USA > Mississippi > Newton County > History of Newton County, Mississippi from 1834 to 1894 > Part 10
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. year that a great conflict between the whites and blacks occurred in Newton county, of which more will be said in another place. Great excitement prevailed and there was much unrest in the county. Business was to a large extent paralyzed ; labor was hard to control, as a Freedman's Bureau had been established both at Meridian and Jackson, and with the least provoca- tion a white man would be reported, and probably arrested and caused much trouble. However, with all the trouble the cotton crop was a little better than pre- vious years, and 1868 is put down as producing in the cotton States 2,430,893 bales-152 cents.
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The year 1869 was also a very memorable year in the history of the State. The Constitution submitted to the people in 1868 was again voted on, and the whole vote, white and black, defeated the objectionable features so much disliked by the white people of the State. James L. Alcorn was elected Governor. No very serious trouble had come between the races, and the white people, although preferring General Dent as Governor of the State, welcomed General Alcorn in place of Ames, whom they despised. The cotton crop was not as good as last year, footing up 2,260,557 bales, with the price reduced to 16 cents. The people still neglecting to plant largely of corn, became buyers of necessaries of life as well as the luxuries.
The Legislature of January, 1870, elected two Sen- ators to fill unexpired terms, Adelbert Ames and Hiram G. Revels,t he latter the first colored representative at Washington from the State of Mississippi, and the first colored Senator ever in that body. Governor Alcorn served something over one year, and was elected to take the place of Revels, November, 1871.
The year 1870 was probably a little more prosperous. A still larger crop was made than the year previous-
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the crop of cotton amounting to 3,114,529 bales, with the price advanced to 25 cents. Large amounts of corn and bacon were advanced to farmers on credit.
The rising generation of young men, who will live in and govern and make the laws of the State, may enquire how so much credit was obtained by the poor planters to make these immense crops of cotton, to the neglect of corn and provisions which they might have made at home? The prostrate condition of the people just after the war induced our Legislature to devise some measure by which the planters of the country could get their supplies by giving a mortgage or deed in trust on their growing crops as well as on their per- sonal and real estate. The time honored deed in trust on any property that was tangible, anything really in existence, is as old as the laws of credit and the pro- visions to secure the creditors. But to make a law by which something not in existence could be mortgaged was new as well as unique in the way of legislation. In the year- probably 1867-the law referred to was passed and went into active operation all over the State. The first law was afterwards changed, and it allowed the creditor to take deed in trust on crops fifteen months before it was to be grown and de- livered. To this, as well as the general deed in trust law, many objections were offered, and many attempts maed to repeal the whole of the law, not allow- ing any money to be collected on such contracts. It has finally been compromised so as to allow the planter to give deed in trust on the crop after it is plant- ed and growing.
This deed in trust law was intended to offer re- ·lief to the poor farmer who had no money or prop- erty by which he could get supplies, and if it had been prudently and wisely used would have proved
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a great blessing to them. Yet this law, like many made for the benefit of the country, has been greatly abused, and men, both debtor and creditor, have suffered. Many men making this arrangement to give lien on crop and stock and homestead, have indulged too much in extravagance and have been forced to give up all they had to pay debts. The merchants being the purchasers have in many in- stances burdened themselves with unsaleable stock and real estate, and in the end both parties have been injured. Many men have used their credit prudently and have benefitted themselves and their merchants. In many instances much that is not correct between honest men is the outcome of the mortgage law. Very often contracts are not carried out and the prop- erty that should be forthcoming when due is not de. livered. With this state of affairs many complaints are made, and war on the deed in trust system has often been waged by grangers and others opposed to the system. The law may be good enough until it is abused. Farmers should not give trust deeds if they can avoid it. When they do give them they should stand square up to the conditions of the contract, and so should the merchant. If both will do right no harm but great good may result to the man needing credit. Upon enquiry it is found that there was recorded in the chancery clerk's office in the town of Decatur for Newton county, in the year 1894, eight hundred and fifty-one deeds in trust. If we will refer to years ago, we will find that in the year 1886 eight hundred and twenty-five were recorded in ths same court in Newton county.
