_By Erwin Ledyard._
The Southern States of the Union have received only a small proportion
of the tide of immigration that has flowed into this country during
the last half century, and especially during the last twenty-five
years, swelling the population of new commonwealths, causing towns to
spring up, like Aladdin’s palace, in a night, and giving to cities a
growth phenomenal and marvelous. It is not the purpose of this article
to inquire why this has been the case; it is sufficient to state a
fact that is indisputable. During the past decade the people of these
Southern States have turned their attention seriously to the question
of attracting immigration, and thus increasing their industrial
importance and utilizing some portion of the immense tracts of land
now lying idle. Books and pamphlets descriptive of the climate, soil,
products, and resources of the different States have been published,
conventions have been held, and agents have been appointed. The
results of these efforts are now beginning to be seen. The number of
foreign settlers in the South is steadily increasing, and the class
of immigrants coming into the section is, generally speaking, a most
desirable one. They are men of sufficient intelligence to think and act
for themselves, and to leave the beaten paths that have been followed
by most of their compatriots.
For a number of years the Irish were the most numerous class of
immigrants that came to the South. They settled for the most part in
the cities, and, as they have done elsewhere, early exhibited great
aptitude for politics, and much inclination for municipal offices. For
the most part they were useful and patriotic citizens, taking a deep
interest in public affairs and thriving in their various vocations.
Then came the Germans, also industrious, and more thrifty than
their Celtic predecessors. They also, with few exceptions, became
inhabitants of cities. Caring less for the machinery and minutiæ of
politics than either Americans or Irish, they devoted a large portion
of their leisure time to social relaxation, and to musical and dramatic
societies, and taught native as well as foreign born citizens the
useful lesson that a moderate use of wine and beer would give much more
rational enjoyment than an immoderate use of spirits, and would leave
no headache afterwards.
During all this time, extending to some eight or ten years ago, few
immigrants coming into the South settled in the country. Some may
have realized that “God made the country but man made the town,” but
few felt like venturing into what was _terra incognita_ to them, a
region where, in their opinion, the negroes were the only people that
ploughed, hoed and planted, and where they would be compelled to
compete with that class of labor. More is now known about the South,
and the fact that white men in that section have for years been working
small farms by their own individual labor is now fully recognized,
and in Texas and other Southern States citizens of foreign birth have
turned their attention to tilling the soil. The tide of immigration no
longer spends itself when it reaches the cities.
This fact is especially apparent in the large counties of Mobile and
Baldwin in the southern part of the State of Alabama. Some years ago
a settlement of Italians was located near Daphne in Baldwin county,
close to the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. The colony has thrived
and prospered, engaging in fruit and grape culture and agricultural
pursuits. A short walk brings its members to the town of Daphne, where
they can look out upon a sheet of water thirty miles long and from
twelve to fifteen miles wide, which, though not so beautiful as Naples’
famous bay, is still fair to look upon, and glows sometimes with as
gorgeous sunsets as those that are reflected by the blue waters of the
Mediterranean, while the smoke that rises from its shores is not that
of a slumbering volcano threatening devastation and destruction, but of
industry and commerce, promising peace, prosperity and happiness.
The success of this colony is attracting other Italians to Baldwin
county, and also to its neighbor across the bay, Mobile county. Quite a
number have bought lands along the line of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad,
on a plateau or table land that begins some twenty miles from the city
of Mobile, and which extends to the northern limit of the county.
This plateau is from 350 to 380 feet above the level of the sea, and
from five to ten miles in width. The Italians who have settled on it
have cleared their land for cultivation and have built themselves
comfortable houses. They are all putting out fruit trees, principally
pears and plums, and grape cuttings of various kinds. The pear trees
are mostly what are known as “Le Conte” and “Bartlett,” while the
grapes are “Delaware,” “Concord,” “Catawba” and some other varieties.
They will probably in time turn their attention to winemaking, and can
then make use of the “Scuppernong” grape that grows almost wild in the
section of country in which they have located and rarely fails to bear
abundantly.
