Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1885-06-13
lie spoke in slow, drawing way
which [ quite despair Of reproduc.

lie spoke in slow, drawing way
which | quite despair OF reproduc.
ing.
'Yis, the land is good-takes
kindly to maneHre when we git it.
Not good fur corn-five barrels is a
big crap-good fur yaller backs
(sweet potatoes), and they du say
good for all kinds Of truck; meluns,
onions, peas, beans, berries, an SIGH.
We raise WALLER backs, nothin, else
plant en- i'll March, set EN- out in
May, dig 'em in August, cart lem
down to hancock and send 'em all
over the world. Net us 80 a barrel
early, and % latter. A right smart
drap is fifty bushels to all acre;
some farmers make a thousand BAR
rels to a crop. Sometimes the crap
fails and then we don't have money
till the next crop come" The ''man.
ewre": depended OIL to: bring this,
lasscraps =; sfo1nd twas piness needles, !.
I"shadders" he called them, raked
up in the. neighboring forest and
composted with creek mud and
wood mould. Continuing, l asked
him if it would NOT be. better to
raise early vegetables and fruits,
and not depend altogether on one
crop.
"Yis, mister" he replied, "I reck-
on 'twould. Their was trucker
hyar from Jersey, last week, talkin'.
IT had that pertater patch, sez he,
Indicating IL square OF five acres),
i should put four tons of fertilizer
OH her tust thing; then. with my
peas, beans, onions, melons, aud
tomatoes, | should take 500 off her
where you get Sl0."
"And why dou't you do it?" I
asked. ''Well, mister, we don't
know how. We knows all about
lasin' yaller backs, but about the
rest we's dubersome; We amt no
money to trade off for Experiments.
Ef some Northern trucker 'ud come
down an show US low, 'twould be
q blessin', l reckon. We uns is way
down in the rut, an we can't Git out
by pullin' OH our boot straps"
I could but smile at last comics.
sion. 1t recalled a speech made Il
few weeks before which this man
had evidently heard. A party of
railway nagnates were inspecting
the road, and one was deputed to
address the farmers along the line.
He WAS very frank with them. "The
great trouble with you farmers"
he began lis that you are incorrig-
Idle lazy. Nature has done too
much for you. Fish, oyters, terra
pin in your waters, game along SHORE
Il kindly soil, render getting a liv-
ing too easy. You ought to be the
wealthiest,mostadva communi.
ty on earth; and what are you'
Content with a bare subsistence,
welded to potato raising, when
you know that one bad year will
bring sou next door to the poor
p,tU. yuu-- Un0rU. Lvu, -,s.s,-r-- So
our Of the rut, and the railroad, we
hope, will bring new ideas to you
and new methods and products to
your fields" Fancy the buzzing
such an address would have crea.
ted among Northern farmers: bnt
the men Of Accomac seem to have
accepted it as a fair statement of
their condition. They are down in
the rut, as the orator said, and they
lack the knowledge, courage, and
enterprise to climb out. They are
timorous, they have no money to
spend in experiments, they know
nothing Of truck raising or of
marketing the crop when raised, and
they are waiting patiently for some
Northern man to come down and
teach them. That is the burden of
every conversation l have had thus
far with East Shore farmers. And
yet l am assured by some who know
that if Il Northern man were to
come here and demonstrate that
some things could he done little
better than others, they would still
cling to their old ways.-New York
Evening Post.