METHODS OF CULTURE IN THE SOUTH. 1 65 



who cut away the few weeds left between the plants. They 

 handle these tools so deftly that scarcely any weeding is left 

 to be done by hand ; for, by a rapid encircling stroke, they 

 cut within a half-inch of the plant. For several years past, 

 I have urged upon Mr. Young the advantage of the narrow 

 row system, and his own experience has led him to adopt 

 it. He is now able to keep his immense farm free of weeds 

 chiefly by mule labor, whereas, in his old system of matted 

 row culture it was impossible to keep down the grass, or 

 prevent the ground from becoming hard and dry. He now 

 restricts his plants to hills or ''stools," from twelve to fifteen 

 inches apart. The runners are cut from time to time with 

 shoe-knives, the left hand gathering them up by a single 

 rapid movement, and the right hand severing them by a 

 stroke. One woman will, by this method, clip the runners 

 from several acres during the growing season. To keep his 

 farm in order, Mr. Young must employ seventy-five hands 

 through the summer. The average wages for women is 

 fifty cents, and for men seventy-five to ninety cents. In 

 the item of cheap labor the South has the advantage of the 

 North. 



With the advent of autumn, the onslaught of weeds grad- 

 ually ceases, and there is some respite in the labors of a 

 Virginia strawberry farm. 



At Charleston and farther south, this respite is brief, for 

 the winters there are so mild that certain kinds of weeds 

 will grow all the time, and early in February they must 

 begin to cultivate the ground and mulch the plants for 

 bearing. 



Bordering on Mr. Young's farm, and farther up the creek, 

 there are hundreds of acres of salt meadows. From these 

 he has cut, in the autumn and early winter, two hundred 

 tons of hay, and v/ith his lighter floats it down to his wharf. 



