THE FARM AND GARDEN, 



It grass has run out where it is not possible to 

 replow, run the harrow over it and sow on some 

 timothy or otlier grasses, and the crop next sea- 

 son will be so much increased. 



Underdrain the lowlands and mulch exposed 

 knolls. Tliese are practical remedies against 

 winter-killing. , 



If yon want your grape vines to bear fruit do 

 not manure them ! Soil for grapes must not be 

 too rich or the growtli will be in wood and leaf, 

 not in fruit. It already too rich, sprinkle some 

 lime about the roots. . 



You are an apple producer and shipper. Very 

 well. But when you pack those apple barrels 

 do not have all the good fruit at the ends and the 

 worthless between. You will make more money 

 to sort into two grades. 

 -i- 



Gather the falling leaves. Bank the cellar 

 with them or stow tliem away under shelter and 

 use them for bedding this winter. They are good 

 absorbents. 



PACTS AND FIGURES IN REGARD TO TENANTS 

 IN THE SOUTH. 



Sy W. E. Collins, MayersviUe, Miss. 



Long continued drouth, extending over many 

 Southern States, has doubtless reduced estimates 

 of the yields of cotton one-third, and will brin." 

 the present crop down to probably 6,000,000 bales 

 or even less. The cotton crop necessarily increases 

 somewhat every year, even during the most un- 

 favorable seasons, simply because there is a con- 

 stantly increasing acreage, cspeciallv in the 

 States of Mississippi, Arkzii.vis, L,,i.is.ana, and 

 iexas. The increase in Arkansas and Texas is 

 traced directly to emigration, while in Mississippi 

 and Louisiana the increase is more directly traced 

 to the steady improvement among planters who 

 clear fresh lands every vear and add to the 

 capacity of their plantations. In this county the 

 average of increase each new year is about 3,000 

 which adds 3,000 bales cotton to the exports of 

 this crop from this country alone. With this 

 generally, you will perceive that the cotton crop 

 ot the United States is certain of slight increase 

 every year, without regard to the seasons. With 

 the introduction of a successful cotton-picking 

 machine, the crop would double itself in a year 

 or two, and could be produced at a cost of about 

 three cents per pound. Th<" principal expense 

 in this crop is the picking, which is done entirely 

 by hand at a cost ranging from fifty to seventy- 

 five cents per hundred pounds seed cotton. This 

 hundred pounds will usually give twentv-live 

 pounds lint cotton. So the cost would be at fifty 

 cents per hundred pounds seed cotton, two cents 

 per pound for the lint. This cost once removed 

 and the crop will soon double itself, for the same 

 labor now engaged can cultivate twice the acreage 

 that IS now done. Planters usually make their 

 crops upon "shares," furjiishiug the tenant with 

 land tools and team, and feed for the teams so 

 employed ; also furnishing the tenant with house 

 and garden free of all rent. In return the tenant 

 gives one half of all the cotton and corn he may 

 make No claim is ever made bv planters for 

 halt the pumpkins, potatoes, or other crops grown 

 by tenants. Fuel is furni,shed free. The crop of 

 cotton IS divided at the gin after being baled for 

 market, and these settlements are, I believe 

 strictly honest to the tenant. If he produces 

 5,000 pounds lint cotton, he receives exactly 2 500 

 pounds He is required to pay all expenses of 

 the picking, if he neglects to pick his crop; but 

 the ginning charges, usually .*2.00 per bale, are 

 paid by each ; that is, the planter pays for gin- 

 ning, pressing and wrapping his half, and the 

 tenant the same on his interest. The tenants is at 

 no expense if he does his duty as ])er contract 

 except for his own family supplies, and the ex- 

 pense on his half of the crop for ginning prepar- 

 ing and hauling to market. It has been said by 

 Oeneral Butler, in some of his speeches latelv 

 that the negro labor of the South, was the poorest 

 paid of any in the United States; that the labor- 

 era ot the South were paupers, and as such are 

 brought into competition with the labor of the 

 North, to the great injury of the latter. This is 

 an error, and refiects not so much upon the white 

 people of the South as upon the negro; the sub- 

 ject of his remarks is a reflection upon their 

 industry and economy. Let us see how near 

 correct the General is. 



