The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-12-25
PLANTATION TOPICS.
THE LABOR QUESTION IN ALABAMA.

THE LABOR QUESTION IN ALABAMA.
A committee of one of the oranges
of Alabama, to whom the labor ques
ton had been submitted, reported ,ht
following recommendation
l. The landlord should reserve tc
himself OF to his agent, the entire
control and supervision of his farm
and the right to establish such rules
and regulations for the government OF
his plantation and premises Us he may
deem proper, not inconsistent with his
contract and the laws.
2. The best method of hiring we
consider is to employ iaborers by the
year, in a contract setting forth the
duties and obligations of each party.
BY doing this way, the landlord will
better be able to have all kinds of work
done in its proper season, fences re-
paired, bitches cut and cleaned out,
fertilizers collected. and the lands prop
erly prepared for receiving seed.
3. When land is rented, if the land
owners furnish supplies to the tenant,
for his support, lie 1.-THE land owner)
should hold lien on the tenants share
of. the crop, until such supplies are
paid for as the law now sustains. If
fertilizers be bought, the tenant should
pay, pro rata, in proportion to the part
of the crop he receives.
4. Those who work on shares should
divide the profits and responsibilities
with the landlord. The rent of the
land should be epe-thirtl, when bfat-
tieable; the landowner reserving to
himself the direction of the labor,
gathering of the crops, etc.
The grange, also, resolved that its
members will not hire any labhrer who
has hired to any person until he has
filled his contract Or is liberated by
his employer.
wAsTEFut WAYS Writ MANURE.
The Buncome invention for cleaning
stables by washing the manure into the
creek, has not, we are glad to be able to
say, come into general Use; bit VI
have otiier methods of wasting the
resources of the farm, which
are only little less absurd and foolish.
One of these is exposing the droppings
Of our animals, for months, to the
alternate screenings of the sun and the
drenching of the rain, by which near
ly all the rich salts of lime; potash,
and ammonia are dissolved
and washed out. In an experiment
instituted in Scotland, to test the COM
parative' value of sheltered and unshel-
.ered manure, four acres of good soil
we're measured; two Of them were
with ordinary barn-yard
and two with an equal guam
ity of manure from covere. shed.
The whole was planted with potatoes:
The product of each acre was as follows:
'otatoes treated with barn-yard ma
lure: One acre produced two hundred
md seventy-two bushels. One acre
Produced two hundred and ninety-two
bushels. Potatoes MANFRED from the
overed. sheds. One acre produced four
hundred and forty-two bushels. One
cre produced four hundred and seven
y-one bushels. The next year the
and was sown with wheat, when the
Inference between the two plats was
more than ten bushels per acre in favor
# that MANFRED from the sheds.
HE CONDITION OF LABOR IN GEORGIA.
The Georgia state agricultural de-
'artment has investigated the condi-
ions of labor and land rent in that
tate, by means of a series of questions
ent out to its correspondents in all
'arts of the state. From the answers
o these questions, it is ascertained that
he average price paid to laborers is
or males, ten dollars per month and
'oard, and for women, five dollars and |
fly cents per month and board,
'wenty-eight per cent. of the able-bod-
I'd negro women labor in the field. In
large majority of cases, they are
ound unwilling to cook and do house
FORK. When part of the crop is Civ !
n for labor, the proportion generally |
anges from one-third to one-half. |
When land is rented for part of the
rop, the rate is most generally one
hird of the corn and one-half of the |
otton and when the rent is in cotton
one-fourth, or two bales |
} the plough. The money rent is
hree dollars per acre. To the ques-
on (Which has proved most profita-
lie, hiring for wages, cropping or rent
lg?" fifty two per cent. of the CORE
Dondents say wages, twenty-four per
emit. say cropping, and twenty-four per |
ent. say renting.
URNING PEST TO A PROFITABLE
ACCOUNT
There was large plantation near
Gina, Alabama, part Of which had
cen seeded with sorghum halapense,
r Guinea grass, (there called "John-
IN GRASP. This grass finally spread
yer the whole plantation and could
OF be subdued, which SO discouraged
he owner that he gave up the place as
tterly ruined. A Northern farmer
icing this abandoned plantation with
s luxuriant growth of grass, was so
impressed with it, that he rented the
lace for three years and prepared to
tack the planters foe, big General
+reen, and compel him to pay tribute.
[e procured mowers and hay press,
1T the grass, made an immense guam
ty of excellent hay, and is making
loney out of what had driven the
'tton grower to despair. MORAL:
you don't want to grow hay, or raise
ock, do not plant "Johnson Grass"
r sorghum halapense under any of its
Eases; but if you have it, try to turn
lie pest into blessing in the form of
'od for stock
DOG RAISING VS.. SHEEP RAISING.
The department of agriculture of
lie state of Georgia is an institution
hich the state may well be proud of,
nd commissioner Thomas P. James
evidently the right man in the right
lace. When such a bureau, with a
head, shall form part of
lie administration of every state, a
ew era will dawn upon our agricul-
ire