The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-30
NEGRO LABOR ~ GEORGIA.
Anecdotes That Illustrate the Zeal and fideI'
lty OF some of the Black hen.

peach orchard In the world, u Michigan man
who has grown the best peaches IN the United
States, a horticultural professor who gets ms
cont on when he gets among the trees and for
gets all about hi dignity and salary: the editor
Of uu agricultural paper and several railroad
officials. The party had been looking at peach
tree, on the tops OF West Virginia mountains
planted iu place Of the forest. The man with
IN" btg orchard j. a Connecticut Yankee Who
ha, been trying to ooyrr up the state uf Georgia
with peach trees.
How did you do about help down south
asked the Michigan man.
,ed the darkios- best people In the world
when you get EN- going properly. | couldn't
ask tor better hand.
But you never employed them up North. "
said the editor
NO. We have Italians. They do we'll, but |
am satisfied with The Georgia labor. It's all
right. Before went South ] heard that u
niggcr aud a mule eau do more Ia raise good
corn than a white man and tw" horses. That's
probably 50. but there's an old darkey and u
mule on my place that Will back against a
civil engineer for doing things straight
"How's that"
Wen. they saved me the cost Of hiring n
surveyor. IN tell YOU how il was. My trees
are set In blocks. Some of the rows are over
a mile long wanted them straight and en-
gagged an engineer nj s. "A day and board.
Luckily. | hired him by the day and gave him a
boy to carry the instruments He began work
on Monday morning running his lines. or
course the hands watched every move he made
One of 'rm va, an old fellow "" called Henry
Wilson. Henry had boon ploughing over some
,tubble field vhcr" q part OF the trees were to
bc planted That night Henry came M to
mo aud says. 'Cap'n. how much do YOU pay
dat man for lookin' through dat spy glass and
writiu' IN dat book They say he tSln' places
fer you to set ont trees
- pay him s. a day, Henry. He's a sur
vcyor To- make straight lines
"'Gits an dat for lest maxim straight lines?
Deed. Cap'u. seems to me IT, pow'ful lot Of
money wasted Why. dat ole white mule o
mine can plough a iurrow straight a. he can
Tim afraid not, Henry says l. 1T has
Dat'- all right Capn, jest you !et me and
de mule try once and see II We can't, -.
We'll. he'd nearly finished the Stnbble and
so / told him he could start in the next morn
iug IN another part Of the orchard site from
where the surveyor was working. About
noon | went over to see how Henry was getting
on and YOU may not believe it,but he had aC-
tuaily ploughed a furrow which did not seem
TO be- a foot ont Of the way 10 my eye, We
dIlfl W dlu~ lll'tiNlll'H WV 49, 'A''' ~. '.ah
found il nearly straight. That was all the
surveying | needed and AZ night paid the
engineer and let him go. asked Henry how
pointed de right way. Den / looks tween
de mules ear and eits n point on some tree
or house or she'd. Den ! tells de mule to go
and We goes
4 can youch for the lines" put in the pro-
fe-eor. Il have been in orchards all the way
from Lake Outar,p to Florida and never saw
trtyo run In ,traietter rows. Why the super
iutondeut can ,moke his pipe on the yeranda
root Of his house and see The hands culivating
az the end of the orchard between the rows
they are So even. But there's another thing
about the place that's more surprising. Think
OF picking and packing fruit TO music
man. rolling his toothpick In his mouth. i
found when started in that when a darkey
organized what we called tn" Red abel Band,
and during the harvest time II plays in the
packing house The band contains a few
horns, one or two fddlcs, including what coun-
So. and sometimes a few other instruments.
You can hear it quite a distance out in the or
t"' .ee those daTkies hustle They can't keep
still. and each tries 10 got ahead Of the other
They rattle the fruit into the packages. nail
'em and Cllnch EN- and rush EN- into the cars
as il they were getting double wages for hur-
rving I've got some boys dow there who
III wager can nail a package faster than any
nailed a box in nine seconds more than a nail
a second What do YOU think Of that Those
people love mu5ic U they cant hear II from
some one they'll make II a. well as they can
Why, I don't know but ] get double the work
ont of them when they hear the band than NJ
other time, not that they are lazy, for | never
paid wages 10 "A more faithful lot Of pcOpl"
! could tell another story on that which would
open your eyes, but ! don't want TO talk too
60 on. lets hear It. " said one Of the railroad
men,
One season Just before harvest | was sent
for hy my orchard superintendent in New
England did not want 10 go As | had no one
to take charge At Fort Valley while away and
Il was q time when the trees needed close watch
ing but they wired me that must come II
only fora week We had a man who had been
on The place all his life was a slave Of the man
from whom bought il and had stuck TO his
old master after he was free sam Johnson
Wa a sort of foreman and really understood
the care Of trees about ~ we'll A. any negro |
ever had The day, went away | sent for
got to leave YOU "A week or 50, and want to
know if YOU will look out for thlng1 and keep
the hands working all right while I'm away.
It, a pretty blk thing all these trees to look
after. do you think YOU cam
Don yonq worry. Can'n. SAYS sam, Nc
niggers goin'. Jest you start and don mind
We'll. / made the trip and hurried back as
soon a. | could. Apparently they had kept
their word. Tho trees were in good shape,
the stock we'll fed and the house undisturbed
while I wa~ gone. When ! entered the
kitchen there stood an old army mrsket in
one corner that knew he used for rabbit hunt
ing II had n double load Of slugS and was
capped ready for business. Henry, what did
you bring this around for!' says l.
why cap'n, mo and sam thought a. how
some no count niggers or white trash might
hear ~ YOU Roin' way and try to steal some
thin, 20 ] jest told sam I'd take de ole gun
and stay round nights Till de boys come to milk
and ii ready dc rlow mules. but nobody come,
cam. It's all right
That old fellow had been standing guard
until %nearly4 o clock every night ! had been away.
How many white men would do il for double
wages without a watChman's clock
Tel them about that bicycle fellow. said
the professor.
Why, one Of the smartest cultivators and
pickerS on the place l. a boy named Tom You
talk about simplicity and ignorance Tom IL
a sample of II. If ! ever saw any He seemed
To take a fancy 10 mo somehow and will do any
thing tell him his affection is like that OF a
dumb brute. and 7 believe he would kin himself
before he would deceive me Tom wanted a
bicycle uSe him 10 take messages TO the
VILLAGE and sent 10 Hartford for one When
II came Toms actions were aS good as a circus,
he wns 50 pleased His feet are pretty good
size and in warm weather he always goes bare
footed. 30 ! said 10 him Tom, I'm afraid your
feet are too biz for this bicycle The only
thing | can ~ee will be To cut your toes of To
N those pedals Put your foot on this stump
YOU 60 and get amaze
The boy came right mp and nut one foot
on the stump He was perfectly serious and
never doubted for an instance but what in
tended doing II He would have LEI mo Cut his
foot on and never said a word simply because
he believed that whatever ! said or cid was
right aud that i couldn't be- otherwise That's
N" kind ~ people We have 10 work in Georgia. |
Can you beat 'em ont Ncst2"
don't think We can on that line, said the
man from Michigan But what ! would like
10 know is Il the other fellow brought the axe