The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1877-08-07

than half Of what the samo kind Of
land in an adjoining field produced
when tho country was first settled ?
Some young mon woro disposed to
deny tho fact, and hint that the old
men had forgotten, or had fallon
into the habit Of telling big stories.
But MIR. james Hamilton Lowry, of
Laurens District, who was thon an
old man and q close observer, OK,
planned it thus! "Whon 1 was u boy
the untrampled earth was almost
everywhere SO loose that walking
stick could easily bo run down
twelve or eighteen inches. Perhaps
for hundreds Of years growing roots
had been raising the ground, and as
they died and rottcd they left it
very open. 1t held the most of the
rain, and slowly supplied tho crops
as needed. But by tho time the
cattle men had destroyed all tho
pea vines and canes, the ground was
tramplcd hard, and ceased to pro-
ducc as L know it had done boforc."
L believe he was right And if you
could see the crop of vegetation on
our old folds, which were formerly
clipped baro by cvcrybody's stock,
you would think SO too; for vegota-
ton growing and decaying-the
tops above and the roots beneath
the surfacc--is what cnrichos land.
But when it is cropped off, Just
when starting to grow, and tho
ground tramplcd hard, there is no
chance for the lands improvement.
Now, that which hinders the re.
cuperation of old fields can not be
good for titled land. Let no hoof
go on it, only to haul out manure.
till the land and gather in the crop;
then far less subsoiling will be
necessary to maintain the primeyal
looseness Of the soil
~ While canvassing for the stock
law some asserted that the enclosed
region would soon be without labor
crs that renters would have no
place Tor their stock and would move
out. But, us some of us believed.
the thing works just the other way.
With US, and I suppose with you,
renters had to repair fences to bro.
tect their crops. But they soon SAW
that 1T was much easier to move old
Rails and foncc pasture than to
repair fences around all their fields.
Nobody hns ever thought of refusing
them pasture any moro than q
house. Nor arc the rents any high
en- than when they had fences to
repair. Take q case illustrative of
many: Mr.. g., renter, was much on,
posed to the proposed change. He
and his son went to an election and
helped to defoat it for time in our
township. He boastod that he and
his son could kill the vote of the
land owner and another tenant as
often as they wished to try that
thing. But the law provided for it,
and it was convenient to take that
md few other farms, whore owners
were willing, within the enclosure
of another township. Mr.. @. was
iurlousl y mad, and threatened to
leave, though it was tho first of
April. BY moving about sixty
panels Of old fence he got M oxcei-
lent and convenient pasture, much
botter than the landowner had.
Still, he grumbled he did not like
to be beat in that way. Towards
the close Of tho year it was signified
to him that he mightgo out to whore
he could find things rs no liked
them. But he made contract to
rent over in tho township which had
voted for the stock law. However,
before he moved he md his man dis.
agreed, but not about pasture,
Then he had to move out on o. large
old place, whero no could repair
fences to his hoarts content. Now,
guess what he did He and an ad-
joining landowner, who had also
been opposed to the change, resolved
on haosng q little fence lao betaoeem
themselves. Accordingly they put
up gates, throw an outside fence
around both places, and made O.
pasture. A mighty revolution of
thoughts and feelings in ono short
year was that But this year they
are happy i'll having the great en-
closures extended far beyond them.
And many such cases havo we.
(5.) Whom moving for the change,
many Of us hold it as theory that
the stock law would enable not a.
few to hold on 70 forn,a from ,ub;ch