AROUND THE YEAR WITH COTTON 155 



After renting the land the tenant has to see about get- 

 ting furnished for the year. If a share tenant, he has his 

 own work stock and tools; if a cropper, he has nothing. 

 On a delta plantation his supplies would be furnished by 

 the landlord. The landlord, however, may agree to stand 

 for him at a supply store. Small owners unable to keep 

 themselves during the growing season also apply to these 

 stores. In such cases goods are furnished on open book 

 credit at credit prices which may reach 25 per cent. Very 

 often the grower may be limited to drawing a certain 

 sum, say $10 or $15 a month. In emergencies he may 

 secure an increase by special pleading with his landlord. 

 Crises in the family, such as illness, play havoc with these 

 makeshift budgets. The families tide it over as best they 

 may. Either the doctor goes uncalled or realizes that he 

 must wait until fall for his fee. Oftentimes he never gets 

 it. The services rendered for sweet charity's sake by 

 harassed country doctors in the South have not received 

 adequate recognition. 



The merchant and the planter must also be financed. 

 The southern planter once received advances from his 

 factor. It is safe to say that most plantation owners pre- 

 paring to plant a crop now go to see their bankers. 

 After a conference covering details of amount of acreage, 

 number of plows, costs, and production, the planter is 

 given a line of credit secured by personal note. The loans 

 are to be issued according to seasonal needs ; so much for 

 furnishing, planting, chopping, and picking. The supply 

 stores are granted credit by wholesale houses. This, how- 

 ever, is considered precarious business since the failures 

 of 1914, 1921, and 1926. Accordingly, many supply mer- 

 chants now borrow from banks to pay off their thirty- 

 day bills with the wholesaler. 



