Newspaper Page Text
4
THE
" w
~Www m>>
■MtM »£ fe-GG
- -~ ,wL f 4 Iq
ATLANTA, GEORGIA DECEMBER, 1874.
December’s Work.
Crops are all in ; even turnips are
housed, if the work of the farm is well
up. If these have not been lifted,
they should be. Let the tops and tap
roots be cut off, and then bank the
roots as you would sweet potatoes. It
is true freezing does not destroy
turnips as it does potatoes, still they
had better never be suffered to freeze.
When fed by hand, let them be sliced
or boiled, by all means, for it is a pita
ble performance to witness an old
cow trying to munch a ten-pound
turnip. Although the theorizer sneers
at a turnip, and says there are full
ninety-five per cent, of its body pure
water, yet that other five per cent does
a “power of good.” Four hundred
pounds of ammoniated superphosphate
will make from five to six hundred
bushels of fine turnips —these turnips
costing two pounds of seed. One
plowing and hoeing will net, at the low
price of forty cents per bushel, fully
S2OO an acre. But feeding sheep upon
such a crop, so raised and fed, without
lifting them, will make any man rich
if he follows the practice wisely and
persistently, and would restore the old
time wealth and prosperity of Georgia.
If we cannot do much else than to take
care of our stock and gather and com
post manure, we will thereby make De
cember the most important and valuable
month in the year. Let us urge that all
stock —even hogs —if possible, be shel
tered in bad weather. No man should
call himself a farmer who suffers his
poor cows and sheep to shiver through
the driving blasts of our winters with
out a shed or a wall of pine brush to
break the force of the storm. Then, let
pens be made where you wish to enrich
your land, and fold and herd your
stock without failure every night. But
take care that this be not done on the
naked soil. No man can tell why mak
ing mortar of soil ruins it, but it does
for al 1 that. Haul in litter; nothing
better than corn stalks and oak leaves.
Keep the pens well covered, and do
not trouble the manure till time to use
it. Then let what has run through
into the land do for the surface making
the pen, and spread on adjoining land
all the manure that has accumulated.
This is the only economical way the
writer has ever found for using barn
manure. It will not do to depend on
that for such high farming as all the
readers of The Grange must practice.
Here are two receipts for making ma
nure, worth twenty years’ subscription
to The Grange:
One thousand pounds of cotton seed
worth six dollars; one thousand pounds
Etiwan dissolved bone worth $2 i. Wet
down the seed quite wet with brine if
you can get dirty salt, and then mix
layer by layer the dissolved bone, and
let this stand and heat two months.
It should be cut down and turned over
and repiled once before carting out.
Here is another worth s(>s per ton.
I'take r.OOO pounds cotton seed,
same of acid bone, 1,000 of dirty salt
worthone-half cent, per pound; i.ooo
of land plaster, worth §7 50. Mix all
this thoroughly, and after standing two
months, use at the rate of |oo pounds an
acre Ike cotton seed is worth $6 70;
the acid bone. s2l: the salt. $5; the land
plaster. $7 50; the whole 4.000 pounds
S4O 20.
It will be hard to beat this last
formula with any other manure in
market at S2O per ton. Cheap as this
certainly is, comparatively, sheep and
turnips beat it to death In this plan
you get a thorough manuring, which
will for years and years together make
full crops with the single folding for
absolutely no cost at all. Try it.
friends, try it. and bless the day you
ever listened to the appeals of com
mon sense, thereby saving yourselves
and lifting poor old Georgia again to her
feet.
“No Fence Law.” Several coun
ties in North Carolina are experiment
ing with the "no fence law.” It is likely
to prove good ) s port
ei the State as are deficient tn rail
t in. her.
r
THE «««-
Negro Labor—Tlie Wages vs. the Share
System.
It is probably rather strange to say
our present impoverished condition,
financially, is the only tangible blessing
we have had since the war. We were
excusable, however, in many respects,
for the way this was brought about.
We did not know how to work, treat
or command the negro as a free man.
Compulsion was out of the question,
and the only way, as we saw it, was
persuasion, by kindness, by giving and
procuring him everything we thought
would induce him to work. At the
same time, the negro thought his free
dom might be like a bubble just risen
to the surface, liable to burst, and he
must maintain it by freedom from labor
of every kind. If he was free he need
not labor, and if he labored he was
still a slave. We are beginning to un
derstand each other, and, to our mind,
1875, on the first day of January, will
begin a new era, and one that has been
brought about by the compulsory force
of poverty. The contracts will read
different; the employer —the land own
ers —will exercise full authority to com
mand ; and when the intelligent farm
ers can direct labor, we will see a
change for the better visibly dawning
all over our poor poverty-sticken South.
