Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-08-25
Plantation Life.


fact there is no department of agricultural em-
ployment that is less so than that Of growing
cotton. from early spring day when first the
ground is broken up and the seed is hidden in
the earth, until the pressed bales are duly sold,
and the payment safely secured, it is but one
continuous season of watching and wishing, of
ceaseless care and harrassing anxiety. From
January to December there is no rest nor cesa-
tion of toll and inquietude. To the cotton
planter every passing cloud and every North
west puff isominous There is no plant more
sensitive to atmospherical changes,
"There frost, killing frost,
And nips its root,'
And the labor of the whole {" force y for weeks
is lost, and the entire field must be replanted.
The rains drown it, and the heavy showers
plough up in gaping furrows the rolling lands.
The rust sets in eating up the vital forces of
the young plant. The fierce gales blow upon it,
and the blooming bolls are scattered like thistle
down, and the stalks are leveled to the earth.
Ana bugs, and insects, and worms, and all
manner of creeping things prey upon it, and
consume the tender leaves with remorseleFs
avidity.
Yet, amid all these varied and exciting causes
for vigilance and activity, life ona plantation
is excessively wearisome and monotonous.
Perhaps planter has cleared away thou
sand acres in the very midst of forest Of
stunted pines-a plantation of white sand and
red clay, rolling in irregular swells, with here
and there an oak growth. which lines the margin
of some lime sink Or throws an unhealthy shade
over some dismal swamp-the homes of chills
and fevcrs and infectious malaria. Upon the
highest bluff which overooks the entire planta-
ton and catches each passing breeze, he piles
up his Lighthouse, small, uncomfortable, insight
ly, and " excessively cheap Near by are the
quarters" the low log houses of the negroes,
forming q long street, bordered by trees and
shrubs, and running over with young black
imps and pigs and poultry.
These are some of the planters surroundings,
more picturesque than interesting. But other
conditions and circumstances are worse still.
He may be situated miles from any nelghboring
plantation, away from the society and associa-
tion of those of his own color and position.
Thus completely cut off from communication
with the world, and entirely isolated in his Sc
clusion, he lives out MS years upon Ills grounds,
} raising the successive crop, with no thought
about it, nor ambition but to increase it. The
} varied face of the sky and the shifting phases
of the weather are better known and studied
than books and journals. The marketable
price of his crop is the most important item
in his newspaper. The worlds luxuries and
refinement he needs not even of its comforts
and necessities he is ignorant.
Now this is one view of plantation life-its
: least agreeable one and one too but little con-
sidered
Among the wealthier classes, whose broad
and well cultivated acres are in the vicinity of
cities and towns or line the great trails of trav
Ell, the view is far different and far more pleas
ant. The planter here represents the refinement
) and the learning in community. He is rich
and liberal, generous and hospitable. His
plantation is but mere winter residence to
him, and opened to every friendly acquaintance.
At the approach of the Heated Term he is
away to the mountains of Virginia, or he may
be met at Saratoga or Newport.
Often times the planters of the same district,
selecting healthy location, establish consid-
cradle community by building up settlement,
and bring together their families. By these
means they have the enjoyments and pleasures
of social communication, school for the educa-
: ton of their children and churches for worship
i have just such a community in view with its
f cluster of dwellings, erected nearly twenty
0 years ago, as a secure retreat from the ravages
r of an epidemic which at that time threatened
n to sweep through the country, Bel Air con-
sists of some thirty dwellings, which, though
n somewhat scattered, are so situated as to form
{ u complete circle, The town is built up ir
l. the midst of pine forest, whose balsamic fra.
It GRANGE is thought to bo remarkably conducive
e to health, The scenery is dull and monoto-
: nous, and the shifting sands in depth are like
a the snow-drifts of Vermont. 1t is in every
+ way opposed to any idea which any one natu-
S rally forms of a town. And yet by its very
IS sngularity it is attractive, and is eminently
d worthy of notice, In its primitive days, be-
is fore it had arrived to condition of sufficient
a dignity to assume name, it was known as
=, Scratch Ankle, by the Sapient negroes, apd
/ very appropriately too, as its irregular paths,
which wound endlessly through the forest
y were filled with peculiar vine which was
e most particularly disagreeable to the barefoot
IS ed gentry.
But the founders of Bel Air were Jealous Of
the name as well as fame of their infant settle.
= ment, and by divers threats and other persuasive
is means, Bel Air was duly incorporated into poor
is Sambo's nomenclature. The noxious weed wa.
= cxterminated, and with it departed the name
Scratch Ankle. There is no great dissimilarty
is in the construction of the houses. They arr
|, built for comfort and with no pretensions to ell
egance. Wide open passage extend through
out, terminating in kind of court. A circu
y ation of air is indispensable whenever such {
movement can be gotten up, The yards ar,
filled with variety of pleasant shade trees
If the cape myrtle, the mulberry, japonicas anc
y cape jasamines, while climbing vines af ever,
n variety and description shut out the suns glar,
from the verandahs.
Fire stands are nlaced hnth in frnnt and rea]