and Northern Georgia
are admirably adapted both by soil and cli
mate for this plant), gives a large hay crop
of the sfinest quality, and secures pasture land
that will sustain improved stock of any kind
And in those sections where that plant will
not grow the pea, in its varieties (the easiest of
culture of all productive lands), will not only
supply good nourishing foot!, but return to the
land enormous quantities of vegetable matter,
a large portion of which has been derived from
the atmosphere. Now, if in connection with
these recuperating crops we give the lands an
occasional application of lime, especially the
sulphate of lime, commonly known as plaster
of paris or gypsum, or potash as found in ashes,
leached or unleached, to aid in the chemical
preparation of food for the coming cotton crop,
then may we in a few years find ourselves com
paratively independent of those expensive and
exhausting stimulating manures in the various
forms of guano and the like, and the farmer reap
the legitimate results of his labor with satisfac
tion and increasing wealth, and transmit to his
children the heritage of rich and productive
lands, year by year becoming more and more
valuable, and a farm yard teeming with well
fed and sleek stock and cattle, while the area of
land in cultivation necessary to fill his crib with
corn and his pocket with the sale ofhis numer
ous cotton bales will be so comparatively small
that the number of laborers rquired to cultivate
it will be reduced to the present moderate
supply.
But it may lx* said, this looks very well on
paper; how will it be in practice? A per
tinent question we acknowledge, but we unhe
sitatingly answer, it has tven fully tested in
this country and most successfully. In the State
of Maryland and tide-water Virginia, the re
sults ot rotation of crops, marling, deep plowing,
and a system’ot thorough draining, has produced
results tar beyond the sanguine hopes of those
who first practiced and recommended them. To
that enlightened farmer and practical man, Ed.
Ruffin of Virginia, belongs a large amount of
the credit for introducing this system in his na
tive State, and his own farm. “Coggin's Point,”
on James river, upto the war, was a monument
to the success of his labors. The arable por
tion of that farm, when it came into his hands,
was waste and worn out land—easily plowed
by one Dr*’ plow—and yielding the annual
crop of some .500 or 600 bushels of wheat, and
han.L v corn enough to feet! the hands and stock
—and yet. years before the war. tt required
from three to four strong horses or mules to
turn the deep rich soil—and from 6,000 to
8,000 bushels of wheat was no uncommon yield
of the same area of land; besides the
crops of corn and oats far above the necessary
consumption of man and beast. His neighbors
gradually followed his example, and with like
results, (they used Itttle or no guano in those
days,)and the result was lands in Prince George
county, Va., once too poor to command any
price, with owners emigrating West and South
—soon became so valuable that few owners
were willing to part with them at any rea
sonable price. Emigration was stopped, and
farms well sub-divided, and it is on record
that one sloop would annually drop her anchor
in “Paw Bay,” and take the accumulating
crops of all farms within reach; whereas it is
a fact that more than one sturdy brig could
not carry away the products of one farm after
this improvedsystem of cultivation was adopted.
These are facts, and can be fully substantiated,
and these are the natural and legitimate results
ofa true and healthful cultivation of the soil,
and can be proved to be pratical facts in
Georgia, as well as in Virginia-—if our farmers
will consent to cultivate and improve their lands,
by observing the laws of nature, and availing
themselves of the teachings of science (which
is but nature’s handmaid.)