The first of the year 1871 was much as the preced- ing years, and in November of this year, Lieut .- Gov- R. C. Powers succeeded Gov. Alcorn. The balance
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of the year was more marked with Radical rule than under the leadership of Gov. Alcorn, who had interests in the State and felt that he was a Mississippian. Gov. Powers seemed disposed to act with the tax- paying citizens, but was powerless from the fact that he was shackled by the Radical Legislature. The county of Newton succeeded above many counties in the State in throwing out the Radical element. Most of the State was yet under heavy taxation and no representation. The respective cotton crops for 1871 and 1872 were 4,347,000, and with a price of eighteen cents ; that of 1872 was 2,974,351 with a price of sev- tenteen cents : 1872 was a large cotton crop, but showed a great falling off with prices just a little lower. The next year, 1873, was very much in the usual way- large amounts of goods sold on time, most of them secured by deeds in trust on crops and property. Plan- ters largely in debt; great lack of corn and home supplies, with crop of cotton 3,930,508 bales, with a price of about twenty-two cents.
A general election was again held this year, in which Gen. Ames defeated Gov. Alcorn, and he was in- stalled as the chief executive of the State the second time ; in January, 1874, he was installed into office.
The citizens who were the loyal tax-payers and natives of the South, were by this time very impa- tient to throw off this alien and oppressive yoke. Active measures were contemplated in 1874, and more active were promulgated in 1875, which year marks the epoch in the history of Mississippi in which her white citizenship, by the assistance of many good col. ored voters, broke the bonds of Radical thraldom, and were again free American citizens. When this was accomplished the people felt that they would no longer bear the insults of a man who had violated the con-
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stitution of the State, and had laid himself liable to impeachment, which important event culminated in January, 1876, two years after Gov. Ames had been installed into office the second time. So also, Lieut .- Gov. Davis, and Superintendent of Education, Cardozo. Davis was tried and thrown out of office. Cardozo was allowed to resign. Ames had twenty-one articles of impeachment preferred against him, and would have been also removed from the office of Governor, but he indicated his willingness to resign if the articles of impeachment were withdrawn, which was done, and he did resign. Hon. John M. Stone was President of the Senate, and succeeded Gov. Ames, and became Governor March 29, 1876.
Newton county elected, in the year 1875, Isaac L. Pennington as our representative, who was a respect- able and strong-minded man, and who always voted the Democratic ticket.
The crop of cotton of 1874 was large, amounting to - 4,185,534, at 17} cents. The crop of 1875 was 3,832,- 991, at 163 cents. The crop of 1876 was 4,699,288, at 152 cents. The latter showing by far the largest crop of cotton ever produced in the cotton States.
With the inauguration of John M. Stone as our Governor, began the good work of reform in our State, and our prostrate people, depleted treasury and de. preciated State warrants, assumed creditable attitude again, and prosperity and peace reigned in our State. The administration of Governor Stone had been so satisfactory, at the end of the two years of Ames' un- expired term, that the people again returned him to that high position for four years, from 1878 to 1881.
These years were marked with quite a degree of prosperity in the State. Our taxes were reduced ; law and order were maintained, and quite a good feeling
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prevailed among our people. The cotton crops, as shown, are as follows : 1877, 4,885,423, at 19} cents ; 1878, 4,773,865, at 12} cents ; 1879, 5,074,155, at 10} cents ; 1880, 5,761,262, at 13} cents ; 1881, 6,605,750, at 12} cents. There seemed by this time to be an over-production of cotton, and the prices rated lower. But the people still bought largely of corn, bacon and flour, most of the necessaries and all of the luxuries of life.
January, 1882, General Robert Lowry was inaugu- rated as Governor of the State of Mississippi, and held the office eight years, being returned a second time. During his term of office great strides were taken for the education of the youth of the State. The Indus- trial Institute and College, for young ladies, at Colum- bus, Miss., suggested by Governor Lowry, was built and put into active operation during his administra- tion. Railroad Commissioners were also appointed, and a greater number of miles of railroads were built than at any subsequent time in the history of the State. The agricultural interests of the State were very closely looked to during this period, as the fol- lowing figures on the cotton crop will show: The crops for the years spoken of are respectively re- ported : The year 1882 is reported as having pro- duced, 5,456,048 bales of cotton; 1883, 6,949,756 ; 1884, 5,713,200 ; the year 1885, 5,706,065; the year 1886, 6,575,691 ; the year 1887, 6,505,087; the year 1888, 7,046,833; the year 1889, 6,938,290; with prices ranging from 92 cents to 13 cents, the higher prices being confined to the earler years when the production was smaller.
