Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-01-23


patient tilling of the earth and the
slow transmitting of sunshine, rain
and sweat into corn and cotton. The
story of his work is significant, and
it may be improved, so here it is in
paragraphs, coaXed from his own lips.
"My father said to me, about seven
years ago, my son, Pm going to die,
and l leave Sc, 900 in honest debts that
you must pay In six weeks he was
dead, and took the plantation in
Stewart County on the Chattahoochee
River. l mortgaged the place for
81 900 and went to work. The first
lesson / learned was economy. 1
darned my own socks and patched
my clothes as they wore out. When
l went to Eufaula l put a biscuit in
my pocket, and when / got to town
tied my horse to a rack and saved
hotel bill. ran pillow myself, lead
ing the way for my hands. At night
] lit up the forge and did my own
blacksmithing, learning as I went. l
never left my farm day, and slept
only six hours a night"
"That must have brought SUGGEST"
"Of course it did, as it would have
brought it in any other business. In
two years l had paid my debt and
had money in bank. l have made
in actual money over $4,000. This
is my poorest year, yet l will clear
over $4,000. l would not give any
man SIS to guarantee me $4,000 a year
on my ten-mule farm for the next
ten years. Farming is the safest
business a man can engage in, if he
goes at it right"
"What are the rules by which you
work?"
"First, I raise my own provisions
have 1000 bushels of corn, 1,l0(
bushels of oats, 800 bushels of peas
and 400 gallons of syrup now for sale
raise much of my own meat, and
would raise it all except that my
climate is too warm to cure it in.
never saw q man who did not raise
his own corn that made money OF
cotton. / never saw a c0rn-raisel
that wasn't prosperous farmer. You
can often figure out that you can buy
corn cheaper than you can raise it
but that is only on paper. Corn-rais
ers prosper-the others fail. My
cotton crop is always cash surplus
l make my other crops carry TIT
farm"
"Next to raising my own corn,
count personal attention to my bust
ness. / sow every bushel of oats my
self, because / never found a hanC
that could do it right. This fall
worked eleven hours a day with .
three-peck basket on my arm an(
sowed oats ahead of twelve plows
till the ends of my fingers were bleed
ing. In making syrup l got alonI
with four hours of sleep in twenty
four, and the result is perfect syrup
superintend every detail of m.
farming as this. Every back-strap 0
my harness has bag Of moss sewet
under the leather to protect the mule
back. Thread wouldn't do for tina
sort of sewing, as it would rot. Irol
wire wouldn't, for it would rust. S
every pad il sewed with copper wire
| never had a scald back or a piec
of broken skin on mule since I'v
been farming.
"Next to personal supervision j
economy. Nothing is wasted on m
farm. have 100 tons of home-mad
manure composted now, and one to
of composted manure is worth thre
tons of guano. Not a blade of gras
is burned on my place. That, wit
the refuse of my sugar cane even,
turned under and enriches tn
ground. 1t is small things that max
or ruin the farmer. My neighbol
use two or three sets of plow-lines
year; mine lasts me two or thre
years. Every night l oil ever
wagon on my place, using cotton OF
Once a month ! have every axl