[Granville-Hough] 30 Oct 2009 - Subsistence Crops
Trustees for Granville W. Hough
gwhough-trust at oakapple.net
Mon Oct 30 05:48:22 PDT 2017
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:08:52 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: SubsistenceCrops - 30 Oct 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 along the railroad 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, also
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 the prewar 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.
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