The system of rotation with Mr. Ruffin
was what was called the five field system, that
is, the arable land on the farm was divided in
to five fields of equal size, and the rotation
was as follows: First year, corn ; second, wheat;
third, clover; fourth, wheat, and fifth, clover,
so that there would be the same year two fields
of wheat—the money crop —one of corn, the
feeding crop, and two of clover, the improving
crop. Beside this, the year of the hoe or corn
crop, at the time of the last working, or as it
was ealled the laying by — peas were sown
broadcast, which took possession of the land —
and upon the removing of the corn crop, a
heavy cover of peavines were ready to be plowed
under to nourish the coming wheat crop. Some
other system of rotation might be better adap
ted to the climate and peculiar production of
Georgia, which could be determined by her
judicious farmers —always bearing in mind,
the necessity vs returning to the land more than is
taken from it, in the form of decomposable
vegetable matter —with the refuse of the ani
mals fed on the farm, and such alkaline
mineral substances as would aid in fixing the
ammonia eliminated by these aaiimal and ve
getable manures. A certain amount of guano
or other amoniacal phosphate-bearing manures
applied to the cotton crop would not only in
crease the productiveness of the crop, but supply
the coming pea or clover crop with sufficient
nourishment to insure a large growth, and
these would return to the land a large amount
os nutricious matter —besides giving the shade
and rest from over culture, which would either
ensure another cotton crop, or a large yield of
corn, so that on the same land the guano would
be used only once in three years, with the re
sult of a large increased yield of cotton, and
at the same time avoid the present disastrous
results of waste and exhaution to the land by re
turning more nutricious matter than was removed.
The consequence would be a steady increase
of productive power in the land. In a word
be cultivated and improved—while it fully com
pensated the laborer for his exertions —and all
this by observing nature’s laws—to rebel
against which as certainly brings its penalty
as the rebellion against God’s moral laws ne
cessarily entails a just retribution.
We sum up as the remedy for the evil we
commenced by pointing out as so wide spread—
rotation of crops, deep plowing, judicious
draining, and a return to the land equal to the
waste.
Q7
For the Georgia Grange.]
Premium Experiment on Corn.
E. C. Grieb, Superintendent of Field Crops,
Georgia State Agricultural Society. Macon.
Georgia :
Having entered one acre of upland
corn, as the best acre on exhibition at
your Fair, I hand you annexed the re
quired certificates as to measurement
of the land, and the amount of corn
produced on said acre of land.
I now proceed to give the manner
and mode of cultivation and manuring,
as required:
MODE OF CULTURE.
The land had been planted alter
nately the two preceding years in cot
ton and corn, and this year, 1873, put
in corn again.
In January, 1873, I broke up the
ground with a Watt plow (one horse)
and laid off rows fifty-two inches wide,
running up and down in the same fur
row, with the same plow used in break
ing the land. I then put thirty-five
bushels green cotton seed to the acre
in opened rows, and bedded on it. The
second week in February, I ran off a
furrow with a small plow, ten inches on
each side of the furrow containing the
cotton seed. This made double rows,
twenty inches apart, and left thirty-two
inches in the corn middles. The com
was dropped twenty inches by measure,
making the corn to stand twenty inches
by twenty inches. I covered it with a
board. It came up well. The middle
of March it was plowed with a small
scooter, between the narrow rows, with
three furrows, and then ploughedout the
middle solidly with the same plow. The
corn was cut down three times by the frost,
jn March and April. The third week in
April I ran a furrow nine inches on each
side of the Corn, with a large scooter
plow, and put in these furrows twentv
five bushels cotton seed, that were
killed quickly with hot water; then
plowed out the middles with a sweep,
with a turning wing, completely cover
ing up the cotton seed. It was worked
alternately with the plow and hoe.
The last week in May a sudden rain
and wind storm fell upon it, which
blew it down, and tangled it so badly
that it could not be worked again, with
the plow, without ruining the corn. I
gave it two workings with the hoe, the
last working, the third work in June c
and thus laid it by, having given it du
ring the season two plowings and four
hoeings. The corn was gathered the
third week in September, and the
yield was 119 bushels and 03-56 pounds
by weight, and the best and heav
iest corn I have ever made, and
of the variety known with us as the
White Flint, impervious to weevil,
and has taken at other fairs the
premium as tho heaviest and best
bread corn exhibited. A sample is ex
hibited at your fair as the best bread
corn on exhibition. My idea of the
best corn is quality and weight com
bined — the fodder weighed.
R. H. Hardaway.
State of Georgia— Thomas County.
I, Robert Hardaway, do solemnly swear that I
raised a crop of corn the past season on the
land measured by Wm. J. Young, and the quan
tity of coin raised thereon was one hundred and
nineteen 03-56 bushels by actual weight, and no
more, and that the above and annexed statement
in regard to the manner of cultivation, etc., and
the schedule of expenses is correct, to the best
of my knowledge. R. H. Hardaway.
