The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-12-10
a Growing Evil.
Souther Cultivator.

sections OF our country with desolation
/ We lave in mind Middle and Southern
Georgia, while we write, but the facts
/ we fear, apply very generally TO the old
cotton States. A casual Observer
/ Traveller disporting over the country on
/ tast railroad trains and stopping here
! and there Tor rest or pleo.ure might very
( lnnocently set 1t down as the peoples
craze tor city life, but the more thought
} iul lind deep seated causes for it. and
estimate its results with fears which thev
; know not how to quell.
I Large bodies of land which once made
/ their owners rich, aow scarcely Weld
/ subsistence to the thriftless tenants that
occupy them. Settlements where once
social influences were good, churches and
schools hourished, and children wera
reared with strong attachments TO home
and rural scenes, are now mere wrecks
( With possibly two or three proprietOrs
who either live in town or seek in town
/ for themselves and their families all
( their social, educational and church
/ privileges. The country Il being bereft
( Of the more thrifty of the white popu
latlOu; fine houses, once the home OF
4 refinement and luxury, are going TO de-
cay without an occupant, save few
cOiOrtd people who lie abont in the
shade Of the weed-cOyered yard during
/ the suwmer, and burn the palings OF the
elegant yard and garden during the
winter As soon as the farmer makes
/ money enough 10 set up little business
/ ln town, or 70 buy four room house,
/ ne sells or leases his farm and invests his
/ all in some business which he does not
/ understand. or locates his family in town
I IN the vain expectation Of playing the
part of an absentee landlord on a small
scale His neighbOrhood is run down,
/ The school in il Is broken up and the
/ church is abandoned, and the poor who
! are not able to get away are left
+ without the benefit of strong
leader or the stimulus of a thrifty
example. This disintegration of the
/ country settlements is taking place
I annually, and that, too, in the face of the
/ fact that well conducted farm is by far
/ the most profitable industry in the cot
ton states 1t can be demonstrated from
4 he figures OF Commissioner Henderson,
/ of the Bureau OF Agriculture of Georgia,
/ chat tie average farming of Georgia last
/ year yielded on thirtytw acres of cul-
JIyaled lands 1854 %, with all the lazi-
/ ness and mismanagemen of idle negroes
and thrlftlc-s white people to bring
/ down that average while, on well con
Quoted farms the yield on the same
amount of land was double that sum, or
about 81, 5000. Experiments have
shown that even this last sum can be
! doubled on thirty-two acres in the course
/ of four or five years-an increase which
cannot be excelled by any other indus
I Try. Yet this fair domain is being given
d TO
/ greater part, not improved. Can any
/ hing be done to stop this ruin? Yes
/ that is, if we viii. First of all we must
stop decrying Agriculture as profitless
vocation. We must cease to bring the
/ false accusation against the ground that
! IL will not repay the tiier's toll. 4
| thousand false ALLEGATIONS have been
( brought against il since the war; it has
been made TO bear the sins of idleness,
! OF avarice, of iiicgitimate speculation
and eNtrayagance, until the young peo
/ pie who have grown up under the grunt
and mutterings OF these murmurs, have
/ come TO look upon farming as the GER
tain road To hopeless poverty.
Let the farmers themselves turn their
attention 10 their farms, improve them,
/ Improve surroundings put all their
/ surplus income back into their farms to
make them more attractive and more
profitable, and appear like people settled
,or life, and talk TO their children about
the future Of their neighborhood as a
place to become desirable to spend life
time in. Let the schools and colleges
foster the agricultural spirit in our
Juuth, not by the experimental patches,
particularly, though properly con
IUctcd experimental farm is a good
ghiug, but by lectures aud speeches and
she fullest information on the subject of
! the various Industries of the country
Farming could not suffer by contrast in
any proper array of facts and figure.
Ii we were called upon to deliver com
nencement address at any one 0 our
colleges, we would not want a more
fruitful theme than the Georgia farm
and the home on it,
But fair as our landed estate is, teem-
ing with millions Of wealth and waiting
only the gospel of the plow, it win al
no distant day become IA dangerous
thicket Of poisonous weeds and prickly
thorHs, with dangerous population
cumt ering it, if we do not overcome
some predjudices and go to work in
common-sense way to meet and over
come the difficulties growing out of our
changed condition. We can, this week,
specify but one thing. say what we
may, men who can help themselves will
not settle their families scattered miles
apart ia the country. EXigencies of
business sometimes requires the absence
from home OF the head of the family;
and they will not leave their wives and
daughters exposed to the hazards Of the
night, nor will their families be satisfied
with constant issolation from society
Nagabond negroes, whose numbers will
probably increase rapidly in the next
score of years, aud equally dangerous
white tramps, make it unsafe. Can this
insecurity and aud all the disadvan-
Jages of isolation in the country be
obviated? Yes, easily, if men will try.
Let whole neighborhoods come together
and in the spirit of fairness and com
mon sense agree to re survey of their
lands, so as to give every land owner
building on the main road leading to
market, and let chem build along the
road side by side, and facing each other
, 50 as to give the road the appearance of
, | a long street. Let the lands run back
! intersected with cross roads with houses
on them for their tenants, where the ten
: antsare employed. This will give beauti
o tul couutry-the roads will soon be made
ike well paved streets, school houses
- and churches will be built at easy dis
q tsnces, soicety viii be all that a refined
n people desire, and protection will be
0 ample to widows ana all families whose
? male protectors happen to be away.
r But some men would see the whole
: country 60 to the dogs before they
would agree TO change their old land
' lines a single rod. Well, bear with
. them-get along without them, give
y them the go-by, carry out the plan as far
, as 1t can have the free'consent of all con-
: cerned, and a change for the better can
D be commenced which will after awhile
: force its own way TO consutnmation.
; What q beautiful land we might have;
d let It's not despair of it, but let the
7 farmers stand by their farms, enrich and
e improve them, and leave Them heritage
|, of beauty and profit to their children.
WARM stables save fodder.
JosEPH HARRIS saws one plowing when
q the land is dry is worth two when it is
? wet.
!, GooD carriage horses are scarce, and
: prices are likely to rule higher for some
\ time to come than in the past few years
: The borrowing farmer, remarks the
d Farm Journal, is nuisance, and ought
,e to be suppressed. Stop the annoyance
is by refusing to loan.
IS The Chicaro Industrial News gives the