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sodthwesm oeoroh.
The Finest Agricultiir alCoun
try Under the Sun.
wcro raised. One planter told ns
that during one year of the war he
raised 47,000 pounds of bacon. Be'
fore the war but little corn or meat
was imported from the North
showing that this country can be
self-sustaining, and this year’s
crops of wheat, corn and oats shows
that it will he. Because so much
hay has of late years been shipped
South, many Northern people have
an idea tliat'grass cannot be gro wn
in the cotton country. The fact is
This may seem to bo a pretty
broad assertion, but wo hope to
prove it before we get through.
The western prairies, with their
rich black soil," may raise more
corn; but the seasons are uncertain,
and as an old farmer once remark
ed to ns, “a man has to work like a
nigger for six months to make gw* 8 grows as naturally on the
enough to live on the other six 801 0eor 8 la a9 bristles on a
months.” In other words the long 10 S 8 ’’ ick - and 1,6 cotton planter
winters eat up the profits of the has kadt0 «S ht it so persistently
labor of the summer All of the ‘ kat ke ,latC8 “ with * uch a fervent
Northern States have this draw- hate l " at a meadow would have the
back, and many of the States bc . <*me effect upon as water up.
low Mason and Dixon’s line. In on ° 8UD J cct of hydrophobia,
fact, you do not strike a mild and fruits.
even climate until you get South Georgia is fast attaining ana-
of the spurs of the mountains. In Uonal reputation as a fruit growing
Southwestern Georgia the climate state. The climate and soil is la-
fs each that there are few days in vorable to all kinds of fruit, and
the year that farming operations the yield is so sure as to make it
cannot be carried on, and those profitable. Georgia is the home
&w are caused by rain and not by of the peach and the crape, and
cold. Not only does this favora- they grow most luxurantly. Just
ble condition of climate give the think of it, you can have
farmer more timo to work, but peaches from May to November,
it gives his products moro time to W « have seen a single scuppcrnong
grow and mature, and he can have <?'ape vine cover a space of seven-
a succession of crops on the same | ® vo tect square. The LeConte
land, as well as n greater variety P car is the most luscious variety of
of products. There are few Dro . that luscious fruit, and it can be
ilocte raised in the North which grown ns easily as corn. Cutoffs
cannot be raised here, while there ‘wig and stick it in the ground and
are many grown hore which cannot Iwill lake root. A full grown
bo raised there, The advantage of tlcc will produce twenty-live busli-
elimate and variety of products cls *" 11 season, and they are readi-
more than balances the rich soli of Ml’ aolti at $4 per bushel. Over
the prairie Slate*. Nor do wo mean lo .°00 bushels of these pears were
by this to sav that the soil of Gcor- shipped from Southwest Georgia
gia is poor, for it is not, although to ‘he North the past season, and
itlooks so to a man who has been * n a h JVV years this amount will be
accustomed to Judge of the char- doubled. Men arc ranking fortunes
ncter of the soil by its color, /' off of a few acres by the growing
THRson, of these pears. You don’t know
is generally n red olay or a gray wkat a watermelon is until you
sandy soil, the former having upon have explored the interior of a
it a growth of biokory and oak, Georgia fifty pounder, and then
and the latter a growth of yellow you will come to the same conclu
or long-leaf pine. The olay lands I 8 ‘ 0n that the people of the princi
are generally rioh and their fertili- P®1 cities of the North have arrived
ity lasting, while the pine lands I at > that it is the most luscious and
produce freely, are easily worked, cooling fruit grown. Hundreds of
bnt are less durable. Wo well re:, car loads are shipped from this
member when we first saw .these section of the state and the demand
lands, having been used to see the '* greater than tho supply. We
black lands of central Illinois, wo know of one man who on twenty
thought it as poor a country ns we acr °s raised seven car loads of
ever looked upon; but when we saw melons, for which ho rece ved >160
vegetables raised upon these lands i per carload,aggregating over$1,000
that discounted in size and solidity The railroads have made arrange
any we had ever seen in the North, meats to carry melons quickly and
when wc saw 30 to 75 bushels of cheaply to nil the principal markets
oats to the acre, 30 bushels of h n the North and thcro is no dan
wheat to the acre, wo changed our gcr of overstocking tho market,
opinion. Thcro is one advantage The first strawberries in the North
of tbo soil hero over that of the urn markets come from Southern
North, and that is it can be cultiva- Georgia, and command a high
ted with half the work. When we pi ice. In a fair season an acre of
saw a single mule drawings break- strawberries will pay a net profit
ing plow through the ground, the of from $100 to $150 per ncre.