Sworn to and subscribed before me this Octo
ber 18,1873. J. R. Habdaway, N. P. T. C.
VALUE AND EXPENSES OF ONE ACBE OF COBN.
119 bushels @ 90 cents $lO7 10
466 pounds fodder, @ 1 25 5 82
To sixty bushels cotton seed ma-
nure @ 15 cents $9 00
Paid plowing and putting in ma-
nure ..... 5 75
Paid planting com and covering.. 3 25
Paid two plowings, two and a half
days 6 25
Paid four hoeings, four days 4 00
Paid pulling fodder 2 00
Paid gathering corn 3 00
Hauling to house 2 50 s3g ?g
Net profit $77 17
R. H. Habdaway.
Thomasville, Thomas county, Ga.
State of Geobgia— Thomas County.
I, Wm. J. Young, do solemnly swear that I
have accurately measured the land upon which
R. H. Hardaway raised a crop of com the past
season, and the quantity is one acre and no
more. W. J. Young.
Subscribed before me this 15th day of Octo
ber. 1873. J. R. Habdaway, N. P- T. C.
For the Georgia Grange.]
The Cultivation or Rice.
The object of the farmers’ Granges
being mutual benefit and improvement,
by exchanging and comparing each
others experiences, and the result of
experiments in new products, let every
farmer who has any flat, damp land,
try the experiment of a small patch of
ice, which, besides the value of its
grain for human food, is one of the best
forage crops for stock —either green or
dry —that can be grown. Sown in drills,
so as to keep weeds and grass down
with plow or cultivator, until it gets a
good start, it can be cut as soon as
the heads are well out. By removing
it to a place to dry, and with a plow
throw a little earth over the stubble, it
will sprout and grow another crop equal
to the first, and perhaps a third crop,
if the season is favorable. The writer
has seen a very simple and cheap family
rice mill, recently invented by Mr. G.
H. Peabody, formerly of Columbus,
Georgia, which grinds off the hull with
out breaking the kernel. When this
mill is introduced, every farmer will
grow rice, at least sufficient for his own
family use. R.
For the Georgia Grange.]
The Negro Exodug.
Colap abchee, Ga., March 2, 1784.
Messrs. Editors— Ought we to rejoice
at the em igration of the negro ? That
there have been too many in Georgia,
no one will deny; that too many will
leave, is probable. In my opinion, five
years from to-day, it will be a treat for
us farmers to hear the familiar “Roud
up, shove it up, round up de earn,” or
the midnight “Glory be to Jesus” of
this restless, vanishing race.
They are westward bound, and still
westward, until the relentless wave of
civilization sweeps them from existence,
and consigns them to oblivion, unless
we do something to stop the tide.
Many say let them go, we will be hap
pier, have better society, etc. I admit
that the negro adds nothing to our
society, but I don’t relish the idea of
being forced so suddenly to take the
the plow. I don’t hesitate to “boss”
I and hoe every ninth or tenth row, but
I when every row is mine, and I think
1 about the meridian sun of July, my
pulse don’t beat naturally. I like to
get in the shade about 11 o’clock and
munch a melon, or nap a little, but if
Cuffie leaves I will have to plow or be
gored with the wails of my calico-dress
wanting wife and the whine of my
candy-loving babes. These thoughts—
and then I will have to feed the devilish
cows—worry me. There are some
warehouse acceptances to settle, too.
But I’ll leave off; too many harrowing
thoughts crowd my brain, and force
me into the conviction that we ought
to act —to colonize the darkie, or follow
him. If too manv leave this fall, lam
going with them. I can’t hoe every
row, there is no use talking.
Jumbo.
P. S. —What are lady Patrons doing
with sister Smith’s calico dress resolu
tion ? Every Grange ought to adopt
and carry it out. Nearly all farmers
are “tight up,” and nothing becomes
country girls, God bless them, more
than nice calico dresses with but little
trimming. I want the he Patrons to
wear copperas pants, cut with flaps in
front, like my father used to wear when
be had a pocket full of money—and
those pockets were huge—until we are
out of debt. I want us all to experience
that one more time, and I will raise a
shout that shall shake Mount Olympus.
