The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1904-03-29

subject In his article on 1.-The Cropping System In
the South" in this number of The Progressive
Farmer. With the increasing advantages of coun-
try life and the advancing prices for farm prod
ucts, a larger number of young men of business
and executive ability are likely to turn henceforth
to the old plantation system of farming. And
such young men-especially if their native ability
be reinforced by special agricultural training
are likely to reap richer rewards than they would
obtain in any city business. We wish to encour-
age every young man in the ambition to own his
own home and to sit beneath his own vine and fig
tree. But the fact remains that there are many
young white men who have no such ambition, and
it is. almost invariably better for such persons to
work as troopers under the direction of an effci-
ent and competent plantation MANAGER than to
"piddle" for themselves with poor tools and poor
methods. Then we have many thousands of ne
groes, without initiative, and utterly lacking in
ability to manage for themselves, butchering the
land and getting only starvation returns for their
labor. Put in charge of an intelligent and enter
prising farm manager, better crops would be
raised, soil fertility maintained and better profits
obtained for all concerned.
In this connection we are reminded of a notable
article written by DR.. Ulrich B. Phillips, now of
the University of Wisconsin, for the July, 1908,
number of the South Atlantic Quarterly. The
following extracts from that article will be of
interest to those who wish to give the plantation
idea further study:
"The present system of renting, or cropping,
can be but temporary. Under it the negro is
superintended in but a half-hearted way. When
ever he fails to raise a good crop and to sell it at
a good price, he involves his landlord and his
creditor with himself in a common embarrass-
ment. Furthermore, the average negro cannot
maintain himself as an Independent farmer, be-
cause his ignorance, Incidence, and instability
prevent him from managing his own labor in an
efficient way.
1.-The most promising solution of the problem
is the establishment of the old plantation sys-
tenn, with some form of hired labor instead of
slave labor. The whole tendency of American in
dustry is toward organization for more efficient
management. 1t is a dead loss for a good man
ager to have no managing to do. 1t is also a
dead loss for a laborer who needs management
to have no management. The most successful
grain farms in the West are really plantations,
where great gangs of men and machines work
under a single direction. A system of small farms
in the South would be an improbable reaction
from a better system in the past. 1t would be a
lessening of the net output in the staples and in
grain, meat, and dairy products. 1t is necessary
to bring Southern industry in agriculture as
well as in manufacturing to a modern progressive
basis; and the plantation system seems to be the
most efficient for the purpose.
Il am acquainted with a gentleman, born and
reared upon a cotton plantation in Troup County,
Georgia, who moved to Atlanta, upon reaching
manhood, and established himself in business. He
achieved moderate success, but always felt that
yearning for the soil which is felt by so many
Southerners away from the plantation. At length