University of South Carolina Libraries
VOL. X.?New Series. UNION C. II., SOUTH CAROLINA, FEBRUARY 7* 1879. NUMBER 6. ' " ' j.-1 i. ' ' " - L1J -J?1 111?LJ?*->i? - ! -J-J' - J- -i ' ;w<yifw?ww??? www I-.. - ? ?? if' *0M ?? *"D..T.C04 MO Ll? CULTI* | rcdcr. ?J ?r?V ?hl. " ?' ? K - T JhJLli'H The crops are about housed, and notwith* standing we havo peace and plenty, we are not satisfied. Nobody has any money and everybody ie in debt. Tho laborer says ho * eannot work for loss that his labor is worth hs much "now as it ever was, yet bo can buy more with ptfe day's wages thnn he ever .* could wfch^N), and tho query is, What is the land ojWer to do ? Farmers must era* ploy labor iu the same ratio they get for their produots ; for instance, half bushel of I corn or three pounds of baoon always pai<i for a days workj and if it will not do it 11 ta?W' "-'oat oome to a itand still.? , ~QgBftg_^mm^l?jheijpaBnot_pay the pri SRMEL wmtnd to the "kdhr *> ulecUet negro" that will benefit the land or { it* owner. Therefore, I would say, audit I . your aeoonnts before the beginning of anoth' .V' er year, and if tho products obtained have cost moro than their market value, change your system at once. I hare arrived at the conclusion that thn bast tenants I can have aro four-legged ones, that will work day nnd night, and chargo nothing, only to be well fed and cared for. I belong to that class of faruiors who make farming their occupation aud study, and the remedy for our evils is in a change of plan rather than a change of occupation, theroforc have no 9* idea of abandoning the ship ; for if alio goes down,**11 other occupations sink with it. Many precious lives have been frotted out in the vnin attempt to farm with demoralized froe labor, on a credit or borrowed capital, to find cucli year plantations going to ruin, and debts still more aunoying. Now, instead of looking to the hoe and the plow for all moncv croDS. let us trv pmss cultum ?J # t ' ~ - -J O and stock raising, which requires very littie labor, eaves old fields from washing, improves land, gives sure crops and large profits. Why not learn a lesson from old father Abraham '( He would not have thought of employing men, at fifty cents per day and rations, to chop an hundred acre field of cotton; ho would have tured his cattle on it to eat the grass, and employed his time and talents to a less perplexing and more remunerating branch of agriculture. Think of it, brother farmers. Will not money from plants that will grow twenty years without the uso of the hoe or plow, be as acceptable as that derived from wearing out oar already impoverished lands I The farmer who raises grass, stock and provisions, needs but few work animals ; his expenses for labor are also small, while his income and independence is about as suro as the certainty that rain will fall and grass grow. But they say we cannot grow grass here ; when the truth is, trying to keep it cfraui crowinc. has nearly hrnlcen t.hn last 0 O' V eio of us, and the cry is, everybody in debt and no monov. Now, brother farmers, I am raising grass and clover here iu Johnston county, North Carolina, and I am pleasod with my success so far. The post season, I seeded twentyfivo acres on the road in grass and clover, and I also planted a row of elms, two hundred yards, from my dweelling to the store and lot. The season was exceedingly hot and dry, and strange to say, mi.ny persons passing by, found out that some of the grass died (and they knew it would?this is not a grass country), and nobody found out that two-thirds of the ohm di:d, and that this was not a tree country. Somebody said, in a swearing way, that I would have to sue a neighbor for trespassing on my grass field, for ho saw him pull up a bunch of broom ttraw in one of thorn. Now does that poraoa know that half of tho cotton fiolds in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, would have paid bettor in broom sedge Ahaa ia cultivation. Now let us assume y, itaat one-halt ot too land id cotton would make half a balo or 600 pounds of soed cotton, at 2} cents, $16.00 Mow 200 pounds guano, at 2} cents ptr pound $5.00 Picking ouf600 pounds at 60 cents per cwt 8.00 Quarter of 600 pounds for rent, 150 pounds at 21 per cwt 8.76 (ginning and bagging 2.00 $13.76 $13.75 $1.25 We have now one dollar and twentyfive cents to prepara the land, plant it, and cultivate it, and taking into consideration the more ootton made the less the prioe, would It not be more profitable to have bad half of it M broom tedge f I sent off a four hundred pound bale of wool which brought one hundred dollars. I also sent off a four hundred pound balo of ootton, made on one acre which brought thirty dollars?the wool cost me the least to make it Statistics show that in the South during tho last ^ three years, wool has paid 60 per oent. for P growing, while eotton has not paid 6 per sent; but somebody says, what it everybody foos to raising gross and rtoek, what then ? ITith the same propriety might be asked, If everybody goes to Heaven what will become of the devil t We have