Misc. Records
Where to Emigrate and Why - Frederick B. Goddard, Peoples Publ. Co., 1869
GEORGIA.
IN all the elements of wealth and prosperity, few States of the Union are more abundantly blessed by nature than Georgia. Her long line of sea-coast, her extensive system of internal river navigation, and her numerous deep and capacious harbors, afford rare advantages for commercial pursuits, and make nearly every county in the State accessible by water-craft. With such facilities, and with a soil of varied and prolific qualities, it is not surprising that the State of Georgia should have advanced rapidly in growth and development, and assumed a leading position among the Southern States. The climate of Georgia, especially of the interior and southern portions, is balmy and delightful, and her clear sunny skies rival those of Italy in beauty and loveliness.
The islands of the coast, stretching from the Savannah River to the Florida border, afford an excellent natural breakwater, inside of which are smooth and navigable waters, forming a safe and delightful coast route for steamers. These islands are covered with a light sandy soil, which produces fine crops of cotton of the very best grade. Back from the coast are what are called the "tide and swamp lands," suited to the culture of rice. The pine lands commence about seventy miles from the sea, and these yield immense quantities of timber annually. The interior portions of the State contain large tracts of a red loam, favorable to the growth of tobacco, cotton, wheat, corn, &c. Much of this land has been impoverished by the exhausting system of cultivation formerly pursued by the planter; but it can easily be reclaimed by careful fertilization and judicious rotation of crops. The northern parts of the State are better adapted to the growth of the cereals than for tobacco and cotton, although in some counties, the latter is a good crop.
Georgia presents a rich and attractive field for the geologist. Her gold mines have for many years been profitably worked, and doubtless will be still more productive as experience and science overcome the difficulties which miners have everywhere encountered in the treatment of pyritical and sulphuretical ores. The northern counties of the State comprise what is called the mineral belt. A branch mint was located at Dahlonega many years ago, and was kept in operation until the breaking out of the war of rebellion. Capitalists are turning their attention to the mineral resources of this region, and little doubt is entertained of future satisfactory development. Iron is also found in considerable quantities, and at various points. Already furnaces have been successfully operated, and increased enterprise in this direction must make the manufacture of iron an important interest.
The water resources of Georgia—for internal commerce, for motive-power, and for natural irrigation—could hardly be more conveniently or more favorably distributed. More than fifty rivers water her soil, of which one-fourth are navigable. With such facilities for transportation, the products of every portion of the State can be floated to the sea-board, and thence to most desirable markets. It is estimated that the waterpower of Georgia is sufficient to manufacture all the cotton grown in the world, and grind all the wheat and corn produced in the Union.
Before the war, Georgia had become the leading cotton producing State of the South, and was making rapid strides in internal improvements, in educational progress, and in all that contributes to the highest order of civilization. Extensive railroad lines connected the interior with the coast; colleges and schools were multiplying throughout the State, numerous cotton factories were in successful operation, forges and founderies lifted their illuminated chimneys in many a valley, and the hum of happy and thrifty industry resounded from millions of broad and sunny acres.
The war interrupted all this progress, laid waste many of the principal towns and cities of the State, and left the people generally in an impoverished condition. But the smiling fields, the beautiful streams, the mineral resources, and the same sunny skies, are still left as a basis for renewed prosperity and increased development. Inducements which did not exist when Georgia was in her glory, now present themselves to the emigrant and settler. Lands are cheap—some of them even attainable at mere nominal prices—and the people who own them urgently invite industrious men to come and occupy them.
We copy the following from an article respecting the "Condition and Resources of Georgia," prepared by Rev. C. W. HOWARD, of that State, and published in the Report of the Department of Agriculture:―
The State of Georgia covers an area of fifty-eight thousand square miles. It is the largest of the old States east of the Mississippi River, except Virginia, extending through more than four degrees of latitude, and five of longitude. It is equal in size to England and Wales, and larger than Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and Switzerland united.
The following statistics are condensed from the census of 1860, and the Comptroller-General's report for 1866. The population of Georgia in 1860, was 591,588 whites, 3,500 free colored, and 462,198 slaves; total, 1,057,286, being 18.23 to the square mile.
Of farms of more than 1,000 acres there were, in 1860, 902, being a much greater number of farms of this size than in any other State. The average number of acres to the farm in Georgia, is 430. The number of farms is 62,000; acres of land improved, 8,062,758; of land unimproved, 18,587,732.
The products of the State in 1860 were: tobacco, 919,318 pounds; sugar, 1,167 hogsheads; hemp, 31 tons; peas and beans, 1,765,214 bushels; cotton, 701,840 bales of 400 pounds.
Affected by the terrible casualties of war, by loss of property, by the almost entire loss of two consecutive crops, the people of Georgia have still not "despaired of the republic." Leaving public affairs to the management of those who have control of them, they have addressed themselves with sublime energy to the work of reconstructing their lost fortunes. If they fail, it will be from the operation of causes beyond their reach. Burned cities and villages have been rebuilt, every railroad has been repaired, and is again in running order, new railroads are in progress of construction, factories have been rebuilt, and new ones on a larger scale will soon be completed, the old mines are worked, and everywhere in the mining region new shafts are being sunk. Failure from seasons and defective labor have but served to stimulate the farmer and planter to greater exertions. There has been no whining, no gloom, no prostration. The people see that they made a great mistake, and instead of merely deploring the past, they are determined to make the best of the future. It is an exhibition of elasticity under misfortune which can be presented only by the Anglo-Saxon race.
