Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-11-30
NEGRO share Farmer-


rlst has lately been making a tour of the
state OF Georgia, and looking after Geor-
gla agriculture in general, and the share
farming system in particular. Touching
the latter he saws:
The changes wrought by the civil war
In the South have produced one char
acter whom we found one of the most
interesting studies of recent trip
through the South. We allude to the
negro snare farmer. At home, in mis-
ramshackle cabin, among his lean pigs,
MS bony cattle and his always numer-
GUS family, or in the market place, with
MS spike team, often composed of a mule
and COW, which he has driven a long
days journey to sell dollars worth Of
wood or a couple Of bushels of potatoes,
ne presents grotesgue and interesting
type. 1t would be difficult, probably, to
get down to poorer and less profitable
agriculture than the share farmer prac-
tees. But he manages to scrape a living
out OF the ground, exactly how he would
perhaps sometimes find it difficult to ex-
plain himself
You come upon his cabin among the
pine woods, with patch of scraggv corn
behind 1t, and the ground around streWn
with faggots, among which pick stray
Cling crew OF rusty fowls. A couple of
ours bark furiously at you, and a couple
Of pigs, which look like dogs, they are so
bOny and long-legged, trot granting
roof is sagging on its yielding beams;
there are great assures in the mud
plastered chimney, and the wind
finds ingress through the cracks between
the slabs and logs of the walls, from
which the mud has fallen. The cOmmo-
ton YOUR approach has aroused brings a
troop of children tumbling over one an
other out into the road, to watch you with
wide open mouths and eyes, and shrink
ing back when you look at them. A
sturdy negress, with a cob pipe,
gives you a courtesy in the door
way; behind her you see a figure like
the witch of a fairy tale covering in the
big fireplace; the figure Of some old grand
mother or grandfather, carrying the
weight of nearly century on bent back.
AS you ride on you perhaps come upon
the farmer, sturdy and uncOuth, hoeing in
his potato patch, or wandering among his
corn or cotton.
The share farmer obtains his title from
the tenure by which he holds his land. He
rents it at the simple price of half its
yield. 1t is commonly portion of some
large plantation, often of the same one on
which he once labored.
The real crop of a share farmer in this
section is cotton. The farmer raises corn
and sweet potatoes for himself and brutes.
and only enough for them. The rest of his
land he puts in cotton. Half the product
goes to the landlord, and often enough it is
avery poor rental indeed. The years crop
OF many share farmer never rises above
two bales. The landlords, as far as we
could discover, are easy-gOing and indul-
gent. They levy no tax on the food crop
of the tenant, and not rarely get the
smaller bale when division day comes
around. The farmers share of the cotton
is commonly bought up by travelling
agents, who scour the country in search
of just such bargains. The farmer gets
as little for it as the agent can persuade
him to take.
The share farmer sends his cotton to the
nearest gin, which generally belongs to
his landlord, and there the division of the
crop is made and a toll levied on it for the
cleaning. The very poorest qualities Of the
fibre produced are probably those which
come from these wretched settlements
But the price of his cotton crop is about all
the ready money the share farmer ever
sees, and it sutfices to supply his home with
those meagre necessaries he cannot grow
or make himself. Formerly the women
on some OF these share farms used to spin
and weave portion of the cotton for their
own use, but the introduction of factories
has made cloth cheap enough to be bought
by them in small quantities as it is needed.
The system of share farming has given
existence to another type besides the
farmer himself. This is the banker, as
he calls himself; the usurious money
lender, as he really is. This worthy.
like the class he thrives off of, is a
negro. lie is in small way a capitalist,
and his business is simply lending
money on the security of the share
farmers crop. Few of the thriftless
blacks can resist the temptation of an
ticipating their gains, and the banker is
an obliging friend, when he considers it
safe to be so. In business he is, by all ac-
counts, desperately hard and grinding,
otherwise he is eminently respectable
and net infrequently a preacher of no
little local fame. Between the money he
owes this creditor and his store account
for mOlasses, tobacco, etc, also secured
by his crop, the share farmer is often saved
the trouble of handling any money at all
for it when it has been gathered.
Such as it is, the existence of the negro
share farmer is not devoid of elements of
picturesqueness. His labor is hard and
his fare coarse, but he is tough, rude
man, and has no craving for unknown
luXuries. Among the fOgs of early day
he is at work; when night falls he fiddles
or crOOns his simple melodies before the
yawning fireplace of his cabin. He gen
orally has an old gun and wages war upon
such game as the woods around him shell
ter. What little leisure he enjoys he spends
in sleep. In the scale of education he
ranks very low. He cannot read or write.
His ideas are frequently clOuded by super
stitiOn, though quite often he exhibits a
peculiarly keen native wit and cunning
which make him great bargainer, and
stand him in good stead in his dealings
with men of better knowledge. His dress
is a mass of patches and of rags. But he is
as well dressed as his neighbOrs and has
no ambition to Guido them. His children
wear single garment, shirt of coarse
cotton, apparently never washed. The
women folks own dress of calico each,
and snowy cotton handkerchief and
shoes for state occasions. If the farmer
has any money he ties it up in old rags
and hides it in holes in lis fireplace or
under the hearth. Raking out his money
at night and counting it by the freight
is his greatest, perhaps his only luxury.
But we have forgotten to mention the
circus!
Even the contemplation of his boarded
dimes,- quarter, half dollars and dollars,
does not confer on him the bliss which
the tenting season brings with it. From
miles and miles around on circus day the
share farmer will travel to town. He
will bring his whole family with him,
from grandsire to sucking, park
his wagon in a suburb or public
square, along with scores like
him, the night before the eventful occa-
sion. One might fancy he was in some
captured town in war time to strike such
a camp at night, with its camp fires blaz-
ing, its cattle picketed around, and the
campers busy preparing the evening
meal, or later slumbering around
tho flames like soldiers SInaninU on
their arms. The share farmers one
vice is that of all his class. He will
drink. But even his drunkenness is rather
grOtesque and amusing than disgusting.
Still, with all his faults and weaknesses,
the share farmer contributes nothing to
the criminal or dangerous elements of So
ciety, but preserves a primitive honesty
and decency which are both noteworthy
and praiseworthy.