The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-02
BY WILL T. sHEERAN

By WILL Y. 0hE6AAN'
 Uniontown, July 1.-(Spectal Corre- spondence e0-A soil 70 productive. and a climate that so harmonises with It makes the Canebrake an ideal hc1d for the working out of agricultural prob lems.
 If there Is anything grown in the temperate zone of America that will not grow in the fertile fields of the Canebrake, the enthusiastic friends or that section say that 1t has never been found. Cotton. of course. Is. as 1t has been for half a century, the center or the industrial system of this section. even as the sun Is the center Of the solar system. So many excursions in- to other fields are being undertaken, so many experiments in the culture and growth of other crops are being made, so many arguments as to the possibility of other crops are oeinS aimed at the thinking farmer. so many of the financial possi. bilities of other craps are under way. that the planter afid the farmer are being led away from their old meth ods, slowly 1t is true. but nevertheless they are being led away.
 In the eternal fitness of things It was only proper that the fertile acres of the Canebrake should become the theatre of these experiments and dem- onstrations. In spite of the conserva- tism of this section, in spite of the an- cient allegiance to cotton, which In truth has kept the country prosperous through good times and bad times, one is impressed with the new ideas. with the demonstrations of changes that are being made. The Canebrake, the Black Belt, is the natural home of tho cotton plant even as the river bottoms of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi are also It's natural element. All who came to the Canebrake, knew cotton culture, or learned to know It. Even the French refugees who came into the Canebrake in the States pioneer days, to grow "the vine and the olive" aban- done ed their French crops. that is those of them who remained, and went into the growing of cotton. Land so nat urally rich. and land that requires so little of fertilizer has always made money for its owners, even when the sun of cotton was obscured by the dark clouds of adverse financial condi- tions. ~
 New ideas are coming now. New thoughts are shaping the plans and the labor of the planters of the Cane- brake. Hard by the prosperous town of Uniontown. the Agricultural De- partment, through its agent, Professor Spillman, Is demonstrating the wis- dom of diverse crops and the snort sighted policy of the man who pins his faith to one crop and only one. In the barbecue recently given at the place of General T. T. Munford Pro- lessor spillman. in the course of forceful address told the assembled farmers:
 One Crop Unwise.
 'aThe cotton crop this year in Texas will be a million bales short. The poll weevil has widely increased his S'ld of activity in Texas. In places where he has never been seen before the boil weeyil is today sitting on the weeds and waiting the time when the cotton plants will have squares on them ana he can begin his destructive work. II l Is only question of time before he will make his way into Alabama Nothing can stop him. He is as cer- tain to come as the sun Is to rise. This statement of Professor Spillman reflects one phase of the reasoning which is leading planters and farmers | into other lines of agricultural en- deavors and bringing them to the study of other crops besides cotton | The interest and enthusiasm with
 which the growth of alfalfa mas been
 met and the way in which its held IS
 widening has been alluded to in pre-. yious letter. Something Is to be said I
 farm on the Munford place and the
 work of the agricultural experiment l station at Cniontown and incidentally of A rather unusual and unique plar | of farming that Is being followed bJ
 several planters in and around Cnlon'
 town o,
 The farming interest of E. R. Glass of the prosperous Farmers Bank IIniontown, illustrates this unusual wa l Afr GlaSa for instance
 does not own the land on which n | farms He rents 1t and pays goo | rental for 1t. Moreover, his labor ] i strictly upon. the wage system. Tner | are no shares, no lease, no tenant sys
 tenn upon any of the several farm | which he operates. The negro lapore
 is hired as though he was to work Il
 a store and he Is paid at the end O | every week as a store porter would ID
 paid. And in addition to all this MT | Glass raises nothing but cotton. Al | of his land except some small hay neid
 is devoted to cotton and his feed crop
 are bought from his neighbors.
 In discussing his unique farmin
 methods. MT. Glass said:
 | At present we have about 1,b0
 acres in cultivation, all of 1t in cottor Of all the land we cultivate we onl' | own the Pitts place. a farm of sixt | acres close in Uniontown, The rest | 1t we rent from its owners. For thi l land we pay in cash a yearly rental 0 | from $2 to $2.50. Our regular labor we make contracts with, paying a goo | negro hand this year SIP month. Tn | negro laborers under their contract
 are paid off every Saturday night. Thi
 method we have found saves consider
 able trouble and annoyance.
 The Wages system.
 "On the various places we run W
 ordinarily employ enough labor at si | a month to cultivate the crops. bu sometimes the necessity arises for ad | ditional hands as in May and June o | the present crop season. Because o
 the lack of labor and the pressing neet | for workers in the grassy crops abou | here we had to pay our extra labor thu
 season in June as high as $1 day, al
 unheard of price in this section.
 "On the places we cultivate we wori l this year seventy horses and mules. w l buy the corn and oats for our live stocl l in car load lots. Being extensively en
 gagged in the mercantile business 1T | Uniontown we have found it to our in
 terest to follow this plan. A little O | the land we rent Is devoted to hay, bu l 1t is raised in no considerable quan titles.
 We have found this ssytem of rais | ing cotton satisfactory and profitable We began 1t some eight or nine year' | azo as a side issue to our UniontowI | blsiness and to give us some sort o our activity and occupation turing the | dull months of summer. We hav' since then increased our farming in | terests very materially and l do not mind saying that they have brough us in very satisfactory financial re- | h