These Italians are a very different class of people from those one
meets in the purlieus of the fruit quarters or in the slums of large
cities. They are mostly from the north of Italy, although some of
them hail from Naples and its neighborhood. They are intelligent,
industrious, orderly and law-abiding, and they are so polite and cheery
in their manners and demeanor that it is a pleasure to meet them. They
seem to regard people of property and position, near whose places they
reside, in the light of friends and advisers, entitled to deference
and respect. Many good people in this country have formed their ideas
of Italians from what they have read of the lazzaroni of Naples or
the vendetta-loving inhabitants of Sicily. Others have an undefined
notion, gathered from operas and melodramas, that most Italians who are
not proprietors of hand-organs and monkeys wear either red nightcaps
and striped shirts or tall hats shaped like the old time sugar-loaf,
jackets or coats with metal buttons and short coat tails, and leggins
composed to a large extent of particolored ribbons. This costume they
accentuate with a sash or belt containing a stiletto and a pair of
villainous looking horsepistols, and an old-fashioned muzzle-loading
gun with a crooked stock. These simple folks would be much surprised
if they could see the sons of Italy who have brought their lares and
penates to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. They dress as the average
American citizen dresses and the only vendettas that they swear are
against those birds and animals that injure their crops. Their hope
is soon to sit under their own vine and fig-tree in a land truly
flowing with milk and honey, and to make their lives bright with the
light-hearted gaiety and peaceful content that made existence pleasant
even amidst the exactions and privations of sunny, but overtaxed and
overcrowded Italy. Already the sounds of music are borne on the evening
air as these pioneers in a great movement of their race rest at the
close of day from their labors, and rejoice over their freedom from
heavy burdens, and in that feeling of independence that the ownership
of land gives to foreigners of small or moderate means.
These settlers can truly be regarded as to the advance guard of a
race movement that will eventually make of Southern Alabama, Southern
Mississippi and a portion of Western Florida an American Italy. The
coming of Italians to Alabama can no longer be considered as an
experiment. As has been previously stated, the settlement in Baldwin
county was made some six or eight years ago. These people can live on
less than either Americans or negroes, for they have been accustomed
to the strictest economy at home. The great fault of the colored
race, and to a large extend of their white employers in the South, is
wastefulness. When negroes can make a living on land in the section of
country under consideration, Italians will surely be able to do so.
They have the utmost confidence in their ability to do so. The negro
is not satisfied unless he has meat to eat every day in the year. The
workers on farms and in orchards and vineyards in Italy are accustomed
to live on bread, fruit and vegetables for weeks at a time. Their
repasts often consist of a piece of bread and a bunch of grapes, or a
piece of bread and an onion.
That this class of immigrants will greatly benefit the section to which
it has been attracted, to use a Gallicism, goes without saying. They
will make good citizens, for they would not seek rural life if they
were the adherents of any special political propaganda. Experience
has fully demonstrated the fact that all foreigners holding extreme
opinions in regard to government and social order that come to this
country, Russian Nihilists, German Socialists, French Anarchists,
Irish Dynamiters, and Italian Red Republicans, make their homes in
cities, and generally in large ones. The quiet of country life is
distasteful to them. They must live in the midst of agitation and
turmoil, and constantly attend gatherings where they deliver or listen
to incendiary or socialistic harangues, or existence becomes almost
unendurable to them. These settlers in South Alabama, on the contrary,
are well satisfied with the institutions of the country to which they
have come in search of homes, appreciate the safety and security that
are caused by the supremacy of law and order, and look forward to
prosperous and happy lives in a land where war is unknown, where the
balance of power does not trouble the souls of statesmen, and where
no immense armaments are maintained by imposing heavy and grievous
burdens on the people. They have come to stay, and many will follow in
their footsteps. The region to which they have betaken themselves has
for years been a market garden for the West. It will now also become
an orchard and a vineyard. We are living in an age of progress, and
wonderful changes and developments are ahead of us.
LETTERS FROM NORTHERN AND WESTERN FARMERS, GIVING THEIR EXPERIENCE IN
THE SOUTH--VI.
[The letters published in this issue form the sixth instalment in
the series commenced in the October number of this magazine. These
communications are published in response to numerous inquiries from
Northern people who desire to know more about agricultural conditions
in the South, and what is being accomplished by settlers from other
sections of the country. These letters were written by practical
farmers and fruit-growers, chiefly Northern and Western people who
have made their homes in the South. The actual experiences of these
settlers, as set forth in these letters, are both interesting and
instructive to those whose minds are turned Southward.--EDITOR.]
Fruit-Growing in Middle Georgia.
CHARLES T. SMITH, Concord, Ga.--Concord is located in the fruit belt
of Middle Georgia. The country is slightly rolling and well watered.
