The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-02-27
A TALK TO FARMERS.
THE SUGGESTIONS OF 4 iIAX OF LONG
EXPERIENCE.
How Mr.. Northen, Of Georgia, Dis
cusses the Questions That Chiefly In
terest the Asriculturalists Of the South.
columbia Daily Register.)

georgia State Agriculture ooCietS q
Brunswick is a first class Southern
paper. 1t hits the nail on the heat
every time.
The Augusta Chronicle published thl
address on Sunday, and the paper vii
do for Sunday reading for all our far
mers Of the South for iiftytTo Sundays
at least.
This address is too good and too prac
teal one to escape the attention O
the readers of The REGISTER, whether
they are farmers or not. We will, there
fore, try and give them the sallen
points OF what we consider a ''tel
strike in the way Of Ill agricultural
talk.
President Northen addresses hiosel
to the following question:
What are the hindrances to success
full agriculture in Georgia and at th'
South?"
Plain as it might seem to many, thl
is big subject, and it takes mau o
brain, experience and graQple to answe
it.
Mr.. Northen begins with the following
statement:
When | had the honor to address yol
at Waycross, showed from the RECORD
that the wealth of the State had in
creased steadily since 1879, agsregatins
up to that date s107, 600, 600. Since tha'
time the record shows an additional in
crease in taxable property of fifteen mil
lions, making grand total of s122,,
coo, 600 since the period indicated al
garnered by the professions, the trades
the manufactures and the industries
outside of agriculture. Those sections
of the State devoted mainly to farming
show large falling off, while other
sections, devoted to other industries
make a sufficient increase to cover the
losses from farming and add S122, ,0O0,'
900 to the State since 1879.
1t is my pnrpos, to-day to submit tc
YOU some criticisms touching the con.
duct Of the farmers themselves in theil
management and methods seriously
hurrfu! to the general good of the State
Under the action Of the executive
committee of this society I have looked
into the causes for depression, as
mingled freely with the farmers.
! shall now present for Your corsidera
+;o, ,,,bot bova laa rDe6
In one County in middle Georgia
found farm of 800 acres, with teams
and tenants and comfortable cabins. On
the 10th of January last the tenants on
this farm had barely cotton seed enough
to plant the next crop; not one peck OF
corn nor a pound of meat that was
grown upon the place. The owner Of
this farm has not seen it in five years.
A little to the North OF this farm, and
almost touching it, is another farm.
containing about $50 acres, in just the
condition of the one before mentioned
except that it has bapkrupted two
former owners, who gave no attention
to its tenants. The present landlord
has not seen it in two years.
Still further to the North Is another
farm of 800 acres. Here the woods are
full of cabins, and the cabins are full OF
freedmen, who live as they list and
work as they please. These tenants
consume the products of one year before
they begin the work of another. The
owner of this farm has not been upon
his premises in three years.
Just a little to the South is a smaller
farm, containing about 200 acres. The
tenants upon this place have actually
starved three mules within the last
twelve months, and another will soor
wend his way to the bcneyard. Inc
landlord in this case has not seen blS
farm for six years.
These farms are not fctions; they
have all come under my personal obser,
vation; they are in the centre OF the
best portion of the State, and they are
representative. I shall not 60 further
into detail than to say of the 138, ,00C
farms in Georgia, $4,000 of them are
run by indolent tenants in the absence
of the landlords.
When l say that the tenant system,
operated outside of the personal super
vision, personal control and rigid dis
cipline of the landlord, has been de.
structive to our system of agriculture, !
make known to you, in my candid
Judgment, the main cause for depression
among the people. This system has lost
millions of money to the State by It's
wastefulness; it has demoralized and
ruined the better class Of labor; 1t has
broken up communities and forced our
people into the towns and cities for a
living; it has brought countless acres to
worse than desolation and to waste, and
covered the face Of the earth with sad
ness and decay.
This is a true bill for South Carolina
no less than Georgia; indeed 1t fits oul
case more completely than it does Geor'
sia's. 1t cannot be denied that this is
one of the chief millstones around oul
necks.
Mr.. Nortben then turns his attention
to the wasteful expenditure of Southern
farmers, aud says:
It will be remembered that am now
considering elements of failure for which
farmers themselves are mainly response
bic. Prominent among the most con-
spicuous is the purchase Of commercial
fertilizers. Can the farmers of Georgia
complain of poverty when they pay in
one season $4,000, 900 for commercial
fertilizers2
Since 1879 the farmers in Georgia
have paid for fertilizers enough money
to lift every mortgage from every farm
in the State-enough money to buy all
the town and city propertY of Richmond,