Climate, geological formation, and products, naturally divide the State into northeastern, northwestern, middle, southeastern, and southwestern Georgia. Each section differs materially from the other. In fact, it would be difficult to point out another country of equal extent in which so great a variety of soil, climate, and products can be found as in the State of Georgia. In one extreme are produced oranges, lemons, bananas, olives, and other tropical fruits; the other yields all the products of the Northern States. One cause of this variety is the different elevation of the several sections. The town of Marietta, in Cobb County, about 300 miles distant by railroad from the coast, is twelve hundred feet above the level of the ocean, the country descending from it north, west, and south. There is scarcely a plant of value to man, except coffee, which can not be grown successfully in Georgia. There is not a metal of material use in the arts, except tin and platinum, which is not found in workable quantity in this State. It therefore contains within itself all the essential elements of independence in a remarkable degree, is capable of producing all the requisite articles of food and clothing, and most of the luxuries for a very large population, and possesses abundant water-power to run all necessary machinery. With sufficient capital and population, and with a proper division of labor, nothing need be brought from abroad but coffee, while the cotton, rice, lumber, and mineral products would give it a large export trade.
Northeastern Georgia is primitive in its formation, limestone being found only in a few scattered localities. This section is strictly mountainous, some of the mountain peaks being of great elevation. The summer climate is delightful in temperature, and perfectly healthy. The scenery well repays the attention of the tourist, as in no part of the United States is it finer. The creek and river lands are rich, producing fine crops of grass and grain, while the uplands are generally rolling and comparatively thin. The markets for this section are Athens and Atlanta. No railroads pass through it, though several are in contemplation and will be built. The farms are generally small, and the lands cheap. Northeastern Georgia has felt the effects of the war less than any other portion of the State.
Northwestern Georgia, touching both Tennessee and Alabama, is one of the most admirable portions of the United States. It is a blue limestone region, bounded by the Chattahoochee River on the south, the primitive mountains on the east, and Lookout Mountain on the west, touching the Tennessee River on the north. It is the connecting link between the Great West and the Atlantic. The Etowah, Coosawattee, Connasauga, Chickamauga, Oostanaula, Chattanooga, and Coosa pass through it. The Coosa is navigable from Rome to the falls above Wetumpka, in Alabama. The attention of capitalists is being turned to these obstructions, and when they are removed, which must ere long be the case, navigation will be uninterrupted from Rome to Selma, and Mobile. The Oostanaula is navigable from Rome to Calhoun for small steamboats. The head-waters of this river can be connected by a canal with the Tennessee River, and a glance at the map will show the national importance of this grand work of internal improvement. The want of this canal, and these obstructions on the Coosa are all that now prevent water communication between East Tennessee and Mobile, and the three States are deeply interested in opening this communication with the least possible delay.
The great railroad trunk, the Western and Atlantic road, built by the State, passes through the heart of this section from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Besides this the Dalton and Selma Railroad will soon be completed. A short railroad connects Rome with the Western and Atlantic road at Kingston. The products of northwestern Georgia can be transported by direct lines of railroad to Charleston, Savannah, and Mobile toward the south, and Nashville and Knoxville toward the north.
Before the war, there were several flourishing towns, but Cassville, formerly having a population of two to three thousand, was burned during the war, not a house being left standing. Marietta was greatly injured. Rome escaped with comparatively little loss, and has regained its former prosperity. This place (Rome), situated at the confluence of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers, and remarkable for the beauty of its situation, must, from its connections and the great fertility of the surrounding country, become a town of considerable importance.
The river and valley lands of northwestern Georgia are very fertile, and comparatively fresh, as the Indians were removed in 1839. The valleys vary in width, from one-fourth of a mile to two miles. In 1860, these river and valley lands readily commanded from ten to seventy-five dollars per acre; now they can be bought much cheaper, as this section suffered more from the war than any other portion of Georgia. Wheat yields from seven to thirty bushels per acre, and is usually sowed on stock land, without plowing. The ground is not manured, except in rare instances, and then on small lots. A large amount of wheat was annually shipped from this section to New York, where it commanded the highest prices, not only from its excellence, but from its being so much in advance of the Northern crops. Corn ranges from twenty to fifty bushels per acre, the land being broken up with a one-horse plow, and not manured. With manure and deep plowing, as much corn per acre can be made in this section as from any similar lands in the United States. Clover and the grape grow well. On the Etowah River, and in those valleys in which the soil contains sand, cotton yields as much per acre as in any part of the State.
The climate is agreeable, being bracing in winter, and cool in summer, though not so cool as in the mountainous portion of northeastern Georgia. It is perfectly healthy, except in the vicinity of sluggish creeks, where there is a liability to chills and fever. The water-power is abundant, and is frequently found on the line of the railroads. Bituminous coal of excellent quality is extracted near the Tennessee line, and iron ore, lime, cement, slate, and white marble abound. But of these more will be said hereafter.
The writer is familiar with the Middle and Northern States, and has traveled extensively in Europe, and does not hesitate to say that he has not seen a section of country in which Providence has heaped together so large a number of things desirable for the comfort and prosperity of man, as in northwestern Georgia. Reference is made to natural advantages, as soil, climate, variety of products, and access to markets, with the qualifications of discomfort which must necessarily exist in a new country. Middle Georgia extends north and south from the Chattahoochee River to the fiat pine woods which reach from the coast about one hundred miles inland. There are no mountain ranges, the surface being gently and pleasantly undulating. Large portions of this section were originally very rich, being covered with wild pea-vines and nutritious grapes; but they have been scourged by bad cultivation, and are worn and gullied to a deplorable degree. The average product, without manure, is now about 500 pounds of seed-cotton, seven to ten bushels of corn, and five to seven bushels of wheat per acre. Manure acts well upon them, and it is easier to restore an acre of these lands to their original fertility than to clear an acre of new ground.
Before the war, lands in middle Georgia averaged, perhaps, ten dollars per acre, but they would not now command half of that price. A large amount of these lands will be left this year uncultivated, from the impossibility of obtaining reliable labor. Most of middle Georgia is quite healthy, the winters being mild, and the summers warm, though not so hot as to interfere with white labor, which can be used to advantage. The climate is incomparably better, winter and summer, than that of the Northwestern States, toward which the stream of emigration is so largely turned.