The soil is productive and can easily be brought to a very high state
of fertility. For years cotton has been the staple crop, but King
Cotton has a powerful rival now in peaches and grapes. Fruit-growing
was introduced into Middle Georgia about twelve years ago. The first
plantings were small and there were many scoffers. The industry proved
to be very remunerative, and each year showed an increased acreage
until fruit farms of 100 to 500 acres are now not uncommon, and
hundreds of carloads of grapes and peaches are shipped annually and
are known far and wide for their superior quality. Georgia grapes and
peaches bring a higher price in all the leading markets than the same
fruits from any other State in the Union, and with each season their
popularity is increased.
The future outlook is very encouraging. The prices to be obtained now
are not so large as heretofore, but with increased production came
better methods of growing and hauling and better shipping facilities,
and the profits to be derived are much the same, and far more
satisfactory than any other crops that can be grown. This industry has
been largely fostered by Northern men, who have always been with the
foremost in progress. Their efforts have been crowned with success, and
they may now look with pleasure not only on the handsome properties
they have amassed but also on this splendid new industry in the
development of which they have been pioneers.
A Northern Man’s Observation of Southern People.
L. S. PACKARD, Pine Bluff, Moore county, N. C., formerly of
Warrensburg, N. Y.--Few persons realize from passing through the South
what the soil is capable of producing under careful cultivation. After
a stay of several years among Southern people I have learned much about
them and their modes of work, the care the lands ought to have and the
yields that can be expected under good cultivation. I give in brief my
observations:
Southern men and women are justly entitled to the credit they get for
being the most hospitable people in the United States. The majority
of them live easy, enjoy life and are contented to go forward in
the quiet ways of their fathers. Some, however, are branching out,
learning to make money and are accumulating fortunes on the farms and
in the factories. It is the general belief of the Northern people that
Southern people cannot succeed.
To show an instance where a Southern born man has succeeded I shall
confine my article to one man and to one farm, and in my future
letters give the names of Northern men who have come South. Within
a mile of the Seaboard Air Line in the county of Clark and State of
Georgia, Mr. John Smith has a farm of several hundred acres. He started
with small means but has improved, buying more land and stock, building
larger barns and better houses each year until he has one of the
finest and best equipped and regulated farms in the United States. His
grain, clover and grass fields are as fine as any in Pennsylvania or
New York. His stock is well kept and creditable in number and quality;
they will compare favorably with the best in Ohio, Michigan or any part
of the Northwest. His cotton fields are beautiful beyond description.
He has every convenience in the way of modern machinery. He has built
and equipped a railroad from his farm to Athens, Ga., and has erected
a cottonseed oil mill, fertilizer factory and conducts a general
mercantile business to supply tenants and employees.
Mr. Smith’s farming operations were enough to convince me that all the
soil needed was careful cultivation and constant attention to yield
three times the profit of any in the Northern or New England States.
Recently I met Mr. J. T. Patrick, of Southern Pines, N. C., who is
a noted worker for Southern development and perhaps one of the best
posted men in the South in regard to the developments going on in that
section. I spoke to him about Mr. Smith. Mr. Patrick said: “I have seen
his farm and it is a credit to Mr. Smith and the South, but there are
many more Southerners who are doing as well as he, but I suppose you
have not seen their farms. Major R. S. Tucker, of Wake county, Dr. W.
R. Capehart, of Bertie county, and thousands of others scattered over
the South are owners and managers of as fine farms as you can find
in any part of the United States. You Northern people do not get out
from the line of railroad to see what our people are doing, and we are
generally judged, condemned and sentenced by people who ride through
our country at the rate of forty miles an hour on a Pullman palace car
and don’t know the difference between a cotton plant and a stalk of
buckwheat.”
There is a great deal of truth in what Mr. Patrick said. Northern men
who come South to learn ought to come down prepared to stay long enough
to go into the country and see the farms and not judge the South from a
poorly conducted farm, but from those managed with intelligence.
Political Opinions Not Counted.
JAMES M. DICKEY, Superintendent National Cemetery, Corinth, Miss.--In
1881 I was a resident of Lamed-Pawnee county, Kansas. From March 1,
1882, to March, 1884, was stationed at Barrancas, Fla., near Pensacola.
From April, 1884, to the present time have been a resident of Corinth,
Miss.
My observations during this time have been somewhat limited, but in
the material progress the agricultural classes have made considerable
advance. The old-time theory that cotton was the only crop to be raised
with profit has been discarded. Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries,
grapes, fruits, etc., and nearly all classes of products that the
truck gardener can raise will find remunerative sale. Climate and
healthfulness are exceptionally good. I have not been under the care of
a physician during the period of nine years.
