METHODS OF CULTURE IN THE SOUTH. 1 57 



plantations in the olden time, almost everything required 

 in the business is made on the place, and nearly every me- 

 chanical trade has a representative in Mr. Young's employ. 



As we drove up under the pines, the proprietor of the 

 farm welcomed us v^dth a cordial hospitality, which he may 

 have acquired in part from his residence in the South. On 

 the porch stood a slender lady, whose girlish grace and 

 delicate beauty at once captivated the artists of our party. 



There was the farm we had come to see, stretching away 

 before us in hundreds of green, level acres. As we drove 

 to a distant field in which the pickers were then engaged, 

 we could see the ripening berries with one side blushing 

 toward the sun. Passing a screen of pines, we came out 

 into a field containing thirteen acres of Wilson strawberries, 

 and then more fully began to realize the magnitude of the 

 business. Scattered over the wide area, in what seemed 

 inextricable confusion to our uninitiated eyes, were hun- 

 dreds of men, women, and children of all ages and shades 

 of color, and from the field at large came a softened din of 

 voices, above the monotony of which arose here and there 

 snatches of song, laughter mellowed by distance, and occa- 

 sionally the loud, sharp orders of the overseers, who stalked 

 hither and thither, wherever their '' little brief authority " 

 was most in requisition. 



We soon noted that the confusion was more apparent 

 than real, and that each picker was given a row over which 

 he — or, more often, she — bent with busy fingers until it 

 was finished. At central points crates were piled up, and 

 men known as " buyers " received the round quart baskets 

 from the trays of the pickers, while wide platform carts, 

 drawn by mules, were bringing empty crates and carrying 

 away those that had been filled. 



Along the road that skirted the field, and against a pretty 



