The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1879-09-27

ENGLISH FARMERS.
A TALK WITH A PARTY WHO ARE CO.
ING TO SETTLE IN TEXAS

ING TO SETTLE IN TEXAS
From the New York Times, Sept. 10
Close upon the heels ofthe British Com
mssioners who have been sent to enquire
into the condition of agricultural classes
in this country, and to discover, if possible,
in our agricultural methods some remedy
for the depressed condition of agriculture
in England, comes large party of Eng
fish farmers, men who have for years been
struggling against fate and ill-fortune, and
who have at last determined to fully and
fairly test the experiment OF farming in
America. This party came from Liver
pool on the National Line steamer Hell
vetia which arrived in the Lower Bay on
Saturday night, and was brought to an an
chorage near the company's wharf on
Sunday. The steamer will not come to
her dock for day or two, and the far
mers win remain on board until Thursday,
awaiting transfer to one of the Mallory
steamers, to be taken to Galveston, Texas.
A reporter of the Times went on board
the Helvetia on Monday. and had long
conversation with individuals who came
from two widely separated localities in
England, and had an opportunity to see
that the men of the party were strong and
weather beaten, and unquestionably ia.
milliar with hard work Only half dozen
of them come from London or its neigh
borhood, while about 10 of them hail from
the vicinity of Durham They came in
the steerage of the vessel, choosing to
travel cheaply ard use the funds with
which they are provided in buying uten-
sils material, stock, and other necessaries,
with which to gain foothold in their new
homes. Conversation with these men, who
have been for years acquainted with all
the difficulties that tenant farmers have
been compelled to encounter, made 1T
plain that they had decided to abandon
their English homes only because they
had found that they were fighting
losing battle with circumstances
which they were powerless to over
come. They have no extravagant expec-
tations of success, but say they are resolv
ed to give the new land thorough trial.
and to do all that can be done by indus
trious, careful application, to achieve in
pendence, ifthe do not accumulate wealth.
They are by no means likely to become
dependent upon charity, for each farmer
is supplied with means beyond the amount
he has spent in acquiring land, and with
enough ready money to keep him COM
Portable until he can realize something
from his own efforts. f.
Robert Applegarth, one of the party,
replied to a number of questions with en-
tire candor and willingness, desiring, as
he said, to have news of the movements of
the party communicated to friends at home
through public medium. He is tall,
slightly bent man, with good features,
somewhat bronzed, sparse beard grow
ing on his cheeks, and full, brown mus
tache and whisker covering his mouth and
chin. He was roughly clad, and when
addressed was playing draughts in the
steerage with one of his companions.
"How was it that you came to embark
for America?" said the reporter.
'Well, sir, you see the gist of it is this:
The best land of England is now, and it
has been for years, held by the gentry.
Such lands as they can do without, that
they do not wish to preserve for hunting
purposes or for their own farms, they rent
to tenants. These tenants are generally
men whose fathers and grand fathers have
| rented and cultivated the same lands.
With them, the task has been one of con-
slant effort to make bad lands productive.
The contest has been so laborious that men
are living, and in this parry, who know
that the tenants are no better off than they
| were 40 years ago. Some of them are
poorer 1t has always been my belief that
to spend money and labor on bad land
that was naturally unproductive at the first
must end in loss. AT Durham, from which
and many of my friends in this party
have come-and they are nearly all from
the North of England-we have been
thinking of emigration for years. Still we
hesitated to break up our homes, hoping
that in time our landlords would reduce
l t1a.v re hot fIn %loo
prove, or that other circumstances would
make the outlook brighter. We have found
in recent years that while we could raise
good crops of straw we could not produce
large kernels of grain, and in spite of all
our efforts our grain was smaller and our
labor was gradually becoming less remu-
nerative. For-so time back we have
considered this situation in meetings of
farmers, and, looking about for land in
which the conditions appeared to be most
favorable, we struck upon Texas"
"Are you satisfied that the country to
which you are going has such land as you
will be able to work upon profitablyf'
ooh, yes" with hearty dialect drawl
Gone of our company has been there and
knows the country well enough. When
we were convinced that it was useless to
to continue our unequal fight with land
lords and poor lands at home, we bought
plots of Col. Kingsbury, an American in
England, and the owner of Texas lands.
Some of US bought So acres, others, 100,
and some have taken a quarter section,
paying from Ergo to f36o for the plots.
In some instances these plots have four
room cabins on them, in which families
will be able to live for awhile at the begin
ming. While we were coming away, an
other party were preparing to come, sort
ofunion having been formed, in which the
subscribers of half crown a month be-
come entitled, in sort of lottery, to the
choice ola purchase. I know of eight
men who will come out from Middleton
/ ough and Exton in week or two. and If