Churches are Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Christian. Schools of
Corinth are public, graded into primary, intermediate, grammar and high
school. Seven months, with two months additional of pay school, to such
patrons as may elect to send.
The one great and all important question that has been asked of me
by visitors to this place is: “How do the people treat you? Are you
ostracized from society?” etc. My answer has been, and I have no
reason to change it, that a person’s habits and deportment are his or
her passport or entree to society. It makes no difference in North
Mississippi whether a person came from Georgia or Michigan; the social
reception is the same.
The political liberality of the citizens is as good as anywhere. While
having their own honest convictions, they respect the convictions of
others. My political views are in a minority, but during all this time
no one has questioned or impugned my motives or convictions or hindered
the rights of suffrage.
Middle Georgia as Compared with the North and West.
G. N. BARKER, Longstreet, Ga.--As one who has been a resident two years
in Middle Georgia after ten years residence in the West and Northwest,
occupied in stock raising, etc., I may be able to point out a few
advantages and differences relative to these parts. What will strike
the farmer most on arriving in this section is the total absence of
grass meadows or any visible facilities for the pasturing of stock,
but curiously enough, an abundance of fairly nutritious hay may be cut
during summer, of sufficient nutritive value with the assistance of a
little grain for stock. The corn crop is light per acre to one used to
the West; oats, however, yield well when well cultivated, and are off
the ground in May, the same ground making also a good hay crop the same
year. Bermuda grass makes an inexhaustible supply of pasture for all
stock, except three winter months when green rye, barley or oats will
take its place. Italian rye grass I have found grows luxuriantly during
winter and spring, and it makes more milk than almost any herb. Red
top grass also succeeds well. During summer there is an abundance of
forage crops for all classes of stock, and of good nutritious quality.
Stock is healthy here, provided it is kept clean and not overfed with
too highly fattening foodstuffs. My health has vastly improved in this
climate and I have recovered from the exposures of the Northwest. The
land here is poor and run down, but good cultivation and moderate
manuring soon restore a fertility that is astonishing to anyone seeing
only what is done without fertilizer. The greatest drawbacks in this
section are the total inability of the laborer, merchant and business
man to comprehend or encourage anything but cotton. All kinds of fruits
flourish with good care bestowed upon them.
Farmers coming from other parts will have to either do or closely
superintend the minute details of their business; nothing can be left
to the colored labor and they have not yet had any practice with the
better methods or implements. Lumber is cheap; also carpenters very;
to one accustomed to Western prices, so many comforts may be had
unattainable out there. The heat is no drawback, not being anything
like the maximum attained in North Dakota and Montana, but the summer
is long and debilitating to the newcomer, who must use discretion in
taking too much sun the first season. Good foundation stock of all
kinds can be bought here at moderate prices. Living is very cheap
and work not hard, if cotton is let alone, as there is more time
all-the-year-round to work than in colder regions. Roads are moderate
and railroads numerous, obviating the distances to be traveled out West
to and from one’s station and postoffice. As a place of residence for
comfort, absence of great atmospheric changes, cheapness of living and
land, and other things necessary to the comfort of a farmer, I consider
the South has many and varied advantages over the North and West.
From New Hampshire to North Carolina.
R. M. COUCH, Southern Pines, N. C.--The statement of facts I shall
make in this letter will lean to the conservative in all cases, as
after a residence of eight years and an extensive correspondence with
inquirers after facts, I have learned that the truth is good enough
and exaggeration folly. By the advice of my physician I left New
Hampshire and located here, and have not been North even on a visit
since, and as the climate was the first consideration with me, let
me say unqualifiedly that I believe it as near perfect all the year
round as can be found in any part of the world. I am confirmed in this
conclusion by the testimony of scores who have sought this haven of
health after trying such places as Colorado, California, New Mexico,
Arizona, and even the South of France and Italy. The healthfulness of
this section being established, the next question which confronted me
was the means of support, and as we make no claim that this soil (a
light sandy loam) is adapted to general farming, we were compelled to
look to the fruit industry as the most likely to help us out, and well
are we repaid for the venture. It is proved that a dry atmosphere and
porous soil produces very fine flavored fruit and that in this climate,
also, the fruit “colors” up better and makes a much better appearance
than that grown in a colder and less sunny climate. But one strong hold
on the fruit industry lies in our geographical position as regards the
ripening season, which brings our fruit into market, out of competition
with any other section. This fact was proved by our shipments last
season.
