Thursday, December 14, 100
PRACTICAL LAW TALKS FOR FARMERS.
II. RENTING LAND.
A Further' Consideration of the Rights of Landlord
and Tenant.
No 2 of a Series of ArticU s on Law for Farmers ' '
prepared especially for The Progressive Farmer by
Hon. Walter A. Montgomery formerly fudge of the
North Carolina supreme Court.
Continuing the consideration of the rights of
landlord and tenant, bgun in last weeks Pro
gressive Farmer, we next take up
The Tenant's .Responsibility for Damages.
In cases . where the lease contains no agree
ment concerning repairs or re-building, in . case
of fire or other form of destruction or injury,
neither the., landlord nor tenant can. be required
to repair or re-build. And no tenant can be held
liable for damage occurring on the leased prem
ises accidentally, and notwithstanding seaonable
diligence on his part, unless he so contracts.
And even if the agreement is that either party to
the lease shall repair a house, the contracting
party shall not be bound to repair or-re-build in
case the house should be destroyed or damaged
to more than one-third its value, by accidental
fire, not occurring from the want of ordinary dili
gence on his part.
Time for Dividing Crop Should be Agreed On.
Rents due to the landlord are payable on the
leased premises unless otherwise agreed. If no
time is fixed for a division of the crop by the
terms of agreement, the landlord is not bound to
wait until the end of the year, or until the whole
crop is gathered, to compel a division. Our Su
preme Court has said that the best the proper
way to divide the crops between the landlord
and tenant is to do so seasonably as the crops
are gathered. If the tenant should unreasonably
object to a division and refuse to give possession
of the crops to the landlord, the latter could by
the ancillary process of claim and delivery seize
them and force a division. Of course, a time
may be agreed upon at which time the crops
shall be divided. ;
Crops Left in the Field.
Crops left in the field after the termination of
the lease belong to the landlord. However, where
any lease for years (and a lease for one year is
in law a lease for years) of land for farming
purposes, on which a rent is reserved, shall end
during a current year of the tenancy, by the hap
pening of an uncertain event which determines
the estate of .the landlord or lessor (as for in
stance, where one who has an estate for life
in lands, rents the same to another for one or
more years and dies before the year is out), the
tenant shall continue the occupation of the prem
ises to the end of the current year and shall pay
to the succeeding owner of the land the. rents
that may be due to him; and the tenant shall also
be entitled to a reasonable compensation for the
tillage and esed of any crop not gathered at the
expiration of the. year from the person succeed
ing to the possession.
When the Tenant Erects BuUdings.
Buildings and erections of all kinds put upon
leased premises by a tenant, purely for the pur
poses of a trade or for manufacturing, belong
to the tenant and he may remove them at any
time before or after the tenancy has expired.
However, if the tenant waits until the lease has
expired before he removes such fixtures he will
be guilty of a trespass in entering the land for
that purpose and in that respect only. The prop
erty would still be his. A tenant of leased lands
who should put up buildings or other erections
for the mixed purposes of trade and agriculture
would also have the right to remove them, for
they would belong to him. But the general rule
is, that, all buildings and erections put upon the
lands by a tenant for the better enjoyment of the
property become a part of the land and belong
to the landlord or lessor and cannot be removed
A tenant is the owner of the manure his stock may
produce on the premises and he can take it off
with him if he does so before the tenancy has
expired. He cannot remove it after his term
is out.
Law in Case of Disagreement Between Landlord and
Tenant.
