The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1889-02-01

one ef'tour cotrssrs snts. Joe, Of River
side. tl,et we s}l ouih to tell Of our failures
II kr6g, % rel our sseses,cs etc.. to
serve as beacon light to others. am of 3
his opinion. We tsifof our failures and Z
the causes Of them, we might enable some
other poor ploddirg farmer to steer clear Of
whore We made our mistske; and profit
thereby. wi,hou, themselves having 10 pay
for the experiment. Experience is dear
school, and sometimes one has to pay dear
~. for single lesson. / know that have.
and I thought would tell some causes eff
failures which have occurred in this section,
believing that these reverses the last three
years, have brought farmers 70 q stand.
In the first place, We did not, last year,
plant early enough. But that could not
we'll be avoided, when the springwas SO wet.
This year we hope will be different. I have
found that early planted cotton, but not too
scon-for there are extremes in every
thing-is the best every time. II yields
more good white,ootton than the late planted
and not near 50 much yellow faulty cotton.
And 1t gives one chance to get i picked
out, and CHORES done BET ore Christmas.
sufioienoy Of hoe hauds. We depended too
mach on fckis day labor, and then could
not get Il whom the crop needed it. That
gave the grass R-ohanee to get n start and 4
"choke'' the cotton, and when It was hoed,
Il was cut and ssslashsd and the roots dug
out Of the ground and left TO scorch in the
parching sun for several days until the
plsw could get around TO put dirt to it. That
kind Of work caused quantity of it to die
4 out, end the grass being so large and we'll
rooted, some Of the cotton was pulled up
| with IL, and SO much cut up by the hoe
hands, in order to make time; leaving on an
average only about third ofa stand. 1
| do believe there were some fields with only
. fifth of o stand on them. Aud then far
! mers expected to make o full crop on lapd I
| with such stands. The cold wet spring dSso
caused cotton to die out some, but the :
greater cause.wss in the working. II a far ,
mer could have hands 10 put the crop in
early, they could have it hoed out early, be-
fore the grass gets large. But sometimes o
farmer is compelled TO pick up day hands
here and there, to hoe, for they cannot al
ways iget them for whole yearl They
| want to "work about" 90 they can quit
work and rum about whenever they get tired
withou. having lost time charged to them.
You may think
~ However much he may be lazy,
You'll shame him to sense of reason. be-
| fore he quits your chamber door
"Sir, you cay, have you no feeling? Do,
i you mean to live BY. .stealngf g
Or by wsrk and honest dealing2 Tell me,
tell me, implore:
Will you ever work for wages, as mankind
have done before?
| Quoth the niger nevermore.
Such cases can be remedied somewhat, by
planting smaller acreage of cotton, and
then ifit must be hoed by day labor it oan
be hoed over earlier, and plowed oftener,
which will cause 1t to grow faster and put
On more fruit, and make as much on the
smaller acreage. as on the larger, with less
expense and worry. l know 1 can make
more on fiftsen acres of cotton per plow,
than can on twenty, counting in the extra
labor 1t takes the extra FIVE soree, and the
buying of tho corn that could be made on
them, with halfthe work it takes to make
the cetton, and then buying bacon the corn
| would help to -mnke. It would be better To-
; Ei=.:t only ten s1fe5 IN cotton to the horse,
and raise corn. oats, roughness, molasses and
peas, to help make pork enough, and some
to spare. and only have to buy sugar and
coffee and have the cotton as reserve than to
plant twenty acres in Gotten, and make q
half crop, and sc little cern that il gets cut
. by February, and then take the half crop,
Of cotton to buy corn and bacon, and bor-
row money to buy sugar and eeTse asa &c
have the crops worked.
As for our corn crop; that on the bottoms
WAS destroyed by the freshets. which no
enc could help, but the upland corn was
!, neglected and lost, in order to get into the
bottoms befors it was too late" conse-
quently, all Was lost; aud now the cry is
everywhere, "hard times"
"Tis the sigh that IL waited across tho
troubled waves,
Tis the vail that is heard from the shore
Tis dirge that is murmurcd upon the
lowly farm,
Oh, hard times, come again no more"
have found out another thing in re-
gard to farming, that might be OF benefit
to others. That is, when one plants early
, / corn II will not do to put off working it, but
1t should be worked rapidly. 1t will not
wait The earlier the variety, the earlier
, and oftensr the work. One cause Of the
. failure of our upland corn was that it was
not worked fast enough.
Now what makes the times seem still har-
der to some, is the advance in the price of
fertilizers, which will take good many
hard earned dollars out of their pockets, for
they seem to think that they might as we'll
try to live on corncob soup in January, as
to try TO make cotton crop without COM
} mercial fertilizers. 1t seems as if anoiher
"trusr' has been formed. And II seems as
, " the moneyed men have taken spite at
the poor farmers, aud are nov putting oil
the extra weight they can bring 10 bear
, upon Us. Not only are they trying to
tighten tho screws on US, bat also to put on
jam nuts, to prevent us, IL possible from
jarring them loose, SC. that we may be able
10 run OF the single ones suppose they
think us only slaves; but the larger portion
OF the farmers can say y
Though poverty daily looks In at cur doors,
We may be hungry, footsore and i'll,