The greater number of our large
planters have become satisfied from
that best of teachers, experience, that
the share system with the colored man
is a failure. The policy and plan to
be pursued is, so much money for so
much labor, and unless they labor they
cannot receive money, bread or shelter.
Last, or rather this year, many of
our planters hired a few for wages,and,
of course, feed them, and we do not
know of a single exception where it is
not profitable to both. One of our
most observant, intelligent and expe
rienced planters made more money on
three-half hands than he made on a
squad of ten good hands who worked on
shares. There is scarcely a negro out
of debt except he works for wages. You
can pick them out on the streets, and
more than that they vote the Conserva
tive ticket. But you will hear the oppo
sition say, we have no money; tell us
how to pay off those hands. No, sir;
and you never will have money to pay
off hands, and even to pay for the nec
essaries of life, so long as you work on
that system. If your merchant is wil
ling to advance you supplies, it seems
to me he would agree to advance you
money. The merchant had certainly
rather advance to land owners than to
a laborer who owns no property. He
ought to be as willing to loan him sls
as to loan him a barrel of meat on
twelve months’ credit; for upon the
cash basis of labor, you can manage
it —you can control it. No running
off to town for two or three days; no
waiting until 9 o’clock to hitch up
teams; everything must go by the
horn, bell or command, and no one
dare, not even the courts, to intervene
and make us afraid. Whenever a la
borer becomes tardy and insolvent call
him in and settle. Soon the poor pit
able simpleton would find out he must
labor or starve.
In a speech recently delivered at the
installation of officers of New Hamp
shire State Grange, Col. D. Wyatt
Aiken, of South Carolina, said, “He
believed it required more mind, thought
and energy to make a successful far
mer than to fit a man for any other av
ocation This is an age of progress, and
the man who stands still, and don’t
study to improve, will go backward.
Agriculture is a science, and the more
we study it, the larger the field spreads
out before us.”
“In the Grange the latest intelligence
of the farmer is brought out, and each
can learn of the other some new idea
or method. The Grange also does what
no party or organization has done
unites the people of all parts of the
country. It says to every man in the
Union : “Come in, and I’ll give you the
hand of friendship.” It knows no
North no South, no East, no West. It
bridges the bloody chasm which has
divided different sections.”
Ar the late meeting of the Patrons
of Husbandry in the State of Michigan
it was stated that if the various Granges
would work together, they could now
make such arrangements for disposing
of their produce and buying goods as
would be to the material interests of
both the farmers and the businessmen
of Detroit. I'he tVd r N in. fine
The Direct Trade Union of the Patron*
of Husbandry.
The success of this great enterprise
is now fully demonstrated and accom
plished. Already has its good effect
been shown in the reduction of the
expenses on cotton in all the cities, and
reduction in bagging and ties. Be
sides, it enables the planter to raise
money at a low' rate of interest, say
five per cent, per annum to hold his
cotton until spring instead of forc
ing it upon the market at this time
when the speculators are depress
ing the market. The Patrons of the
adjoining States are rallying to its
support. Already has Tennessee and
North Carolina taken considerable
stock, and shipped large quantities of
cotton to the Liverpool agent.
General A. H. Colquitt, President,
and Captain E. T. Paine, Secretary,
have just returned from attending the
meeting of the State Grange at Mont
gomery, Alabama. They were received
with great favor. The State Grange
passed strong resoultions endorsing it,
and pledging their support, by taking
stock and shipping their cotton through
it. They have already appointed
agents in several of their cities —Messrs.
Battle and Deßardelebue, at Mobile,
C. S. Martin, Esq., Huntsville, and
Jackson Gunn, at Decatur, The work,
goes bravely on, and the officers are in
high spirits. The company has now
made arrangements to supply coffee
received direct through Savannah, and
are arranging for supplies of bacon,
flour, corn, wagons, Nova Scotia plas
ter, chemicals for fertilizers, phos
phates, etc., which will be submitted
to the mass meeting of Patrons to take
place in Atlanta on Wednesday, the
16th inst.
