make about $75 an acre
on three acres of watermelons, although almost every purchaser could
raise them if he would. In many regions wild fruits are abundant, and
blackberries during the season are quite a staple, but they are seldom
canned. Some cattle are kept, but little butter is made, and milk is
seldom on the bill of fare, the stock being sold when fat (?). Many
families keep chickens, usually of the variety known as "dunghill
fowls," which forage for themselves. But the market supplied with
chickens by the small farmers, as it might easily be. Whenever
opportunity offers, hunting and fishing become more than diversions, and
the fondness for coon and 'possum is proverbial.

In a study of dietaries of Negroes made under Tuskegee Institute and
reported in Bulletin No. 38, Office of Experimental Stations, U. S.
Dept. of Agriculture, it is stated:

"Comparing these negro dietaries with other dietaries and dietary
standards, it will be seen that--

"(1) The quantities of protein are small. Roughly speaking, the
food of these negroes furnished one-third to three-fourths as much
protein as are called for in the current physiological standards
and as are actually found in the dietaries of well fed whites in
the United States and well fed people in Europe. They were, indeed,
no larger than have been found in the dietaries of the very poor
factory operatives and laborers in Germany and the laborers and
beggars in Italy.

"(2) In fuel value the Negro dietaries compare quite favorably with
those of well-to-do people of the laboring classes in Europe and
the United States."

This indicates the ignorance of the Negro regarding the food he needs,
so that in a region of plenty he is underfed as regards the muscle and
bone forming elements and overfed so far as fuel value is concerned. One
cannot help asking what effect a normal diet would have upon the sexual
passions. It is worthy of notice that in the schools maintained by the
whites there is relatively little trouble on this account. Possibly the
changed life and food are in no small measure responsible for the
difference.

Under diversified farming there would be steady employment most of the
year, with a corresponding increase of production. As it is there are
two busy seasons. In the Spring, planting and cultivating cotton, say
from March to July, and in the Fall, cotton picking, September to
Decembe