WITH an auger in his hand, by means of which a hole could be quickly bored into the soil to a depth of three or four feet, Percy joined Mr. West for the tramp over the plantation.
In general the estate called Westover consists of undulating upland. A small stream crosses one corner of the farm bordered by some twenty acres of bottom land which is subject to frequent overflow, and used only for permanent pasture. Several draws or small valleys are tributary to the stream valley, thus furnishing excellent surface drainage for the entire farm. In some places the sides of these valleys are quite sloping and subject to moderate erosion when not protected by vegetation. Above and between these slopes the upland is nearly level. As they came upon one of these level areas, grown up with small forest trees, Mr. West stopped and said:
"Now right here is probably as poor a piece of land as there is on the farm. This land will positively not grow a crop worth harvesting unless it is well fertilized."
"If we were in the Illinois corn belt," replied Percy, "I should expect to find the land in this position to be the most productive on the farm. Our level uplands are now valued at from one hundred fifty to two hundred dollars an acre. A farm of one hundred eighty acres, five miles from town, sold for two hundred and fourteen dollars an acre a few days before I started east."
"Well," said Mr. West, "this may have been good land once, but if so it was before my time. Of course most of our uplands here have been cropped for upwards of two hundred years; and about all that has ever been done to keep up the fertility of the soil has been to rotate the crops. To be sure, the farm manure has always been used as far as it would go, but the supply is really very small compared to the need for it."
"Do you think that the proper rotation of crops would maintain the fertility of the soil?" asked Percy.
"No, I have tried too many rotations to think that, but I suppose it is a help in that direction, don't you?"
"I would say that crop rotation may help to maintain the supply of some important constituents of a fertile soil, but it will certainly hasten the depletion of some other equally essential constituents."
"Well, that's a new idea to me. I may not quite grasp your meaning; but first tell me about these tests you are making."
When they stopped on the area of poor land as designated by Mr. West, Percy had turned his auger into the earth and drawn out a sample of moist soil, which he molded into the form of a ball. He broke this in two, inserted a piece of blue paper, and pressed it firmly together. He then laid the ball of soil aside, secured another sample with the auger, and formed it into a cake with a hollow in the upper surface. He took from his pocket a slender box or tube of light wood, removed the screw cap, and drew out a glass-stoppered bottle.
"This bottle contains hydrochloric acid," said Percy. "It is often incorrectly called 'muriatic acid.' It consists of two elements, hydrogen and chlorin, from which its name is derived. But you are perhaps already familiar with the chemical elements."
"Well, I heard lectures at William and Mary for four years, and they included some chemistry as it was then taught; but they certainly did not include the application of chemistry to agriculture, and I am greatly interested to know the meaning of these tests you are making here on our own farm under my own eyes. You may take it for granted that I know absolutely nothing of such use of chemistry as you are evidently turning to some practical value."
"Any other farmer can make these tests as well as I can," said Percy. "This bottle of acid cost me fifteen cents and it can be duplicated for the same price at almost any drug store. The acid is very concentrated, in fact about as strong as can easily be produced, but it need not be especially pure. Some care should be taken not to get it on the clothing or on the fingers, although it is not at all dangerous to handle, but it tends to burn the fingers unless soon removed, either by washing with water or by rubbing it off with the moist soil."
"I use this acid to test the soil for the presence or absence of limestone. Ordinary limestone consists of calcium carbonate. Here, again the chemical name alone is sufficient to indicate the elements that compose this compound. It is only necessary to keep in mind the fact that the ending-ateon the common chemical names signifies the presence of oxygen Thus calcium carbon_ate_ is composed of the three primary elements, calcium, carbon and oxygen.
"Of course the chemical element is the simplest form of matter. An element is a primary substance which cannot be divided into two or more substances All known matter consists of about eighty of these primary elements; and, as a matter of fact, most of these are of rare occurence—many of them much more rare than the element gold.
"About ninety-eight per cent. of the soil consists of eight elements united in various compounds or combinations; and only ten elements are essential for the growth and full development of corn or other plants. If any one of these ten elements is lacking, it is impossible to produce a kernel of corn, a grain of wheat, or a leaf of clover; and in the main the supply is under the farmer's own control. But we can discuss this matter more fully later. Let us see what we have here."
Percy poured a few drops of the hydrochloric acid into the hollow of the cake of soil.
"What should it do?" asked Mr. West.
"If the soil contains any limestone, the acid should produce foaming, or effervescence," replied Percy; "but it is very evident that this soil contains no limestone. You see the hydrochloric acid has power to decompose calcium carbonate with the formation of carbonic acid and calcium chlorid, a kind of salt that is used to make a brine that won't freeze in the artificial ice plants. The carbonic acid, if produced at once decomposes into water and carbon dioxid. Now, the liberated carbon dioxid is a gas and the rapid generation or evolution of this gas constitutes the bubbling or foaming we are looking for; but since there is no appearance of foaming we know that this soil contains no limestone."
"Then you have already found that those three elements,—calcium, carbon, and oxygen, you called them, I think—you find that those elements are all lacking in this soil."
"No, this test does not prove that," said Percy. "It only proves that they are not present as limestone. Calcium may be present in other compounds, especially in silicates, which are the most abundant compounds in the soil and in the earth's crust; and, as indicated by the ending _-ate, _oxygen is contained in calcium silicate as well as in calcium carbonate."
"I see; the subject is much more complicated than I thought."
"Somewhat, perhaps," Percy replied; "but yet it is quite simple and very easily understood, if we only keep in mind a few well established facts. Certainly the essential science of soil fertility is much less complicated than many of the political questions of the day, such as the gold standard or free-silver basis, the tariff issues, and reciprocity advantages, regarding which most farmers are fairly well informed,—at least to such an extent that they can argue these questions for hours."