the brain, and it is as necessary to work it as it is to work the muscle, for , as intelligent applioation is used and loss actual labor, greater prosperity is found.? We must think more, and as an aid to better thinking, mu9t read more, and V -k? our farms onr constant study. Qo, fouod correct, bo an advocate of a higher education for the farmer. Tho struggle to accumulate money swiftly by raising expensive crops on extensive aroas by inforh,r labor, is an inevitable failure. A* the rather hard up old "colored lady" said when she wont to tho commissary for rations, "If I don't get no meat, but ah I the God-blessod freedom I has." So with grass /ethncrs. If 'hey don't handle much uionoy, there is a blessed quantity of comfort and peaco of Inind in it?tho wind works it, the air foods it, the dows and rains water it, and the stock gathers and manures it. Now, in couclusion, I would advise farmers to prove on pspe^Uiat -gq|in cannot he raised for its selling^nce, that no animal ran bo raised on the farm for its market value; yet we find that those who pursue that course do not houso their crops in barns covered in mortgage deeds, nor live from year to y^yr tho slave of necessity. Therefore burst these bonds that bind jou, and arise to freedom and independence. Look only to your fields and your energies for your supplies. If you are in debt, surrender your property ; don't undertake to borrow money at twenty percent, until you learn to make four per cent, on that you havo already got invested. I heard a conversation the other day between a farmer and a shrewd mechanic, which is worthy of noto. The mechanic contended he could not take less for the buggy without selling the material for less than it cost him ; the farmer could not pay for it without taking less for his produce than it cost him to make it; therofore no trade. Deny youjselvcs and get out of debt, then wo will bo the happiest pooplc under tho sun.?A. .T. IIeatii in Southern Planter and Farmer. Too Much Land.?Wo knew a farmer who, ton years ago, ownod one hundred and fifty acres, and was doing well; ho now owns five hundred, and is worse off than before. And why 1?Because this large farm is a great bill of expenso to hiui; he cannot afford to keep it up in good condition, and it hangs a millstone of caro about his neck. Ilis wife and children, both sons and daughters, are obliged to work hard to keep the great machine running.? Wo presume his boys deolnra they will Iaiiva hnmn no tlino --A ^1.1 ' v?<w mvhiw us uiu uiu cuuu^u y anu the girls say thoy will die before they will marry.farmers. Neither sons nor daughters are educated as they dcscrvo to bo; they cannot be spared for this from work on tho big farm. Now wo declare thnt such a farm is a eurse to its possessor and his family, and an injury to the whole agricultural interest, if that man wants to savo himself and his household, ho should sell at least ono half of his land, improve the remainder to make it more productive, releaso his children from bondage, and try to make his home u comfort. He will live longer, lay up as good a proporty, and will train up a more intelligent and a happier family.?American Agriculturist. Caubaoe Worm Remedy.?I will give you a sure remedy for tho cabbage worm : Make a strong solution of lime water, pour it over tho cabbage in the evening; if the lime-water is made strong there will be no live worms left that tho water touches.? Last full I had a nice patch of cabbage in tested with the worms. After trying all other rcmcdios I could think of, I resorted to the lime-water, and to toll the truth, expected to find my cabbage cooked next morning, but I was agreeably disappointed next morning to fiud tho cabbago greon and bright, and the worms laying all over the patch dead as a door-nail. .0. Incendiary Wasps.?Wasps used to bo considered dangerous only on account of tho excellent fucilities they possess for carryiug on warfare, but it has been developed that they aro dangerous in another way. An exchango has discovered that the frequent mysterious burning of haystacks and farmers' buildings has led to the discovery that they are set on fire by wasps' nests, and that the nests are iguited by spontaneous combustion. This is said to be produced by the chemical action of tho wax in contact with the paper-like substanco of which tho nest is composed, a comparatively small excess of oxygen boing suffi cicut to make it burst forth iu a blazo.? Therefore it remains for our citizens to seek and destroy thoso infernal machines. Chamomile.?A decoction of the leaves of oommon chamomile will destroy every species of insect, and nothing contributes so much to the health of a garden as a number of ohamomilo plants dispersed through it. No green house or hot-houso should ever be without it, in a green or drieded state; either the stalks or flowers will answer. It is a singular fact that if a plant is drooping and apparently dying in nine cases out of ten it will reoover if you plant chamomile near it. The immense number of worthless "cur dogt" to bo found in all parts of