Within five years there have been planted in this immediate section
1500 acres in fruit, and in order that your readers may have the
advantage of direct correspondence with any or all the growers of
fruit, I will give the names from memory: C. J. Eaglesfield was the
pioneer on a small scale; S. N. Whipple, extensive peach, plum, grape
and nut farm; Van Lindly Orchard Co., 350 acres peach, pear, plum and
blackberry; Niagara Grape Co., 107 acres in grapes; Southern Pines
Fruit-Growing Co., eighty acres in grapes; Benjamin Douglas, Jr., of
Orange, N. J.; Tarbell & Carlton, H. P. Bilyeu, Dr. C. W. Weaver, C.
D. Tarbell, Thomas Carlton, Fred Oberhouserheur, James H. Murray, S.
W. Thomas, Charles H. Thompson, Edwin Newton, Doctors Boynton, Stevens
and R. M. Couch, Rev. A. A. Newhall, B. Van Herff, J. T. Wilson, Dr. W.
P. Swett, H. P. Stebbins, J. A. Morriss, R. S. Marks, L. S. Johnson,
C. C. Mitchell, John Huttonhomer, F. J. Folley, Rev. J. W. Johnston,
Mrs. L. A. Raymond, Mrs. Louisa Young, P. Pond, Fred Dixon and others.
There were shipped from this point last season 150 tons, being the
first bearing year of the oldest vineyards of much size. The bearing
vineyards and orchards the coming season will more than double the
shipments, and in two years all the vineyard trees mentioned will come
to bearing.
The prices in Washington and New York last July were six and seven
cents per pound for black grapes, and thirteen and fourteen cents per
pound for Delaware and Niagara, and $3.50 to $4.50 per bushel crate for
peaches and plums. The demand was as good at the close of the season as
at first. Write to Dr. C. W. Weaver, S. N. Whipple, H. P. Bilyeu, C. D.
Tarbell, C. B. Mabore for prices obtained for their own shipments. Dr.
Weaver realized from three acres of his best Delaware grapes $150 per
acre net.
I have thus, in a rambling way, given your readers an idea of the
climate and agricultural resources of the sand hills of Moore county,
N. C.
Southern Pines is a town eight years old, in the midst of the
turpentine region of North Carolina, sixty-eight miles southwest from
Raleigh, on the Raleigh & Augusta Railroad (part of the Seaboard Air
Line), fifteen hours from New York, and is six hundred feet above sea
level, the highest point in the whole turpentine belt. The soil is a
sandy loam and has a perfect drainage. Malaria is unknown. The presence
of the long-leafed pine in large quantities causes the generation of
ozone to such a degree as to make this locality almost a specific for
throat and lung difficulties. Many physicians and a large number of
the cured and benefited testify to its wonderful effects. The town
is filled mainly with Northern people, and has four hotels, a good
school, and church services every Sabbath. There are three stores, and
railroad, telegraph and express offices. There are many fine residences
and a large hotel 300 feet long and four stories is being built with
modern improvements.
Fruit-Growing in Texas.
R. T. WHEELER, Hitchcock, Galveston county, Texas.--I have examined
and am very much pleased with your magazine, and particularly the
department of agricultural correspondence. This is an exceedingly
interesting and important feature, well calculated to accomplish much
in the settlement and development of the South. Your journal has a high
mission and is on the right road.
Unlike most of your correspondents I am a native of this State, and
a lifetime resident of this section, and therefore naturally biased
in favor of this country, climate and people, free, however, from
any prejudice against any other portion of the country. While I am
not in the strict sense a farmer, and have no skilled acquaintance
with any branch of horticulture or agriculture, I have had ten years’
practical acquaintance with the cultivation of this soil, and my ten
years’ residence at this station, fourteen miles from Galveston City,
has given me the opportunity of observing its rapid progress and
development within the past five or six years, from a purely stock
country, a naked prairie, in which lands were worth not exceeding fifty
cents per acre, devoted exclusively to raising ordinary Texas cattle,
it requiring at a low estimate ten acres to support one cow of the
value of about $6, to a prosperous and independent fruit and truck
farming community, having over 150,000 pear trees set to orchard, over
100 acres in strawberries now ripening and ready for market, yielding
from $300 to $600 per acre; some 300 acres more in cultivation in
general vegetables, a church, good public schools, with an average
attendance of over fifty scholars daily, good stores, about twenty
artesian wells flowing good, pure, wholesome water in the greatest
abundance, from a depth of about 600 feet, nurseries and rose gardens
with several hundred varieties of roses now in full bloom in the open
air, without a poor man or woman, and not one that is not making a good
living, a community whose reputation is co-extensive with horticulture
within the States and Canada, whose products are well-known in Chicago
and other markets, and whose strawberries have sold as far West as Salt
Lake City.
