[Granville-Hough] 2 Aug 2009 - Subsistence Crops

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sun, 02 Aug 2009 07:10:23 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Subsistence, 2 Aug 2009

Subsistence Crops.

I have been asked the question of how we made a living on a subsistence 
farm, and I can answer that we tried to support ourselves, buy as little 
as possible, and stay out of debt. Our main cash crop was cotton, but 
that was fading fast in the 1930 era. The whole area was trying to 
develop markets for watermelons, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, peas, 
molasses, fruit, and corn. As our power came from mules, our milk from 
cows, and our meat from hogs, we had to support them with corn and hay. 
Half our land was for the animals, and about half was for us.
Cotton had been the traditional mainstay as a cash crop, and everyone 
understood how to grow it. However the boll weevil had hit the county 20 
years earlier, and no way had been found to do much to reduce its 
effects. Cucumbers were highly touted by those who developed pickling 
vats at Mize and Taylorsville, but they were so labor-intensive that few 
people tried them more than once. Cuban Queen watermelons were shipped 
from Mize and Magee by rail for about 10 years. We generally had a 
couple of acres in watermelons. You could usually do as well with an 
acre of watermelons as with an acre of cotton. We tried growing sweet 
potatoes for starch-making operations in Laurel, but it was 35 mile - 
haul and minimal return. The Laurel operations were not set up for easy 
unloading. It was the same way with pea canning operations in Laurel. 
Later, my brothers tried peanuts with the same results.
We tried specialty crops such as sugar cane for making molasses, pecans, 
and peaches. We had more success with pecans than with the others. My 
father had been keen on making molasses for the market and had a 
producing peach orchard for providing the local towns. However, after 
his death, we had no one with the expertise to handle and sell the 
fruit. My brother Dueward detested the whole orchard business and 
avoided its work. My mother was lost once she left the house, barn, 
garden, and chicken yard. She was never a farm or business manager, just 
a good housewife. We actually had to abandon the fruit and molasses 
making when we moved over to our grandfatherÆs for his and our motherÆs 
benefit. The Hough farm went to pieces after we moved. Later, she 
regretted not selling the farm at that time, but prices for farm 
properties in 1938 and 1939 were abysmal. No one had the money to buy 
that she was willing to sell to.
Later we did sell timber and oil, which meant a great deal to us, 
however, it was long after our real time of need. Gradually, the whole 
area shifted away from row cropping into the chicken, timber, or beef 
cattle businesses. However, we were trapped in a time of distant and 
slowly developing markets. It seemed we tried everything but nothing 
worked well enough to be encouraging. It took WW II to open markets and 
make it possible to make a better living for the few people who remained 
on the run-down and over-plowed land.