The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-01-28
A NEW SOUTHERN TYPE.
THE SUCCESSFUL FARNIER-INTEN-
SINE FARMING THE POLICY
OF THE FUTURE.

Self-rellant and lndependent-he
is fine type of the southern farmer.
THE earth is gold mine," he says, ''to
any man that works at it diligently"
1t has certainly proved to be one to Mr..
Rood. In seven years he has made over
$4,000 in farming-not by speculation,
for he has lost $4,000 by that method
but by the 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 improving, so here it is in para
graphs, coaxed from his own lips.
MY father said to me about seven years
ago, my son, am going to die, and l
leave $4,000 in honest debts that you must
pay In six weeks he was dead and |
took the plantation in Stewart county on
the ChattahoOche river. | mortgaged the
place for $4,000 and went to work. The
first lesson [ learned was economy. l
darned my own socks and patched my
clothes as they wore out. When l went to
Eufala put biscuit in my pocket, and
tied my horse to a rack and saved hotel
bill. ran plough myself, leading the
way for my hands. At night | lit up my
forge and did my own blacksmithing,
learning as | went. l never left my farm
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 l had paid my debt and had money
i'll bank. / have made in actual money
over $4,000. This is my poorest year,
and yet will clear over $500. l would
not give any man So to guarantee me
$4,000 year on my 10mule farm for the
next ten years. Farming is the safest
business man can engage ill., if he goes
at it right"
''What are the rules by which you
work."
First, | raise my own provisions. l
have 1000 bushels of corn. LOO bushels
of oats, 500 bushels of peas, and 400 gal
Ions 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. l never saw man who did not
raise his own corn that made money on
cotton. | never saw a corn-raiser that
wasn't a 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
UDt OUllclS ldlls MY CObuOA SlOP 10 away .
surplus. l make my other crops carry
the farm"
Next to raising my own corn, count
personal attention to my business. l SOW
every bushel of oats myself, because
never found hand that could do it right.
This fall / worked eleven hours day with
three-peck basket on my arm and sowed
oats ahead of twelve plows until the ends
of my fingers were bleeding. In making
syrup | got along with four hours
sleep in twenty -four, and the result
is perfect syrup. [ superintend every
detail of my farming MS this. Every back
strap of my harness has bag of moss
sewed under the leather to protect the
mules back. Thread wouldn't do for that
sort of sewing, as it would rot Iron wire
wouldn't, for it would rust. So every pad
is sewed with copper wire. never had g
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
composted now, and one ton of compOsted
manure is worth three tons of guano
Not blade of grass is burned on my
cane even, is turned into and enriches the
ground. 1t is small things that make or
ruin the farmer. My neighbors use two
or three sets of plough-lines year, mine
last me two or three years. Every night
oil every wagon on my place, using cot
ton oil Once month have every axle
cleaned aud the old oil rubbed off. This
saves my wagons. My stock and crops
are all protected the same way. The poor
est house on my place is the house l live
in.
''How about your labor?"
Better than slaves. l pay them 50
month, half in cash every Saturday
night. one ration, and allow each hand a
half-acre for potatoes, an acre for corn,
and give them every Saturday afternoon.
They work because they know 1 know it
whe:.. they shirk. They began stealing
from me. l slept on the ground every
night for three weeks. 1 bagged three of
the thieves, and now l am safe. When
they are well 1 make them work, and
when they are sick 1 give them medicine
from nv own hand. In short, they know
l watch them, and they work."
you find the life happy one?"
| line freeSG, ndppleSui HlOS1 lhuOPoiiu
ent life in the world. 1 have not been
sick day in eleven years. When L lie
down l sleep. 1 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
a.,d principal. Many farmers sell their
cotton seed. That is robbing their land.
/ buy cotton seed, for, with acid phos-
phate and stable manure, it makes the
best fertilizer. The farmer is the one in
dependent man."
II cannot understand" Mr.. Rood went
on to say, "why young fellow will stay
in the city and clerk at small salary
with no future, when a farmers life is
open to him. No man could have had a
much worse start than l did. Now, in
spite of markets, weather, or anything
else. | can live a freeman's life, with
health, open-air exercise, and at the end OF
each wear put from $4,000 to $4,000 In
bank. This is not chance. 1t is GER
tainty. And there is nothing in me OK
cept hard work, attention and little
common sense. If fifty young clerks
were to 90 to Stewart county to-day and
farm lust as l do, each one would have
the same result. 1t is no experiment II
is the most certain of certain things"
And away the young farmer went with