Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-11-17
AT THE SOUTH IN WAR TIMES.
Some of the Makeshifts Of the Dark
and Troublous Days.

threshigg the wheat. While some could
"thrash" and ''fan" at their gin houses,
there were those who would bide the time
for the travelling thresher to come around.
Others whose sowing and reaping was on
a small scale would maui the wheat out
] with fails of their own make. One day,
! says the writer, correspondent OF the
| Philadelphia Times, we went TO see the
| threshing arrangement one woman whose
| husband and sons were in the army had
devised. We found the room carpeted
with sheets and tapestried with coverlets
and the woman seated in chair, with
common-slZed barrel before her.
| A sheaf OF wheat was in her hands and
she was pounding the grains OF wheat out
| over the barrel. She would in this primi-
tive way fail as much as two or three
| bushels and then spread the sheets on the
| ground in the open air, the wheat being
! poured on in a continuous stream. The
| wind acted as great fan and carried the
! chat lightly away. The wheat being
| ground at some Touring mill would last
! her quite awhile. When used up the
| same rude failing would be resorted to.
! Hundreds during the war threshed in the
| same primitive manner. Notwithstand-
| ing the South put forth her best energies
| to the raising of wheat, -four was scarce.
| 1t is amusing to think of our resort for
Meal would be sifted through a tine sieve,
again through a fine muslin cloth aud
mixed up with scalding wafer to make it
| more yiscid and adhesive. When finished
of with the rolling pin and baked brown
1t was by no means bad substitute for
| flour pie crust. For want of rice mills TO
| strip the coarse husks from the rice,
wooden mortars had to be used. A tree
OF the proper size would be felled, from
which block of suitable size would be
sawed. A cavity would be followed with
an adZe in the end, and il would be made
smooth by burning with fire for the want
of better polishing tools. Then the
charred surface would be scraped
smoothly and evenly, and the hollow
freed from the coal dust. The ''pestle."
made perhaps from the bow of the same
tree, completed the rice mill. The
rough rice, pounded in such rude
mOrtars and wInnowed by the wind, was
very nice. Mills had also to be erected
Tor crushing the juice from sugar cane.
Wooden cylinders were almost univer-
sally used, as those of iron were scarcely
Obtainable during the war. While
wooden cylinders were not satisfactory,
as all the juice of the cane could not
thoroughly be pressed from the crushed
cane, the farmers cheered themselves
with the idea that there was no great
loss, as the swine could draw from it the
leavings. The furnaces for syrup and su-
gar polling were raised Of rocks, If brick
we're not convenient, though many small
brick yards were put in operation during
the tour years of che war Long wooden
troughs, followed from trees, were also
indispensable for pouring the syrup
from the boilers to cool. The
syrup was thick and clear. The sugar
was unavoidablY brown, as there was no
means in the great stress OF the times OF
lnlo RI Fxyip h.
work long smooth oak splits, cut thin
from the top to the bottom of the barrel
| filled with the homemade sugar, to aid
| the dripping and to better tree the sugar
| from moisture. There as pleasing and
| gratifed delight among the planters
when they had been successful in making
their sugar very light and dry, and it not
| intrequently happened that on a neighbor
| calling the first thing after the conven.
tional greeting would be TO bring forth a
| small package of his make of sugar
wrapped in brown paper.
Our writing paper was also brown, as
well as the school books printed in the
| South during the war, because we could
| not buy nor make white paper The
castor-bean plant, being native to the
| South, growing luXuriously in the wild
| state, was soon brought into cultivation,
| and from 1t was extracted u pure, thick
and transparent castor oil. AS leather
| and shoes soon became high-priced
farmers were reduced to the necessity OF
tanning their own leather for home use
| as we'll as in lending their aid In supply
ing the soldiers OF our army with shoes.
| There were many tanneries put in opera
ton during the war. Yet every
farmer could not carry the
| few hides he might have
to the tany ards. So the question was how
to tan them at home. The hides were
soaked for a few days in a barrel OF
! water in which some very weak I've. fl
tered from wood ashes, had been mingled.
| The hair was then easily removed. l may
| also add that few hides were then passed
| by as useless. The home process OF tam
ming was perhaps as primevaI as that be-
| longing to the earliest ages. A pit of
| size TO suit the number of hides would be
dug in the ground near spring or stream
of water. l have heard many say they
never bought better leather that that
tanned by their simple method.
saddles were repaired or made
| anew, gear OF all kinds used
on the plantations mended or newly
| made; harness Tor wagons, buggies and
| carriages to make and keep repaired-the
army wagons and the outfit Tor cavalry,
| together with shoes for our army and the
home ones. 70 meet the demands il is no
| wonder that the hides of horses, mules
and hogs were utilized. AS no shoe
blacking or polish for shoes could be
bought during the war, the want OF black
| ing was supplied with SCOT aud oil mixed.
| The shoes would then be polished with
the SCOT backing, The polish, thin
paste made OF -four, would be applied,
and when dry the shoes presented as black
and as glossy an appearance as if"shined"
| by the best of boOtblacks. Obtain
ing salt was at times quite a bother,
especially TO those remote from the sea-
coast. There are those who will yet re-
m mber digging up the salty soil OF the
smoke house and placing it in hoDpers.
| After passing through the process OF per-
collation. the brine was boiled down to the
proper consistency, poured into shallow
vessels and placed In the sun for evapora-
ton 10 perfect the rest. The salt rom
such crude proceedings was all that
could be desired, II not of snowy white-
ness, and served well to tide over the
emergency.
Found Well-Eilled Pocketbook.