Very much of the wonderful development of this country is due Col. H.
M. Stringfellow, who some nine years since introduced the Le Conte and
Kiefer pears, and whose orchard, in the language of an ex-governor
of Texas, is “simply a world-beater.” Last year, as we all know, was
both a drouth and a panic year, and yet on his thirteen-acre orchard
Mr. Stringfellow cleared considerably over $5000 on pear fruit alone,
and much more on the sale of rooted pear cuttings, these pears being
propagated by cuttings. I could write a book about this country and
then be in the same trouble as the Queen of Sheba, but I fear that this
letter is beyond reasonable length. Notwithstanding this extraordinary
development, lands are still comparatively cheap; the best can be had
from $20 to $50 per acre.
An Opinion of Arkansas After Three Years’ Trial.
J. M. SOWLE, Dryden, Ark.--I came here from Michigan in June, 1890.
Located at a place now called Dryden, just west of Gilkerson on the St.
Louis Southwestern Railway, with seventeen families and a few single
men; seventy in all. The B. & S. W. Railroad now runs through our town.
Two families returned to stay; three more got lonesome here in the
woods and went back expecting to stay, and before they were back two
months acknowledged that they were homesick to come back and did come
back, as they liked the society here, as well as the fine weather and
good health. Everyone here now are here to stay, and most of them have
bought land.
We have such nice warm sunshine and weather in the winter. Health best
of any place we were ever located. Out of the seventy people in the
three years and eight months, have had eight persons sick enough to
go to bed. One two-year-old girl died; another three-months-old babe
died; she was well at midnight, found dead in bed in the morning; and
one woman fifty years old died with consumption, think hereditary, as
her father, mother and five brothers and sisters died with the same
disease. The three who died are counted in the eight sick, except the
babe.
The soil here is good and never fails to raise crops on account of
drouth or any other cause. We have raised fifty bushels shelled corn to
the acre on our poorest land, and a bushel of potatoes to twenty-four
hills, and in fact nearly all kind of crops are extra good. The county
is naturally suited to peaches, plums and grapes. General good crops
are corn, cotton, wheat, oats, timothy, clover, red top, blue grass,
blackberries, raspberries, apples, pears and quince.
Society is good; more church members in proportion to population than
any place I ever was in. Laws are enforced here better than any place I
ever lived.
This county is a peaceful and safe county to live in, as we have the
best of accommodating neighbors, as well as law-abiding citizens.
A General Answer to Many Letters of Inquiry.
A. K. FISHER, Abbeville, Ga.--My letter published some time ago in your
magazine brought me so many letters of inquiry concerning this section,
our mode of farming, cost of getting land ready for cultivation, etc.,
that it required a long letter to each, and I have been unable to
comply. I write this letter now to cover all the ground of inquiries.
Abbeville has about 2000 inhabitants, is county seat of Wilcox county,
Ga., is on the Savannah, Americus & Montgomery Railroad, sixty-five
miles east of Americus, where the railroad crosses the Ocmulgee river.
This river is navigable; Brunswick is near its mouth.
Abbeville has two churches--Methodist and Baptist; Presbyterians also
have service there. Schools generally are not as good as in most of
Northern States, but are gradually improving; have some teachers from
the North.
Heretofore the products from this section have been lumber, spirits
turpentine, rosin, cotton, some beef cattle and wool.
A few years ago fortunes were made in a short time in lumber and
turpentine business when properly managed, but most of the operators
increased their business, bought large tracts of land, borrowed money,
etc. Now the prices of those products have declined to or below cost of
production, and for the past two years our banks have not been loaning
money, so those parties are obliged to sacrifice their lands. Although
this section has been settling up rapidly, lands can be bought for less
than two years ago.
