The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-04-09

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proxy? The richest farmers here a.
the hardest workers. They'll put :
a check shirt, blue overalls, hat II
was old years ago, and last ye'
boots and lead the hired man all DAY.
If he does as much work as the boss
he will earn S25.OO month. l can
find plenty of men who get up at four IN
the summer, get out to the field just
after sunrise and whoop it up till sun
down and keep lot of COWS to milk
after dark. Do you do that? Or
cradle or rake and bind after a GRADER
three to five acres day, or tie up
after a reaper three to four acres; set
up what binder cuts, or pitch all day
for two and three teams to draw hay
or grain? I've known men worth
thousands to do it that way.
If have job Of work to do | ex-
pect to "get there with both feet -"
and "kick the tar out of it." Now If
I we're down there and had a lot of
ditching to do, let us say, l should ex-
pect to throw my hat off get into the
ditch and throw dirt all day like a
"navoy." Would l lose social cast
and be looked upon as "poor white
trash, " the peer of negro laborer :?
Here worker is respected and has
good credit at the store. A farm
"hired man" is as good as the pro-
prietor if he behaves as well and is
welcome in society. He usually wears
better clothes on Sunday and has q
pew as near the front.
Do you put on "boiled shirt, :"
stand up collar and after bossing the
hired help all day never sweat a
thread ? Here you'd be expected to
get sweaty under the head-stall in
winter, and, in harvest time, take the
stiffening out of a sheet-iron collar, if
you wore one.
If I settled there and worked with
the hired help, white, black or "ring-
streaked and grizzled" as Jacobs
cattle, would 1 be socially ostracised q?
am offered improved lands that
would be caught up as soft snap up
here at $40 to $50 an acre, and the
price there is SIS What on earth is
the matter? If we can make living
and some money on land at $50, why
don't you coin the ducats on land at
SIS to $40? Are your material re-
sources so boundless as to be of little
value? People are paying from $lOO
to $500 an acre for land in Southern
California, 5000 to $500 an inch for
water, and wait seven years for crop
of oranges What ails you? Your
timber is boundless mine of wealth.
Lots of millionaires in Michigan made
it out of pine. Why don't you get
rich? But I've no business casting
the first stone" I'm not rich, and
like myself, maybe you have lost your
wad by fire, sickness, bad ventures
and other disasters. III forgive you,
but edo SO no more" J" Just the same,
I'll own plantation down there inside
of year. You hear me shout
The editor is "off his base," calling
me a "Hoosier." 1 was born and
reared in Michigan, hence am "Wol-
VERNE" You ought to hear me growl.
Now, you boys, take my advice
Work less land, try intensive farming
instead of extensive. Prowl around
your work yourself, 10 to l6 hours a
day, and be at home 25 working days
in month. When you get chance
give work zone in the neck" and then
"kick the stuffing out of it. Respect
the man that works, keep out of debt,
be virtuous, let whisky alone, don't
hang around the village evenings and
you'll get rich and be sure there is
one good citizen the more.
/ like your letters and will reply.
ERNEST HoLLENBECK.