The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-02-05
SOME OF THE ERRORS IN SOUTHERN
FARMING AND THE REMEDIES
SUGGESTED.

Unfortunately for the South just
after the war the farmers we're COM
PEELED to rent out their lands to the
negroes, and if the labOrers had no
team then they worked on what was
called the share system. The land
was turned over to the negro tenant
to work and manage as he liked o
a stipulated sum per year. Needless
to say they butchered the land and
what was once fertile fields soon we're
turned into barren wastes. The hill
sides soon presented a ruefUl picture
with their gaping gullies interspsrsed
with sassafras and persimmOn
bushes. The share system was as
bad, or worse in this case the farmer
furnished everything needful and
the laborer only furnished the labor.
Everything was in his hands until
he turned over the half that the
land owner was supposed to get.
The great trouble with these sys-
TENS was the negroes just emerging
from bondage imagined that to be
dictated to in working their crops
was like a second bondage. They
would act very we'll for the first few
months, until they had run up a con-
siderable grocery and dry goods bill,
and then they would act very indie
pendently and would often leave
their crop if it was at all u%nfavor-
able.
The land owner was unable to hire,
as the negroes said that was too
much like slavery for them. Any
one can we'll see that such a system
would break down any country, and
the South would have been beyond
redemption but for the fact of it's be-
ing highly favored by nature.
The ~recuperative power of these
lands is wonderful. Only a few
years is needed for these worn fields
to become covered with weeds, briers
and bushes, especially pines. By
this lean nature restores the waste
places. The true farmer does not
care to rent his land, nor share with
the labOrer. He cultivates his crops
and manages his stock and farm
generally as he thinks best. He does
not depend on the shiftless labOrer
to carry on the work.
The negro labOrer for hand work
is the best labor that can be obtained
in the South, if it is only managed
but woe unto the man who
turns his farm over to a lot of hired
men (black or white) and spends his
time in town discussing politics or
fishing and hunting. Often
the proprietor knows less about the
operations of the farm than any
man on the farm. In the fall he is
surprised to find only a half crop and
the farm and stock run down" The
should of course have seasons
of recreation, but while he is at work
he should stick to it as men in other
professions do; and then when he
takes recreation let him take it in
earnest.
The labor that the Southern farmer
has to deal with is very amenable
and easily managed and effective
but if not managed it is considerably
below par.
Another of the special weaknesses
of the Southern farmer is in attempt
ing to cultivate too much land, or
in spreading a small amount
of fertilizer and labor over too large
an area. Instead of making ten bales
of cotton on 40 acres, it could be
made on 10 acres at much less ex-
Dense.
The average farm would yield
more if only one-third of the Guilt
waited area was cropped and the re-
manning two-thirds devoted to pas
5ure. The expense of labor would be
one third and the n from the
extra cattle would greatly enrich
the cultivated portion.
The one-crop system is another
''besetting sim" The tobacco, or
either one make a most ex-
sale crop, but should not
have all the attention. Grow these
crops on One-ffth of the land and
make the other four-ffths support
the farm and farmer, then the sale
crop will be a clear profit and all of
it d go to the bank account that
every farmer should possess. In
other words, practice a diversified
5lon of crops, using a systematic
tiOn !