The principal rivers are the Savannah and its tributaries, the Oconee, Ockmulgee, Flint, and Chattahoochee. The Savannah is navigable to Augusta. The rivers are bordered with bottom lands of great fertility, covered with the most valuable kinds of timber; but these are generally liable to overflow, and have not been reclaimed, though protection against overflow is perfectly practicable. These bottom lands are sometimes four or five miles wide, with a soil of great depth, and there are probably more acres of rich unreclaimed swamp-lands in middle and southern Georgia than the whole of the kingdom of Holland. They require capital and labor, but when reclaimed, will yield more than a bale of cotton to the acre, or may be converted into beautiful meadows of herdsgrass or timothy. This description of land would probably not now command more than one dollar per acre. The rivers are navigable during the winter by small steamers, and during all the summer, timber can be floated to the coast. In consequence of the increasing scarcity of mahogany, European attention has already, been turned to these lands as a source of supply of white-oak, ash, gum, walnut, &c., to be used for furniture, and one Belgian company has now an agent procuring these kinds of wood. The timber on this vast extent of bottom land would more than pay the purchase, drainage, embankment, and clearing, and leave the purchaser a princely farm without cost.
The principal towns of middle Georgia are Augusta, Atlanta, Macon, Columbus, and Athens. All of the towns of Georgia have, to a great degree, recovered from the effects of the war, and business is active, and rents high. City property suffered comparatively little, except in Atlanta, which was almost entirely destroyed. The rapidity with which this city has been rebuilt is almost magical; two years ago it was literally a heap of ruins, now scarcely the scars of the war are left. Both its business and population (now 20,000) are greater than before.
There are four male colleges and a large number of female collegiate institutions in middle Georgia, and most of them have able faculties and are in a prosperous condition.
This part of Georgia is a network of railroads, of which there are upward of 1,400 miles in the State, Atlanta being the great center. There are now four lines of railroads from Atlanta, and two others in process of construction; three from Augusta, Macon, and Columbus, and two from Savannah. The road from Macon to Brunswick, soon to be completed, must be the great thoroughfare by which the trade of Chicago will find its way to the South American markets.
Southeastern Georgia comprises the flat pine region, and the rice and sea-islands on the coast. The pine land is very poor, and is valuable only for range and timber. The rice and sea-island lands were, before the war, extremely valuable, but have since depreciated greatly, as they can be worked only by negroes. These lands, especially the rice lands, are too sickly to be the permanent home of the white man, and the farmers formerly spent their summers in traveling, or on occasional healthy spots in the pine woods, within reach of their plantations. They can be converted into meadows of the finest quality, and will yield heavy crops of clover, timothy, lucerne, and herdsgrass. The West India market is near, and the product of an acre of good hay will sell for more money, after deducting expenses, than that of an acre of rice. The grasses require no labor after sowing, until after hay harvest, and the whole crop can be saved before the sickly season commences. This work could be done by white men. These lands are as rich as the delta of the Nile.
Savannah is the chief seaport of the State. Business in that city is very active, and property has advanced in price. The voting population is considerably larger than before the war. Brunswick, perhaps, now offers the most promising results to enterprise of any southern town. Its harbor is one of the finest on the Atlantic coast, and. the railroad from Macon, the early completion of which is now secure, must give it much importance. The lumber trade alone would make it a city of considerable size.
Southwestern Georgia is in the tertiary formation, resting on what is called the bottom limestone. This is the great cotton region of the State, and, perhaps, the best in the whole South. The product per acre is not equal to that of the bottom lands of the Southwest; but the crop is so certain, the climate so suited to the cotton plants, the soil so easily cultivated, the liability to diseases of the plant is so small, and its products can so readily be sent to market, that it may be safely said to be the best cotton region of the whole South. Some of the planting interests are very large; one gentleman, during the war, is said to have cultivated twelve thousand acres in corn, cotton being prohibited.
Southwestern Georgia is comparatively a new country, and was but recently the home of the Creek Indian. The great value of the land secured at once a dense population, and towns and railroads were built, and an immense extent of land opened for cultivation. Besides being fresh, the land is quite level, and is easily worked, the usual allowance for cultivation being sixty acres in cotton and corn to the hand. So entirely has this region been devoted to cotton, that but little attention has been given to grain; corn, however makes a good return, and the occasional experiments with wheat have been satisfactory as to quantity and quality. It is certain that the farther south we go, where wheat will grow, the heavier is the grain, and sixty-four pounds to the bushel is not an unusual weight for wheat in lower Georgia. It is cut early in May. Sugar-cane (not sorghum) grows well, each planter usually making his own sirup and sugar. A really thrifty farmer in southwestern Georgia need buy very little to eat or wear, as he can raise his own meat, corn, wheat, cotton, wool, sugar, sweet potatoes, rice, and tea, besides every variety of vegetables grown at the North.
Prior to 1861, good plantations commanded $20 to $30 per acre, but it is doubtful whether the average would now be higher than $5 per acre.
Some portions of southwestern Georgia are healthful, while others are quite malarious, and white men especially are liable to disease. The water is generally bad, and in the sickly portions white labor of unacclimated persons during the summer would not be safe.
The rivers are the Flint, navigable to Albany, and the Chattahoochee, navigable to Columbus. Three railroads pass through this region, connecting it with the Gulf, the ocean, and middle Georgia. Columbus is a growing city, of 10,000 inhabitants, with an immense water-power, but partially in use. It is estimated that the water-power of Columbus is much greater than that at Lowell. Albany, Americus, and Cuthbert, are thriving towns.
After this general survey of the State, the following particulars will be of interest:―
AGRICULTURE.—The agriculture of Georgia has been in some respects bad as it could be. There has been no deficiency in intelligence, but it has been wrongly directed; nor of energy, for the Georgia cotton planter, as a general rule, was among the most energetic of men; nor of income, so far as immediate returns were concerned; but there was a great deficiency as to comfort and the permanent prosperity both of the planter and the State. Land was hardly regarded as capital, to be increased, but rather as part of current expenses, and the negro was the capital. But the land was something to be used until it was worn out, then sold for a trifle, and abandoned, and the former owner moved to new lands in the west, there to repeat the same process. The course of cultivation has been generally cotton and corn until the land refused to bring remunerative returns of either, when it was rested with small grain. In a rolling country, of which sand forms a large constituent, and therefore very liable to wash, the life of the soil was very brief, and a few years of this cultivation rendered it useless, and it was then turned out to be grown up with briars, broom-sedge, and old field pines. Two-horse plows were rarely used, and manure was seldom applied to any crop, except cottonseed, on corn and wheat. Hancock County and some of the adjacent counties should be an exception to the above general remarks.