Virginia is a disgrace to the people of tho State and a burden upon every productive interest. Let us all work together to romove it? Start a rebellion in every county.?So. Planter and Parmer. natifi LlSUAi One very important lesson that the result of the Zar has taught the Southern peoplethat white meo are capable of earning^ their bread by manual labor in the field as well as the negro. Numbers of worthy young men, reduced to the sltersstivs of work or want, have resolutely taken hold of the plow or heo, and have lesricd what it is to do a day's work iu all weai her with the best hand in the field. To-< ay many of these mon are independent; ti toy have' learn jd to work ; more, they hav> learned to manngo their farms successfully; and having learned this they are matters of the , situation by natural right and result The/ half work, or hardly that;?and it is found too that labor does not debase the character of a true man or disfigure his manly form?that work is healthful and a wonderful developer of muscle, strength, and appetite. All this was known indeed to many a white man iu the South beforo Cuffee's nm.innin.ttinn tV\r itioncn..Jn -r ~e 1 - r , .uoumiuua VI IIIUIJ Ul AUglo Saxon descent were used to daily labor in the field beforo the war. And it was men of this class, who, at Appomattox, laying their weapons to rust on the field of carnage, returned to their desolated homes and went at onco to brighten the plow in the field of labor, that taught tho men of softer muscle who hesitated awhile that they eould work too, if they would but try. Examplo is contagious, and the action of Lee's veterans, who returned to their hpmcs in April '65, and starting de novo, sulfcoeded in making a fair crop, inspired many an idle young man to attempt the same thing the following year, and the effort uiado in general brought success. Every year.since then has addqd more and more to the number of Southern farmers who aro at the same time their own overseer and laborer. Thus it came to be generally kn^wn that the white man ran no extraordinary risk at labor in tho open field at any season anywhero in the Southern country. And this white labor has been gradually snpercceding colored labor, till now wo should not be surprised if the number of the former who toil daily on tho farm does not exceed tho number of the latter. We do not mean that the while man is generally found ax kmltng ) ?? prefer to farm on their own hook, and we find thorn to be the most successful and the most thrifty of all farmers. The success of white labor in the South will therefore no longer bo a questionable one. Alter thirteen years' test the problem is answered in the affirmativo, never more, we trust, to bo subject to doubt.? Let none now say ho cannot farm because he is a white man. He can it ho will but try.?Rural Mcxsrr.ger. A Mother's Influence.?It is hard tor a young mother who has not yet overcome the wayward tendencies of her ova youthful n?turo, to realize the iufluouco she exerts over her little ones. She is continually surrounded by critical imitators, who copy both her morals and her manners. As the mother is,so are hersons and daughters. If a family of children are blessed with an intelligent mother, who is dainty and r<6ned in her manners, and does not consider it necessary to be one woman in tho parlor and an entirely different person in hertveryday life, but who is a true mother, and always a tender, charming woman, you will invariably see her habits of speech and pleasant manners repeated in her children. Great rough men, and noisy active boys will always tone down their voices, and strive to stay quietly, and to bo more mannerly, when she stops to give them a kind word or a pleasant smile, for a true mother will nover fail to do all the kind and pleasant things she can that will in any way help to lift up and cheer thoso whose lives are shaded with toil and care. The mother of today rules tho world of to-morrow. Think of it when you arc tempted to be fretful and impatient, and guard well your hct? treasures. Benjamin Hunter, the Philadelphia murderer, left nn estate valued at $40,COO. His expenses since he undertook to collect the debt due him from John M. Arnstrong with a hatchet, have amounted to about $15,000. After deducting all this hitfamily will bo left in very fair circumstances. It seems from this that tho incentive t? murder Armstrong was one of revonge and greed rather than necessity. Dr. Andrews, who assisted at the execution of Hustor in a medical capacity, says that the story of the attempted suicide was greatly exageratcd, and that the wretch would bavo died from terror and cowardice if h? had not boon strangled promptly by Sheriff Calhoun's patent choking apparatus. Children are quick to percievo the standard of integrity held by those arout^l them, and to catch the prevailing tone of m4* ral feeling. When they hear injustice condoomed in large thing9 and paliated in small ones; when thoir own childish depredations aro treated with levity, or Dossed over with indifferenoo ; when deoeitful practices are tolerable and simply troublesomo habits punished, it is not strange that they learn to measure the gnilt of dishonesty only by the , material less or annoyance entailed. An Act to provost Unjust DisMsa'nstion by Common Carrion. Be it enacted by the Sonata and House of Representative* of tbe State of Bouth Carolina, now met-and sitting in General Assembly, and bv tbe authority of tbe same: Section 1. Tb?t railroad corporations, and all other obirtercd ormoan'?