The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1886-03-18


Atlanta Constitution.3 ssf
Mr.. Robert Rood is yonng farmer.
Thin--browncd, all fiber, slow but easy
of motion, self-reliant and independent
he is fine type Of the young South
ern farmer.
"The earth is gold mine." he says,
"to any man who works it diligently"
1t has certainly proved to be one to Mr..
Rood. In seven years he has made over
SAC, 900 in farming-not by speculating
for he has lost so, 900 by that method.
But by the patient till ~ 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 improving, go here it is in phara-
graphs, coaxed from his own lips
My father said to me, about seven
years ago, My son, I'm going TO die, and
| leave $4,000 in honest debts that you
must pay. In six weeks he was dead, and
/ took the plantatio in Stewart county,
on the Chattahooc.ee river / mortgaged
the place for 81, 900 and went to work.
The first lesson l learned was economy.
l darned my own socks and patched my
clothes as they wore out. When | went
to Eufaula put biscuit in my pocket,
ard when got to town tied my horse to
rack, and saved hotel bill. ran a
plough myself, leading the way for my
hands. At night lit up the forge and
did my own blacksmithing, learning as |
went. l never left my farm a day, and
slept only six hours night"
THAT must have brought success?"
"Of course it did. as it would have
brought it in any other business. In two
years had paid my debt and had money
in the bank. have made in actual mon
ey over SAC, 900. This is my poorest year,
and yet will clear $500 l would not
give any man five dollars to guarantee me
$4,000 year or my ten mule farm for
the next ten years. Farming is the
safest business 2 man can engage in, if he
goes at it right"
"What are the rules by which you
work."
"First, l raise my own provisions. |
now have 1000 bushels of corn, 100
bushels of oats, 500 bushels of peas and
400 gallons of syrup 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 a man who did
not raise his own corn that made money
on cotton. never saw corn-ralser 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-raisers prosper
others fail. My cotton crop is always
cash surplus. | make my other crops
Gerry the farm.
Next to raising my own corn, | give
personal attention to my business [ sow
every hushel of oats myself, because l
never found hand that could do it right.
This fall worked eleven hours a day
with three peck basket on my arm and
sowed oats ahead of twelve plows, till
the ends of my fingers were bleeding. In
making syrup got along with four hours
sleep in twenty-four and the result IL per-
feet syrup. ] superintended every detail
of nv farm as this. Every back-strap of
my harness has bag or moss sewed under
the leather to protect the mules back.
Thread wouldn't do for that sort Of sew
ing, as it would rot Iron wire wouldn't
for it would rust. So every pad is sewed
with copper wire. never had scald back
or piece of broken skin on a mule since
I've been farming.
"Next to personal supervision Is econ
omy. Nothing is wasted on my farm. |
have 100 tons of homemade manure COM
posted now, and one ton of composted
manure is worth three tons of guano.
Not blade of grass is burned on my
place. That, with the refuse of my su-
gar cane even, is turned u der and en-
riches the ground. 1t is small things that
make or ruin the farmer. My neighbors
use two or three sets Of plow lines year
mime last me two or three years. Every
night | oil every wagon on my place, u.s.
cry axle cleaned and the old oil rubbed
off. This saves my wagons. My stock
and crops are all protected the same way.
The poorest house on my place is the
house live IL"
Glow about your labor ?"
Better than slaves. l pay them 50
a month, half in cash every Saturday
night, one ration and allow each hand a
half acre for potatoes and an acre for
corn and give them every Saturday after.
noon. They work because they know
know it when they shirk. They began
stealing from me. slept on the ground
every night for three weeks, bagged three
of the thieves and now am safe. When
they are all we'll | make them work aud
when they are sick give them medicine
from my own hand In short, they know
watch them and they work"
"You find the life happy one?''
"'The freest, happiest, most independent
life in the world / have not been sick
day in eleven years. When lie down |
sleep. ask no man any odds. My broad
acres are there and they are exhaustless.
The best bank farmer can have is his
land. Every dollar he puts there is safe
and will pay him interest and principal.
Many farmers sell their cotton seed. That
is robbing their land. | buy cotton seed,
for with acid phosphate and stable ma
nure it makes the best fertilizer. The
farmer is one independent man.
II cannot understand" Mr.. Rood went
on to say, why young fellow will stay
in the city and clerk at a small salary
with no future, when a farmers life is
open to him. No man could have had a
much worse start than | did. Now, in
spite of markets, weather or anything else,
/ can live free mans life, with health,
open air, exercise, and at the end of every
year put from $3 500 to $5, 900 in the bank.
This is not chance II is certainty. And
there is nothing in me except hard work,
attention and little common sense. If
II