44 



TENANT LABOR. 



three inches above tlie bottom, which is bored full 

 of snail holes to let the molasses drain through, which 

 I keep drawn off by a tap through the bottom. 1 

 put on the top of the sugar in the box, two or three 

 thicknesses of clean, damp cloth, and over that a 

 board well fitted in, so as to exclude the air from the 

 sugar. After it has nearly done draining, I dissolve 

 it, and sugar it off again, going through the same 

 process in clarifying and draining as before." 



TENANT LABOR 



In many sections of our country, and particularly 

 m the long settled portions, there is a complaint of 

 the scarcity of laborers to secure the harvest. In 

 our love for large farms and the possession of much 

 land, we apprehend, lies the true source of this want; 

 and it can only be remedied when means are pro- 

 vided by which this labor shall be retained in the 

 country. A friend who is one of the most success- 

 ful farmers in Western New York, having been for 

 many years annoyed by the difficulty of securing 

 good and efficient help in summer, has resorted to the 

 plan of having what may be called " tenant labor.'' 

 He has several small houses suitable for a laboring 

 man and family, which he rents at a fair price per 

 aonum, on the condition that he shall have the first 

 refusal of service at a stipulated price per day or 

 month, as the case may be. In this way he is free 

 from the care and trouble of providing for a large 

 number of hired men on his own homestead, and his 

 better half is not worn down and wearied out by the 

 labor of cooking and washing for them. Mr. 0. P. 

 HoLCOMB, in his address before the Montgomery 

 County (Md.) Agricultural Society, suggests the 

 same practice, and we copy a portion of his address 

 relating thereto : 



" Let me now address yo i on a topic second, per- 

 haps, to no other in conneo 'ion with the occupation 

 we follow — I mean labor 



"Among the rules of th; Royal Agricultural Soci- 

 ety of Great Britain, settit { forth its object, is the 

 following : 



"'To promote the coi.ilort and welfare of the 

 laborers, and to encourage the improved manage- 

 ment of their cottages and gardens.' 



" If I was called on to name or point out upon 

 what agricultural success more depended than upon 

 anything else, I should say, upon the labor of the 

 farm — the farm hands, and the judicious direction 

 of them. 



" Good tillage, working crops well, and in season, 

 will not always insure great production on all land, 

 but the husbandman may undoubtedly so thoroughly 

 cultivate, by 'pulverizing, pulverizing, pulverizing,' 

 as Jkthro Tui.l has it, as to obtain the last particle 

 of the pho.sphates and alkalies the earth contains, 

 while the perfect tilth of the surface thus exposed, 

 will invite the rain and the dews in their descent to 



dress his fields with a suhsilitite for Peruvian 

 guano. 



" What, then, is the best kind of labor for us ? 

 Those who have them, and have them in sufficient 

 numbers, may use their own domestic servants, which 

 is undoubtedly good labor ; but they are generally 

 quite inadequate to the supply of the labor neces- 

 sary in the now improved condition of our farms — 

 an addition of fifty to one hundred per cent, more 

 labor being now required in carrying on the sys'tem 

 of high cultivation that has 'been, and is being, gen- 

 erally adopted, than before our agriculture was so 

 improved. I speak particularly of the northern coun- 

 ties of Maryland and of Delaware. 



" I believe that the English description of farm 

 labor is the best we can have. I mean the labor of 

 tenants — 'cottagers,' as they are called in England 

 — living on the estate. What is the objection to 

 our having this description of labor ? These Eng- 

 lish cottagers come here; the German, the Swiss, and 

 the French come. We have but to domiciliate them 

 on our estates as they were domiciliated before they 

 came. When first arrived, entertaining high expec- 

 tations, it may be necessary to let them look about a 

 while ; but in the end, if a comfortable cottage, with 

 its ample garden and neat surroundings of shade and 

 water invites them, they arc likely to settle down 

 contented, and be satisfied with moderate wages, 

 especially now since the price of produce is so 

 advanced that the laboring man, even at city wages, 

 or the price paid by manufacturers, finds it hard to 

 feed his family out of city markets at retail prices, 

 and will appreciate the advantages of a rural home, 

 where the necessaries of lite may be had so much 

 cheaper. This state of things will probably con- 

 tinue, and the landed proprietor, who has so long 

 been overbid by other interests, is likely to command 

 an abundance of this description of labor. 



"But to get a selection of the best of these labor- 

 ers — those trained from their youth up in all the 

 details of a careful and neat husbandry — it might 

 almost justify a trip to Devonshire, where farm labor 

 is said to be cheaper than in any other part of 

 England. But I would not, by any means, confine 

 the choice to foreigners. Our own countrymen, either 

 white or black, when they could be had, would often 

 be preferable. 



We must take an interest in them, and make their 

 homes comfortable. The English proprietor takes a 

 great interest in his tenants — his ' cottagers,' as he 

 calls them — and is proud to show you their neat, 

 comfortable dwellings ; and will take care, at the 

 same time, to let the gvde wife show you her neat, 

 clean cottage, her ruddy children, and cupboards 

 filled with crockery ware ; the latter — the crockery 

 ware — in the opinion of the owner of both, seem- 

 ing, however, to challenge the most admiration ! 



"Thistenantlabor is what we, in Delaware, a good 

 deal depend upon at present, especially among the 

 the larger cultivators. Twenty-five doUai-s a year is 

 the price usually allowed the landlord for the rent of 

 the house and garden ; and fifty cents a day, and 

 board, is paid for labor, furnishing regular work, all 

 fair days, for nine or ten months. Sometimes 

 through harvest, harvest wages are paid ; or where 

 the tenant is hired by the year, $130, $140, or $150 ; 