The Direct Trade Movement of
Hon. Nelson Tift, of Albany, has
been mistaken by some for the Direct
Trade Union of the Patrons of Hus
bandry. His was an entirely separate
organization. Colonel T. was only the
representative of the different railroad
lines of the State of Georgia, while our
noble Union has been instituted, by
thinking farmers and our noble Order
of Patrons, for the benefit of farmers.
Therefore, brother Patrons, rally to its
support. Stockholders who have not
paid up should do so at once, and
those who have not taken stock should
at once subscribe one or more shares,
cotand ship at least a portion of your
cotton through it, for it is the only
means to free you from your Northern
task-masters. Those who desire to
hold their cotton until spring can ship
through this company and receive three
fourths of its value at the rate of five
per cent, per annum interest. The
storage is only six cents per month,
and insurance at one-twelfth per cent,
per month in Liverpool.
Wiliter ‘Work
Now’ that the winter is upon us, and
work in fields and gardens is necessa
rily suspended, it is an appropriate pe
riod for the farmer to look after the
condition of such articles as will come
into active use when the spring returns,
and to make such improvements in
dwellings, out-houses, stables, etc., as
the comfort and convenience cf man
and domestic animals require.
Don’t spend the winter months like
snakes and frogs, in a torbid condition,
but go to work. Examine your stables,
your cow houses, your smoke houses,
and barns. See what is necessary to
perfect each, and what your hands find
to do, do it with all your might. Look
to your dwelling and ask your wife
what is needed byway of repairs, or
additions, and carry out her wishes.
When these things have been attended
to. repair your wagons, your harness,
your plows, etc., etc. After all these
details of labor are complete, you may
take a recess with a good conscience,
provided you have subscribed and paid
for one or more agricultural papers
particularly The Georgia Grange.
National Grange Convention.—
The next annual meeting of the Na
tional Grange will commence on the
first Wednesday of February, 1875, at
Charleston, South Carolina.
Representatives will be present from
every State and Territory of this Re
public and, also, from the British Prov
inces. Such an association of leading ,
men from so many sections of oif
country will be attended with happy
results, not only to the interests of ag
ri ulture an I commerce, but likewis • to
the political future of th'- Union.
Dai u 1 Clark has been re-ele -t i
Master->i On-gon State Grange.
Fence or No Fence ?
The above question addresses itself
as a practical enquiry to every farmer
in Georgia. Old prejudices and habits
hold on to us tenaciously, and often
prevent us from adopting that policy
which common sense suggests. The
idea of cultivating our fields without
fences, occurs to many of us as simply
ridiculous. However, when we look
closely to the analysis of the policy —
its necessity and its consequences —our
conclusion changes, and we wonder at
our own folly.
The advantages and disadvantages
of the u No Fence ” policy may be
summed up as follows ;
Ist. The disadvantage consists alone
in the fact that we lose the wild pas
tures if our stock are kept up.
This disadvantage is modified by the
consideration that where the wild pas
ture is a thing of much value, it may be
utilized by employing herdsmen to at
tend our stock as they enjoy it.
Now come the advantages :
1 st. We avoid the cost of fencing
our fields, and thereby save our forests
from destruction and give them time to
recover to some extent from the profli
gate waste of the past. It is estimated
that the cost of fencing exceeds by a
large amount the value of live stock
in Georgia.
2d. We utilize our domestic animals
in the production of manures, by keep
ing them within certain limits. In this
way a few head of stock will soon add
great fertility to our lands. They may
be kept just long enough on one part
of the farm to supply it with the de
sired quantity of manure, and then
moved to another. Indestructable
fences should be provided so that they
will not be damaged by removals.
3d. Domestic animals will be kept
continually under the watchful eye of
the master, and protected from abuse
and theft from which they now suffer
more or less each year. Their wants
will be more likely to be discovered
than when left to roam at pleasure in
the forests. Many die in the woods
that might be saved if at home. When
kept up they will be prevented from
eating poisonous herbs and bushes
which destroy thousands every year.
4th. The necessity for keeping our
stock up will prompt the introduction
of improved breeds. Our people will
say, “ If we have to keep up and attend
our domestic animals, let us have such
as will reward our attentions. We will
dispense with this wood’s stock and
supply their place with improved ani
mals.” Keeping the poor stock up and
giving them proper food and care, will,
in the course of time, work their im
provement, so the policy seems to
promise better stock whether by prompt
ing their immediate purchase or by
their gradual advancement.
