The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-01-25

1aVUU 0cI0S SuCCcSoi uAiT 0oo ""o ~
perhaps the leading woman cotton
planter in the country. She lives at
Decatur and is one of the wealthiest
ard most active citizens Of that Sec
sion. She is Mrs. Leila Seton Wilder,
and she i known throughout her own
State as we'll as in other Southern
States.
Mrs. Wilder has written for the
New York Herald an interesting nc
count Of her farming methods and
about her plantation near Decatur.
Mrs. Wilder says:
ssYes, I live on a plantation and
rlansgs it all myself, SO that if things
don. t go right am denied that wo-
mans privilege Of saying II told you
so." as 20 how l came to do it, [
simply drifted into it. 1 had never
lived in the country in my life until
my marriage, bat the freedom OF it,
its likeness to the landed estates Of
England appealed TO me, and enjoy
ed it thoroughly. My husband lived
only twenty-two months, and went
back to town, renting the place. |
got tired of that, though, aud deter
mined to go back and have an ideal
country home, where l could enter
tain my friends in the fall. The rest
Uf the year / spent in travelling. l
rented all my land to tenants, doing
no farming myself, but these years
we're valuable. / got more and more
interested in the life and, naturally.
was bound to learn good deal about
ii.
.sTwo years ago was offered body
Of land which had been in the or ginal
plantation Of my husbands, but had
been sold of. I decided TO buy; this
meant that I could no longer go on in
che shiftless manner [ had been. l
was going to invest q good deal Of
money, and I must make it pay. My
attorneys and all my friends advised
against the buying, saying there was
no money in farming; that l would
have to have an overseer, and that
would take all the profits, etc.. but |
went on, and made my purchase, and
also made up my mind to succeed. l
must succeed. I would not stand a
confessed failure, and so l went to
work. I determined to more than.
just get along. I intended to make a
model place that would not be known
as most widows farms are-by the
: gates on one hinge and the poor fen
ees.
So 1 began by putting the best Of
wire fences around the plantation.
I have by now put up several miles,
and am an expert. I know how much
wire to buy for mile, what is hog
proof fence, the best posts to use,
size, etc. I have gone right out and
seen every panel Of fence put up.
Then I have had new roads worked on
the place, under my own eyes. 1 have
had four new cabins built, all done by
the tenants on the place, with no
overseer but myself.
Perhaps my most fortunate quail
fcation for the work dois the faculty
Of managing these negroes. / think [
can get more out of them than ordi
nary
s'My plantation contains 1000
acres, near Decatur, my boundary line
being that Of the town. 1t lies for a
mile and half along the Tennessee
River and the same distance along
Flint River, q small stream running
into the Tennessee. There are about
200 acres in cultivation. the balance
in timber Of magnificent first growth
hard wood, principally white oak.
We raise cotton principally, but on
account of our proximity to town,
corn, hay, some oats and, each tenant,
sorghum cane for his "long swect.n-
ing'' during the year. I now cult
yate about 100 acres myself, with hir-
ed help; the balance is rented On what
is known as the tenant system, only
as the land is so near market and very
fertile | command money rent in
stead Of share crop, receiving for
upland So and river bottom 81 per
acre. Each tenant takes, to use a
technical expression,N one, two or
three-horse crop, according to the
amount of stock the man has. y
horse is supposed to be able to tend
25 acres.
have twenty families on the place,
but they are not all tenants, as some
Of them are hired by the year. Each
tenant has q cabin, garden spot and
nasture free of rent and his Grewood.