"I think you are quite right in that," said Mr. West. "Of course, it is important that every citizen entitled to the privilege of voting in a democracy like ours should be able to exercise his franchise intelligently; but the citizen who is responsible for the management of farm lands ought surely to be at least as well informed concerning the principles which underlie the maintenance of soil fertility; provided, of course, that such knowledge is within his reach; and from what you say I am beginning to believe that such is the case. At any rate this simple test seems to show conclusively that this soil contains no limestone, and it is common knowledge that limestone soils are good soils."
Percy took up the ball of soil containing the slip of blue paper, broke it in two again, and it was seen that the paper had changed in color from blue to red
"There's a change, for certain," said Mr. West, "that has some meaning to you I suppose."
"This is litmus paper," said Percy. "It is prepared by moistening specially prepared paper with a solution of a coloring matter called litmus, and the paper is then dried. This coloring matter has the property of turning blue in the presence of alkali and red in the presence of acid. The blue paper is prepared with a trace of alkali, and the red paper with a trace of acid. If more than a trace were present the litmus paper would not be sufficiently sensitive for the test.
"This little bottle containing two dozen slips of paper cost me five cents, and it can be obtained at most drug stores.
"Alkali and acid are exactly opposite terms, like hot and cold. The one neutralizes the other. This test with litmus paper is a test for soil acidity, and the fact that the moisture of the soil has turned the litmus from blue to red shows that this soil is acid, or sour. The soil moisture contained enough acid to neutralize the trace of alkali contained in the blue paper and to change the paper to a distinctly light red color; and the fact that the paper remains red even after drying, shows that the soil contains fixed acids or acid salts, and not merely carbonic acid, which if present would completely volatilize as the paper dries.
"Now, these two tests are in harmony. The one shows the absence of limestone, and the other shows the presence of acidity, and consequently the need of limestone to correct or neutralize the acidity, for limestone itself is an alkali."
"But limestone soils are not alkali soils, are they?" asked Mr.West.
"Not in the sense of containing injurious alkali, like sodium carbonate, the compound which is found in the 'black alkali' lands of the arid regions of the far West; but chemically considered limestone is truly an alkali; and, as such, it has power to neutralze this soil acidity."
"Is the acidity harmful to the crops?"
"It is not particularly harmful to the common crops of the grass family, such as wheat, corn, oats, and timothy; but some of the most valuable crops for soil improvement will not thrive on acid soils. This is especially true of clover and alfalfa."
"That is certainly correct for clover so far as this kind of soil is concerned," said Mr. West. "Clover never amounts to much on this kind of land, except where heavily fertilized. When fertilized it usually grows well. Does the farm fertilizer neutralize the acid?"
"Only to a small extent. It is true that farm manures contain very appreciable amounts of lime and some other alkaline, or basic, substances, but in addition to this, and perhaps of greater importance, is the fact that such fertilizer has power to feed the clover crop as well as other crops. In other words it furnishes the essential materials of which these crops are made. In addition to this the decaying organic matter has power to liberate some plant food from the soil which would not otherwise be made available although to that extent the farm manure serves as a soil stimulant, this action tending not toward soil enrichment but toward the further depletion of the store of fertility still remaining in the soil."
"This seems a complicated problem," said Mr. West, "but may I now show you some of our more productive land?"
"As soon as I collect a sample of this," replied Percy, and to Mr. West's surprise he proceeded to bore about twenty holes in the space of two or three acres. The borings were taken to a depth of about seven inches, and after being thoroughly mixed together an average sample of the lot was placed in a small bag bearing a number which Percy recorded in his note book together with a description of the land.
"I wish to have an analysis made of this sample," remarked Percy, as they resumed their walk.
"But I thought you had analyzed this soil," was the reply.
"Oh, I only tested for limestone and acidity," explained Percy. "I wish to have exact determinations made of the nitrogen and phosphorus, and perhaps of the potassium, magnesium, and calcium. All of these are absolutely essential for the growth of every agricultural plant; and any one of them may be deficient in the soil, although" the last three are not so likely to be as the other two."
"How long will it take to make this analysis?" was asked.
"About a week or ten days. Perhaps I shall collect two or three other samples and send them all together to an analytical chemist. It is the only way to secure positive knowledge in advance as to what these soils contain. In other words, by this means we can take an absolute invoice of the stock of fertility in the soil, just as truly as the merchant can take an invoice of the stock of goods carried on his shelves."
"So far as we are concerned, this would not be an invoice in advance," remarked Mr. West, with a shade of sadness in his voice. "If we knew the contents of the crops that have been sold from this farm during the two centuries past, we would have a fairly good invoice, I fear, of what the virgin soil contained; but can you compare the invoice of the soil with that of the merchant's goods?"
"Quite fairly so," Percy replied. "The plant food content of the plowed soil of an acre of normal land means nearly, if not quite, as much in the making of definite plans for a system of permanent agriculture, as the merchant's invoice means in the future plans of his business.
"It should not be assumed that the analysis of the soil will give information the application of which will always assure an abundant crop the following season. In comparison, it may also be said, however, that the merchant's invoice of January the first may have no relation to the sales from his store on January the second. Now, the year with the farmer is as a day with the merchant. The farmer harvests his crop but once a year; while the merchant plants and harvests every day, or at least every week. But I would say that the invoice of the soil is worth as much to the farmer for the next year as the merchant's invoice is to him for the next month.
"It should be remembered, however, that both must look forward, and plans must be made by the merchant for several months, and by the farmer for several years. Your twelve-year rotation is a very good example of the kind of future planning the successful farmer must do. On the other hand, some of your neighbors, who have not practiced some such system of rotation now have 'old-field' pine on land long since abandoned, and soil too poor to cultivate on land long cropped continuously."