We apprehend that old prejudice
resulting from long habit does more
than common sense in preventing the
immediate and universal adoption of
the “No Fence Law.” There is also
an apprehension that our growing crops
would not be safe, that stock would
frequently escape and destroy, perhaps
in one night, a large amount of some
one’s crop. I’his is an irrational fear,
for if fencing our fields were dispensed
with by law, the same law would pro
vide most stringently for the imprison
ment of our domestic animals in per- >
fectly secure enclosures. To do this
will be easy, for on every farm in the
State there is an abundant supply of
rails for this purpose, even though not
half as many as are required for fencing
in the fields securely. To enforce obe- I
dience to this requirement, a penalty |
in damages will be affixed, so that he I
whose stock injures the crop of another
will be forced, upon convi< tion, to atone
in dollars and cents for the injury
wrought. This kind of damage will ■
occur very seldom, perhaps not half!
so frequently as it does now from in- ;
sufficient fences, and from the acciden-1
tai breaking down of fences by failing ,
trees, etc. In these cases no damage
is recoverable, and the injury falls upon ■
the owner of the farm, while profits go ■
to the owner of the animals, who have '
filled their stomachs with a delightful
repast of nutricious food.
These ideas are presented to en
courage thought upon, and the discus
sion of this subject. It should be
thoro :ghb examined and decided upon
bv everv Grange in the State, ami con
■ 1.-ions -hould be sent up to the otate
Labor Supply.
The Rural Sun, in an editorial on
the subject of labor for the South, con
cludes that the only possible supply is
to be found in the negro, and that it is
essential that he should be improved.
The writer must certainly be a
stranger to the real character of the
descendents of the African, or he
would not suggest that which is an
impossibility, under the influences of
personal liberty. It is about as imprac
ticable to work a permanent elevation
of negro character as it. is to change
the spots of the leopard or the skin ot
the Ethiopian. If they will not answer
the purpose of faithful and efficient
laborers in their present condition, we
had as well give them qp, for they will
certainly bCcomemore moreworth
less and unreliable with each additional
anniversary of their emancipation.
The true policy of the South is to
reduce her cultivated acres, or to look
to other sources for their labor supply,
and to make constant and assiduous
efforts to induce white men from Eu
rope to cast their lots with us, and ap
ply their brain and muscle to the cul
tivation of our fields. The signs of
the period do not justify any delay on
this subject. The evil of insufficient
labor is now upon us, and is rapidly
increasing. The wise will forsee it, and
do all in their power to avert it and its
consequences.
We Would also suggest that there are
too many of our young men leaving
the country, where they cotild be useful
in cultivating Our farms, for the cities
in which they eke out an existence that
has but little good in it for themselves
or others. Thousands in Georgia are
guilty of this folly annually. There
seems to be a magnetic charm for the
young in city life, which seduces them
from the honest and useful walks of
rural life. It is said by some that the
lack of society and amusements in the'
country causes the rush of young men
to the towns and cities. If this be
true, it would be good policy to provide
amusements and increase the facilities
for social enjoyment. If the surplus
muscle of the villages, towns and cities
could be applied to agricultural indus
try, a large per centage of the deficient
labor would be supplied, and that, too,
of the very best material.
Romulus Moore, a colored preacher
who was a member of the Constitutional
Convention of 1860, and the Legisla
ture of 1870, who, by the way, was per
haps the most unassuming representa
tive of his race in the law-making bod
ies mentioned, is now endeavoring to
induce his colored friends to migrate
to Texas, where it is proposed they
shall be colonized. A convention met
here on Monday, in the interest of this
movement. Many of our exchanges
deplore the threatened exodus of the
colored population, regarding it as de
structive of our labor system. It may
work inconvenience for a while—but
this will all soon yield to the healing
and adjusting influences of time. If
laborers are demanded by actual neces
sities, that labor will be supplied—and
perhaps with a class that will prove
more beneficial in developing the re
sources of the State. So, we say, let
the negroes go, if they regard such a
movement conducive to their welfare.
We have long felt satisfied that the pe
riod was approaching, when the people
of the South must perform their own
domestic service, or import white assis
tants. While forced to do this we may
as well, also, import white laborers.
Indian Fair. —The first agricultural ■
and mechanical fair ever held by the
American Indians, took place at Mus- j
cogee, in the Indian Territory, during ,
the latter part of last October. Quite 1
a varied and handsome supply of na- j
the products and machinery was on '
exhibition. The attendance was large
and many adresses were delivered by ed
ucated Indians.
