The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-11-13
During War Times.
How the Southern People Managed Various
Domestic Affairs.

Mrs. Il. d. HGy1le an Thatddetphtd 1tDleS.
All planters were required to pay by the
Confederate government tax or tithe of
one-tenth of all the grain or provisions that
was grown in the south, each town or city
having its granary where was carried the
tenth of grain, bacon, rice, syrup and SO
on to be used for the support of our army.
In southern Alabama the cultivating of the
cereals was rare thing before the war L
think the same will apply to most of the
interior southern states. But the planters
began in earnest to grow corn, wheat, oats,
rye and peas. All moist places that had
hitherto been thought fit for naught were
put into rice and sugar cane patches, and
were found to yield plentifully.. Many
farmers were surprised at the great yield of
wheat. | remember hearing one man who
lived in Troy, Alabama, tell of highly fer
tilizing one acre of common pine upland as
trial The result was seventy five bush
els of wheat. Another planter near Glenn
vile, Alabama, cut fifty bushels of wheat
from one acre he had enriched.
OF course there was some bother about
threshing 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
small scale would maui the wheat out with
fails of their own make One day 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 sized 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
primitive 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 the great fan and carried the
chaff lightly away. The wheat being ground
at some Touring mill would last her quite
a while. When used up the same rude
failing would be. resorted to. Hundreds
during the war threshed in the same prim-
tive manner
the juice from the sugar cane. Wooden
cylinders we're almost universally used, as
those of iron were scarcely obtainable du-
ring the war. While wooden cylinders
were not satisfactory as all the juice of the
cane could not be thoroughly 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 leayings. The furnaces for syrup and
sugar boiling were raised of rocks, if bricks
were not convenient, though many small
brickyards were put in operation during
the four years of the 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 clarifying it, | have
seen the planters work long smooth oak
splits, cut thin from the top to the bottom
of the barrel filled with the home made
sugar, to aid the dripping and to better free
the sugar from moisture. There was a
pleasing and gratifed delight among the
planters when they had been successful in
making their sugar very light and dry and
it not infrequently happened that on u
neighbor calling the first thing after the
conventional greeting would be to bring
forth small package of his make of sugar
wrapped in brown paper Another indus
try of the south that the exigency of the
times called up was that of pottery, which
if not food and clothing, was quite service
able. Of course the earthenware then pro-
duced was coarse and brown, the enamel
with which it was glazed would have caused
a smile of disdain, perhaps, from the an
cient Etruscans, but ours was time of
necessity, and there were events of more
moment to occupy the thoughts than worry
over the rough glazed earthenware There
being no way of getting hats or bonnets,
and those we had at the beginning of the
war becoming too much worn for further
renovating, other expedients for the head
wear had to be devised, and it was sur
prising the variety of material that could
be used for hats, caps and bonnets.
There was palmetto, wheat and oat straw
and corn husks. Even the long leaved
pines, when neatly braided were not to be
scorned. We soon became quite skilled in
the varied designs of palmetto and straw
braidings, which besides making hats, was
also used for making baskets, fans and
mats. Hats and caps were made of cloth.
The 'bonnet squash" known by some as
the spanish dishrag,' y was grown by some
for making bonnets and hats. They were
really beautiful, appearing as network of
gossamer. There were those who would
make the frame of the bonnet, then cover
with the down and small white feathers of
the goose. Larger feathers were used for
trimmings, and they were by no means
rustic looking. We also CLEANED a knowl-
edge of the "willow wickerwork," and
baskets of many shapes and sizes went
forth of our make. A neighbor, out of
the willow twigs, wove the body for her
babes carriage. We soon learned to make
fans of the wing feathers of the geese.
When the feathers were mature we would
pluck them, being very careful in plucking
to string the feathers one by one as they
we're taken out All the right wing feath-
ers were placed on one string and the
left wing feathers on another string, so
that when we arranged the feathers for
making the fan each feather could be
placed in its proper place and would have
the fitting curve We soon became quite
skilled in the art of making fans. Beside
those for home use we made and sold in
the city of Eufaula many fans for as much
as SO and SIS apiece. made one for
my mother of the dark olive-green feathers
of the peafowl. The handle covered with
piece of dark-green silk velvet. On
either side where had joined the handle
and feathers l placed rosette made of the
small green and blue variegated feathers
that adorn the neck and breast of the pea
fowl.