There a course of improvement had commenced, in the advance of which was Mr. David Dickson, of Sparta, who planted nine hundred acres in cotton and eight hundred in corn, besides small grains, the whole of the 1,700 acres being manured, the corn with cotton-seed and the cotton with guano, at an annual cost of $10,000. This gentleman made money in the right way, his crops were heavy, and his land was improved both in condition and salable value. Throughout the State there were similar isolated examples. The remarks made on the system of agriculture in Georgia are of general and not universal application.
We may thank God that our generous mother-earth, oblivious of the wrongs done her by her children, will richly repay every filial effort. The losses of the planters have been terrible, but with a climate so genial, a soil so improvable and yielding products so valuable, it will be their fault if, under a new organization of labor, and a new system of agriculture, they do not attain more than their former prosperity.
THE FREEDMEN.—In many respects the conduct of this race of people, since the war commenced to the present time, has been most remarkable. Their behavior during the war was admirable. The wives and. children of the confederate soldiers were at their mercy; they knew perfectly well that their freedom would be the result of the success of the Federal arms; no white men were left at home, out of the cities, but infirm men and exempts, neither of whom were to be feared, yet never were the plantations more faithfully worked, never were the negroes more industrious or more deferential to their mistresses and the children of their masters. The South owes them a debt of gratitude, and all reflecting and good men acknowledge it, and will pay it if left free to act.
After the abolition of slavery it was feared that the negroes, intoxicated with their new found liberty, would rush into excess and riot. The fear was unfounded, and with few exceptions, they have been quiet and respectful; but their freedom has developed the inherent defects of the race,—indolence, and want of thought for the morrow. Hence, in many parts of the State, they are unwilling to make contracts for farming labor, to be paid at the end of the year, in kind or in money, their food being provided. They are more willing to work when they can be paid by the week or month, as they thus obtain ready money. This difficulty in making contracts occurs to the greatest extent on the seacoast. In one instance, on a rice plantation, on which 1,000 acres of rice was planted last year, fifty acres were cultivated, and when the rice was ready for harvest every negro left the place, the rice was not harvested, and both the planter and the negroes lost the entire crop. For that very large interest the owner this year has been able to contract for but twenty hands. In many other instances, they are unwilling to contract to labor for more than two days in the week. In. very many cases planters have failed to obtain any hands at all, and thus large plantations are left wholly uncultivated.
This kind of labor, defective as it is, is rapidly diminishing in Georgia; comparatively few negro infants will be hereafter raised. Infanticide was often prevented on large plantations with extreme difficulty by the most vigilant care of the mistress. Now, relieved from the control, and unwilling to be burdened with the expense and care of children, when they can hardly support themselves, this crime has become more frequent. Thousands, both of children and adults, have died from disease and exposure, it being their delight to collect about the towns and cities, where they contract vices and diseases; besides, every railroad train during this winter, has been loaded with negroes going to the West, under promise of increased wages, and the unfortunate people have, in many cases, been made the subjects of infamous speculation. It is estimated that 25,000 negroes have left South Carolina this winter for Florida and the West, and the number which have left Georgia is much greater, as, for some time, the average number passing through Atlanta has been 1,000 daily. This depletion of labor still actively continues, and it is a matter of increasing importance to the planters. They offer ten to twelve dollars per month, besides food, house, firewood, and land for a garden, but the negroes are promised more in the West, and accordingly emigrate. There must be a cessation of this emigration, and an increased disposition on the part of the negroes to labor for reasonable prices, or the introduction of new and reliable labor must follow. If neither of these alternatives occur, a very large proportion of the best cotton and rice lands in the older cotton States must be wholly unproductive.
COTTON.—The cotton crop of Georgia in 1860, was 701,840 bales; that of 1866, is estimated at 200,000 bales, a decrease of 501,840 bales. A considerable portion of this decrease is owing to an unpropitious season, but much more to the diminished quantity of land planted, and the defective labor employed in its cultivation. Large cotton plantations will cease to exist in Georgia, except in rare instances. During the last year, in a few cases, large planters have made a little money over expenses. In most cases, however, there has been a positive and heavy loss. As an illustration, one of our most skillful planters borrowed $40,000 to enable him to conduct his two plantations—one of rice, the other of cotton. His whole crop sold for $20,000, a loss of $20,000 on the year's work.
The experiment of conducting large rice and cotton plantations with the present system of labor has proved a failure, and few planters will again venture the experiment.
A plantation working 100 hands, and 60 to 70 mules, requires a very large outlay in advance, and such is the insecurity of labor, so little do the negroes observe the obligations of contracts, that after all his outlay in the way of mules, tools, provisions, &c., the planter may be left in the midst of the crop without a hand to work it. Under the most favorable circumstances the cotton crop of Georgia the coming year must be very small. The decrease of hands (between 12 and 65 years of age) employed since 1863, has been 139,988. Is cotton, then, to cease to be a staple crop of Georgia ? Certainly not. It must, however, be greatly diminished for a term of years, until the system of cultivation is improved, and a more reliable form of labor introduced.
Having experienced its value, the human race can not dispense with the cotton plant. The writer quotes from an address delivered by himself some years since:— "In the variety of its uses, in its employment of multiform labor, in its general economical relations to the State, in its capacity for the support of a dense population, this plant is certainly, of its kind, the most bountiful boon of a kind Providence."
In despite of the gloomy present, cotton must be made, but for a term of years, at least, on small farms and with a mixed husbandry. One idea is as hurtful to the soil as the brain.