This event is indicative of a material
advance in civilization, and we trust is
the harbinger of great good to the Red
Men who have exchanged the wild pur
suits of the forest for the labors of the
field or the workshop.
Good ' Wheat buyers in St. Croix,
Wisconsin recently met and agreed not
to give over seventy-eight cents for
wheat. The Granges met and appoint
ed agents to buy at ninety cents of
Patrons who could not hold. Imme
diately the aforsesaid buyers agreed to
give ninety-five cents.
’n::ana ■'tate Grange has another
>rder »• r ' • nundred bushels of
fr m Abington Gr. nge, Mass
Oar Forest*.
Greater profligacy and waste have
characterized the people of this coun
try in the use of our forests, than in
any other branch of domestic economy.
1 hey have dealt with them as though
beyond the posibility of exhaustion.
Waste —immense waste —has made sad
havoc with our forests, and to-day,
even in the South, the people are be
coming alarmed at the unnecessary
ruin they have wrought. Now they can
see the end of the supply near at hand,
and are beginning to look for a remedy.
By care and economy our forests might
have been available for centuries,
whereas in some States it is said six
an ’ in others twenty years will com
pletely exhaust them. In this State
rail timber is so exceedingly scarce as
*■o render the enactment of the “ No
Fence law a for man y sec ’
tions which were once bless f d
unsurpassed forests. In George,
has been foolish waste. We have
served this from boyhood. Our forests
have been cut down in the process of
clearing land, and most of the timber
burned upon the ground. A sufficiency
was generally appropriated to the pur
pose of building the first fence around
the area newly cleared, and the remain
der cremated on the spot. True econ
omy would have dictated the saving,
not only of the timber suited for rails,
but the remainder for firewood. It was
frequently true that at the very period
when the smoke ascended from the
log and brush heaps of the new ground
the woodman’s axe was laid to the
growing saplings of an adjacent forest
for the purpose of Supplying firewood.
The question —What shall be done
with regard to this subject?—commetldS
itself with seriousness to the consider
ation of the public, and should be dis
cussed and decided by every Grange
in the State, and, indeed, in the repub
lic. If this is done, we doubt not a
wise policy, suitable to the varied cir
cumstance of the different sections will
be devised and adopted. We will,
therefore, simply suggest two general
rules of action which, if observed, will
do much to save the country from the
desolating waste of the past.
First. Observe a sensible economy
in the use of our forest timber that is
yet standing.
Second. Plant select trees on every
available acre of our land, especially
the old fields rendered barren by im
provident culture.
What Tree* to Plant.
A correspondent of the New York
Tribune, in an article on the subject of
planting trees upon the prairies of the
West, very wisely advises preference to
be given to such as combine the prop
erties of good timber and fruit. The
chestnut and the locust seem to be fa
vorites with that writer, and we think
his selection judicious. Both the chest
nut and the locust are unexcelled for
the production of durable rails and
their fruit products, especially that of
the chestnut, will go far towards reim
bursing the expenses of their culture
and care. Both of these grow rapidly,
and are so tenacious of life, that few of
them will die from the process of trans
planting. \V hat is good policy with
reference to tree-planting in the prairie
countries ot the West, is equally so in
Georgia, and to those who in this State
may turn their attention to this sub
ject, we commend the favorable con
sideration of the advice mentioned.
♦ -<
The following general rules for re
suscitating an exhausted or worn-down
farm will be found practical even in
this latitude: 1. Underdraining, if
the soil settles down in a mass after
long rains. 2. Mellow cultivation when
dry enough, pulverizing the soil well
as a preventive of drought. 3. The
introduction of clover, to be preceded,
if necessary, by a moderate dressing of
manure, or some other green crop. 4.
Working most of the farm into grass
for the maintenance of domestic ani
mals, and for the manufacture of ma
nure. 5. As the improvement pro
gresses, planting or sowing such crops
as appear, on t-ial, to do best, such as
corn, beans, barley, etc., preferring a
variety or rotation.
It is estimated that the disease known
as “hog cholera,” has reduced the pork
crop of Indiana at least one-fourth as
compared with that of last year.
When every farmer in this broad
land of ours shall belong to the Grange
the producers of wealth will have more
to say about what they produce than
they now have. *