We will prefiice our remarks by .saying if a 

 nian's face is black, his recommendation is suffi- 

 cient to a Southern planter. No capital is re- 

 (juired by the applicant ; no certificate of character 

 IS thought of, the situation or partnership is open 

 to the thief as freely as the honest man. Dis- 

 charged criminals are taken into partnerships to 

 make crops, as quickly as any other. All that 



IS necessary is to apply to the owner of the plan- 

 tation. State that he wishes to make a crop of 

 cotton on his plantation that vear ; that he wishes 

 to rent twenty-five acres of land ; that he wants 

 two mules, harnes.s, farming implements feed 

 tor two mules and himself^and family for ten 

 months ; that he will require fiftv dollars in cash 

 during the crop season, &c. Now, to more fullv 

 illustrate, here is a totally irresponsible partv 

 asking tor ' ' trust " that amounts in the aggregate 

 to *825, without one iota of .security, and he re- 

 ceives credit for that amount without a question 

 as to his honesty, capacity, or reliability. If 

 disposed to do so, he could remain on the planta- 

 tion m full possession of all rights secured by his 

 contract, and when the time approached for 

 settlement, could leave his crop, and the country ■ 

 indebted to you for the entire .$82.5. I know of 

 hundreds in this countv tliat are working to-dav 

 upon other men's capital, without one doUa'r 

 security outside ot a mortgage lien on growing 

 crops; all good enough when the crop is secure, 

 and a full average yield is maile, but utterlv 

 worthless before, leaving all the risk on the 

 shoulders of the planter. Do Northern men ever 

 manage affairs so unbusiness like ? Do the farm 

 laborers North ever have such opp(n-tunities to 

 better their condition in life? If they did lam 

 full well aware that everv individual there 'would 

 long, long ago, have owned farms of their own ■ 

 and so could the negro of the South, if he was as 

 intelligent aud thrittv as the white men. He is 

 not, however, on the contrary he is a spendthrift 

 and will spend the years income with more lavish 

 hand than Vanderbilt. One month usuallv suf- 

 fices to get rid of his years earnings, and to him- 

 selt alone is he indebted for any pauperism that 

 may exist. There is none that I am aware of 

 and there are no people more averse to being 

 called paupers than the negroes of the South ; and 

 they are not paupers. Countv " poor houses" do 

 not exist in the South. The few paupers we have 

 are the old and crippled, and these are supported 

 by their relations, who are paid $6.00 per month 

 by the Board of Supervisors for such support- 

 and in this county $400 annually will cover all 

 pauper exjienses. 



'How let us see what a tenant on shares receives 

 for his yearly labor on a cotton plantation He 

 IS given twelve acres of land, furnished every- 

 thing except his own supplies. He jdants ten 

 acres m cotton, two in corn, (this twelve acres 

 does not include three-quarters of an acre for 

 garden). His cotton in favorable seasons will 

 yield : — 

 10 bales, averaging 450 pounds each, or 



4o00 pounds, (Si 10 cents .$450 00 



10,000 pounds seed (Si 10 cents, . . . 100 00 

 60 bushels corn Ca\ 50 cents, .... 3000 



NO EXCELLENCE WITHOUT LABOR. 



The jErpcriences of a Virginia Farmer. 



No. 4. 

 We were filling barrels with water to be drawn 

 up to the thirsty plants. Some sorts cannot 

 stand througli such a trying time as this very dry 

 .season lias been. When we water we soak the 

 ground, then it is done. To put a few drops on 

 the surface is of no use. The ground must be 

 thoroughly soaked so that tne roots will keep 

 their place down in the ground. To only wet 

 the surface will cause .surface-roots to be devel- 

 oped, and when the watering should, iierchance 

 be neglected a little too long, tlie plants will 

 suffer, and often they die much sooner than if 

 not watered at all. 



As the water was being transferred to the bar- 

 rel it was quite amusing to notice the various 

 attitudes and motions of the boys in their work. 

 Sometimes the bucket was .caught by one liand 

 and sometimes with another, and often two mo- 

 tions made where only one was needed. It is 

 only a motion that is lost and so seldom thought 

 of, but when one is to make many thousand 

 motions a day, it co.sts time and strength, which 

 if wa.sted when there can be some saving done, 

 why is it not as well to do so ? In all our work.s 

 there can be a system developed by which every 

 motion may be governed to that end that not 

 only minutes but often hours Saved by a little * 



Expense ginning 10 bal 

 Bagging and ties 10 bal 

 Hauling, &c., . . . 



Total, $580.00 

 $20.00 

 12.50 

 2.50 



Total, $35.00 35.00 



Total net proceeds of crop, .$545.00 

 He receives one-half, or .$272..50 for his services 

 and this without one dollar of his own invested • 

 has all the time he wants for loafing around the 

 village stores, drinking tangle- foot whisky and 

 discussing national politics. His actual working 

 time during the crop averages two days in each 

 week. The price of day labor here is seventy- 

 five cents and one dollar, and the demand is 

 greater than the supply ; so it cannot be said that 

 people are paupers, when they receive one dollar 

 per days work, commencing at !• o'clock \ M 

 and ceasing at 6 o'clock P. M., with two hours 

 rest during the day ; and these people can live on 

 twenty-five cents per day. 



attention to a systematic management. 



