The City of Montgomery is surrounded by a greater variety of valuable
agricultural lands than any city in the South, being situated on the south
bank of the Alabama river, just below the confluence of the Coosa and
Talapoosa rivers, all of which streams are bordered by very rich farming
lands. Some of the alluvial bottoms are subject to occasional overflows,
but the second bottoms are above the effects of freshets and form
beautiful flats, in some places several miles wide, of sandy loam with
clay subsoil, making a most valuable land for general farm purposes, as it
is easily tilled and susceptible of great improvement by manuring and a
good system of farming.
The rich black prairie belt touches us on the south and certainly contains
some of the finest and most productive lands in the Union. It is just
undulating enough to afford good drainage. The prairie soil is naturally
so rich that fertilizers have been used very little, and the all-cotton
system of farming which has been practiced almost to the exclusion of
every other crop since 1865, has impoverished the farmers to such an
extent that large prairie farms have been turned over entirely to negro
tenants. This has resulted in a complete failure as a system, as the negro
without a white man for a director, is not capable of making a living for
himself or rents for his landlord. These magnificent lands can now be
bought for about $10 to $15 per acre, and are certainly better adapted to
stock raising than any other section of the continent, being splendid
grain lands for such crops as oats and corn, yielding from twenty-five to
100 bushels per acre.
[Illustration: Alabama Oil Mill]
[Illustration: Montgomery Oil Mill]
Johnson grass flourishes here as a hay grass, yielding from one and a half
to two tons per acre, without any trouble of re-seeding, and sells in home
market for $15 per ton.
Bermuda grass for pasturage is unsurpassed by any grass in the world, as
it affords good grazing for eight months in the year, and will keep fat
one horse or cow per acre for that length of time. Another valuable
characteristic of the Bermuda grass is that it never runs out as a
pasture. Some pastures are now in fine condition that were sodded thirty
years ago.
Another important advantage of this section, for stock raising, is that
our winters are so mild that stock does not need housing, except that it
is better to provide open sheds for protection from rain, and they feed on
the cane which grows on all branches and streams, staying green all the
year. When a specialty is made of stock raising it is well to provide some
ensilage to feed at night through the winter, in connection with the cane
pasturage.
While some of our farmers are paying more attention each year to stock
raising, as a general thing the prairie farms are rented to negro tenents,
and now is a splendid opportunity to buy them cheap and devote to grass
and stock.
[Illustration: The Southern Cotton Oil Co.'s Mill at Riverside Park.
HENRY C. BUTCHER, Pres.; JOHN OLIVER, Sec. and Treas., of Philadelphia; E.
W. THOMPSON, Local Manager. Capacity, 150 tons cotton seed daily.]
[Illustration: Old Compress]
[Illustration: Hurter & Co's New Compress]
While 250 pounds of lint cotton, twenty bushels of corn and thirty bushels
of oats per acre are considered fair crops for our white farmers, below
will be shown what can be done with our lands under the intensive
system of farming. The figures show the results on a four mule farm of 320
acres of our good land.
DR. CR.
Wear and tear of mules, tools, etc., $200 00
Feed of mules, 200 00
Wages and rations 10 hands, 1,250 00
Extra labor during harvest, 200 00
Fertilizers, cotton seed meal and acid
phosphate as adjunct to home manure, 2,000 00
Yield of 80 acres of cotton, 160 bales
at $40 $6,400 00
Yield of 60 acres of corn, 3,000 bushels
at 50 cents, 1,500 00
Yield of 80 acres of oats, 4,000 bushels
at 40 cents, 1,600 00
Yield of 5 acres of cane, 2,000 gallons
syrup at 35 cts., 700 00
Showing net profit of, 6,350 00
---------- ----------
$10,200 00 $10,200 00
The above estimate shows the possibilities of good farming. It is not
overdrawn, as five bales of cotton and one hundred bushels of corn and
oats, respectively, have been grown on single acres. These figures show
225 acres under cultivation, leaving ninety-five acres of the farm to be
devoted to pasture, orchards, etc.
[Illustration: Residence of W. H. Graves]