These eight years were years of peace and compara- tive prosperity-the people feeling that they had a stable government ; that the carpet-bagger had gone ;
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that the State affairs were in the hands of our own loyal citizens. They now had no fear of making monied investments or permanent and substantial im - provements.
At the next general election, in the year 1889, Gov. John M. Stone was again chosen by the people, and installed into office January, 1890. This was a mem- orable year in the State. The United States census was taken, and a Constitutional Convention called to change the Constitution of the State that had been acted upon by the people in 1868, and was not adopted. It was discussed by the Radical committee appointed to press it through, until the election of General Grant, who they supposed would force the whole of the Con- stitution as coming from this body upon the white people of the State. In this they were mistaken, as the President recommended the holding of another election, and allow the people the privilege of voting for or against the disfranchising clauses separately, as well as for State officers, Representatives in Congress and in the Legislature. This provision, so submitted, embraced the xiv and xv amendments to the Constitu- tion of the United States, which provided for the right without regard to race, color or previous condition of servitude.
"The election was held November, 1869, and the white people of the State accepted the Constitution as modified and recommended by the president."* This . Constitutional Convention of 1890, was to change the one of 1869, and give the people of the State one wholly made by the loyal tax payers of the State. The acts and deliberations of this noted body, com- posed as it was, of some of the leading men of the State, in session three months, and after great pains-
* Lowry's History, pp. 376 and 377.
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taking and careful law making, many things were done, much affecting the condition of the political status of the State.
The most important feature of the Convention, was the regulation of the election franchise. In this pro- vision an educational qualification is necessary, in which "every elector in the State, on and after the first day of January, A. D., 1892, shall be able to read any section of the Constitution of this State, or he shall be able to understand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation thereof." This clause, as a matter of course, disqualified many who had heretofore voted, both white and colored, from taking part in the election of officers in the State. The Convention also provided another very important law which prevents any State Treasurer or Auditor of Public Accounts, or any sheriff or county treasurer from immediately succeeding themselves or each other in office An ordinance of the Convention extended the terms of State officers then serving. Those terms would have expired January, 1894, but are extended to January, 1896. It also provided that the Legisla- ture of the State meet after January, 1894, every four years in place of every two years, as was the old law. Many other changes were made, but these were con- sidered the most important. This Convention had some of the ablest men in the State as its members, . some of its most experienced legislators and State and Federal officers, and upon the whole it is regarded as one of the best Constitutions in the United States.
If Gov. Stone lives his term out as elected by the people and extended by the Convention, he will have been the Chief Magistrate of the State for a period of twelve years, which is four years longer than any other man has ever held the office.
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The period from the year 1890 to include 1893, in- cludes an interesting epoch in the history of our State and county. With good home rule and schools well established, with a large majority of the country hav- ing no public sale of liquor-and Newton county among the latter-with a larger amount of corn and cotton and other agricultural products grown upon our State soil ; with more attention paid to the raising of stock; this, taken with the fact that Mr. Cleveland is elected for a second term, and that the country for the first time in over thirty years, is fully in the hands of the Democratic party ; that manufacturies are being established, many new industries have been in- augurated in the State, shows a growing interest that our people are taking in their State, and should invite a good immigration to our soil and particularly Newton county.
The cotton crop for the years named are as follows : 1890, 7,311,322, with a price from 9} to 10 cents ; 1891, 8,652, 597, with 73 to 10 cents per pound; 1892, 9,055,379, with a price of 7 to 8 cents per pound ; 1893, 7,500,000, with a price from 7 to 8 cents per pound. The year 1892 is unprecedented in the history of the world in the production of cotton.
torpil 10
CHAPTER XVI.
