Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1866-11-21
FARM LABOR IN VIRGINIA.
TALK WITH THE VIRGINIA FARM Frs
| From the Richmond Dispatch.

From the Richmond Dispatch.
While the Freedmen remain with US, it is
not only interest, but duty, SO to arrange and
systematize their labor so as to make 1t as
efficient and contentcd as possible. The mode
of management on farms must, Tor efficiency,
be materially changed. There must be
diminution of numbers to feed and to supcrln-
tend. Farmers do not thrive by over cropping
in any respect, and especially IN the labor that
has to be fed and watched. Gradually the
system of neat and economical h!lage: OF reduc-
ed surfaces by fewer hands, with the concoml-
tart economy of reduced establishments in all
departments, of servants, horses, stock Of all
kinds, and even dogs, must be: adopted to IN
sure thrift The stables, barns, store houses,
and Offices must all be compacted and brought
under the immediate eye Of the farmer; the
ways to them all should be good and dry at
all scasons-the agricultural implements, gear
inc, and vehicles should be sheltered the
stables neat and dry; the milch COWS also shell
tered, at all events for the milking-and all Tor
what? Why, to diminish the labor and time
required for these matters, and OF course the
number Of persons necessary for them. Much
of the domestic operations Of farm so organic
ed can be carried on by the farmers own
family lud whatever men may say, we have
to come to that BY this compactlr s OF build
ings necessary for the farm, the property
placed in them is safer. And this is time
that renders locks necessary, and requires the
vigilant watchfulness Of the household. Yonr
unlocked corn cribs and smoke houses arc no
morc--they belong to the past.
The freedmen should he comfortably pro-
vided for Norman should keep more III his
employment than he needs, and they should be
so comfortable as to take away the temptations
to steal They should be comfortably lodged,
and at, O. sufficient distance from the main
ediGcc to preserve respect, and with sufficient
decencyr to encourage their own self-rcspcct. -
Interest and humanity alike dictate this.
This is the time when we must learn the adj
vantage to grow out Of keeping things and
beings on farm in order and comfortable.
Policy should now take the form of reason and
common sense as the best guides to quiet, Or
der, and thrift. Laborers we'll fed and fairly
pad-cattle few, and we'll lighthouses and
shelters, not too large, neat and in good order
all sorts of supplies and all sorts of nipple
ments carefully kept--and small surfaces we'll
titled, is the code for thrift and comfort. Its
opposite leads to disorder and ruin. This pol
icy, always good. is now indispensable. Every
body must get along we'll under this system,
and to this pointit becomes every farmer to
exert every means to bring himself and all
under him 1t cannot be done ut once. The
old architecture and order of arrangement on
the farms stand at present in the way. Sub
division and modification will be the work OF
time. But those men who get yer the dlth-
culties and reach the goal first VIII enjoy the
bene6cent result Of the changes Let them
remember that there is no property in negroes
nova aact they all have learned by this time.
That The freedman must be the laborer in
Virginia for years is plain; and it is idle for
the farmer to pursue chimercal speculation as
to the introduction of white labor. That must
come slowly, and it must come in one broad
breasted wave from the Potomac. 1t cannot
be introduced in circles in the midst OF the
black population. 1t cannot withstand the
contact 1t is demoralized by association and
rendered unreliable, or becomes disconnected
and departs 1t must come, in this wave from
the North. And when we remember the COM
plete system by which the current Of emigra
ton is directed to the great agricultural fields
of the Northwest, we cannot hope to divert
more than some very small rills to our own
agricultural districts. Patience and good
management with our present labor will sus-
tain us in the interim, and bring us up out of
the Slough of despond' into which the war
has driven our noble, brave-heal'ted, and ener-
getie farmers. a a's& Fl iai.a1
DOTON1AC C HERRING