If the Grange can cause the farmer to
rid himself of debt by paying them,
and not by squatting behind the home
stead, it will have accomplished enough,
and will bottle the sympathy of Heaven
from the kite-string of merit.
Contest for Premium for Best Acre of
Upland Corn.
Affidavit of measurement of land :
State of Geobgia— Monroe County.
I, R. G. Anderson, do solemnly swear that
I have accurately measured the land upon
which Dr. Jas. S. Lawton raised a crop of corn
the past season, and the quantity of land is
one acre and no more. R. G. Anderson.
Subscribed before me, this 27th Oct., 1873.
T. W. King, J. P.
State of Geobgia— Monroe County.
I, Jas. S. Lawton, do solemnly swear that I
raised a crop of corn on the land measured by
Mr. R. G. Anderson, and the quantity of corn
raised thereon was forty-seven (47) bushels,
one (1) peck, four (4) quarts and one and
three-sevenths (1 3-7) pints of corn and no
more, actually measured, and that the follow
ing statement in regard to the manner of cul
tivation, etc., and the schedule of expenses is
correct to the best of my knowledge.
James S. Lawton.
Sworn before me, this 28th day of Oct., 1873-
W. Schley,
Judge Superior Court, Eastern Circuit.
Statement of manner of cultivation, etc.
The soil is of a light red kind, and has
been in cultivation thirty-five (35)
years, more or less; is smooth land
nearly level, clear of stumps and rocks.
This land was prepared as follows :
The rows were laid off four (4) feet
apart with a long shovel plow, followed
in the same furrow with a long scooter
plow, bedded out with a turning shovel,
(with one horse,) each furrow subsoiled
with a long scooter. After bedding,
one furrow was run in the water fur
row with shovel plow and then the ma
nure was put in (strewn) the furrow.
Quantity of manure used. — Fifteen
hundred (1500) pounds of compost —
composed of Phoenix Phosphate and
cotton seed and stable manure; twenty
five per cent of the phosphate and
thirty-seven and a half per cent., each,
of cotton seed and stable manure. This
was covered with two furrows by large
diamond pointed scooters about ten
days before planting. When ready to
plant, the furrow was opened with a
shovel plow, and the corn was dropped
two (2) grains to the hill—the hills
about eighteen inches apart—on the
26th of March, 1873. Gourd seed
corn was used. When the corn had
four blades it was plowed with subsoil
plow, (first two furrows) and finished
out with scooter plow. The corn was
hoed one time, shortly after the plow
ing. About twelve or fifteen days af
terwards, the corn was plowed a second
time with a shovel plow. In June it
was plowed the third and last time with
a sweep. During the second plowing
five hundred (500) pounds more of the
same compost was applied in the side
furrows. There was a drought of two
weeks or more about the middle of
June, that affected the corn very seri
ously. Some of the corn was destroyed
by hogs, having been blown down by
wind, thus decreasing the yield.
Statement of expenses, etc. — Bedding
up land, §4; planting corn, 50 cents ;
plowing first time, §2; hoeing, 30 cents;
plowing second time, §2; putting in
manure second time, 25. cents ; plowing
with sweep, 75 cents; five hundred
pounds Phoenix Phosphate ; seven
hundred and fifty pounds cotton seed,
§3.75; seven hundred and fifty pounds
stable manure, §I.BO.
In the last issue ofjjTnE Grange it
was stated that those who desired to
become subscribers to the Direct Trade
Union could send their subscriptions
to either Captain E. T. Paine or Dr. J.
S. Lawton. We are requested to state
that subscriptions are to be sent to
General A. H. Colquitt, Treasurer,
Atlanta, Georgia.
We direct attention to the advertise
ments of Colonel Fulton and of Messrs.
Reese & Dawson. These gentlemen
are practical farmers and Patrons. All
who deal with them will be sure of sat
isfaction, and can rely upon their hon
esty and integrity.
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