The law of landlord and tenant (ch. 47 of the
Revised Statutes) provides the methods of set
tlment where there is disagreement between those
parties, and they are had originally in courts
of justices of the peace. And it is made a mis
demeanor under the chapter, Craimes, for a land-
lrWI nnlwfnl1v wilfullv. knowihsrly and without
process of law, and unjustly, to seize the tenant's
crop when there is nothing due to him ; ior a
tenant, lftsspe or crooner, or the assigns of either,
or any other person, to remove a crop or any
part thereof from the land without tne consent
of the landlord or his assigns, and without giving
him or his agent five days' notice of such in
tended removal, and before satisfying all the
liens held by the lessor or his assigns on the
crops; for the tenant wilfully, unlawfully and
with intent to defraud the landlord, give up ine
premises of the rented land to any person other
than his landlord; for a tenant, after or before
the expiration of his term, to wilfully and unlaw
fully destroy, , damage or injure any tenement
house or outhouse on the premises in any man-
ner, or with like spirit and intent pull down,
dpfitrmr iniiire or remove any fence, wall or en
closure upon the premises, or unlawfully cut
down or destroy anv timber, fruit, shade or orna
mental tree belonging to said landlord.
W. A. MOm UUidKKY.
ft
DO FERTILIZERS PAY?
A Harnett Farmer Makes a Test Such as Every
Farmer Ought to Make for Himself.
Messrs. Editors! I have made a little eruano
experiment this year which proved as follows:
One acre without guano made 741 pounds seed,
or 240 pounds lmt cotton.
Otia rre. ' with 400 noimds eruano made 926
pounds seed or 308 pounds lint cotton 205
Dounds seed (sixtv-eierht pounds lmt) cotton
more than the acre without sruano.
One nfire with 800 nounds eruano made 1.030
pounds seed or 343 .pounds lint cotton 300
pounds seed (103 pounds lmt) cotton more than
thfi flfi.rA without jnmnn.
The cost of guano and applying was as fol
lows:
Hauling guano eight miles, I2V2C per sack. .$0.25
Spreading guano, two sacks 10c. ........ .20
Pickiner 308 pounds (a) 40c. ner cwt. ........ 1.23
Guano (5 $2.25 per sack. ................ 4.50
Total . ... 6.18
So we see 400 pounds guano made
Sixty-eight pounds lint 10c. .... ... . ... .$6.80
Four bushels seed 20c. .80
Total . . . ..... ........... .1 ........ . . 7.60
Less cost of guano .....
Profit ......... ... .
........ 6.18
1.42
So we see 400 pounds guano per acre paid $1.42
clear.
At same rate one ton guano should pay $7.10
per ton, but att he rate of 800 pounds per acre
paid $1.60 per 800 pounds or $4 per ton.
It seems to me 300 pounds guano per acre will
pay best.
We farmers do too much like the boy in the old
story who was going to mill and had the corn in
one end of sack and rocks in the other, and
some one met him and asked why he did not divide
the corn and not cary rocks. And he said: "Thai
is the way daddy done." We go on the same old
way slip shod too often. ,
I think guano would pay better to put out, say
half before planting and the other at second
plowing.
Guano is too high any way. From $4 to $7.10
is hot enough to make on a ton, and cotton at
10 cents per pound.
It seems to me the Alliance might sell its shoe
factory and convert it into a guano factory and
make an 8 2 2 guano for $20.
J. M. CAPE.
Harnett Co., N. C.
Five Acres in Corn Netted $295.
Mr. John A. Hoderin has not f ortmttpn h nw f.n
farm with the most approved method. "This
year ne planted hve acres in corn at a cost of
$22: the cultivating cost $5: to bar-vpst
io ; w snrea it a total cost of $47. He
gathered 300 bushels which, at sixtv-fivA
worth $195; he had 2,800 pounds of feed at $5
a nundred, $140; he raised with the corn 150
pumpkins worth five cents eafih. matino- .hA tnt.nl
receipts $342.50. Deduct the cost, $47, and there
is a net profit of $295. For five a fires this will
strike the average man as being good. Not many
iarmers can beat it. lireensboro Kecord.
THOUGHTS FOR FARMERS.
Two Roads for Farmers.