"This is a kind soil," remarked Mr. West, as he paused on a gently undulating part of the field.
"That is a new use of the word to me," said Percy. "Just what do you mean by a 'kind' soil?"
"Well, if we apply manure here it will show in the crop for many years. It is easy to build this soil up with manure; but, of course, we have too little to treat it right."
"The soil is almost neutral," said Percy, testing with litmus and acid. "Does clover grow on this soil?"
"Very little, except where we put manure."
Another composite sample of the soil was collected, and they walked on.
"Now, here," said Mr. West, "is about the most productive upland on the farm."
"Is that possible?" asked Percy, the question being directed more to himself than to his host.
"That is according to my observation for about fifty years," he replied. "Where we spread the farm fertilizer over this old pasture land and plow it under for corn, we often harvest a crop of eight barrels to the acre, while the average of the field will not be more than five barrels.—A barrel of corn with us is five bushels."
They had stopped on one of the steepest slopes in the field.
"These hillsides would be considered the poorest land on the farm if we were in the corn belt," said Percy, "but I think I understand the difference. Your level uplands when once depleted remain depleted, because the soil that was plowed two hundred years ago is the same soil that is plowed to-day; but these slopes lose surface soil by erosion at least as rapidly as the mineral plant food is removed by cropping; and to that extent they afford the conditions for a permanent system of agriculture of low grade, unless, of course, the erosion is more rapid than the disintegration of the underlying bed rock, which I note is showing in some outcrops in the gullies.
"I want some samples here," he continued, and at once proceeded to collect a composite sample of the surface soil and another of the sub-soil.
"In the main this soil is slightly acid," said Percy, after several tests, with the hydrochloric acid and the litmus paper; "although occasionally there are traces of limestone present. The mass of soil seems to be faintly acid, but here and there are little pieces of limestone which still produce some localized benefit, and probably prevent the development of more marked acidity throughout the soil mass.
"If I can get to an express office this afternoon," he continued, "I shall be glad to forward these four composite samples to an analyst."
"If you wouldn't mind riding to Montplain with Adelaide when she goes for her music lesson this afternoon, it would be very convenient," said Mr. West.
"With your daughter's permission that would suit me very well," he replied. "I shall be glad to spend one or two days more in this vicinity, and then I wish to visit other sections for a week or two, after which I would be glad to stop here again on my return trip and probably I shall have the report of the chemist concerning these samples."
AS Percy stepped out of the house in the early afternoon upon the announcement from Wilkes that "De ca'age is ready," he noted that the "ca'age" was the two-seated family carriage and that Adelaide had already taken her place in the front seat, as driver, with her music roll and another bundle tucked in by her side. Her glance at Percy and at the rear seat was also sufficient to indicate his place.
"This does not seem right to me, Miss West," said Percy. "Unless you prefer to drive I shall be very glad to do so and let you occupy this more comfortable seat."
"No thank you," she replied, in a tone that left no room for argument. "I often drive our guests to and from the station, and I much prefer this seat."
The rear seat was roomy and low, so that Percy could scarcely see the road ahead even by sitting on the opposite side from the driver.
Aside from an occasional commonplace remark both the driver and the passenger were allowed to use the time for meditation.
While Adelaide was already an experienced horsewoman, she was rarely permitted to drive the colts to the village, although she enjoyed riding the more spirited horses, or driving with her brother in the "buck board."
A mile from the village the road wound through a wooded valley, and then climbed the opposite slope, passing the railway station a quarter of a mile from town and the "depot hotel" near by. Here Percy left the carriage with the bags of soil, it being arranged that he would be waiting at the hotel when Adelaide returned from the village.
Adelaide's "hour" was from four to five, and being the last pupil for the day, the teacher was not prompt to close.
"I did not realize the days were becoming so short," said Miss Konster as she opened the door. "I'm sorry you have so far to drive."
"Oh, I don't mind," said Adelaide, "I know the way home well enough. You see I have the double carriage, for I brought a guest to the depot as usual, although he is to return with me, and is probably very tired of waiting at the 'depot hotel.'"
It was nearly dark as Percy took his place in the rear seat, Adelaide having again declined to yield her position as driver, and now she had more packages nearly filling the seat beside her.
The team leisurely took the homeward way and nothing more was said except an occasional word of encouragement to the horses. They passed the lowest point in the valley and began to ascend the gentle slope, when the carriage suddenly stopped, and Adelaide uttered a muffled scream. "Come, Honey, said a masculine voice."
As Percy half rose to his feet, he saw that a negro had grasped Adelaide in an effort to drag her from the carriage. A blow from Percy staggered the brute and he released his hold of Adelaide, but, as he saw Percy jump from the carriage on the opposite side, he paused.
"De's a man heah. Knock him, Geo'ge," he yelled, as he turned to again grapple with Adelaide
"Coward," cried Adelaide, as she saw Percy jump from the carriage and dart up the road. Facing this black brute, she was standing alone now with one hand on the back of the seat. As the negro sprang at her the second time he uttered a scream like the cry of a beast and fell sprawling on his face. Almost at the same moment his companion was fairly lifted from his feet and came down headlong beside the carriage.
"Look out for the horses," called Percy, as he drove the heels of his heavy shoes into the moaning mass on the ground.
"Lie there, you brute," he cried, "don't you dare to move."
"I have the lines," said Adelaide hoarsely, "but can't I do something more?"
"No. they're both down," he answered. "Wait a minute."
He found himself between the negroes lying with their faces to the ground. Instantly he grasped each by the wrist and with an inward twist he brought forth cried for mercy. It was a trick he had learned in college, that, by drawing the arm behind the back and twisting, a boy could control a strong man.
"Can't I help you?" Adelaide called again, and Percy saw that she was out of the carriage and standing near.
"Will the horses stand?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, they're quiet now."