* acting as common carriers within the limits of this State shall eharge for tbe handling and storage of goodq, wares and other p.^p^rty, and for the oarriage of freight and ; avengers, snob rates only asareroasonnbie. Sec. 2. That no charge for tho carriage nuobTOo within the meaning of this act which is in excess of the usual and established charge made by the same corporation or combination of corporations for the carriage of tbe like kiud, class and quantity of freight for any greater distance over their line or lines in the same direction: Provided, That if such corporation or combinations of corporations can show a greater necessary expense to itself, or to themselves, for the carriage of goods, merchandise or property over the shorter distauce than that which is incurred lor like carriage over tho lougcr distance, a proper proportion of such excess of necessary expense shull be deemed a reasonable additional charge. In the construction of this section the sum charged or received for the transportation of freight shall include all terminal charges, and tho road of a Corporation shall include all the road in use by such corporation, whether owned or operated under a contract or lease, "liut nothing in this s jction shall bo construed so as to requfre any corporation or combination of corporations to regulate their charges fdt shorter distances by their pro.portion oi* through freight bcyoud their line or lines." Sec. 3. No railroad corporation or other chartered company doing business as common carriers within the limits of this Stato shall charge, demand or reccivo from auy Eerson, company or corporation for the auling, storage, loading or unloading or transportation of freight, or for any other service, a greater sum thnu it shall at the same time charge, demand or receive from auy other persou, company or corporation for a lilte service, upon like conditions, and UuvhSf"llie Same circumstances; aud all concessions of rates, rebates, drawbacks aud contracts for special rates shall be open co and allowed all persons, companies aud corporations alike, at the same rate per tou per mile and by the car-load, upon like conditions and under similar circumstances; and ary discrimination which violates the spirit and meaning of this section shall be deemed unjust and unreasonable. Sec. 4. That any railroad corporation or other chartered company acting as common carriers within the limits of this State, which shall for itself, or for itself and other chartered companies acting in combination, with it, chargo or receive any sum which is unreasonable within the meaning of this act, shall forfeit anil pay to the person, company or corporation paying such overcharge twice the amount so charged in excess of reasonable rates, to be recovered by action in tho proper courts of this State: Provided, That the action bo commenced within one year from the accrual of the right of action. Approved December 24, 1878. An Act to rcquiro all Clerks of Courts Sheriffs and Trial Justices to make monthly Reports of all Licenses, Fines and Penalties collected by them to the Auditor and Treasurer of their several Counties: lit it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same: Section 1. That all clerks of courts, sheriffs and trial justices be, and they arc hereby, required, on the first Wednesday in every month or within ten days thereafter to mnko, in writing, to tho respective auditors and treasurers of their several counties, a full and accurate statement of all moneys collected by them on account of licenses, fines, penalties or forfeitures during the past month; and, in default, thereof, upon conviction theroof, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or imprisonment in the oommon jail Dot exceeding two months, or both, at the discretion of the Court. Sec. 2. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this sot aro hereby repealed. Approved December 23,1878. An Act to amend an Act to prevent Fishing with Nets in the fresh water Streams of this State at certain seasons of the veac? he it enarted, <fec., That thi titlo of saiu aot be so amended as to read as follows : "An Act to prevent the oapture and destruction ot fish in tho fresh water streams of this State at certain eeasoas of tho year," and that then tho firstscciion of tho said aot be so aniendod as that it shall road : "That it shall not be lawful for any person in tho Countiesof Horry, Marion, Darlington, Clarendon, Chesterfield, Georgetown, Marlboro' Williatnsborg, Richland and Chester to fish | with nets or gigs, or set traps, or shoot fish with any triad of gan