The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1868-08-05
The Wages System of Planting.

The Wages System of Planting.
The orangeburg Ne,us publishes the
following thoughtful article on the subject
of the awages" system of planting. We
agree with the writer in saying "what we
need in this district is progress in farming
as in everything else:"
After careful notice of all the various
systems which have been the subject OF
experiment in our country since emancipa-
ton. in order to make the labor of the
freedmen available for the cultivation of
our lands, and after numerous converse
tions with the most successful and unsuc-
cessful planters in our vicinity, it seems to
us very evident that there is but one sys-
tenn of agriculture that fully remunerates
the planter for his outiays of capital and
superintendcnce, and that is system of
wages by the mouth, and leave to dis
charge or to quit at the expiration of any
month upon reasonable notice. There
is no use in arguing about the laborers
sharing the risk of failure in the contract
system strip it to the naked truth, it is
copartnership between employer and
employees. AS we'll might a merchant
agree to give set of clerks, picked up
promiscuously here and there, a share of
his profits instead of a stated salary. And
although you may say theoretically, in the
contract system that the employee shares
the risks of failure, is it really the case
practically? By no means, for, on failnre
of the crops, the laborer has to live; and,
at the end of the year, the employer will
sad his hands indebted to him, and unable
to paw, or that his corn has been stolen in
his fields, or his barns broken open, to make
the freedmen come out square and to throw
the loss on the employer. E
1t is fast becoming a selfevident fact
that the contract system is a curse to the
community. 1t is the fruitful source of
half the stealing in the country. Does any
one suppose that the freedmen, if found
by their employers in rations, and paid
small sums of money through the year,
will indulge in as many burglaries and
stock-killing scrapes as is now the case?
By no means. Let the employees be fed
by the employer, in stipulated rations,
and let him pay them even portion OF
their wages monthly, and you will see
complete change for the better In the
whole agricultural system of the country.
But one will say, that he has no money
to pay wages. The objection is worth
nothing. Many a man has had no corn
and provisions on which to commence his
farming operations did he not get tadvan-
ces I? And if he were destitute now, would
ho not apply to some source for advances? :?
Well. he can get advances Of money, as
we'll as of corn or bacon, and probably at
cheaper rates.
We have lately visited by invitation the
plantation of DR.. William F. Barton, who
has tried the wages system this year with
marked success. So completely satisfied
is he of the advantages it possesses over
the Contract system" that he says he
would rather quit the country than return
to so Improbable plan. DR.. Barton has
under cultivation fifty-three acres of corn
and forty.one acres of cotton, besides rice,
potatoes, &c, and all in the most comp lete
order. We walked over his plantation,
and were much interested in the narration
of the experiments made by him, in the
uses of improved implements, and in the
adoption of new systems Of culture. For
instance, DIR. Barton has planted onehalf
of his cotton crop in checks, instead of in
drills, and has worked it with the plough
both ways. In breaking up ground, instead
of relying on the old homemade plough,
he has found, by trial, that the "Brinley
Plough" kentucky invention, is the best
for our Southern soil, and that he saves
time and labor by its use. His success is
the best evidence of the correctness OF his
views on planting. His ffty-three acres
of corn will, with ordinary seasons, yield
at least eleven hundred bushels; and his
cotton will easily make bale to the acre.
In another particular, the example OF
DR.. Barton is worthy of imitation. 1t is
the iudic;ous use of fertilizers, and the
adoption of every expedient to make as
many of his own manures as possible. 10
this end. his own stables are we'll arranged
to save every fertilizlng element; and
every old bone is saved, because, by being
treated with sulphuric acid, at trlfiing
expense, valuable fertilizer is obtained.
I What we need in this district is progress
/ in farming, as in everything else. And let
us have an agricultural society, where
practical men can talk these things over,
and diffuse valuable information on these
subjects. Who will start the ball in mo-
tionp
Is THIS Gop's JuDGMENT-Mrs. Surratt
was hung for being an accomplice in the
murder Of Lincoln. The testimony on
which she was convicted was that of four
men Baker, Montgomery, Clever and
Conover,-precious scoundrels. Baker If
now dead-Montgomery is now in prison