The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-26
A WOMAN FARMERS SUCCESS
MANAGES THE FARM HEnsELF,


owns and manages plantation OF 1,600
acres successfully aud who is perhaps
the leading woman cotton planter In
the country She lives at Decatur,
and is one OF tho wealthiest and most
active citizens of that section. She is
Mrs. Leila Seton Wilder, and she is
known throughout her own State as
we'll as in other Southern States.
Mrs. Wilder has written for the New
York Herald an interesting account
OF her farming methods and about her
plantation near Decatur. Mrs. Wilder
says; r 49, ,,on..t,on and
manage it all myself, SO that Ii things
don't 20 right am denied that wo-
mans privilege of saying | told you
so.' As to how l came to do 1t, l
simply drifted into IL. | had never
lived in the country in my life until
my marriage, but the freedom OF 1t,
Its likeness to the landed estates 'O1
England appealed to me, and enjoyed
it thoroughly. My husband lived only
twenty-five months, and | went back
to town, rentinli the place. l got tired
Of that, though, and determined to go
back and have an ideal country homo,
where | could entertain my friends
in the fall. The rest of the year |
land to tenants, doing no farming my
self, but these years were valuable. |
got more and more Interested in the
life and, naturally, WAS bound to learn
good deal about 1t.
"TwO years ago | was offered body
Of land which had been in the original
plantation of my husbands, but had
been sold off | decided to buy this
meant thet I could no longer go on in
the shiftless manner | had been. l
was going to invest good deal of
money, and l must make it pay. My
attorney and all my friends advised
the buying, saying there was
no.money in farming; that | would
fhave' to have an OvrrSeer, and that
/ 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. l would not stand a
confessed failure, and so l went to
work. | determined to moro than just
get along. | 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 fences.
So | began by putting the best of
I''re fences around tho plantation. |
have by now put up several miles, and
am an expert. l know how much wire
to buy for mile, what is q hog
proof fence, the best posts TO use. sizo,
etc. | have gone right out and seen
evory panel Of fcnce put up. Then l
have had Eew roads worked on the
place, under my own eyes. | have had
four new cabins built, all donc by the
tenants on the place, with no overseer
but myself.
"Perhaps my most fortunate quail
hcation for the work do is the faculty
Of managing these negroes. [ think
can get more out Of them than ordi-
nary; ooo
near Decatur, my boundary line being
that Of the town. 1t lies for mile
and half along the Tennessee river
and the same distance along Flint
river, small stream running into the
Tennessee. There are about 700 acres
IN cultivation, the balance in timber of
mooniiEScGnt nrst growth hard wood,
nri6cinnl % white oak. We raise cot
ton priGcipaliSSs> but on<aS%u!nptt <acSS%2unpt OF our
proximity to to>%si,; ~ corn, hay, sC.y9ts ls;c@9
oats and, each tenant, sorghum cane
for his long sweetening' during the
year. | now cultivate about 100 acres
myself with hired help; the balance
Ia rented on what is known as the
tenant system, only as the land Is 80
near market and very fertile l COM
mand q money rent instead Of q share
crop, receiving for upland So and river
bottom 81 per acre. Each tenant takes,
to use a technical expression, one,
two or three-horse crop, according to
the amount of stock tho man has. A
horse 10 supposed to be able to tend rs
acres.
I have twenty families on the place,
hnf bau ava not all tonantc aa cnrra of
them are hired by the year Each
tenant has cabin, garden spot and
pasture free Of rent and his firewood.
Negroes are not at all migratory.
Many Of the younger men have been
born on the place, and some have been
here since the surrender. They look
on it as much their homo as mine.
One, for instance, displeascd mo this
summer, and told him he would have
to go to town and could not live out
here any longer. Then went off for
month. On my return almost the
first one saw was Bud" and one of
the other mon said: "Oh, Mrs.
Wilder, he's chopping wood. Bud
the home he had and we just told him
to stay" OF course I was glad, for
Bud" was here when | came, q bride.
try to cultivate the feeling among
them Of the English tenacity of hold
ing their land for life and leaving
their leases to their children. A man
takes better care Of land that he ex-
poets to continue to live on, and, may
be, his children to cultivate after him.
At the present low prico of cotton
its cultivation has become problem,
but with the tenant system l do not
aee how we can stop 1t. 1t is the only
crop safe for your rent. l am trying
to have each tenant raise his own meat
in hogs and enough corn and hay for
himself ana stock. This, with his
garden, should make cotton his sur
plus crop. I think it all nonsense to
talk about the South cutting down her
amount Of bales One-half and making
cotton ten cents. The minute we quit
raising it and cotton goes up Egypt
and India will raise it in large quanti.
ties. What We want TO do Is raise as
much as we can to the aero, but have
1T our surplus crop. This, with the
op 1ning Of the markets of the East,
Will givo us bctter prices. | intend
however. to experiment with raising
L.