It is true that cotton is the least exhausting of all plowed or hoed crops. How can it be otherwise when every thing is returned to the soil except the mere lint and cotton? The leaves and stalks are of course returned. The source of nutriment of the plants is largely atmospheric. The seeds are an excellent manure for wheat, and corn after cotton thrives remarkably, almost as if it were directly manured. There is not a cotton-seed oil mill in Georgia, but the seed in its crude state is heaped up for manure, while a portion of it is sent to England and to the North to be manufactured into an oil equal to olive for the table, and admirable for lubrication in its clarified state, and the manure of animals fed from the oil-cake is superior, according to English experiments, to that of animals fed even upon our Indian corn, which ranks next in value. In a rolling country with a decided element of sand in its composition, land cultivated in cotton and corn for a succession of years will wash and become exhausted and gullied. But this is the fault of the farmer, and not of the plant; any hoed or plowed crops, steadily repeated, would produce the same results.
Two-thirds of the strictly cotton lands of Georgia can be cultivated by white labor. In some sections it might be necessary to be careful about working in the midday's summer sun. But what is this loss compared with the loss of a winter, when the soil is covered with snow or locked up with ice ? Nothing in Georgia interferes with agricultural labor in winter but rain, of which it has no unusual share as compared with other portions of the United States.
The rainy days of winter are scarcely sufficient to get every thing ready in the way of fencing, mending, &c. for spring. By manure and deep plowing, an acre of these uplands in Hancock County, worth, according to average value, five dollars in 1860, has been made to produce 3,000 pounds of seed cotton, or 1,000 pounds of clean cotton, at present prices worth three hundred dollars. Any tolerable hand can cultivate ten acres, equal, according to the above product, to three thousand dollars. This is an extreme result, both of prices and products, but is now within reach of the skillful and industrious laborer.
In the older and healthier portions of the cotton region of Georgia a farm of one to two hundred acres can be bought now at from one to five dollars per acre, including comfortable improvements—a price, perhaps, not one-tenth of the original cost of fences and buildings. Suppose a laboring man, with money enough to buy such a farm, and also with money enough to buy guano or superphosphate of lime sufficient to manure ten acres for cotton, say a capital of twelve to fifteen hundred dollars. This ten acres he can easily cultivate, besides raising his own meat, corn, wheat, &c.; when the cotton is matured, his wife and children can pick it for him. He is at no expense but his own labor, and that of his own family. By degrees, as his means increase, and as he can procure reliable labor, his operations are increased, with nearly equal profits. Is there any other mode of farming in which he can earn so much ?
We must have white labor, and there are three ways by which its attainment is possible. First, to try foreign immigration. The expenses of the immigrants, for the present at least, must be prepaid. Where is the money to come from ? The planters can not advance sufficient money to secure household wants from abroad.
Northern companies may buy up large bodies of land, divide them into small lots, and either sell or rent to tenants―an investment, at present prices of land, of the most profitable nature, but requiring heavy capital.
Georgia land-owners may divide their own tracts, and put up cabins and lease for a term of years, say from ten to twenty, with a stipulation as to rotation of crops and manure, according to the English practice. If a planter is willing to sell his land for ten dollars per acre, he can afford to lease at one dollar per acre, annual rent, which would be ten per cent on the price of his land. The latter would be the best arrangement for him, if practicable. The second, as soon as public affairs are settled, will probably be the most feasible. But in either event we must go back (possibly forward) from large farms to small; our present labor demands this. Afterward, under a new system of labor, there may be a return to large plantations, with increased results.
GRAIN.—The product of corn in Georgia is in proportion to the labor bestowed upon it. The highest known yield of corn was that produced by Dr. Parker, of Columbia, South Carolina, who made two hundred and twelve bushels and some quarts from an acre of land. The ground from which this immense return was received was scarcely an average sample of the soils in South Carolina and Georgia. It shows what is possible in our climate, under high culture. The danger to the crops is from drought, the effects of which can be measurably obviated by deep plowing, early planting, and early varieties of seed. Fair crops even last year were made by those persons who planted early and used Northern seed corn. The present product ranges from seven to fifty or sixty bushels per acre, according to soil, seasons, and culture. With the cultivation and manuring common to good farmers at the North, an average of fifty bushels of corn to the acre can be produced one year with another. Heretofore the land has been rarely manured. The ground is broken generally with a one-horse coulter-plow (both plow and stock generally made on the farm), to an average depth of three to four inches. Is it a wonder that lands so treated should. suffer from drought, and produce small crops ? The pea crop planted in between the rows of corn, it is estimated, will, of a fair year, cover the expense of cultivation of both crops.
Wheat is usually sowed on stalk land after the corn is gathered, and without previous plowing. Almost the only manure applied to this crop is cotton-seed, and this is done in comparatively rare instances, but always with beneficial effects. The only instance in the State; in the knowledge of the writer, in which wheat was sowed on an inverted clover sod, was in Barton County. The yield was forty bushels to the acre. In another instance, in Hancock County, in middle Georgia, wheat sowed on a well turned Bermuda grass sod produced thirty bushels to the acre. The chief casualties to which wheat is subject are smut and rust. The former can be effectually prevented by soaking the seed in a solution of bluestone; the latter, to a good degree, by sowing early varieties of bearded wheat, as it is only late wheat which is effected by rust. Good bottom land in middle and upper Georgia has frequently produced twenty to thirty bushels to the acre. But at present, from imperfect culture, the absence of manure, and the prominence given to cotton, the average yield is very small, not more than six or seven bushels per acre. The earliness at which the wheat crops mature in Georgia always secures the best prices. New flour can be shipped from this State some time before the Northern wheat harvest begins.
THE GRASSES.—On all lands in Georgia, with a good dry subsoil, clover will grow well, if the soil be naturally or artificially rich enough. In northwestern Georgia, on fresh land, clover does admirably. In middle and lower Georgia a heavy manuring is generally necessary, the cost of which may be repaid by its application to wheat with which the clover is sowed. It must be lightly grazed during the heat of summer, but grazing may be commenced in April, interrupted in July and August, and resumed in September, continuing until January. The stubble-fields will carry the stock well during the interruption. Herdsgrass and timothy thrive well on rich bottom lands of a close texture throughout the State. The most valuable of all forage plants is lucerne. This grows as well in Georgia as in France, and in the quantity and quality of the hay produced is unrivaled. On lands made very rich it may be cut five times during the summer, yielding a ton at each cutting, commencing in April. The price of hay in Georgia is never less than twenty dollars per ton; now it is more than twice that amount.