In past twenty years cotton has declined from twenty to seven cents per
pound. When cotton brought from fifteen to twenty cents per pound the
cotton planter had all the money he required and raised nothing else
for market. As a class they spent their money freely; if more money
were required before the crop was made they could readily get advances
on cotton crop; now the staple is below cost of production, still many
are obliged to grow cotton, as it is the only crop on which they can
get advances. To change requires an expenditure for farming implements
and machinery for putting in and harvesting the crop, stumps are to be
gotten out of the way, etc. To grow fruit requires several years to
realize. Most of the planters own large tracts of land, and are anxious
to dispose of a part; some are hoping each year the acreage in cotton
will be reduced (by many putting their lands in other crops), thereby
enhancing the price of cotton and they be benefited. They prefer to
grow cotton, having never done anything else. Some who tried hay failed
on first trial, as they did not have proper implements, and they
exposed it to dews and rain after it was cured or partly so.
The timber in this locality is long leaf pine, excepting along the
river, where is abundance of hardwoods, viz: different varieties oak,
hickory, ash, gum, cypress and some elm. The pines are not thick on the
land; the principal roots go straight down; the surface soil is sandy,
intermixed with dark pebbles and clay subsoil. The mode of clearing
land is to deaden by girdling the trees, burn the logs and trash on the
ground, fence and put in the plough. To one not accustomed to it, this
looks very slovenly, but I believe it is the best plan, as in a few
years the trees rot and fall to the ground. The trees are no more in
the way than the stumps; the dead hearts can much more readily be split
into rails or burned than when green. The heart rails will last fifteen
years; it costs about $10.00 per thousand to put rails into fences;
rails are ten feet long. I am building board fences; lumber costs me
at mill $5.00 per thousand feet. There are plenty of mills. I have my
posts split from dead hearts and faced with axe; they cost me about
three cents each at fence. When the ground is wet a man can dig seventy
holes in a day; when dry the clay subsoil becomes very hard and one
half above number would be good work.
I have taken stumps from 200 acres land at a cost of about $2.00 per
acre; generally would cost from $2.00 to $6.00 per acre, according to
length of time land had been cleared. I have not tried dynamite; some
have, but cannot state whether it gave satisfactory results; I believe
it would, especially in new land. We plant our corn in rows, generally
six feet apart and from two to three feet apart in a row, one stalk in
a place. At last working of corn we put in one or two rows of peas to
every row of corn; the peas and corn mature at same time. When corn is
gathered we gather peas enough for seed, then put in the hogs and they
fatten from the peas. Some varieties of those peas will remain on the
ground all winter and grow the next summer. The pea crop is worth as
much as the corn crop.
Corn grown here is worth seventy cents per bushel. From sixty acres
I got over 1200 bushels of corn. I used on the sixty acres two tons
of phosphate that cost here $16.00 per ton mixed with the manure from
four mules and 200 bushels cottonseed worth fifteen cents per bushel.
Some make more, some less, according to cultivation and amount of
fertilizers used. One of my neighbors for several years past has been
making forty bushels of corn to the acre.
From 100 acres in oats I got 2000 bushels; these are rust proof and
always in demand for seed; I sold all for sixty cents per bushel. I
used no fertilizers under the oats; I generally cut two crops of hay
same season from same land after I cut my oats. I plough, harrow and
roll the ground in June. I use under the hay guano worth about $6.00
to every acre and get two tons of hay per acre worth here $18.00 per
ton. This grass comes spontaneously after the land is cultivated a
few years and makes excellent hay. It does not grow North. This year
one of my neighbors cut from twelve acres 600 bushels of oats; put
no fertilizers under the oats, but had the year previous oats on same
land, and after the oats were cut, in June, he planted it in peas;
when the peas matured he turned his hogs in; by October the hogs had
gathered the peas, then he ploughed under the pea vines and sowed in
the oats. This is the most economical way of improving our lands. The
crop of peas pays for all the expense. We feed but little corn to our
hogs.
Wheat is grown but little in this section. When cotton was worth twenty
cents per pound no one would raise wheat, so the mills were either
torn or rotted down, but in a short time there will be a mill to grind
wheat in the vicinity. There are plenty of mills to grind corn. Nearly
all the vegetables grown North do well here, and come into the market
much earlier, and many that do not grow there do well here. Cabbage and
Irish potatoes do well here, but when planted in spring mature early in
summer and do not keep longer than a couple of months; when planted in
July they mature in fall and keep tolerably well, but sometimes it is
difficult to get a stand of plants in July.