"Then take the tie rope and tie their feet together. Use the slip knot just as you do for the hitching post," he directed. "If they dare to move I can wrench their arms out in this position. Right there at the ankles. Tie them tight and as closely together as you can. Wrap it twice around if it's long enough."
Adelaide tied one end of the rope around the ankle of one negro and wrapped the other end around the ankle of the other, drawing their feet together and fastening the ends of the rope with a double hitch, which she knew well how to make.
Percy gave the rope a kick to tighten it.
"Now get onto your feet and I'll march you to town," he ordered, adding pressure to the twist upon their wrists and drawing them back upon their knees Thus assisted, they struggled to their feet.
"I am afraid you will have to drive home alone, Miss West," beganPercy, when Adelaide interrupted with:
"No, no, if you are going back to town, I will follow you. I can easily turn the team and I will keep close behind."
Thus tied together, Percy almost ran his prisoners toward the village, still holding each firmly by the wrist. As they reached the "depot hotel," he called for assistance, and several men quickly appeared.
Percy made a brief report of the attack as they moved on to the town house, where the villians were placed in shackles and left in charge of the marshall.
"Will you drive, please, Mr. Johnston?" asked Adelaide as he stepped to the carriage; for Adelaide had followed almost to the door of the jail house.
"Yes, please," he replied, taking the seat beside her.
"I hope you will pardon my calling you a coward, I felt so desperate, and it seemed to me for the moment that you were leaving me." Adelaide's voice still had an excited tremor to it.
"I heard you say 'coward,'" said Percy, "but I didn't realize that you referred to me. I saw the two brutes almost at the same time, the one who attacked you and the other on the same side near the horses' heads. I struck the one as best I could from my position, and as he yelled and the horses reared, I ran up the slope ahead of the team and came down at the other brute with a blow in the neck, but I was surprised to find them both sprawling on the ground; and under the street lights I saw that one of them had an eye frightfully jammed. I am sure I struck neither of them in the eye."
Adelaide made no reply, but she knew now that the piercing, beastly cry from the negro reaching for her was brought forth because the heel of her shoe had entered the socket of the brute's eye.
"You're mighty nigh too late for supper, said grandma West, as they stopped at the side gate. Adelaide hurried to her father who took her in his arms as he saw how she trembled.
"My child!" he said.
Yes, child she was as she relaxed from the tension of the last hour and related the experience of the evening.
"I cannot express our gratitude to you, Sir," said Mr. West: "I am glad you landed the devils in jail."
"I am only thankful I was there when it happened," replied Percy. "I am sure no man could have done less. I have promised to return to town in the morning to serve as legal witness in the case. I hope your daughter need not be called upon for that."
"Probably that will not be necessary," Mr. West replied.
THE others had retired but Percy and his host continued their conversation far into the night.
"There are almost as great variations among the negroes as among white people," Mr. West was saying. "To a man like Wilkes who was born and raised here on the farm, I would entrust the protection of my wife and children as readily as to any white man. He has been educated, so to speak, to a sense of duty and honor; and negroes of his class have almost never been known to violate a trust. Of course there are bad niggers, but as a rule such negroes have grown up under conditions that would develop the evil in any race of men.
"During the Secession it was the most common thing for the men to go to war and leave their defenseless women and children wholly in the care of their slaves; and, even though the federal soldiers were fighting to free the slaves and their masters to keep them in slavery, rarely did a negro fail to remain faithful to his trust. They hid from the northern soldiers the horses and mules, cotton and corn, clothing and provisions, and all sorts of valuables; and in most cases were ready to suffer themselves before they would reveal the hidden property. To be sure there were masters who abused their slaves, and some of these were naturally ready to desert at the first opportunity; but in the main the slave owner was more kind to his human property than the considerate soldier was to his horse, and the negro as a race is appreciative of kindness."
"I suppose the depreciation in soil fertility and crop yields dates largely from the freeing of the slaves does it not?" asked Percy.
"Well, that was one factor, but not the most potential factor. Much land in the south had been abandoned agriculturally long before the war, and much land in New York and New England has been abandoned since the war. The freeing of the negroes produced much less effect in the economic conditions of the south than many have supposed. The great injury to the South from the war was due to the war itself and not to the freeing of slaves. In the main it cost no more to hire the negro after the war than it cost to feed and clothe him before; and the humane slave owner had little difficulty in getting plenty of negro help after the war. Very commonly his own slaves remained with him and were treated as servants, not particularly differently than they had been treated as slaves. Of course there were some brutal slave holders, just as there are brutal horse owners, and such men suffered very much from the loss of slave labor.
"The southern people have no regrets for the freeing of the slaves. Probably it was the best thing that ever happened to us; and the South would have less regret for the war itself, except that our recovery from it was greatly delayed by the reconstruction policy which was followed after the war. The immediate enfranchisement of the negro, especially in those sections where this resulted in placing all the power of the local government in the hands of the negro, was a worse blow to the South than the war itself.
"It is believed that this would not have been done if Lincoln had lived. Lincoln was always the President of all the people of the United States, and his death was a far greater loss to the South than to the North. To place the power to govern the intelligent white of the South absolutely in the hands of their former ignorant slaves was undoubtedly the most abominable political blunder recorded in history; and even this was intensified by the unprincipled white-skinned vultures who came among us to fatten upon our dead or dying conditions. Those years of so-called reconstruction, constitute the blackest page in the history of modern civilization."
"I quite agree with you," said Percy, "and so far as I know them the soldiers of the northern armies also agree with you. Several of my own relatives fought to free the negro slave; but none of them fought to enslave their white brothers of the South by putting them absolutely under negro government. And yet there is one possible justification for that abominable reconstruction policy. It may have averted a subsequent war which might have lasted not for four years, but for forty years. Even if this be true, perhaps there is no credit in the policy for any man who helped to enforce it, but you will grant that there were two important results from those bitter years of reconstruction:
"First, the negro learned with certainty at once and forever that he was a free man.
