"I think no man has a right to an opinion which is contrary to fact," Percy replied. "This whole question is one of facts and not of opinions. One fact is worth more than a wagonload of incorrect opinions. But I must not detain you longer. I am very glad to have met you here. In large measure the statesmen of America must bear the responsibility for the future condition of agriculture and the other great industries of the United States, all of which depend upon agriculture for their support and prosperity. Good bye."
"I'll agree with you there all right; the farmer feeds them all.
Good bye."
CHAPTER XXV
A LESSON ON TOBACCO
PERCY found Leonardtown almost in the center of St. Mary county, situated on Breton bay, an arm of the lower Potomac.
From the data recorded on the back of his map of Maryland, Percy noted that a population of four hundred and fifty-four found support in this old county seat, according to the census of I 900. After spending the day in the country, he found himself wondering how even that number of people could be supported, and then remembered that there is one industry of some importance in the United States which exists independent of agriculture, an industry which preceded agriculture, and which evidently has also succeeded agriculture to a very considerable extent in some places; namely, fishing.
"Clams, oysters and fish, and in this order," he said to himself, "apparently constitute the means of support for some of these people."
And yet the country was not depopulated, although very much of the arable land was abandoned for agricultural purposes. A farm of a hundred acres might have ten acres under cultivation, this being as much as the farmer could "keep up," as was commonly stated. This meant that all of the farm manure and other refuse that could be secured from the entire farm or hauled from the village, together with what commercial fertilizer the farmer was able to buy, would not enable him to keep more than ten acres of land in a state of productiveness that justified its cultivation. Tobacco, corn, wheat and cowpeas were the principal crops. Corn was the principal article of food, with wheat bread more or less common. The cowpeas and corn fodder usually kept one or more cows through the winter when they could not secure a living in the brush. Tobacco, the principal "money crop," was depended on to buy clothing, and "groceries," which included more or less fish and pork, although some farmers "raised their own meat," in part by fattening hogs on the acorns that fell in the autumn from the scrub oak trees.
One farm of one hundred and ninety acres owned by an old lady, who lived in the nearby country village was rented for $100 a year, which amounted to about fifty-two and one-half cents an acres as the gross income to the landowner. After the taxes were paid, about thirty cents an acre remained for repairs on buildings and fences and interest on the investment.
Percy spent some time on a five hundred acre farm belonging to an old gentleman who still gave his name as F. Allerton Jones, a man whose father had been prominent in the community. According to the county soil map which had been presented to Percy by the Bureau of Soils, the soil of this farm was all Leonardtown loam, except about forty acres which occupied the sides of a narrow valley a bend of which cut the farm on the south side.