On manured uplands, blue-grass, meadow, oat-grass, orchard grass, vernal grass, grow during the winter. If these are kept shut up from June until December, and stock is then turned upon them, horses, mules, cattle, and sheep will need no other food, and will keep fat. They thus do their own mowing and hay raising. What a diminution of expense in stock-raising. What a saving in costly barns. What a singular advantage of climate.
If it will pay to manure a meadow on which the expense of cutting and curing hay is to be incurred, and also of barn to store it in, much more will it pay to manure land for winter pasture, on which an equal amount of stock is kept, without after expense. When land is made rich and sowed down to winter grass, it is quite possible to raise interest cattle, colts, and sheep, without any other expense than on land, salt, and occasional attention. If these winter pastures are laid down in thinned woodland, the additional advantage is derived of doing away with dead capital in woodland, besides feeding a number of hogs, as the acorn and chestnut rarely fail in thinned and pastured woodlands. Bermuda grass will be spoken of in connection with sheep-raising.
FRUIT.—The peach-tree in Georgia is long-lived and subject to very few diseases, and the fruit is largely used in fattening hogs. Shipping early peaches to the Northern markets must become an important business near the lines of railroads on the coast.
It is to be regretted that the experiments in vineyards have not been more successful. These experiments were extensive, spirited, and expensive, but they have generally been abandoned. The Catawba has been almost exclusively used, and possibly some other grape may be found better suited to the soil and climate.
It was at one time supposed that good winter apples and pears could not be grown in Georgia, but since attention has been paid to native seedlings, fine and good keeping varieties of the fruits have been raised. The writer has seen together upon the table, pears and apples of different year's growth. It is a surprising result,
that the best region for producing good winter apples is the poor and sandy belt just above the fall of the rivers in middle Georgia, a section so poor that, in the vernacular, it "will not sprout peas."
The fruit business in melons, apples, pears, peaches, and market vegetables in Georgia, offers an inviting field for enterprise. Atlanta being the railroad center, and therefore most distant in point of time from New York by the two diverging lines, is fifty-six hours distant from that city. The freight on a bale of cotton from Atlanta to New York is seven dollars per bale, a fraction over one cent per pound. Both freight and time are small, but the difference in season and price, according to season, is great. Let the market gardeners, who understand the importance of extra early fruits and vegetables, consider well the suggestion.
LIVE STOCK.—In 1860 there were in Georgia 130,771 horses, and 101,069 asses and mules. The number was greatly diminished by the war. If there was any money in Georgia to pay for them they would rule high. Prices, except in the cities, are almost nominal. Great attention was formerly bestowed upon blooded horses for the saddle and turf. Of late years the Morgan horse has been introduced, and found great favor as a horse "of all work." It must be many years before the stock of fine horses is replaced. Mules for the plow are in chief demand, and. are mostly brought from the West, although, with a proper attention to winter grass pastures, a mule can be raised at less expense in Georgia than in Kentucky. In southern and southwestern Georgia all that is necessary is to inclose a cane-brake, the young mule desiring no better food during the winter, and the range feeding him in summer.
In 1860 there were in Georgia 299,688 mulch cows, 74,487 oxen, and 631,707 other cattle—in all, 1,005,882. This was a large proportion to the 99,000 white polls in the State, being somewhat more than ten to the poll. The Durham, Devon, Ayrshire, and Bremen cattle have all been introduced. The pure Durham are too large for our climate and pastures; the others thrive as well as elsewhere under similar treatment.
In lower Georgia, in what is called the wire-grass region, cattle are raised largely, herds ranging from 100 to 5,000. These are neither fed nor even salted, no care being bestowed except marking and occasional penning.
With all the facilities for cattle-raising in Georgia, there is not a dairy farm in the State, except some small mulch dairies near the cities. All the butter and cheese bought is from the North. There was one cheese dairy in the full tide of successful experiment, which was terminated by the death of the adventurous experimenter; yet the manufacture of a pound of butter or cheese does not cost more than one-half as much in Georgia as in Ohio or New York. In 1860 the butter crop of New York sold for twice as much as the cotton crop of Georgia, although that year the latter was more than 700,000 bales.
There were in Georgia, in 1860, 2,036,116 hogs, within a small fraction of as many as there were in Kentucky, and about four times as many as there were sheep in the State, yet the one requires grain, and the other does not. The one requires labor, and the other lives in the range. There were 33,512,867 hogs in the United States; about one-fifteenth of the whole number were raised in Georgia. According to the present system, which does not include grazing upon clover and grass, the hog is the most costly and least profitable stock raised in the State.
The census returns for 1860 show 512,618 sheep in Georgia. Of this number, 25,432 were killed by dogs in 1866, yet the number of sheep is but little diminished since 1860.
Really good sheep, properly cared for and protected, are the most profitable stock which can be raised in Georgia. Under the ordinary system they are the least profitable, except in those portions of the State in which wool-growing is a business.
The three different belts in Georgia require, in each, a different system of sheep-raising. In northwestern Georgia the summer and fall range is ample. Wethers will live in the range all winter, but ewes and lambs require food for two or three months. The winter grasses, if sown, are amply sufficient for them, and rye pasture also answers well.
In middle Georgia, Bermuda grass makes the best pasture. Probably no grass in the world gives an equal amount of grazing, winter and summer, as the Bermuda on good land, and if shut up during the summer, it will keep sheep and cattle fat during the winter. It is the dread of the cotton-planter, however, from the rapidity with which it spreads, and the difficulty of extirpating it, and there are entire plantations in middle Georgia overrun with it. These have been abandoned by the cotton-planters, and can be bought as low as one dollar per acre in some cases. Many of these plantations have comfortable dwellings and outbuildings upon them, are healthy, and within easy reach of railroads. On land well manured or otherwise rich, Bermuda grass grows tall enough to mow, and makes an abundant and nutritious hay.
