The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-04-05
EARN. .eiARDEl,7AMD HOUSEHOLD.
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In tnis decidedly progressive age, we
think. there is great lack ofprogress man
ifested by the Southern farmer In tiae&u,-
plementS he year after yeaf rhlodS al6ng
with through the crop season. Save the
cotton.planter and guano. distributes,
(end these two are the same,l and the
sweep Therer Is hot fo,our mind single
impro yemeht-ahohgs uf-impleiments.
Indeed, the sweep is little else than the
old, old fashioned buzzard wing, or shovel
and heel sweep. When we SOW our grain,
we toss it from the hand. When we plant
corn, we drop it from the fingers. When
we harvest, we use the cradle. When SIC
break up land or cultivate the crop, we
use the single horse plough, going across
the field back and forth, three times rs
often as we should. And seldom, if ever,
do we use implements that are decidedly
labor-saving.
Why is this? Are we nti-progressive!
ls land too cheap to warrant such invest
ments? Is our labor incapable Of being
skilled to the use of such i'm plemehts
Or are we too poor to make the invest
ments necessary 7. Not one, but we inn
aglne all Of these combined reasons have
their influence Upon us. We are acctis-
toned to travel the road our ancestors
did, and any divergence from i. is risk
The hard woEkshg efacticnE fhfn1ara in
whom we have confidence don't use the
lateetaishpfoSeclchfs, !; and this shak es our
faith in thcm rs an economy. Those
who fl6o 6Sel tRetR, from some cause or
other do 80 somewhat spnsmodically, and
this gives u; nc encoa sa sSas Cement we
have 70 deal ,svith the negro, and upon
him depends our supply Of labor. And
he - averse .to progress. Improved i'm,
plements have 10 be bought, and this re-
quires the cash, which we seldom have
And 80 it goes, that we cling to our old
implements, aud are yearly falling be-
mind those who are more. progressive. f
There are many things to be done,
however, beside buying the implements
upon our farms before we can successfully
use them. The land must be prepared
for them. All roots. stumpe, logs, ROCKS,
and hundreds of little Aobstrnctibhhi
which only, show themselves wheu the
improved implement is tc; led have 10 be
removed and then some time is required
to acquire the skill to adjust and use
them. nu ,,fne) ci q ...,-.1 -.
In 1867 we purchased Stafford culti-
vator, ian awkward aud not economical
implement, but then tho best IN 1se,l and
dRrihgthe frat days use nc needed an
cxtrn hand along to caution us when we
were ploughing up tho crop. The imple-
ment was known as buggy plough, was
drawn by two horses, and ran four good
shovel f'lrows, but the work it did was
behind the door,
Instead Of being, encouraged in, the uso
OF such IN Implement, it WAS the .laughz
ing stock OF the, neighborhood. One
th6dght We shohii|now have all umbrel-
Ia ! another.suggeste d jug between our
fest 4lied' either with wliiskey or water,
or both. The negroes had objections to
it, and could not be induced to use it..
One thought he'd go to sleep in it an
.ahother know he'd break it, and it would
cost him bis years wages, &c. But we
perse7ered, and alone did the ploughing
with 1t that year Of thirty five acres Of
sorghum nrg1 five acres fp2tcotton, and
seldom ploughed over half of any one
day.
. We Subsequently purchased "Chal-
.lenge' eultiyatory which was either a
riding or walking chltivator, and found
it a great improvement upon the other.
Unable to induce negroes to use it, we
sold itgtq en- energetic young farmer, who
cultiv4t@ d full cotton Snd corn crop
with t. for several years, doing easily aft
the ploughing for crop that required
three good hoe hands.
We are satisfied that any of the i'm
proved cultivators of the present day will
perform moro and better work, where the
'iInd prepared for it, with TWO good
mules and one driver, than can be done
kjthl three mules and three drivers, each
10 aisingle old-fashioned plough. Any
of the improved ploughs that require two
torses will, with one driver, do mcfe
work in bedding up, and cultivating the
crop, then can bc done by the same two
mules and two drivers with the old fash
Toned oneEfIgfsg ploqgh stuck: Hy.0T
Our next Investment in improved i'm
plements was in reaper and mower, and
as these'w 'were mote complicated still, our
success was less than with the cultivator.
We drove the reaper successfully, but
GOULD never int'ace the freedmen to do it.
The, mower, was moro simple and was
used by them. In heavy grain, where
the land was thoroughly prepared, land
by that means made as smooth as q floor J
a aidriver and two horses will keep five
binders very busy, ind save one-fifth
moye grain than. cradles can. But in
thin, or ordinary grain, the cradle is the
best. ,.:.. IS nj, ~. ..,, i. ~ i.
Almost every farmer has his cotton
planter and he knows how labor.saYipg
It Is, even thodgh he pays, as he almost
alYgys does. twice as much for it as it is
worth. Before they wers introduced, it
was the usual praetiee tothresip in five or
six bushels Of Bod I'd the acre, By hand,
into the previously opened furrow, and
then worfys With ,tiie MB6r' '6f chopping
out the cotton Il, q stand. Now we can
if the He'd is fresh 9ndt Bile land &eal nfeg
pared, open tHoi fdrrow, drill III one To
two bushels of seed, and cover them, all
at the same operation.
Not SO, however, with corn. We still
drop the seed by hand, oftener than 9TH
erwise, dropping twice rs many seed as
necessary, and at irregular distances, and
hence there is not only an irregular
stand, but an irregular growth and yield,
some stands where less crowded growing
larger aud bearing more abundantly than
oshs:s. .c.MaA have seen on The praiFies of
ssheJ Northwest man drivsug hair of
horses witha email boy, sitting ifi7front
of the driver on the implement which
ran 45hst stego wheels swhiGh were AnSecedetf
Dy Two pioughs, and rs the boy moved a
lever, first t0 ths right and then, to tho
left, two grainB ,oH cepp wefe hrppped
from hopper into tho two newly made
furrOws, and as the horse moved forward
the corn was covered by rollers. Thus
planted and covsasd a4Sa tweI2e "a Sa RI. IF.
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