"Second, he at once acquired a degree of independence effectually preventing the development of a situation throughout the South, in which the negro, though nominally free, would have remained virtually a slave, a situation which, if once established, might have required a subsequent war of many years for its complete eradication. Even under the conditions which have prevailed, there have been isolated instances of peonage in the southern states since the war; and if the education and gradual enfranchisement of the negro had been left wholly in the hands of their former masters, from the immediate close of the war, I can conceive of conditions under which slavery would essentially have been continued."
"Such a possibility is, of course, conceivable," said Mr. West, "and we must all admit that there were some slave holders who would have taken advantage of any such opportunity; but had Lincoln lived the terms made would probably have been such that the South would have felt in honor bound to enforce them. Probably the enfranchisement would have been based upon some sort of qualification such as the southern states have very generally adopted in subsequent years; but the idea of social equality of slave and master was so repulsive to the white people of the South that it could not be tolerated under any sort of government."
"This question of social equality," remarked Percy, "has probably been the cause of more misunderstanding between the North and the South than all other questions relating to the negro problem. I have rarely, if ever, talked with a southern man who did not have it firmly fixed in his mind that the common idea of the northern people is that the negro race should be made the social equal of the white race. This I have heard from southern lecturers; I have read it in southern newspapers; and I have found it in books written by southern authors; but, Mr. West, I have never yet heard that idea advanced by a man or woman of the North.
"Of course there have been visionary theorists or 'cranks' in all ages, and there must have been some basis for this almost universal erroneous opinion in the South that the people of the North advocated social equality or social intercourse between the white and colored races; and yet nothing could be farther from the truth. In all my life in the North, I think I have never seen a colored person dining with a white man. This does not prove that there are no such occurrences, but it certainly shows that they are extremely rare. On the other hand, in traveling through the South I have seen a white woman bring her colored maid or nurse, to the dining car and sit at the same table with herself and husband. Of course there is no suggestion of social equality or social intercourse in this, but there is a much closer relationship than is common or would be allowed in the North."
"That may be true," said Mr. West, "and there was in slave times a very intimate relationship between the negro nurses and the white children of the South. Some of our people are ready to take offense at the suggestion that we talk negro dialect, and perhaps we would all prefer to say that the negroes have learned to talk as we talk; but the truth is that the negroes were brought to America chiefly as adults; and, as is usually the case when adult people learn a new language, they modified ours because their own African language did not contain all of the sounds of the English tongue. Similarly we hear and recognize the other nationalities when they learn to speak English. Thus we have the Irish brogue, the German brogue, and the French brogue, or dialect.
"The negro children learned to speak the dialect as spoken by their own parents; and as a very general rule the white children learned to talk as their negro nurses talked. So far as there is a southern dialect it is due to the modification of our language by the negro."
"You have mentioned several things," said Percy, "that are much to the credit of the negro who has had a fair chance to be trained along right lines; and I think the modficaton of our language which his presence has brought about in the South is not without some credit. It is generally agreed that the most pleasing English we hear is that of the Southern orator.
"Referring to social conditions, the most marked difference which I have noticed between the North and South, and really, it seems to me, the only difference of importance, is that the South has separate schools for white and colored, whereas in the North the school is not looked upon as a social institution.
"As a rule no more objection is raised to white and colored children sitting on separate seats in the same school room than to their sitting on separate seats in the same street car. The school is regarded as a place for work, where each has his own work to do, much the same as in the shop or factory where both white and colored are employed. The expense of the single school system is, of course, much less than where separate schools are maintained; and perhaps an equally important point is that in the single system the same moral standards are held up by the teachers for both white and colored children."
"That point is worthy of consideration," said Mr. West. "It is very certain that a class of negroes has grown up in these more recent years that was practically unknown in slave times when white men were more largely responsible for their moral training. The vile wretches who made the attack this evening probably never received any moral training. It is conceivable that the moral influence of the white children over the negroes in the same school might exert a lasting benefit, even aside from the influence of the teacher; and the relationship of the school room could not be any real disadvantage to the white child. But this could only be brought about where white teachers were employed. Some such arrangement would doubtless have been made had the mind of Lincoln directed the general policy of reconstruction; but it is doubtful now if the negro teacher will ever be wholly replaced, although time has wrought greater changes in political lines since the black years of the reconstruction."
"Yes," said Percy, "and those changes which have been brought about in the South have the full sympathy and approval of the great majority of the Northern people. Indeed, it is extremely doubtful if the North will be able to completely banish such a source of vice and corruption as the open saloon until limitation is placed upon the franchise by an educational qualification."
THE goddess of sleep seemed to have deserted Westover. Adelaide lay in her mother's arms, either awake and restless or in fitful sleep from which she frequently awoke with a muffled scream or a physical contortion. Once, as she nestled closer, her mother heard her murmur: "You must pardon me."
Percy, from the southwest room, was sure he heard horses feet at the side gate. The murmur of low voices reached his ear, and then he recognized that horsemen were riding away.
The house was astir at early dawn; and as soon as breakfast was overMr. West had the colts hitched to the "buckboard" and he drove withPercy to Montplain.
"I think your testimony will not be needed this morning," said Mr. West, "but it may be needed later, and it is well that you should report to the officers at any rate, since you promised to be there this morning."
Percy pointed out the place where the attack had been made, and he looked for a stump of a small tree or for any other object upon which the negro could have fallen with such force as to mash his eye; but he saw nothing.
As soon as they reached the village, Mr. West drove directly to the town house; and there two black bodies were seen hanging from the limb of an old tree in the courthouse yard. Percy noted that his companion showed no sign of surprise; and, after the first shock of his complete realization of the work of the night, he looked calmly upon the scene. They had stopped almost under the tree.
