The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-05-18
AGRICULTURAL.
Glimpses Of southern Farm Life.

There is vast difference between
the farmers and farming of the North
and that of the South. One of the first
differences one notices is in the teams.
Occasionally fine span of horses can
be seen, but most of the farmers, col
ored and white, who come to town
drive either mules or steers. Some
times there are four steers or oxen,
sometimes only one. But in this part
being used exclusively, and every farm
wagon has brake. AT first the plows
were mystery to me as l saw them
from the car window. The other day
a negro came to plow for us. He was
riding the horse, and besides the negro
the horse carried on his back the pillow,
whiffl stree and his own dinner. l
watched his work with some curiosity,
and soon found the reason fol- the light
plows. The soil here in much of the
South is very light. 1t is not real sand,
but sandy loan, regular watermelon
soil hereabouts, though l am not going
into those. Then there are stumps in
almost all the fields, and stones in
many. Now the little plow works
nicely in such places. A span OF horses
on Northern pillow would be of very
little use, but the plow goes down and
mellows up the soil in fine shape, and
when it hits stump or stone, 1t is
easily lifted oyer. Then it can be
worked into corners and close up to
stumps, in fact it is just the tool for
the work to be done, The pillow irons
Are made Of different shapes and sizes,
some being like large cultivator tooth,
some like small plow wing, others
like spade cutivator. AS to harrows
they seem to be little used. So far as
l have learned the pillow is almost the
only tool in common use in this section
for blowing, narrowing and cultivating.
There is a strange lack of modern
farm machinery here. Labor is very
cheap, farmers do not have to work
singlehanded as they do in the NorGh.
There are progressive farmers here,
well-to do men who are anxious to learn
modern ways, who are buying machin-
cry and studying modern methods.
The barns are mostly the merest shan
ties, as unlike the comfortable and
commodious barns of the North as the
climate is unlike that of the North. AS
the last of February here is as warm as
the first Of May there, and as the tenn
perature in mid-winter is mild, such
structures as the northern barns are
not needed. Still it is good thing to
have warm barn in this climate. But
the,southern farmer is as a rule, rather
'shiftless," inclined to take things
easy, lacks the push and energy of his
northern brother. He is kind-hearted,
hospitable, ready in most cases to do
all he can for others, especially strang-
ers. There is very little profanity in
the South, and much less drinking in
most places than in the North. The
farm'crop here of course is cotton, but
that. is poor pay now. There was a
time after the war when cotton brought
500 bale; now it brings only $25.
This makes it hard for the farmers to
get on, but is really good thing, for it
is forcing them to adopt mixed farming
in place of exclusive cotton growing
But the farmers here have one great
advantage, they can grow the COW pea
and thus obtain the very best of cattle
foods and enrich their soils, while the
pea requires only few weeks TO attain
lis growth. In this state (Georgia) a
crop of early Irish potatoes can be
grown and dug in May, then the ground
can be sown to an early COW pea; this
can be taken off the first of August and
the late crop of potatoes planted to be
dug in November. j. w. NEWTON.