The Southern farm gazette., 1908-11-21

/ have been requested 10 write an article on
How to Manage the Tenant" That depends on
what you mean by tenant. II you mean the
usual cotton-croppcr OF the South. would say
that the only way TO manage" him is to abolish
him forever. There is nothing that so intcrfcres
with rational farm Improvement nothing that 80
disorganizes labor. nothing that is worse for the
land and the landowner. and nothing that In
worse for the negro I, has built up and enriched
crowd OF money sharks who furnish the tenants
at exorbtant figures. II has not only robbed the
landowner of the fertility OF his soil but the crop
liens have robbed him OF what was properly due
him from his tenants In many instances.
II any man asked how TO contrive n scheme
for bringing poverty 10 tho cotton growers he
could not devise better one than tho cropping
system and the crop lien. II would be far better
for the landowner 10 let all the land he can no;
manage himself grow up In pines than to let IL
out year after year TO croppcrw until a negro
will not take it.
There are great fortunes awaiting men of means
In the South by the establishment of n tenant wys-
TEN something after the system that has worked
so successfully In Eastern Maryland. That Ia to
put buildings. on farms OF moderate sinc of such
n character that tenants with means and outfits
for the Improvement of the land be induced
to settle on the farms with an iron-ciad agree
mcns M TO tho course OF rotation and crops TO be
grown.
Bu; 10 get this class OF tenants there mus, be
something better on the farm than a shack TO 1.-Two
In and log hovei for mules. In county In
Maryland there arc forsy-iwo farms belonging TO
one estate. The tenants on these farms have been
prosperous and the late owner. who accumulated
them since tho war. died n millionaire. and tho
farms are to-day immensely better and moro pro-
ducsive than when they were bought
This In in n whca;-growinE section believe
that the same system applied 10 tho cotton farms
Of the South. would he fer more profitable both 10
tenant and owners than I'm the wheat growing sec
ton. for there is more proht I'm cotton as a money
crop under good farming than there ts In wheat
anywhere. With such sysscm tho cost os the
production OF cotton could be greatly leas~n~d by
reason of greater production per acre. and the
crop of to-day could b~ produced onc-foursh
the as~a taken for thr crop.
How TO manage the tenant. then. ia TO have ten
ants OF intelligence who will farm systematically
who will not look at every other crop than cotton
merely as "suppilen.' bu, will aim for n prom, In
every crop grown and viii understand that their
intrrcn, and the interest Of tho owner OF the land
are identical. and that tho more the productive
ness of tn. land increases tho more prom, viii
come 10 both for IL must be Understood that this
In n share system and no, one In which the tenant
pays NO much cash rent. II means. too. perma-
ncnt ,enantry. a rental terminabie only when the
tenant shows an incapacity To fnrm wei
The present cropping system and crop liens have
demoraiixed farming over large sections. The land
owner imagtnes that what he gets from the TENANT
In SO much made. while ia fact. he IN AIDING IN
the reduction of the price on every pound OF cot.
ton he grows himself, and those who patch out AL
their land In this way and live In town are Simply
hindering the proper development OF the country
Good tenants. good farmers. could be had II th'fe
were decen, buildings on the farms where dec'n'
man could live The average negro tenant nlnpis
tyf.a ,o sa, al ha can ous of the land and the