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MmMmmmA Farm
and Home Weekly for
Vol. XXV. Wol 21. . , ' RALEIGH, H. C, MAY 28, 1910. : ; Weekly: $1 a Year.
THE CHANCES OF THE-: LANDLESS-MAN
T!HE advice Professor "Massey gave the megro students at
Hampton Institute ta get Jand and improve it, is advice
that they are getting from every quarter It is advice
that the negroes ate taking, too; an$ it is advice that the land
' less - white men1 of the1 South must take if they would maintain
their economic independence and their social superiority.' Pro
vided only the population of ' negroes in any community does not
become large enough to -
check the growth of an ad
equate white population, we
believe itiswellforthe South
: that the worthy negroes on
the ; forms should acquire
; homes jpf theirjfwnshquld
have the added stability and
the increased incentive to
thrift and industry that the "
ownership of land will give
them;; but it is as inevitable
as fate that if any large
proportion of the negroes
acquire land, build homes
and thus become to a mark-'
ed degree financially inde- "
pendent, profiting by every
movement that makes for
the country's development,
and sharing in the natural
increase in the value of all
land, that thesenegroes will
advance faster, attain to a
higher: standard of living
and acquire more influence,,
both politically and finan
cially, than will the white
men who remain mere rent-s
ers, whohayeno home ex
cept by some other man's per
mission, and to whom the
increase 'th fit antnea ftt tht .
price of. life's necessities, as the result of the increase in land
values, will mean only harder times. Wages are likely to in
crease in the South, but they are hot likely to increase as fast as
Jand values. So it is going to be harder each yea, as President
Branson says on page 457, for the man who must work for wages
to get land. And the white wage-earner is bound to gradually
become of. less importance in the affairs of his community and
of. his State than the negro land-owner to whose wealth the very
laoors of these tenants will add.
& helps the South to have the negroes prosperous, but it is
necessary for the prosperity of both white and black' that we.
have for the bulk of .our rural population thrifty white farmers
who own their own homes. We cannot believe that the landless
white men of the South will sit still and neglect the opportunity
now theirs to get; homes of their own, thus putting themselves
forever in the class of free men men economically as well as
politically free. The great estates, the big plantations, half
farmed, rented put to tenants whose only care is to get as much
out of the land as possible without regard to how much damage
their slipshod methods may do, are going to be broken up. ' As
these estates are broken up they should be bought by, the men
who are now tenants on them, and by ambitious and progressive
Western immigrants who will not only enrich the Southby their
prosperity, but will also help greatly by popularizing stock-raising
and better methods of farming. , ,; .
There are few tenant farmers so poor that they cannot buy
4
Cultivation of the growing cpa s rteht now the most important feature of the work to be done .
on the average farm. In many cases it all depends upon whether this work is done well or wrongly
as to whether gocd crops or poor will be gathered next fall. The ideal cultivation is that which ,.v
keeps'the surface of the soil loose and mellow and free from weeds, and which does not disturb the
feeding roots of the plant. The ideal tool is the one that puts the soil in good condition in the least
timeand with the least expenditure of human labor. The outfit shown here is one that does good
work and does it economically. If one must walk, however, let it fee behind a shallow-iunning im
plement. The place for the turning plow at this season is under the tool shed. .
a few acres, at least, of land; and once owning a tract of soil,
if a man starts to work to improve and beautify it, to make it
. ' - -' . , more fertile and more home
like, he will soon find it
, adding to his income and to
his standing and influence
in a hundred ways of which
he had never dreamed. ,
y There i is) dignity in the
very facf of Tpossessing " a
freehold, and while the man
who neglects his land or mis
treats it may be written down
in Nature 's eternal book t of
justice as one recreant to
the trust confided to him,
the man who takes even the
humblest home-spot a n d
loves it and cares for it and
. makes it a place of refuge
and a source of comfort to
those dependent upon him,
not only shares in the re-
ward of those who put their
talents to work and thus
gain others also, but also
' earn the gratitudes f all wh&
may com e after him -by tnak-.
ing a fairer and a sweeter
world for them to live in.
' -. So, to . every tenant, to
, every young farmer, to every
landless man to whom farm
life appeals, we would say:
Let one of your first ambi
tions be to get a homes Though it must of necessity be of the
humblest sort, get it and keep it and see that it is given the
studious attention and the loving care that such a precious pos
session merits. This way lies independence and prosperity and
influence with your fellow mejt, and that most priceless of all
possessions that you canleave to ydurchildrena love of the home
in which they live and an appreciation . of the dignity and
beauty of work that adds to the welfare bf the world. -
FEATURES OF THIS ISSUE, f
-v 1 Courtesy Bateman Mfg. Co.
OUR MOST PRESSING PROBLEM. ,
Visit to Hampton Institute 454
. Breeds .and Types of flogs , . 462
Oowpeas Our Most .Valuable ' .
Crop . . . . V. ; ,;. . . . 450
Forty, Thousand Boys -in One'
v Big Farm School. . . . '. . . .' 455
Get Land and flold ' It . . . . 457
How Tillage Conserves Mois-
. ture . .'. .:,-.. . . . 455
Air. French' Asks a Favor. . 403
Removing Suckers and Thin
hing Cora ; 1 Vv ; ' 4'
The Home Dressmaktf's Out-
j fit . . .. .. . . .7. . ... . . . 458
-The Land ' of Opportunity ... 454
The Next Step in Civilization 400
w What I Saw in the Middle
V; West .......... 401
The v Value ' of the Sponge
Bath ...1.......... 404