phrase "forty acres and a mule” veuetaules.
had a new meaning for us. Along Within tho past two years a new
the creek and river bottoms is industry has sprung up in this
found a black alluvial soil that for section—the raising of vegetables
richness rivals the prnirici of the for the Northern markets, and it
west. lias proved exceedingly profitable
the froducts This year Irish potatoes, cabbage
of Southwestern Georgia are so string beans, beets, carrots, pens
numerous auJ variedthat the short- »nd roasting ears were shipped
est way to catalogue them would from Americas, to Macon, Atlanta,
be to say that they comprise n II of Cincinnati and Now York. Irish
the temperate and sem-tropical potatoes brough. $1.00 per bushel
zones. Cotton is the principal pro- in our home market, cabbage 10
duet,and because it wns so exclu- cent per head, string beans 2 cents
sively raised for many years gave per pound, roasting ears 20 cents
many the impression that little else per dozen, and the demand exceed-
could bo raised; but side by side | cd the supply. The raising ol
with it can be seen corn, oats, rice, | vegetables in this section will al-
millet, cow-peas, Irish and sweut ways prove profitable, for they can
potatoes, peanuts, turnips,cnbbage M 16 P ut in market before they can
and almost every variety of vege. be planted one hundred miles
table that can be thought of, and north. Prom 150 to 200 bushels
of many of these two crops ran be °f Irish potatoes can be grown on
raised the same year. We ate roast-1 <m acre, and they can always be
ing cars this summer which came 8 °ld in the home market readily at
from the seed grown aud ripened I from 76 cents to $100 per bushel,
in the same garden since the first live stock.
of March last, Ike second crop But little attention has been paid
of potatoes is .now growing in our | to the raising of live stock, the
garden from seed furnished by the | central idea of the planter’s mind
first crop, which was planted in j having been heretofore to see how
March. Oats or wheat can be sown much coton he could raise. But what
in November or December, barves- little has been done has shown that
ted in May,and on the same ground nil kinds of live stock can be rai <ed
be grown cotton, peas or corn.
Wheat was harvested here the 27th
of April, and Americus furnished
the first new wheat m the markets
of St. Louis, Cincinnati and New
York on the 2nd or May. During
the war Southwest Georgia was
the granary of the Confederacy
and furnished the provisions lor the
Confederate army. Then cotton
was dropped and corn and hogs
with profit. One reason for this is
that the winters are so mild and
vegetation growing in nearly ev
ery month in the year, their food
docs not cost so much as in the
North. While the planters of the
South.havc for years imported their
meat from the North, it has been
because during the high price of
once got into the habit of buying
their meat they continued in it.
Bacon can be cheaply and profita
bly raised, as has been demonstra
ted by many of our planters who
raise their own supplies. Sheep
raising can be profitably pursued.
Dairy farming has In the past few
years received considerable atten
tion and has proved to be very re
munerative. In fact, there is no
branch of agriculture that cannot
be profitably pur-ned in Southwest
Georgia, by men of prudence and
energy. .Many farmers have de
monstrated that money can be
made with small capital on small
farms, and many who have been en
gaged in in farming on an exten
sive scale arc cutting down their
farms. Many men are making a
comfortable living with "forty
acres aud a mule.”
profits of farming.