iu any of the tjreeh water rivers, ereelca, lakes or other stream* t in arM counties between the let tiny orjiay ^ and the 1st day of September in any yeav hereafkor." Approved Pofomber 23,1873. HARD tfcxTK&S w , After all, this has not been an exce~ tionully hard winter. In this city we have had the severest cold known for twenty seven years, that is to say since the metnor* ab'o season of 1860-51; and at the North it uas been blowy, snowy and frecsy for two or three week*. No doubt, if we had not had the sure authority of the record to appeal to, the oluust iokfcbUanfe would hav*? - .. insisted that it is the worst and coWcstr season within the memory of man. Put the uses of the oldest inhabitant as a meteorological register are exhausted. He is "played out," as it were. Ho is no longer an authority as to the past, or a prophet as to tho future. The thermometer has superseded him for one purpose, aud Old Probabilities for the other. In fact, it was always kuowir to observing people that the oldest inhabitant was a delusive authority as to the meteorology of past times. Horace Walpolo, in ono of his letters, remarks on the ten aency 01 people always to nun tno current season the worst, or tho best, as the caso might bo, that ever was kuown; to say that the winter in question was the coldest, or the summer the hottest, or that the frost came later in the spriug or earlier in tho autumn-than in any lortncr year; yettheso same persous, ho remarks, could not, for the lite of them, tell what kind of weather it was tho las* mouth, or eveo the last, week. The prcscut winter, so far, has eertaiuly been cold and tempestuous, but it is not half over yet, at least at the North, and it may turn out in the eud to be more thaa usually mild. In New Orleans it has, in fact, been exceptionally cold, and as our winter is nearly over, wc arc justiGcd by the record in saying that it is ono of l hocoldest and stormiest known during this generation. Hut in tho North aud Northwest they have two months of winter beforo them.^md those two months may ho relatively warm. Even the great cold of tho last two weeks ha? been many times exceeded ?uotably in 1972-73, when hundreds or persons in Iowa and Wisconsin-aud Miuncsotti perished In the tremendous snow storms of December aud January ; when a score or more of school childrcu with their teacher were frozen to death in a suowod-up school house, and a stage coach was caught in a driving tempest, and the horses, driver,, and eight passengers, many days attcrward were found turned to blocks of ice. The Kansas Journal, of January 2Gth,. 185G, contained tho following: "On tho night of the 24th of December, 1855, tho Missouri River at this place was frozen over. If is now nearly five weeks that tho river has been a highway for teams of borses, mules and oxen. We put this fact on record for coming years. We liavo now had near seven woeks of hard freezing wcathor?a fact unparalleled in the history of this country. People will hereafter refer to the long, cold winter of 1855-56." On Febuary 2, the Journal had tho following : "The cold of the past few weeks has been general. From every part of America ?from Halifax to Cuba we havo accounts ?and it is everywhere spoken of as tho coldest ever known. At Memphis tho citizens arc putting up their ice, a circumstance unknown before. Tho floating ico bus reached the mouth of the Mississippi? j a fact unheard of, even to tradition. Tho Brazos River, in Texas, is frozen sufficiently hard for the ciossing of teams. In Cuba they have a real Northern winter. At St. Paul, Minnesota, tho thermometer has been 41 degrees below zero." The issue of tho 9th February contained this statement:? "On Sunday and Monday, 3d and 4th, the thermometer stood 28 and 30 degrees bolow zero." In thoissuo of March 1 is found tbe following: "Tho rive at this place broke up on Monday morntng last. tho 25th of February, 1850, having been closod sixty days." In comparison with this the present winter has been rather tropical than otherwise.?N. O. Picayune. ' ? A Definition of an Editor.?We have soon many definitions of many names, words and phrases, but the following of an editor, given by Josh Billings, is about the best we ever yet encountered : An editor is a male being whose business is tonavigate a nuzo paper. He writes editorials, grinds out poetry, inserts dcths and weddings, sorts out manuskripts keops a waste basket, blows up tbo "devil," steals matter, files other peoples' battles, sells his papers for two dollars and fifty cents a year, takes white beans and apple sass for pay, sun !. l- ?;? ? * *?" ww nuii uo Rau ii/j rozcB a inrpG lamuyj works 19 hours out ov every 24, knows no Sunday, gits dammed bi everybody, and ouoe in a while wbipt bi sumbody, lives poor, dies middle aged, nnd often broken hearted, leaves no money, is rewarded for a life ov toil with a abort but free obituary puff in the nuzpapers. T.:?. 1?i ??* * uiuin \su muu ovinu hi win'si. nnmcna ino maturity of the crop, Prof. Johnston says the same is true of nenrly all onr cultivated crops.