In the matter of filling the barrel with water, 

 the bucket could just as well be caught up by 

 the same hand, and less spilling, less movements, 

 and less strength used and more work accom- 

 plished in the same time if hut a thought was 

 taken how to do it. This is a small item to write 

 of, but the old saying that "goslings make gan- 

 ders " applies that if in snwll things system is 

 made the rule, so in larger, and of'more value 

 will the systematizing of work be equally a 

 value to the wi«-th of tlie work to be performed. 

 If one will think when .something is to be 

 carried from the house to the barn or any other 

 place, to take along a jiart or whole, as can be 

 done, when going in that or the other direction, 

 or bring back articles as a trip is being made in 

 the opposite direction, many, many steps might 

 be saved. So it is in all "our lives; we must 

 think, and by timely thought develop that habit 

 of systematizing in all the moves we make, and 

 not only save time and expense, but make our 

 lives more pleasant. It is here certainly that an 

 excellence can be known by a habit of thoughtful 

 labor. 



The milkman is sure to leave the box or stool 

 under the cow where he milks as ho is to milk 

 the cow. I have suggested to him often (hat a 

 little care might be of service to him. It is not 

 a comfortable place for a cow to lay with a 

 sharp-cornered box against her sides as she drops 

 down to rest, and besides it is not a pleasant 

 habit to be seemingly incapable of i)ntting up 

 anything that is used. I can get but one answer 

 to my suggestions about "having a place for 

 everything and ])utting everything" in its place." 

 It is this: "You'll ilo verv well for details; I 

 have no time for details. When I get through 

 using a tool I am obliged to drop it and go for 

 something else, and then when I am through 

 at that I return and take up the work here. If 

 I should attend to all the details von speak of 

 I would starve before I could get my living. I 

 am no detail man, I aint." 



So goes the world. Stock gets poor or are ru- 

 ined for want of details. No time to remove a 

 stool, the harness njion the work animal, or the 

 sharp-edged instrument or other dangerous thing 

 near or over which they are to jiass or stand. 



flDYEI^IiISEMBNIiS. 



Please mention THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



Marlboro .^^SPBERRY.andNewgrapes.b.vtheorig- 

 """'" inators. A.J. Caywood di-.Son.lrurilioro, N. V. 



CIDER 



Presses, Graters, Elevators, &c, 



BOOMER it BOSCHERT PRESS 

 t'O., Syracuse, W, Y. 



TUCKAHOE NURSERY AND FRUIT FARM. 



Carodne Co., Md.. 11. ar Hillshorr.ii^'li. Liime stnek Pcacri 



• aiuiiiie ..u., rag., liiar Jlillsncirrill^'ll. L-.iraf stork Peach 



Trees. App(es, Cherry, and other Nursery Slocic. both frull and 

 Ornamcnlal (u.-ukofree. C. E. JARIfELL. H(((8borouoh, Md! 



PEACH TREES. '^F^AlrTRA^DE'' 



our usual la avy stock of Peach Trees. (Purchasers of 

 Jart^e lols shonld correspond with us.) .Also, all kinds 

 01 Fruit. Simile, and Ornaiiii-iilnl Tici-s. and 

 Siiinll Fruit I'Iniitn. gS'Wf <-aii supiilv a liraitec! 

 quantity natural Southern Peacb Seeil, Kalhered ex- 

 pressH- tor us by our special agent. Quality guaranteed. 

 DAVID BAIRD & SO>. ninnnranan. N. J. 



^fl(18S4) Chrorao Cards, no twoalike. with name, lOe. 

 ^*» 13 pks., $1.00. GEO. I. EEED & CO., Nas.sau, N. Y. 



BULBS! BULBS! 



BKST I.MPORTED AND HO>Ii: «K«»\VN. 



ALSO SEEDS FOR FALL SOWING 



And Plants for Winter Blooming. 



Price-list FREE. A. E. SPALDING, AINSWORTH. IOWA. 



S. W. STERRETT, Barnitz, Pa., 



lower otflmicc Si:i:i) OATS. CORN, WHEAT 



niicl POTATOHS. Ciilnlogiic li-ce 



»ULBS, ROSES, SMALL FRUITS, 

 ' GRAPE VINESJaL"""' 



FREE CATAEOGI 



Bl , , 



^ QRAPE VINES f'"-^'^" Planting. 

 For FREE CATALOGUE, telline how 

 cheaply you can fret them by mail, address 

 WM. B. REED, CHAMBERSBURC PA,l 