As showing the profits of farm
ing in this section, we give below
some figures made by Judge Yason,
of Albany, in response to a request
of the State Commissioner of Ag
riculture for statistical information
regarding the average percentage
that can be realized in cnpital in
vented in farming operations in
Southwest Georgia. In reply the
Judge, who is an old resident of
this section and knows whereof he
speaks, makes the following state
ment:
Admitting that there have been
many failures in farming, and put
ting aside for the present the causes
which have brought them about,
such an extensive devotion to one
crop, the unreliability of labor,
sinokehou cs in the west, two and
hair per cent for necessary ad
vances, supplies, etc., caterpillars
and other drawbacks to the crop—
the tact remains equally indisputa
ble that there arc a number of plan
ters in Southwest Georgia who have
realized from farming n larger re
turn than the same investment
would have yielded them in any
other species of capital. These are
the men, and most of them who arc
known to hr are Yankees,who have
begun with a sulllcient capital at
the start to pay their I abor regu
larly and to keep themselves out of
the clutches of the warehouse and
commission men, and above nil,
whose thrift and economical habits
have enabled them to sec and to
calculate some little distance
ahead. While,also, they knew noth
ing of the business at the start, they
had nothing to unlearn and no in
convenient adaptation of them
selves to changed conditions and
surroundings. Bnt the little cap
ital thoy had judiciously runnaged
and expended, tells the whole sto
ry, and tho following facts and fig
ures may not be without interest.
Take the case of a man who has,
say, some $5,000 or $0,000 to in
vest. For this a well improved
farm of 500 acres could Jbc bought
at $5 per ncre or $2,500. At pres
ent this would be a top price for
such a farm, with 400 acres cleared
and ready for cultivation—in
quality, too, rather above than
below the average, and well
adapted to cotton at any rate.
To stock this place properly would
require ten mules at $1,250; planta
tion tools, wagons, etc., $300; gin
and gearing $300; expenses for la
bor, etc., $1,200; provisions for self,
wile and two children aud fifteen
laborers, $500; blacksmith and car
penter’s tools, $50; taxes, $25; in
cidentals, $200—making in nil $0,-
325, nearly three-fourths of which
would represent permanent enpi-
not largely exceed them. Cf course,
too, in such rough estimates many
unforeseen items of outlay and ex
pense are necessarily overlooked.
But doubling or quadrupling the
contingent fund, which wc put
above at $200, there would still be a
subtrahend of profit, hardly credi
ble by one whose a.tcnlion had
never been directed to the subject.
the climate.
Many Northern people have the
idea that the weather is so hot that
awhile man cannot stand it in this
section of the South. There nev
er was a greater mistake. Tin
summer is long, it is true, but it is
not near so hot here ns it is in the
North in July and Angus*. Hav
ing experienced 100° jn the- 6hadc
in the North, we speak from expe
rience when we say that the heat
is not so oppressive in this section
of Georgia as it is in Illinois in
midsummer. The air is pure and
light and the heat is not so oppres
sive as in moist climates. The plan
ters here arc in the fields through
out the whole season, and many
northern men arc engaged in ag
riculture throughout the State. Be
sides this, the heaviest work of
farming conies in before the hot
test weather begins. Harvesting
is done in May, and it is much
cooler here at that time than in Ju
ly at the North.
THE TIME TO COME SOUTH
is in October or November, for
farm work properly begins in No
vember; besides, by the time sum
mer comes on one will be ncclima
ted and can stand the long summer
without inconvenience. It is a no
ticeable fact that a Northerner can
stand this climate better for the
first two or three years than a na
tive.
our advice
to our Northern friends is to finish
up your fall work, and about the
first of December come down and
spend a month or two with us and
sec what kind of a country we have
got. You will enjoy a vacation,
while the mild winter weather here
will be a pleasant surprise to you
and will do you good. You will
have an opportunity of seeing the
country and people, and judging
them by their actions at home.
Don’t come with the idea that it
is necessary to keep your mouth
shut for fear of being ku-kluxed,
but ask all the questions you want
to and express your opinions free
ly. Your questions will be civilly
answered and your opinions re
spectfully listened to. If yon arc a
gentleman you will tie treated as
such and every means of inform
ing yourself given you. \Vc don’t
care whether you are a Democrat
or llopublican in politics, you can
bo cither you choose, and you will
bo protected in your rights.
In the meantime, should you
wish for any further information,
address the Becoruer office or
Col. F. K. Burke, and your inqui
ries will be cheerfully answered.
Or if you wish to bo posted on
Southern affairs, subscribe for the
Weekly Hecorder.
Wheatley’s Corner Still iln
TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.
-BUYERS OF-
DRY GOODS AND CLOTHING
will consult their own interests by calling and examining my
stock before making their purchases.
