The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-01-02
DAVID DICKSON.
Some Practical Views ELECTED from the
Great Farmer.

county, georgia, VINO mas long oeen con
sidered the first planter in the South
The following published account of the
correspondents interview with Mr.. Dick.
son will be read with interest:
Thinking brief respite from the
monotony of dull town would be both
healthful and pleasant, your correspon-
dent planned and executed visit to
Mr.. David Dickson.
Mr.. Dickson has long been considered
the first planter in the South. He has
won his way to that proud distinction,
not by long spun theories, peddled out
in journals and reviews, but by the de-
m0nstration of practical success, which
is, after all, the true test L f merit.
Mr.. Dickson is remarkable man,
considered from almost any point Of
view. His physical organization is tex
turally fine. His appearance is striking
and commanding. lie would arrest the
eye in any assemblage Of men. He has
the broad, honest, intellectual face of
the genuine Anglo. o.Saxon, of which race
he comes. His cast of mind is hardy
and practical, as is evinced by the great
prominence of the perceplive organs.
He is, cminently, a man of affairs, view
ing all questions in the light of reason
and common sense.
Mr.. Dickson is one OF the few planters
of the South who has kept up the large
farming operations Of ante-bellum days !;
and Notwithstanding the stringency of
the times and recent seasons of drouth,
has managed to make money on every
crop he has ever grown, with the single
exception of the present year. His en-
tire farm, covering an area of 10000
acres, presents everywhere the appear
ance of thrift and enterprise, in striking
contrast to the dilapidated and efIete
plantations contiguous 10 il. His fences
appear in good repair; neat and commo-
dious cabins dot his place from centre to
circumference. Water gins and saw
mills of the most approved pattern are
whirled by every stream that waters his
domains. Ponds five in number), with
fish in abundance, and constructed at q
total cost of $50 900, upturn their silvery
faces from between the hills, and in the
expressive language of Byron, "Warm
up with their stiffness, to forsake earth's
troubled waters for a purer spring" All
of these objects. combining the useful
and beautiful, render a ride through Mr..
Dickson's farm most delightful and in
terestiug pastime. Your correspondent
had the pleasure of this jaunt in compa-
ny with the proprietor and took advan-
tage of the time and occasion to ply him
with the following interrogatories:
"Mr. Dickson, you are the only plan
ter in the State who has farmed on an
extensive scale that has managed to keep
up. What do you attribute your success
to?"
"Well, I don't know, unless it is to
financiering. I make calculations and
steer clear of what don't pay"
"Do you expect to make large gains
now as you did years ago."
"Oh, no. 1t is out Of the question for
e farmer to make money now on hired
labor and the price OF the products Of
that labor. The price of labor and the
other necessary expenses aggregate, IN
most instances, more than the entire pro-
duct of that labor will bring. expect
to get my rents"
"What is your plan of renting?'
"Well, l furnish the land, the agri-
cultural implements, the horse and its
feed, together with two-thirds of the
guano. The renter furnishes the labor
and feeds it, and one third of the guano.
At the end of the year take two-thirds
of all of the crops, and give the laborer
one.:hird. In other words, / rate the
land at one-third, the horse and its feed
and the agricultural implements, black
smithing, &c, at one-third, and the labor
at one-third and rent upon this princi-
pie. I think this is the fairest system Of
renting that can be devised"
"Who gathers the crop?"
"Of course the laborer does the gath
ering. I calculate that in as part of the
labor. One of my hands not long ago
gathered his third of the corn and left
my two.thirds standing in the field. AT
the end of the year, he came back to
rent again. l told him no, he had dug
his own grave. Yes, sir, the laborer
must perform the whole of his contract,
which includes the making and gather
ing of the entire CROP"
"What is the plan you would advise
the farmers to pursue another year?"
"In the first place 1 would advise
them to increase the capacity of their
lands. Rich land is the best labor
saving machine l know Of for.the pres
ent generation and for posteri,y. Sec
ond, pay the laborcr, if he hires for
wages, in the products of the land, then
he shares with you the loss occasioned by
low prices"
"What is hand worth for another
year?"
"The way to estimate that is 10 caleu-
late what an average hand will make an
average year. l calculate it this way
One hand will make three bales of cot
ton, fifty bushels of corn and three thou
sand pounds of oats. Now, take the
third of that and you have what an
average hand is worth"
allow is it you can get 50 much work
out of your hands? notice you culli-
vatc more land to the plow, and do it
better than anybody else:'
"Well, in the first place, l try 10 get
willing but active hands. | then take
especial pains to train them to be ex-
pe,ts--to do everything in the shorHst,
the best, the easiest and the most effica.
cious way. Why, there is skill in farm
ing as there is in everything else. Be-
fore the war, when l made specially
of it, my hands cut with more facility,
plowed with more accuracy, hoed more
rapidly and picked more cotton than any
hands ever saw. I trained them to do
everything the right way and on scien-
tilic principles. Of course can't man.
are free labor so efficiently, hut you can
still see some signs of my old method"
GLOW is it you make so much more to
the plow than anybody else ?"
"Well, if that is so, 1 attribute it tc
two causes: First, I cultivate more land
to the plow; my system of shallow cu!'