"Are these the brutes who made the attack and whom you captured and delivered to the officer?" asked Mr. West.
"They are," he replied.
"In your opinion have they received justice?"
"Yes, Sir," Percy replied, "but I fear without due process of law."
"Let me tell you, Sir, there is no law on the statutes under which justice could be meted out to these devils for the nameless crime which ends in death by murder or by suicide of the helpless victim, a crime which these wretches committed only in their black hearts—thanks to you, Sir."
As he spoke, the town marshall approached followed by the negro pastor of the local church and a few of his followers. Silently they lowered the bodies to the ground, placed them upon improvised stretchers, and carried them to the potters field outside the village, where rough coffins and graves were ready to receive them.
As Mr. West and Percy returned to Westover they discussed the lands which in the main were lying abandoned on either side of the road.
"Here," said Mr. West, as he paused on the brow of a sloping hillside, "was as near to Westover as the Union army came. The position of the breastworks may still be seen. The Southern army lay across the valley yonder. These two trees are sprouts from an old stump of a tree that was shot away. About seventeen hundred confederate dead were buried in trenches in the valley, but they were later removed. The federal dead were carried away as the Union army retreated. We never learned their number. For three days Westover was made headquarters of the confederate officers, and my mother worked day and night to prepare food for them."
They stopped at Westover for a few moments, Percy remaining in the "buckboard" while Mr. West reported to his family what they had seen in Montplain.
"Our report," said Mr. West, "hideous and horrible as it is, will help to restore the child to calm and quiet. To speak frankly, Sir, occurrences of this sort, sometimes with the worst results, are sufficiently frequent in the South so that we constantly feel the added weight or burden whenever the sister, wife, or daughter is left without adequate protection."
The remaining hours of the morning were devoted to a drive over the country surrounding Westover; and Mr. West consented to Adelaide's request that she be allowed to drive Percy to the station at Montplain, where he was to take the afternoon train for Richmond. She chose the "buckboard" but insisted upon driving.
They talked of their school and college days, of the books they had read, of anything in fact except of the experiences of the past twenty-four hours. Even when they entered the valley no shadow crossed Adelaide's face; but as they neared the station her voice changed, and as Percy looked into her winsome, frankly upturned face, she said:
"Have I truly been pardoned for my cruel words last evening? I am sure you were as manly and noble as any man could have been."
"And I am sure you were the bravest little woman I have ever known," replied Percy, "and I admire you the more for calling me a coward when you thought I was running away; so there is nothing to pardon I am sure."
She gave him her hand as a child at parting, but he thought as he looked into her eyes that he saw the soul of a woman.
PERCY carried with him a most interesting and attractive circular of information concerning the rapid restoration of the farm lands of the South. It also stated that further information could be secured from a certain real estate agent in Richmond, who was found to be still in his office when Percy arrived in the city late in the afternoon.
The agent was delighted to receive a call from the Western man, and assured him that he would gladly show him several plantations not far from the city which could be purchased at very reasonable prices. Indeed he could have his choice of these old southern homesteads for the very low price of forty dollars an acre. A map of an adjoining county showed the exact location of several such farms, some of which were of great historical interest. At what time in the morning could he be ready to be shown one of these rare bargains?
"What treatment do these lands require to restore their productiveness?" asked Percy.
"No treatment at all, Sir, except the adoption of your western methods of farming and your system of crop rotation. I tell you the results are marvelous when western farmers get hold of these famous old plantations. Just good farming and a change of crops, that's all they need."
"Does clover grow well?" asked Percy. "We grow that a good deal in theWest."
"Oh, yes, clover will grow very well, indeed, but cowpeas is a much better crop than clover. Our best farmers prefer the cowpea; and after a crop of cowpeas, you can raise large crops of any kind."
"Of course you know of those who have been successful in restoring some of these old farms," Percy suggested.
"Oh, yes, Sir, many of them, and they are making money hand over fist, and their lands are increasing in value, and no doubt will continue to increase just as your western lands have done. Yes, Sir, the greatest opportunity for investment in land is right here and now, and these old plantations are being snapped up very rapidly."
"I shall be glad to know of some of these successful farmers who are using the improved methods. Will you name one, just as an example, and tell me about what he has done to restore his land?"
"Well," said the agent, "There's T. O. Thornton, for example. Mr. Thornton bought an old plantation of a thousand acres only six years ago at a cost of six dollars an acre. He has been growing cowpeas in rotation with other crops; and, as I say, he is making money hand over fist. A few months ago he refused to consider fifty dollars an acre for his land, but still there are some of these old plantations left that can be bought for forty dollars, because the people don't really know what they are worth. However, our lands are all much higher than they were a few years ago."
"Where does Mr. Thornton live?" asked Percy.
"Oh, he lives at Blairville, nearly a hundred miles from Richmond. Yes, he lives on his farm near Blairville. I tell you he's making good all right, but I don't know of any land for sale in that section."
"I think I will go out to Blairville to see Mr. Thornton's farm," saidPercy. "Do you know when the trains run?"
"Well, I'm sorry to say that the train service is very poor to Blairvile. There is only one train a day that reaches Blairville in daylight, and that leaves Richmond very early in the morning."
"That is all right," said Percy, "it will probably get me there in time so that I shall be sure to find Mr. Thornton at home. I thank you very much, Sir. Perhaps I shall be able to see you again when I return from Blairville."
"When you return from Blairville is about the most uncertain thing in the world. As I said, the train service is mighty poor to Blairville, and it's still poorer, you'll find, when you want to leave Blairville. Why, a traveling man told me he had been on the road for fifteen years, and he swore he had spent seven of 'em at Blairville waiting for trains. Better take my advice and look over some of the fine old plantations right here in the next county and then you can take all the rest of the month if you wish getting in and out of Blairville."