INTRODUCTION AND USE OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS.
. It will be remembered that the statistics shown in the preceding chapter, of the large and increased growth of cotton, was accomplished largely by the white pop- ulation of the State. It is very true that the negroes did a large part of the work, and yet the white man does much of the labor and ;particularly in the poorer counties of the State. The white farmers have learned much since their first failures to make cotton and corn with free labor without giving it their attention. It is well un lerstood that the negro is the best hired labor that the South has ever had or probably ever will get ; yet if this labor is not given the assistance, advice and control of the white man, it is worthless. With the presence and help of the white man-with kind but firm enforcement of his discipline and practical direction- it is the best our country can get.
It must be borne in mind, as has heretofore been stated, that at a very early period of the cultivation of the lands of Newton county, many of the very best and most level portions were cleared up and put into . a state of successful cultivation. Very great neglect in allowing the lands cultivated to wash away by care- less ploughing and want of ditching, was practiced by early farmers. Also a continual use of the lands in one product-say corn, cotton and oats-was allowed and proved very injurious to the lands. This fail-
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ure to rotate the new! and fertilize the old lands, caused much that had been very valuable to be turned out and to grow up in a second growth of timber- mostly short-leafed pine. Young men, looking at the prospect of making a living and money from such a source, were discouraged and turned their eyes to a new country-to fresher and richer soils-and in that way our county lost, it may safely be stated, thousands of her citizens and some of our best farmers by their removing to Texas and other States.
In the year 1870 or '71, a commercial fertilizer was in. troduced into Newton county -it being the pioneer county in the State in the use of this commodity on the general field crop- Mr. I. I. Barber, of Hickory, being the man who first conceived the idea that it was necessary to the improvement of the crops and par- ticularly the cotton crop, by its judicious use. It will be seen by 'a comparison in the production in Newton county, that from the introduction of this fertilizer commenced a brighter dawn for its farmers.
The virgin soil of this county, where it is rich, does not so much need this stimulant; and yet it is found that it' pays; on rich, fresh lands, to cause the cotton to mature earlier, and in this way often prevents the worm from destroying a late crop. It also would need the same help to prevent any deterioration, and by this means would be kept in a normal, if not in an im- proved condition by its application. But soils that are naturally poor and worn out by use and want of rota- tion of crops, and have been allowed to wash and leach the soil from the clay, these are the lands that need to be fertilized, and if necessary subsoiled. S. M. Harris, New York State Chemist, says : "The food of plants consists of a number of elements, including nitrogen, phosphorous (in the form of phosphoric acid),
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lime, magnesia, iron, silica, potash, etc. A sufficient quantity of all these necessary elements, except nitro- gen, phosphoric acid and potash, exists in nearly all agricultural soils. Nitrogen is nearly always deficient ; . phosphoric acid usually, and potash often. In some soils there may be enough of all the elements of plant food except one. Let us assume that this is nitrogen. In this case the growth and yield of the crop will be limited by the quantity of nitrogen it can obtain. There might be an abundant supply of the other elements, but the plant could not use them without nitrogen. This would be true of any other element that might be deficient. The plants must have these all at the same time to develop in perfection."
"What the farmer must do, therefore, is to furnish the plants with the elements of plant food that are lacking in the soil. Nitrogen is the one that is nearly always deficient. This is due to the fact that nitrogen in a soluble form is easily washed out of the soil, while phosphoric acid, potash and the other mineral elements will not wash out. The question that pre- sents itself to the farmer, gardener and fruit-grower is, how can I supply my plants with nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in the best forms and at least expense ? We will try to throw some light upon this question in the following. We first take phosphoric acid :
" There are two sources of phosphoric acid, namely : bones and rock phosphates. Of these the rock phos- phates is the cheapest source. A prevailing impres- sion exists that superphosphates made from rock phosphates are not as good as that made from bones. It has been shown by many experiments that this idea is entirely without foundation. What the plant wants is soluble phosphoric acid, and it makes little or no difference from what source it is derived. The largest
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deposits of rock phosphates exist in South Carolina and Florida. These beds of phosphates are supposed to be composed of petrified bones and excrements of extinct animals. When this substance is ground and mixed with a sufficient quantity of sulphuric acid, the larger part of the phosphoric acid which it contains becomes soluble in water. The knowledge of this fact was one of the greatest agricultural discoveries of the age.
