The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-08-03

: yto make improvements drain land +,
aike compost heaps, and to yiivc their sons ,
better education.
" On this point need only remarl
tina, the best land in your State is undc,
your fences Now, were they all removed
andIthe ground they occupy in wheat and
cory, would it not bread ali the pconle oI
yogE State All through the old fields, too
and many rich spots. Our peonle have bnn'
aes mp all these, and are letting the poores,
orsne iand they had been cultvating lie
ana rest. Besides, it is nice thing to be
nd OF the briers and brush in the fence COZ.
fners, and drive out in the clean road to turn
| CScosr most observing people arc now
convinced that the injury they did their
helds by pasturing them was far greater than
| all the benefit TO their stock. If turned in
Tor only few days to CLEAN the wheat oats
and corn left, and not suffered to remain in
when the ground is wet, the damage would
DC small. But not one i'm hundred would
DC 30 careful. FOrty-fvc years ago heard
men discuss the question, why is it that
neid cleared now will not produce more than
half OF what the same kind of land in on
adjoining field produced when the country
was hrst settled? Some young men were dis.
posed to deny the fact, and hint that the
oid men had forgotten, or had fallen into
the habit of telling big stories. But MIR.
James Hamilton Lowry, of Laurcns District,
VINO was then an cid man and close obser.
tbe yee' explained it thus "Mhsn
SO loose that walking stick could easily be
run down twelve or eighteen inches. Per-
haps for hundreds of years growing roots had
been raising the ground, and as they died
and rotted they left it very open. It held
the most of the rain, and slowly supplied the
crops as needed. But by the time the cat
tie men had destroyed all the pea vines and
canes, the ground was tramplcd hard, and
ceased to produce as know it had done be-
fore" believe he was right And if you
could see the crop of vegetation on our old
fields, which were formerly clipped bare by
everybody's stock, you would think so, too
Tor vegetation growing and decaying-tho
tops above and the roots beneath the surface
is what enriches land. But when it. is
cropped off, just when starting to grow, and
the ground trampled hard, there is no chance
Which hiaaers the ieeupessasian fos "a 10 fhJJ55f
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
primcval loosencss Of the soil.
(4) While canvassing for the stock law
some asserted that the enclosed region would
soon be without laborcrs; that renters would
have no place for their stock and would move
out. But, as some of us believed, the thing
works just the other way. With us, and
suppose with you, renters had to repair fen
ccs to protect their crops. But they soon
saw that it was much easier to move old rails
and fence pasture than to repair fences
around all the fields. Nobody has ever
thought Of refusing them pasture any more
than house. Nor are the rents any higher
than when they had fences to repair. Take
a case Illustrative of many: Mr.. G., renter,
,xas much opposed to the proposed change.
He and his son went to an election aud
helped to defeat it for time in our town
ship. He boasted that he and his son could
kill the votes of the landowner 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 and a few other
farms, where owners were willing, within
the enclosure of another township. Mr.. G..
was furiously mad, and threatened to leave,
though it was the first of April. by NOV
ing about sixty panels of old fence he got
an excellent and convenient pasture, much
better than the landowner had. Still, he
grumbled; he did not like to be beat in that
way Towards the close of the year it was
signifed to him that he might go out to
where he could find things as he liked them.
But he made contract to rent over in the
township which had voted for the stock law.
However, before he moved he and his man
disagreed, but not about pasture. Then
he had to move out on a large old place,
where he could repair fences to his hearts
content. Now, guess what he did He and
an adjoining landowner, who had also been
opposed to the change, resolved on hauing a
Title fence lu,o bet,oeen themselves Accor.
dingly, they put up gates, threw an outside
fence around both places, and made them q
pastureS A mighty revolution of thoughts
and feelings in one short year was that
But this year they are happy in having th'
great enclosure extended far beyond them
And many such cases have we.
Il (5) When moving for the change
many Of us held itas theory that the stool
law wOuld enah1e not q few IN hold on q