About eight o'clock the following morning Percy might have been seen walking along the railroad which ran through Mr. Thornton's farm about two miles from Blairvile. He saw a well beaten path which led from the railroad to a nearby cottage and a knock brought to the door a negro woman followed by several children.
"Can you tell me where Mr. Thornton's farm is?" he inquired.
"Yes, Suh," she replied. "This is Mistah Tho'nton's place, right heah, Suh. Leastways, it was his place; but we done bought twenty acahs of it heah, wheah we live, 'cept tain all paid fo' yit. Mistah Tho'nton lives in the big house over theah 'bout half a mile."
"May I ask what you have to pay for land here?"
"Oh, we have to pay ten dollahs an acah, cause we can't pay cash. My ol' man he wo'ks on the railroad section and we just pay Mistah Tho'nton foh dollahs every month. My chil'n wo'k in the ga'den and tend that acah patch o' co'n."
"Do you fertilize the corn?"
"Yes, Suh. We can't grow nothin' heah without fe'tilizah. We got two hundred pounds fo' three dollahs last spring and planted it with the co'n."
As Percy turned in at Mr. Thornton's gate he saw a white man and two negroes working at the barn. "Pardon me, but is this Mr. Thornton?" asked Percy as he approached.
"That is my name."
"Well, my name is Johnston. I am especially interested in learning all I can about the farm lands in this section and the best methods of farming. I live in Illinois, and have thought some of selling our little farm out there and buying a larger one here in the East where the land is much cheaper than with us. A real estate agent in Richmond has told me something of the progress you are making in the improvement of your large farm. I hope you will not let me interfere with your work, Sir."
"Oh, this work is not much. I've had a little lumber sawed at a mill which is running just now over beyond my farm, and I am trying to put a shed up here over part of the barn yard so we can save more of the manure. I shall be very glad to give you any information I can either about my own farming or about the farm lands in this section."
"You have about a thousand acres in your farm I was told."
"Yes, we still have some over nine hundred acres in the place, but we are farming only about two hundred acres, including the meadow and pasture land. The other seven hundred acres are not fenced, and, as you will see, the land is mostly grown up to scrub trees."
"Your corn appears to be a very good crop. About how many acres of corn do you have this year?"
"I have only fourteen acres. That is all I could cover with manure, and it is hardly worth trying to raise corn without manure."
"Do you use any commercial fertilizer?"
"Well, I've been using some bone meal. I've no use for the ordinary complete commercial fertilizer. It sometimes helps a little for one year; but it seems to leave the land poorer than ever. Bone meal lasts longer and doesn't seem to hurt the land. I see from the agricultural papers that some of the experiment stations report good results from the use of fine-ground raw rock phosphate; but they advise using it in connection with organic matter, such as manure or clover plowed under. I am planning to get some and mix it with the manure here under this shed. Do you use commercial fertilizers in Illinois?"
"Not to speak of, but some of our farmers are beginning to use the raw phosphate. Our experiment station has found that our most extensive soil types are not rich in phosphorus, and has republished for our benefit the reports from the Maryland and Ohio experiment stations showing that the fine-ground natural rock phosphate appears to be the most economical form to be used and that it is likely to prove much more profitable in the long run, although it may not give very marked results the first year or two. May I ask what products you sell from your farm, Mr. Thornton?"
"I sell cream. I have a special trade in Richmond, and I ship my cream direct to the city. I also sell a few hogs and some wheat. I usually put wheat after corn, and have fourteen acres of wheat seeded between the corn shocks over there. Sometimes I don't get the wheat seeded, and then I put the land in cowpeas. I usually raise about twenty-five acres of cowpeas, and the rest of the cleared land I use for meadow and pasture. I usually sow timothy after cowpeas, and I like to break up as much old pasture land for corn as I can put manure on."
"I was told that you had been offered fifty dollars an acre for your farm, Mr. Thornton, but that you would not consider the offer."
Mr. Thornton laughed heartily at this remark.
"That must have come from the Richmond land agent," he said. "Someone else was telling me that story a short time ago. The fact is one of those real estate agents was out here last spring and he asked me if I would consider an offer of fifty dollars an acre for our land. I told him that I didn't think that I would as long as any one who wishes to buy can get all the land he wants in this section for five or ten dollars an acre. That's as near as I came to having an offer of fifty dollars an acre for this land. The land adjoining me on the south is is for sale, and I am sure you could buy that farm of about seven hundred acres for four dollars an acre after they get the timber off. Some of the land has not been cropped for a hundred years, I guess; and there are a few trees on it that are big enough for light saw-stuff. A man has bought the timber that is worth cutting, and he is running a saw over there now; but he'll get out all that's good for anything in a few months."
"May I ask how long you have been farming here, Mr. Thornton?"
"Twelve years on this farm," he replied. "You see this estate was left to my wife and her sister who still lives with us. We were married twelve years ago and I have been working ever since to make a living for us on this old worn-out farm. Of course I have made some little improvements about the barns, but we've sold a little land too. The railroad company wanted about an acre down where that little stream crosses, for a water supply, and I got twelve hundred dollars for that."
"Now, I've already taken too much of your time," said Percy. "I thank you for your kindness in giving me so much information. If there is no objection I shall be glad to take a walk about over your farm and the adjoining land, and perhaps I can see you again for a few moments when I return."
"Certainly," Mr. Thornton replied. "There is no objection whatsoever. We are going to Blairville this morning, but we shall be back before noon and I shall be glad to see you then. I fear you have been given some misinformation by the real estate agents. Some of them, by the way, are Northern men who came down here and bought land and when they found they could not make a living on it, they sold it to other land hunters, and I suppose that they made so much in the deal that they stayed right here as real estate agents. They are great advertisers; but I reckon our Southern real estate men can just about keep even. The agent who was out here last spring told me he showed one Northern man a farm for $12 an acre and he was afraid to buy. Then he took him into another county and showed him a poorer farm for $45 and he bought that at once.
