The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1878-02-20
FARM N HOME.
Labor Difficulties.

LaboF Orhiculties.
G. B. Fleece recently read an address
before the Shelby county grange, dis
cussing questions of mement to farmers
in which he said:
"The result of twelve years Of hard
work since the war, In every branch Of
agriculture has been a general decline
in prosperity, a lamentsble increase in
the area of worn out lard, & very meagre
increase in farm Improvements, and,
withal, a general result at onoe mortify-
ing, discouraging and unsatisfactory.
Indeed, farm laborers, and some
proprietors, far from being prosperous,
are generally poor, hopelessIy in debt or
iusolvent.
> 1--WE attribute this sad condition of
-FOUR PEOPLE, in a large measure, to the
fact that no system of labor has been
generally adopted since the substitution
Of free for slave labor, which has been
equitable. remunerative, practicable and
permanent.
Living, permanent institutions spring
from vital germs, and can no more be
manufactured to order than one can
fabricate q seed of perfect wheat from
dead earth, water and air.
We have killed one institution and
signslly failed to substitute another In
its place. We may safely say an enemy
has done this, like the man who sowed
tares in his neighbor's wheat while he
slept. No matter; the killing has
been perpetrated, and we must do
the best our circumstances will allow.
Instead Of extending the area of worn.
out land, it would be Infinitely wiser to
extend pastures for grazing sheep, cattle,
horses, mules, swine and goats. 1t wills
give us neither bread nor meat, shirts
nor ovcrcoats TO grieve over the loss Of
anything buried in the recent or remote
past. One thing is certain, we cannot
prosper by running into debt; bus may
lose all that we have left in that way.
Settle all misunderstanding between
proprietors and laborers as suggested by
Mr.. Fleece in his essay, and the work
goes IN amicably, transforming the
virgin soil into a barren waste by never
Geasing to consume and export the
elements of crops. Can agriculture,
conducted by a wise and moral people, |
do nothing better than make q desert
over the best farming and planting land
the sun shines upon for the benefit Of
posterity2 Is there no mistake in this
southern industry Deny the statement
who will, ii agricultural labor is sadly
unemployed and misdirected. The
author Of the address before us fails to
sec this pregnant truth.
Our rural economy was defect ye
when slavery existed; it is no better
now. Men who assume to know already
all that is movable, neve improve
their practice or principles. In such a
case nothing remains but for kind death
to put an end to a maIady and all
its pains, which are otherwise incurable.
This done, immigrants will come
in with less bias in favor Of tillage and
planting, less prejudice against grass and
grass culture, less antipathy to sheen.
cattle and horses, and a more just appre.
citation of domestieated ~animrals, which
have changed man from a wild flesh
eating beast of prey into a social, moral
and intellectual being Of wonderful
attainment and ambition.
Illumination, or the chewing of the
cud, is an agricultural function of ines-
timable value to man, who has no such
powers in bis person OF double mastica.
ton, and prolonged, efficient digestion.
How few appreciate this remarkable
addition 10 the vital resources or human
life In q thousand ways man can make
cultivated animals and cultivated plants
minister TO his comfort, his dignity and
powe; with very little labor on his part,
All u trouble comes from the combined
evils Of superstition and tradition
'linging 70 the errors and follies Of the
past, which act as sharp dead thorns in
living flesh. Tradition win not let the
lead bury Its dead. !