The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-19
NOTICE TO ALL WHOM IT MAY
CONCERN.

live On air and water.
There are no other possible rem
edIes. Our lands have been cult
waited for twenty years in succession
without rest. All the cotton and
grain producing ingredients and con
slituents in the soil have been cx~
t.actcd and taken up in producing
grain and cotton and there is moth
ing in the soil to produce these pro,
ducts bat water. To ,-ttempt to
supply tic deficiencies in our soil by
artificial means, with ph0sphafes,
guanos and other commercial fer
liliz5rs is tbs height of folly, and
shows the want Of wisdom and com
mon sense. Man and beast when
tired and exhausted must have rest,
that nature may come 10 their res
cue, and without this aid and rest
both would soon perish and die.
Land as much as man and beast
needs rest. A man or beast with a
strong physical constitution can
stand more toll and fatigue than one
with a weak, timid and faltering
constitution. SO can q tract OF land
rich in humus, ash, carbon, the
phosphates and ammonia, stand more
cultivation than o tract deficient in
these ingredients. But continued
cultivation will exhaust either. |
know half the lands cultivated in
this county for the last six years
have not paid for the preparation,
planting cultivation and housing.
They have been worked at heavy
loss. How can a man live and pay
his debts, if 1t cost him five hundred
dollars to cultivate his crop, and
wheL it is gathered it only brings
three hundred? How can a tenant,
or renter live and pay his debts, if
it cost him three hundred dollars to
plant, cultivate and house his crop,
and when he pays his rent, he only
has one hundred dollars left? This
has been the case in Halifax couOty
for the last FIVE years.
AS | said in the start, the people
of this county mus: either emlgrate,
perish, or change their mode Of farm
ing or live on air and water. The
latter they can not do. They may
emigrate, they may perish, bat those
who remain here must change the
mode OF farming. Our lands are
exhausted and mast have rent to
recuperate and build up. Nature is
true TO herself and if let alone. and
allowed to have her way, will soon
restore our worn out lands to US in
almost their original richness. The
natural vegetation will in two or
three years, ifpermitted to DO so ,
gather from the sir and bring ur
from the earth the proper ingredients
for making corn and cotton. But il
We continue to persue the present
mode Of farming. we will soon be
driven from our homes by poverty
ana starvation as the Vermont and
Massachusetts farmers have been
Let no farmer IN the county cul
tiyate or rent out more than half o
his tillabie land, and let that half be
the best half. Don't rent out you
lands. If they are rich, and you rem
out, they will soon become poor
Don't farm on shares with any mar
on the top side Of the earth. Thu!
mode of farming will ruin your farm
ruin you AM the laborer. Dom
rent your land or farm on share
under any circumstances with :
man with big notions and too PROUD
to labor for a living. No man ca
rent = one or two horse crop or worI
on shares and hire all the labor ant
buy supplies aad pay expenses. |
is impossible. the renter or share
must have the labor free or he canno
clear expenses. Don't have aroun,
you lazy people. Let them suffe
until they learn to work.
Don't cultivate poor land that wi
not pay for the cultivation. Bette
do nothing. Don't rent oet you
poor land. Better let it rest.
Not more than one coiored man i
a hundred has the capacity to man
age Que horse farm. And not NOR
than half the white man know ho
to farm. \ man who can not rarl
ought not to be set up as q farme
but ought to be hired as q laborer.
In other words, the labor of tn
country ought to be controlled 80
directed by the Intelligence, ski
J and wisdom of the county.
One word to the merchants. Don
furnish your cropper unless be OWL
the land, on crop lien. Furuis