This is about 32° north latitude; peaches, pears, plums, grapes and
some varieties of apples do well here, and all begin bearing at much
younger age than North; perhaps are not as long-lived, but heretofore
no care has been taken of them.
In the woods the grass grows during summer from one to one and one-half
feet high, and makes a splendid pasture, especially for six months,
commencing in April. The cattle, sheep and hogs are never fed. At this
time of the year all are poor, but in May both cattle and sheep are in
good order. By having some winter pastures to keep the cattle fat for
winter market the beeves would bring fancy prices in the home market.
There is plenty of good beef here in summer; in winter our beef comes
from the West (cold storage) and costs by the quarter eight cents per
pound.
We sow oats from September to February; I pasture mine some in winter,
but there are a number of grasses that make here a good winter
pasture. Alfalfa is being grown with success in some portions of this
State; no doubt would do well here. These cattle, sheep and hogs on
the range have never been improved by crossing with improved breeds;
the rule has been to leave every tenth male for breeding purposes. By
crossing the native ewes with some of the improved breeds, and feeding
some on pasturing in winter, lambs could be put into Northern markets
much earlier than from the States farther North. These cattle and sheep
are all gotten up at a certain time for shearing and marking, when
those for market are sold to buyers who ship them to the cities to sell
to butchers. Some of the stock is never seen by the owners. The young
are marked with the mark of its mother, the fleece of wool tied up and
marked, the owner notified, he pays for sheering and gets it. All land
not fenced is range and free to all. One might own 1000 head of cattle
and not own an acre of land. Hogs live and grow on range but do much
better when fed some; those near river get fat from acorns.
Building material is cheap. Kiln-dried and dressed flooring and ceiling
from $8.00 to $12.00 per M feet; No. 1 Brick at kiln $5.00 per M.
Butter is worth thirty cents per pound, eggs fifteen cents per dozen,
sweet milk ten cents per quart, buttermilk five cents per quart.
A number of parties from Ohio came to this section last February; some
bought when they came, others bought this winter; all remained. They
say they do not feel the heat any more than in Ohio, as we have more
breeze and the nights are pleasant. Sunstrokes are unknown. A few
days ago a party from Ohio bought 300 acres of land one and one-half
miles from Abbeville, thirty acres of which is cleared, all salable
timber cut from the balance, but enough for farm purposes on the land;
buildings worth $150; no orchard; 250 acres fair pine lands, fifty
acres of but little value, price paid $1600; $1150 cash, $450 in twelve
months. The buyer intends going into the dairy business; also fruit
and improved stock. Lands can be bought at from $2.00 to $10.00 per
acre, according to distance from railway, improvements, etc., and my
experience is a better profit can be made farming from an acre here
than from an acre in the Northern States, where their lands are valued
at from $50.00 to $75.00 per acre. Taxes are about fifty cents on
values of $100. Near rivers, ponds, etc., are subject to some fevers. I
have lived here for past twelve years; have not had case of fever among
my family or hands on the place.
We have no sand flies nor mosquitoes, except near ponds and water
courses there are mosquitoes. We are not subject to tornadoes or
cyclones as in some parts of the West. Our labor is mixed, mostly
negroes. Farm hands are paid from $8.00 to $12.00 per month and
rations. A ration consists of four pounds of bacon and one peck meal
for six day’s work. Where it is white labor they are boarded in the
family of the farmers. The negroes here are strong competitors in many
of the trades, especially carpenters, blacksmiths and painters; also
masons. Our climate is so mild that it is not necessary for comfort
for a house to be plastered or ceiled inside; very few farmers’ houses
are; neither is so expensive clothing required as in the North. On
the nights of the fifth and sixth instant we had very little ice on
shallow water on the ground; those were the coldest nights this winter.
I have seen snow a few times in last twelve years; have seen none this
winter. Ploughs can run all winter. A few peach trees are in bloom now
(February 14th). There are no government or State land to homestead or
for sale in this State, but plenty of lands for sale either unimproved
or improved. We cultivate too much land here; we should cultivate less
and work and fertilize better.
The people are anxious for Northern farmers to come and settle here
and will render home seekers any service in their power, furnish them
stock to ride or drive and take care of them whilst they are procuring
locations, etc. I would not advise anyone without some capital to come;
anyone coming should come with the expectation of working for himself
and not for others. I notice that the Big Four and St. Louis Railway
are selling round-trip tickets to points in Georgia, good for twenty
days, for one fare. These tickets are issued for March 8th and April
9th.