"When the rock phosphate is thus treated with sul- phuric acid, it becomes what is commonly known as superphosphate of lime. The same is true of ground bone treated in the same way. A good sample of su- perphosphate contains fourteen per cent. of soluble phosphoric acid.
" The cheapest sources of potash are German kanit or muriate potash (or, as is more perfectly called, chloride of potassium), and wood ashes. Wood ashes, if unbleached, contain from three to five per cent. of potash, in the form of carbonate of potash. They also contain from one to two and one-half per cent. of phosphoric acid (insoluble). They are worth as plant food from $7.00 to $12.00 per ton, according to the amount of potash and phosphoric acid they contain."
It is well known that all the uplands in Newton county need fertilizing, and it should be commenced as soon as the land is put under cultivation. If it is applied to the new grounds of the county planted for the first time, it will cause the cotton to mature early, and open before it would be injured by frost, or before the worms would destroy it in the month of August. It should also be applied to new ground corn, as it will more generally cause the corn to mature and make, which it would not do without it. A perfect fertilizer for cotton is ammonia or nitre, phosphoric acid and
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potash. The lands of Newton county have more potash than any other ingredient. In order to fertil. ize intelligently (and that is the only way that it can be used with safety), is to know the analysis of the lands to be enriched. Sometimes soils in the same county, like ours, differ very widely in the kind of fertilizer that they need, some requiring one essential ingredient and some another. When it is known what lands need it is a very easy matter to have the defici- - ency supplied, or to discover any element that may preponderate. This analysis of lands is a great ex- pense and much trouble, yet it is the only reliable way to know what it actually and definitely needs. This is, to some extent, often overcome by experienced man- ufacturers who have studied the needs of our soils and know what plant foods the various sections need. The same fertilizer that would make a fine crop of cotton would also make a fine crop of corn on the same land, it being perfect for both ; but cer- tain fertilizers suitable for corn would not do so well for cotton. There are certain contingencies to be met, in making the cotton fertilizer that are not observed for corn. It is due to the fact that it does not require the amount of phosphoric acid for corn that it does for cotton.
It is well known that cotton seed will make good corn on poor upland, if properly applied, with suffi- cient quantity to meet the demand. They will make also sweet or Irish potatoes, and many other things. But cotton seed alone will not do well for cotton, as a large stalk will be the result, without the good results of fruiting, which is the most necessary requisite in furnishing satisfactory crops. To combine the green seed with the acid phosphate, putting them in the ground together in the month of February, say 20 to 10
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30 bushels of seed and 200 pounds of acid phosphate, will in almost every instance, insure a fine crop. The ground, which is nature's great "laboratory," will manipulate these two elements and form a perfect fer- tilizer. There are other formulas for the fertilizing of cotton and corn with which the farmers are more familiar than the writer, and which are alternated from year to year, as it is seen, which pays the best on dif- ferent lands ; as it is often the experience of the far- mer teaches him what is best for one part of his farm is not so good for another. Hence, the use of compost heaps and the mixture of home made fertilizers with the commercial so as to obtain the best results. Much importance just now, and for a period long anterior to the present, is attached to the value of cotton seed, and the necessity of their return to the soil from which they were taken. A farmer by judicious management may return just the seed that came out of the cotton that an acre of land will produce, or its equivalent if rotated by another production and continue to do so from year to year, it will be seen that the land will be- come gradually more productive by only receiving a part of the product back to it that has each year been grown upon it, though it may be cultivated every year. Quite a number of farmers are now selling their cotton seed, owing to the large advance just now. This part- ing with the cotton seed from the plantation should be well considered and seriously canvassed before doing it; and under no circumstances should it be done un- less the equivalent of the seed be returned in cotton seed meal and other fertilizers to supplement the loss of the seed grown upon the land. It is officially stated by State Chemist, that a bushel of cotton seed is worth 28 cents as a fertilizer on the farm on which they are raised. The cotton seed meal is a fertilizer of very
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