Evening journal., 1912-12-03

from; but there is no reason why
they need TO be operated as. they are
except-well, call Il want Of knowi-
edge or want of immigrants.
There Is one more want. You can
guess it-when you see half dozen
able-bodied men loafing at the coun-
try store on a fine day IN June, and
woman out back hoeing the garden.
"Most OF the landowners have NOV
ed Off TO town and the land is divid-
ed among lot of tenants who are
paying back rent. and neither land
lord not tenant takes the trouble 10
learn much about agriculture, nor
does either appear TO have inherited
any knowledge of it--merely a few
of the evil practices Of slave agri-
culture.
1T takes a lot of land for Sus-
sex county tenant, for his system OF
agriculture consists OF raising corn
and then resting the land I'm com
plete idleness and such few weeds
and sassafras or young pine, mostly
sassafras, as will grow IN its corn
leached soil The soil is sandy and
so no grass grows naturally. and live
stock beyond the point of bare neces-
sity is practically unknown for miles
together Fences there are none The
average farm has a pair of mules and
occasionally a horse, enough pigs for
pork sometimes; rarely a COW, for
milk mostly comes from the store
condensed and in cans-if there is
any-and fat pork takes the place Of
butter Some hens shiver the winter
Though rOosting on the wagon and
the plow handles, but somehow they
are not the kind Of hens that lay in
winter. There may be an acre or
two of Strawberries with next year S
crop mortgaged a year in advance,
and there may be a patch of water
melons worth ten cents apiece on the
vine, but the main money crop Is
corn, and after the corn the land rests
for an indefinite period
ITO increase the dreariness of this
country, which seems to be four-fifth:
abandoned, they have the habit Of top
ping the corn II is said to be {
relic of slave times. TO keep the
slaves out Of mischief they were pu
in the cornheld to strip the bladel
off the stalk below the ear, cut thl
stalk off above the ear. tie this foddei
up in bundles and then make 1t int
shocks or small stacks so built as Z
turn water. The custom persists
They still top their fodder and thei
I sometimes in the fall or winter, as J
/ suits their convenience. they go on
and get the well-ripened corn. Ih
fodder stack may stand round for
year or two, and the blackened an'
toppling stalks persist in the staryel
and stunted sassafras for years, civ
ing a pathetic picture of desOlatloi
and serving in their later days a.
monuments that cry aloud of an ignor
ance that in this day Of science ant
fertilizer is amazing. The onwar'
movement of agriculture, however
which is just in its beginning, is go
ing to go to the ends of our countr
and is most certainly going to ge
those withered cornstalks of Delawar
before the passing of many years.
"These stubs of misery haven't man
friends, The man that makes ther
is not prosperous enough in his u
happy business to hold his Ian
against the money OF any hustlin
modern farmer who wants 10 buy
and he himself has some chance {
learn better ways. Just at presen
his lot is dreary enough. He lives
~ house up on pegs with the win
weeping under it. This custom aris'
rom the entire absence OF buildin
stone. and the abundance of water
90 in most cellars if there we're an
As a result they no more expect
eut cellars under their houses tina
hey expect to put on cupolas. 7 sa
fine new house built by man VII
lad received a legacy. II stood on
siX-foot elevation suitable for a goC
cellar. but l could see clear undo
he thing
A Sad Country Of Cheerless Homes.
These cold-hoored houses appe;
I'm nearly all cases to have been bui
IN some past generation. often the OF
before The last Their appearan'