Sheep-raising is conducted on quite a large scale in southern Georgia, in the pine woods range. The flocks, in some instances, reach as high as 5,000 head. These sheep are never fed, summer or winter, living entirely in the range. They receive no attention except at marking and shearing times. Sheep can be bought at $1.50 per head. They are very inferior, but can be rapidly improved by a cross with the Merino.
It will be seen that Georgia affords great facilities for wool growing. In a large portion of the State, sheep require no housing or feeding, and there are no "northers," as in Texas. The market for wool and mutton is within easy reach. Why then, should the wool-growers seek the West ? With the subject of wool-growing the writer is familiar, from practice and observation at home and abroad. It is his conviction that, considering the climate, price of land, markets, and facilities for summer and winter grazing, middle and lower Georgia afford a prospect of more rapid fortune in wool-growing than any other region within his knowledge. Cotton has heretofore blinded the eyes of planters to the value of their lands for this purpose. There is no reason why the wool crop of Georgia should not be larger than its cotton crop ever was.
METALS AND MINERALS.—It was the design of the writer to treat fully upon this branch of the subject, but the limits assigned him render this impossible, and it must be dismissed with a few general remarks. The white marble quarries of Cherokee County are of great extent, a portion of them affording statuary marble. The slate quarries of Polk County are now attracting much attention. The slate is considered equal to the Welsh, and is now being shipped to New York. The quarry is of enormous extent. Hydraulic cement, nearly white in color, and of excellent quality, is made near Kingston, Bartow County. The indications of petroleum in Floyd County are strong. That section has been thrown up in the wildest confusion. The formation is the lower silurian, abounding in fossils, and both the limestone and shale are highly bituminous. Iron ore abounds in Bartow and other counties. Large investments of Northern capital are now being made in digging gold, and with fine results. If these mines were on the other side of the Rocky Mountains; if there were hostile Indians between them and civilization; if it were necessary to transport provisions and tools on pack mules, there would probably be a great rush of adventurers to them. But they are in the "white settlements," fifty-six hours distant from New York, and are, therefore, not considered worthy of attention.
HOW NORTHERN MEN ARE TREATED.—This depends very much upon themselves; rude people will find rude people everywhere, as like begets like. There are two classes of Northern men who can not expect to be received with much courtesy. One is the class of correspondents of Northern newspapers, who pass through the South misrepresenting the condition of things, thereby keeping open the wounds of our suffering country. The other is a class of men who provoke ill-treatment by irritating and insulting remarks; but a Northern man who comes here to live, and minds his own business, and identifies himself with the interests of the section which he has selected as his home, will be met and treated in his business relations with as much courtesy as any other good citizen. It is, however, proper to remark that families of refinement settling among us alone, would hardly find their residence pleasant, however profitable it might be. They would not be disturbed, but they would be let alone. This is to be expected. We have passed though a terrible war. The superior numbers and resources of the North have overpowered us. It is human nature to be sore under such a result. It will be a work of time, the great healer, to remove this soreness. Our women, perhaps, feel this result more heavily than the men. While they would be guilty of no rudeness, for which they are generally too well bred, they would be averse, for the present, at least, to intimate social relations with those who have been indirectly connected with the sufferings which they have endured. These sufferings have, in countless instances, been terrible beyond expression. Every Northern person of delicate sensibilities will readily understand and appreciate the condition of things referred to. It is due to them to express frankly the real state of facts, to prevent a repetition of instances in which Northern ladies have suffered keenly from a sense of isolation.
From the Report of the Agricultural Department, February, 1868:―
REAL ESTATE.—Returns to our circulars from about fifty counties of this State show an average decline of from fifty to sixty per cent. in the value of farm lands, as compared with the estimates under the census of 1860. No county reports an actual increase; but Union, Fulton, and Charlton show no change in value since the date named. A few counties report a very large decline—from eighty to ninety per cent, but the major portion range from forty to sixty per cent The depreciation of these lands is of course attributable to the same causes which have similarly affected all the Southern States, and the estimated values are but nominal, sales being few at any price, except when forced.
In 1860, the lands classed under the head of wild or unimproved lands embraced about one-fourth the area of the whole State, the figures of that time being: improved lands in farms, 8,062,758 acres; unimproved, in farms, 18,587,732 acres; wild or waste areas (including waters, &c.), not in farms, 10,461,510 acres. It is probable that the proportion of cultivated lands is smaller now than in 1860; and the estimated values given by our correspondents range from twenty-five cents to fifteen dollars per acre, according to location and resources. In Union, Murray, Chattooga, Gordon, Polk, Campbell, Cherokee, Jefferson, Johnson, Greene, Morgan, Carroll, Heard, Taylor, Charlton, Schley, and Church, embracing all the range of temperature and varieties of soil in the State, these wild lands may be purchased at from twenty-five cents to one dollar per acre; while in Floyd, Cobb, Milton, Forsyth, Columbia, Warren, Hancock, Newton, Butler, Houston, Crawford, Stewart, and other counties, the average value ranges from one dollar and seventy-five cents to five dollars, generally averaging something over two dollars. In fact, throughout the State, in every county, such lands are to be found at merely nominal figures, and of such variety and extent as to supply any character of soil that may be desired. In many sections these lands are mountainous, and covered with a heavy growth of timber, and the soil, when cleared and cultivated, capable of yielding good crops of corn, the small grains, potatoes, &c., and are well adapted to fruit-growing; while in others, the lands are flat and swampy, of little value but for the timber; but the larger proportion comprise lands susceptible of high cultivation, and capable of growing remunerative crops.
CORRESPONDENCE.
