The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-05-26
FRANK /. HEYWOOD'S LETTER.



Tales Of the New South a. They're Told BY
the Editor Of the Tourists Magazine.
Intensive OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES In
South Carolina-The Social Life Of
Colonization-A Farm Village with .
Railroad, sawmills and Machine
Shop.
Chicora. 8. C.-The number OF North
erners. and especially men from Penn
sylvania. who are locating here is very
large. This continued interest In the
agriculture Of the future which really
seems more fresh and strong every
passing month, is a good sign. and can
only result in good for our common
country. The cities are not sufferers by
the relief of their unemployed, so they
need no sympathy.
The phrase small farming" used OF
the South. crops out In directions curl
Gus enough to one unacQuainted with
the special economies and relations of
existence in that part Of our country.
Small farming means diversified pro-
ducts. and special result OF the
Southern conditions Of agriculture has
brought about still more special
sense of the word. So that at Chicora.
for example, the term brings up to
every mind the idea Of a farmer who.
besides his cotton crop. raises corn
enough to do him." But. again, tho
Incidents hinging upon this apparently
simple matter OF making corn enough
to do him" are so numerous as, In
turn, to render them the distinctive
feature of intensive farming. Small, or
Intensive. farming at Chicora, for In
stance, means. in short. meat and
bread for which there are no notes In
the bank: pigs fed with homemade
corn, and growing OF themselves while
the corn and cotton are being tended;
butter made and sold, eggs. chickens.
peaches, watermelons, a few calves, q
lamb or so--all to sell or eat every year,
besides colt who is now suddenly be-
come all Of himself good servicsable
horse; the oxen, who are as good as
gifts made by the grass, and hundred
other items, all representing income
from a hundred sources to the inten-
slve farmer--all either products of ODD
moments which, II not applied. would
not have been at all applied, or pro-
grass at nothing a ton. All these ideas
are inseparably connected with that Of
the intensive farmer.
But intensive farming in Southern
colonies Is commendable in a broader
sense than that Of production. and that
lies in Its social superiority over any
other method of farming. The North.
srn or Western farm Is too large to bs
worked properly. The fields are Ill
kept. the larmhouses rest on the top Of
hills. or lie in the ocean Of blue-gray
sun scorches in the summer. the SNOW
drifts In the winter. At certain times
the large farm may Be beautifuk bH.
In every season It b lonely beyond
words to tell
The social life on an isolated farm y
absolutely Insignificant The RewspA-
, pers are but few: sometimes ~
daughter may have Al er1An aAA ~
son fiddle. bat they never have aAy
up to date music. The decorations co.,
slst only OF erasy- patchwork o. ~
cheap chromos given 40 premiums vs0
many Ave cent publications. ne W.
men folk Of the family sss fads1. w.
gard and saliow. tirso eES0 49,
rising IN the dark TO ~ SssaA1Up -
the help who are necessary - ~ -
tivation Of 80 many acres. IT. huo-
band Is Kind, but has % tank sI -
ereasing his bank acosNnA The ~.
mans back aches, she is dizzy aAa
faiat c. - S%n - ~ , -.&
load sssuV -. ID SAxNst - e..
forded. neither can the services Of .
doctor on an isolated farm, - 10 AAs
to ride ten miles, aal oharses q. A.
for neighbors. the, isslAtsl fasn0
hasn't any. He can't be aay Vssss -
for that which makes iife worth living.
no matter how much Depsy ~ hAS =
the bank. When think Of the lnten-
sive farmers in the colonies. bashinv
in the sunshine Of sociabillty, I a.
glad that the Risieyites. the .Rusbyites.
the Ruskinites and the Waldenese
have created farm life where the man
never grows footsore. the wife soul sore
and where fields and bursting barns are
not dissOciated with the social require
ments which make life worth living.
The farm colony IL the mecca Of the
laboring classes. In America we an
belong. or at least we ought to belong.
TO the laborihg classes, but the moA
Of ~ only get from our labor wheYs-
with to keep limited amount Of rosf
over a limited number Of heads. There
are some who toll for ten hours only
to buy themselves the right to q dosea
cubic feet Of sleeping room during such
part of the remaining II hours ~ they
may not choose to spend In The streets.
OF this class, which has no condition OF
possession to characterize. It beyond ~
fact Of It, laboring. there must always
be found some lively minded and rest
less members who are i'll. content y
gasp out their lives In the packed cel.
lars ana garrets down the back alleyU
Of . sweltsring city. They yearn .fol
| freedom Of movement. for light and
air, for the smell Of the bare earth and
the sight Of trees and water. Many
of these people have found their wat
| 10 the colonies. and are multiplyiAI y
3 measure proportionaxs to the sintesVs(
taken In the Klondlhk Or the Spanish
nap s,A wnteSiA A noua A. mat fntSriie. hah