252 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bdll. 196 



As long as he stays in the civil service, his financial future is rela- 

 tively secure, although he will probably not be able to save very 

 much money. His three oldest chUdren already have more education 

 than he has. However, he says, "They really put it to us in boarding 

 school, maybe better than they teach the kids now, I know I forgot 

 most of the Cherokee language while I was there." George's status 

 will not change much in the years to come, but he has hopes for his 

 children and wants them to "amount to something." 



ED AND MARTHA MCVEY (RURAL WHITE) 



In a small section of bottom land, yards of unbleached cloth appear 

 in early spring. The cloth shelters tobacco seedlings which are to be 

 transplanted to a field which is three-tenths of an acre. The plants 

 are tended carefully, because Burley tobacco is Ed McVey's cash crop. 

 A hundred yards away from the tobacco bed is a five-room framehouse. 

 Originally it was a clapboard structure ; now it is covered with asphalt 

 shingles of imitation brick. Siu"rounding the house are farm out- 

 buildings: a corncrib, a pigpen, a woodshed, and a small log barn. 

 Near the barn is a well-used pickup truck, the only piece of mechanized 

 farm equipment. Mules draw the plow, the cultivator, and the manure 

 spreader. In the open barn two milk cows ruminate; a brood sow 

 snuffles noisily in her pen nearby. The chickens wander unconfined 

 over the yard and on the porch of the house. 



At the edge of the road which winds into the farm is a green and 

 white sign designating this farm as an "Honor Farm." Ed is a good 

 farmer, but he suffers from the limitations of small farms everywhere. 

 Ed cannot imagine himself doing anything else but farming. His 

 elderly father, who lives with him, farmed the place before him, and it 

 appears certain that his sons wiU attempt to follow the pattern. They 

 are enrolled in the agricultural courses in the Cherokee High School. 

 In spring and fall, the busiest seasons on a farm, they often miss a 

 week of more of school in order to get the crops planted or to harvest 

 them. 



In addition to the tobacco, a field of potatoes is always planted. 

 The yield is generally more than sufficient for the family; the surplus 

 is sold to village restaurants. Field corn is always grown, for the less 

 cash Ed must put out for feed for the stock, the more sufiGlcient the 

 farm is. The products of the farm and kitchen garden meet basic 

 food needs for the family. Two or three young pigs are butchered 

 throughout the winter; the extras are sold as weaners. Enough flour 

 corn is grown to provide cornmeal for the winter. They have it 

 ground as they need it, in Whittier or Bryson City. Martha cans 

 beans, tomatoes, and wild berries in quantity. Despite their best 