UVEy stools, is Complete i
and I have determined the present season to offer special at
tractions in the way of
GOOD GOODS2
at the very lowest prices. Having made my purchases for
-=CASH D0WN~—
and my selections with the greatest care, I feel confident that
I can please all, both in goods and prices;
I cannot mention specialties or leaders. My extensive store
is packed full of goods. The new rooms in the basement,
which I will in a few days throw open, are packed with goods
which there is not room for on the main floor, and all things
are now ready.
A Cordial Invitation is Extended to All
to visit my establishment. All old customers and friends will
come. A well pleased customer is the best advertisement, and
it is my hope that every one whom I shall have the pleasure of
serving will he so well satisfied that they will send all their
friends to see me when they visit this city.
REMEMBER THE PLACE,
l/Vlieatley’s Corner,
AND RE ME MB SR THE NAME,
THWtlTM WHEITLEY,
The Dry Goods Man.
Amcricu*. Of, HepU‘iu<«r 22, I882.m3
J. W. SHEFFIELD A It.
AMERICUS, GA.,
Wholesale nnd Retail Dealers in General
Now without tabulating the fol
lowing moderate estimate, the crop
yield for almost any ordinary year
may be estimated witli tolerable
safety and accuracy as follows: 100
Arcs in oats, 15 bushels per acre,
1,500 bushels, which at 80 cents
per bushel would realize $1,200;
100 i» corn, yielding, say 1,500
bushels, at 80 cents. $200; 300
bushels peas, $300; 5 acres in sugar
cane, which, less the seed cane re
served, would make 600 gallons of
syrup, which at filly cents per gal
lon would make $300; 2,500 bushels
of cotton seed, less seed for plant
ing, worth say, $300. To tho
above items add the main crop,
cotton, on 200 acres, with or with
out manure, 80 bales, at $50 per
bale, $4,000.
It is hardly necccsar.y to tab
ulate and add together the above
figures to convince anyone of the
really immense profits ’ that would
accrue to even a small capitalist,
endowed with ordinary energy and
foresight. The only important
item we have left out of the expense
estimate above, that occurs to us,
the wages of an agent or over
seer. But this wc are sure the
moderate planters saves by living
on the place and superintending
in person. as tho yankecs among
us invariably do.
The above figures and estimates
would hardly be considered more
than an average crop in any ordi-
Tkis Space
BELONGS TO
Harrold, Johnson & Co
But they were too huay to write any
thing to <111 it, and so we will say for
them that they keep o-* hand a full
stock of .‘planters’ bunplic*, steam en
gine* nnd agricultural machinery .find
run a large brick fire-proof Cotton
*“ Arnrri-
cotton it paid better to raise that. nary year. This year it will be tbo
than-to rnitc bacon, and having < poorest sou of cropping that does
W. H. KIMBROUGH,
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
LEESBUBQH, - • GEORGIA.
. Collections a Specialty.
HARDWARE.
Stoves, Crockery and
Housefurnishing Goods, Etc.
On or about October loth our new building will 1h> finished
when wc will display one of the
Most Complete Stocks of Hardware I
ANU OTHER GOODS IN OUR LINE IN GEORGIA.
FOUR CAR LOADS OF
|Patent and Plain Wheel Wagon,
(1 TO fi HORSE) AT MACON AND COLUMBUS PRICES.
IN OUR NEW
CARRIAGE & BUGGY REPOSITORY
! b! ": e tt ,ar * e •“«* elected stock of all tho latest styles of Ruggin at prices to suit er-rv .
“lake a especially of tine Buggies built to order hy Henry Hooke?* # C.», 7fewH? V en t2SF »h '
nave a national .eputatlon for first c’ass werk. All work warante^l o he a. ‘» ,
j connection with Buggies and Wagons wc have a (bll line of . * CDt * J In
j SADDLERY, BUGGY AND WAGON HAN NESS,
BOTH HAND AND MACHINE MADE.
AO ENTS FOR THE CELEBRATED
: KENTUCKY 3 ROLLER CANE MILLS AND COOK 8 COPPER EVAPOK ITDRa
| FINDLEYS 2 ROLLER MILLS AND KETTLES COTr /v PHESSFS '
AND GIN GEARING, FAIBBANK AND HOWE SCALES
SPECIAL MACHINERY FURNISHED ON SHORT NOTICE
1 “ 3n uETk tou?
. ... J- W. SHEFFIELD ft CO.