It is a very blind man who perversely travels a
rough, stumpy road when he has the chance of
going over a smooth, easy one. That is what
some of the farmers of this Piedmont section are
doing. They are well assured that the plan of
planting cotton brings failure every time. Im
poverished land, poor horses and mules, eruptv
cribs and smoke-houses, and unattractive homes
are the results of such farming. But there are
many who are getting on the smooth road. They
are sowing much more wheat in this State than
they did last year and they will put in a larger
oat crop. By doing this they will decrease the
cotton acreage and thus help to keep up price.
Col. T. J. Moore, of this county, a large land
holder, is making his plans for next year, lie has
cut .oft 200 acres of land, much of which is thin
and devoid of humus. He proposes to prepare
fifty acres for peas by plowing and harrowing.
Then the balance will be equally divided between
small grain, corn and cotton. He will sow peas
after the small grain and plant or sow peas in
the corn. Thus be will have a hundred acres in
peas. He will divide his fifty-acre lots by good
hog-proof wire fences. Thus he will be able to
raise hogs from the gleaning of his small grain
and pea fields. By pursuing that plan eight years
he will bring his land up to a bale of cotton to the
acre. The soil will 'be eight to ten inches deep
and his food crops will be very abundant.
.Corn and Cotton Together.
Colonel Alfred Aldrich, '"of Barnwell County,
plants his corn and cotton in the same field, lie
makes his rows four feet wide and plants two
rows of cotton and two of corn. He qlaims that
he makes about as much cotton to the acre by that
plan as his neighbors make on similar land plant
ing all cotton. His corn and peas are an extra
crop. This year he planted a forty-acre lot in
that way. He has sold 40,000 pounds of ear corn
at seventy cents a bushel, reserving enough to
supply his farm. He has picked 20,000 pounds ot
seed cotton, which will make about 7,000 pounds
of lint. The corn sold bought' $400, at eleven
cents the cotton is worth $770, and both crops are
worth $1,170. It seems to us that he would have
made more if he had planted the two crops sepa
rately. But he is fully convinced that the plan is
best for him and his land.
Turning Land.
It looks as if enough had been written on this
subject to give all necessary information. But
every week such questions as these are asked:
Shall I turn my pea stubble before sowing small
grain? What shall I do with pea stubble, or weeds
on land intended for corn or cotton next spring?
Will it pay to turn land in cotton this year where
I wish to plant cotton or corn next spring? By
turning land the top soil is put on the bottom and
the bottom brought to the top. There can be no
advantage in that. There is positive injury if the
clay is brought to the top. Never turn land unless
there is a heavy sod like clover or broom sedge on
it. and then be sure to briner no clay to the top.
Do not turn pea stubble when preparing for small
gram. Do not turn it on land to be planted 111
cotton next spring. Do not turn clean land at any
time. What all clav lands need is pulverizing.
This can be well done with the disc plow when
followed bv a harrow. The clay is then mixed
with the soil and will not harden and bake when
the winter rains come. Land in cotton this year.
and intended for corn or cotton next, may be
broken and sub-soiled. A erood plan is to plow
up stalks with a two-horse "middle-buster" and
follow with a sub-soil plow. Then do the same
to the middle. In the spring the harrow will
nnf t.Vio lnnrl in -fine nrmrHt.inn -for anV CTOp.
good plowman can take a two-horse plow and
break land well .without turning it. By 'making
a narrow cut two inches of the clay may
broken and the top soil edged up. The winter
freezes will pulverize it. But if the clay is put
on ton. it will harden and the land will be in worse
condition than if it had not been plowed.
v . v - CHARLES FLTii.
.Spartanburg Co., S. C.
The Logic of Cotton Prices.
WW. ati Pflsv tnino- it. is to tret eleven cents
for cotton now. A year ago the price was just
getting ready to drop, now it is ready for a rise.
But just let the Southern planters plant a bi,
crop again next year and the same expenenc
thfi acreage, up
goes the price, or vice versa. Greenville mountaineer.