"The road there runs out through the fields. Our land runs back to the other public road and beyond that is the farm I told you of where the saw mill is running. I've got some pretty good cowpeas you'll pass by. I haven't got them off the racks yet."
Percy found the cowpea hay piled in large shocks over tripods made of short stout poles which served to keep the hay off the ground to some extent, and this permitted the cowpeas to be cured in larger piles and with less danger of loss from molding.
"I find that the soil on your farm and on the other farm is very generally acid," said Percy a few hours later when Mr. Thornton asked what he thought of the condititons of farming. "Have you used any lime for improving the soil?"
"Yes, I tried it about ten years ago, and it helped some, but not enough to make it pay. I put ten barrels on about three acres. I thought it helped the corn and wheat a little, and it showed right to the line where I put cowpeas on the land, but I don't think it paid, and it's mighty disagreeable stuff to handle."
"Do you remember how much it cost?" Percy asked.
"Yes, Sir. The regular price was a dollar a barrel, but by taking ten barrels I got the ton for eight dollars; but I'd rather have eight dollars' worth of bone meal."
"I think the lime would be a great help to clover," said Percy.
"Yes, that might be. They tell me that they used to grow lots of clover here; but it played out completely, and nobody sows clover now, except occasionally on an old feed lot which is rich enough to grow anything. It takes mighty good land to grow clover; but cowpeas are better for us. They do pretty well for this old land, only the seed costs too much, and they make a sight of work, and they're mighty hard to get cured. You see they aren't ready for hay till the hot weather is mostly past. If we could handle them in June and July, as we do timothy we'd have no trouble; but we don't get cowpeas planted till June, and September is a poor time for haying."
"It seems to me that clover is a much more satisfactory crop," said Percy. "One can sow clover with oats in the spring, or on wheat land in the late winter, and there is no more trouble with it until it is ready for haying about fifteen months later, unless the land is weedy or the clover makes such a growth the first fall that we must clip it to prevent either the weeds or the clover from seeding. This means that when you are planting your ground for cowpeas the next year after wheat or oats, we are just ready to begin harvesting our clover hay; and besides the regular hay crop we usually have some growth the fall before which is left on the land as a fertilizer, and then we get a second crop of clover which we save either for hay or seed. Even after the seed crop is harvested there is usually some later fall growth, and some let the clover stand till it grows some more the next spring and then plow it under for corn."
"I can see that clover would be much better than cowpeas if we could grow it; but, as I said, it's played out here. Our land simply won't grow it any more. Not having to plow for clover would save a great deal of the work we must do for our cowpeas."
"Some of our farmers follow a three-year rotation and plow the ground only once in three years," said Percy. "They plow the ground for corn, disk it the next spring when oats and clover are seeded, and then leave the land in clover the next year. In that way they regularly harvest four crops, including the two clover crops, from only one plowing; and in exceptional seasons I have known an extra crop of clover hay to be harvested in the late fall on the land where the oats were grown.
"In regard to the lime question," Percy continued, "I wonder if you know of the work the Pennsylvania Experiment Station has been doing with the use of ground limestone in comparison with burned lime."
"No, I never heard of ground limestone being used. I supposed it had to be burned. I should think it would be very expensive to grind limestone."
"No, it costs much less to grind it than to burn it," Percy replied. "Mills are used for grinding rock in cement manufacture, and the rock phosphate and bone meal must all be ground before using them either for direct application or for the manufacture of acidulated fertilizers; and limestone is not so hard to grind as some other rocks. Furthermore it does not need to be so very finely ground. If fine enough so that it will pass through a sieve with ten meshes to the inch it does very well. That you see would be a hundred meshes to the square inch; and, of course, a great deal of it will be much finer than that. In fact the ground limestone used in the Pennsylvania experiments was only fine enough so that about ninety per cent. of it would pass a sieve with ten meshes to the inch, and yet the limestone gave decidedly better results than the burned lime, and it is not nearly so disagreeable to handle. Besides this, the ground limestone is much less expensive. It can be obtained at most points in Illinois for about a dollar and fifty cents a ton."
"A dollar and fifty cents a ton!" exclaimed Mr. Thornton. "Well, that is cheap, but how about the freight and the barrels and bags? Freight is a big item with us."
"The dollar and fifty cents includes the freight," was the reply.
"Includes the cost and the freight both?"
"Yes, and the Illinois farmers have it shipped in bulk, so there is no expense for barrels or bags. Of course the supplies of both coal and limestone are very abundant, and with a well-equipped plant the actual cost of grinding does not exceed twenty-five cents a ton. The original cost of the material ground and on board cars at the works varies from about sixty cents to one dollar a ton, and this leaves a very fair margin of profit.
"The men who furnish the ground limestone realize that very large quantities of it are needed if the soils of Illinois are to be kept fertile, and they also realize that the ultimate prosperity of the country depends upon agricultural prosperity. Their far-sightedness and patriotism combine to lead them to try to sell carloads of limestone instead of tons of burned lime. As a matter of fact five or ten dollars profit on a car of limestone, the use of which in large quantities is thus made possible in systems of positive soil improvement, is very much better for all concerned than a profit of half that much on a single ton of burned lime which is used as a soil stimulant in systems of soil exhaustion."
"It is certainly true," said Mr. Thornton, "that all other great industries depend upon agriculture, directly or indirectly. I have thought of it many times. It seems to me that fishing is about the only exception of importance."
Mr. Thornton requested that Percy remain for lunch in order that they might return to the field to let him see the soil acidity tests made.