A correspondent writing from Macon, Aug. 6, 1868, says:―
Yours of the 28th ultimo is received. We have every kind and character of soil and climate in Georgia that the emigrant may desire. Northern, mountainous; middle, undulating; southern, very level. The middle is the finest climate in the world, neither extremes of heat or cold. Northern, exclusively a grain country—too cold for cotton, and crops uncertain. Middle is good for average crops of grain or cotton. Southern is good for cotton, rice, and cane. Southwestern Georgia is the best for cotton in the State, and none better in the whole South. The writer is a large planter in southwestern Georgia, and before the war, made five bales of cotton to the hand, besides supplies of corn, sirup, potatoes, peas, hogs, &c. This year, cotton bids fair to yield as well, with free labor. Near my place there lived a poor white man who always made, by his own labor, six bales of cotton, besides what is enumerated above, and some to sell above his own wants. This shows you what the emigrant can do; and, to the man of capital, with good laborers, a fortune could soon be realized. Wild lands, heavily timbered with pine, can be purchased for from $1. to $2.50 per acre; grain farms, from $5 to $50 per acre; cotton farms, or plantations, from $3 to $10 per acre, according to improvements and location. Living is as cheap here (except bacon) as in any part of the States. Wages, from $5 to $12 per month. Able-bodied hands of white skin are in great demand.
To the emigrant or the man of capital, who desires to settle here, our people will give a good old Georgia welcome, and insure him. protection at the risk of our lives; but the "carpet-bagger," who comes to control the elections through the votes of ignorant negroes we "heartily despise," and hope he may come to grief as
soon as possible. We claim to be a law-abiding people, and all the trouble you hear of in the South, occurs among the ignorant negroes and ditto whites. This you have to contend with at the North, as much so as we here. There is a fine field open in Georgia for the industrious farmer, or the capitalist, in whatever business he may wish to embark. The cotton factory here has always paid its regular dividends, and its profits will compare favorably with any New England concern. Our railroads have all been rebuilt since the war; now paying good dividends, and stock worth from par to 130. The only persons who have failed to recuperate are the large planters, who have tried to run their large plantations without capital. One of my neighbors, who had plenty of capital, and held his crop for better prices, cleared $10,000 net; working 35 hands.
CLERK'S OFFICE, SUPERIOR COURT. MARIETTA, GA.,
August 3, 1868.
SIR:—In reply to your circular:—
1st. The lands are generally good farming lands, and range in price from $5 to $20 per acre, according to quality.
2d. Labor demands a good price; supply inadequate since the freedom of the negroes—farm hands and housekeepers.
3d. Climate as good as any place in the United States. And this part of Georgia (North Georgia) is as healthy as any.
4th. Mineral plenty; gold, copper, iron, &c. Land heavily timbered; some coal higher up.
5th. Character of crops—corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, peas, cotton, potatoes (Irish and sweet), turnips, cabbages, and most any thing else that you wish to plant; fruits of all kinds. Corn is generally from 40 cts. to 60 cts.; but it has been higher since the war―80 cts. to $1 now.
6th. Railroad facilities at our door; market convenient. This place has about 3,000 inhabitants, and is 20 miles from Atlanta, by railroad, which has a population of about 25,000.
7th. School and religious advantages adequate.
8th. Nationality—mostly Georgians; some few Irish; some Germans, and a few English; not a great many negroes in this part of Georgia.
There is a good deal of cotton raised in this part of Georgia; but it is not as good for cotton as the lower and middle parts. We have one large cotton factory in our immediate vicinity; several large flouring mills; a paper mill; a bone mill, and several other manufacturing establishments. I consider this part of Georgia the place to emigrate to, if a man wants good water, fine climate, and a healthy country to live in; and any man that is industrious, can make money. We want, and invite, immigration. By the devastations of Sherman's army, we are unable, so far as means are concerned, to offer inducements, further than to sell our lands cheap, and give emigrants a hearty welcome. Our water-power is ample for all kinds of machinery.
Yours very truly, &c.,
H. M. HAMMETT,
C. S. C.
F. B. GODDARD, New York.
The following interesting communication is from Hon. JOSHUA HILL, one of the United States Senators elect from the State of Georgia to the Congress of the United States:—
MADISON, GA., August 6, 1868.
DEAR SIR: * * I will give you a brief sketch of Madison and vicinity. This pretty town, incorporated as a city, is situated in Morgan County, on the Georgia Railroad, thirteen miles west of the Oconee River, which separates for some miles the counties of Morgan and Greene, below the mouth of the Appalachee, a small river forming the northeastern boundary of Morgan. Madison is 104 miles west of Augusta, and 67 miles east of Atlanta. There are day and night passenger trains every twenty-four hours over this road. It is a great freight road for this country. Mathson is the principal cotton depot on the road. It contains about two thousand inhabitants.
* * * * * * *
The surrounding country was originally a fertile soil, well watered, and abounding in fine freestone springs and wells. The climate is mild, and the atmosphere at this time remarkably free from miasma. Bilious complaints are almost unknown. Forty years ago they prevailed generally. It would be difficult to find a healthier region. The country is undulating, and is supplied with small but never-failing streams. There are still some fine forests, containing a variety of timber, and every farm contains a portion, though some have been left too bare.
These lands, in the days of slavery, fell into the hands of the large planters, and were cruelly abused by a system of bad culture—continuous crops of cotton, with shallow plowing. Since the close of the war there have settled among us a few Northern farmers, bringing with them improved farming implements, particularly the large turning plows. Gradually the Georgians are adopting deep plowing and manuring, both of which have heretofore been sadly neglected. These farms are still cultivated mainly by colored labor, especially the large tracts. There are many small proprietors who use white or mixed labor, and some who confine their work to the immediate family.
The general crops consist of corn and cotton, wheat, oats, peas, and potatoes (Irish and sweet). These lands grow wheat well when manured and well prepared. Fruits are abundant and good, considering how little care is taken of the trees. We have peaches, apples, plums, cherries, pears, quinces, apricots, grapes, and a great variety of wild fruits.
The value of the best field labor is from seven to nine dollars a month. Ditching is done by the day or job, and is worth more than ordinary labor. Most planters contract with their laborers, giving them a part of the crops produced.
Lands within fifteen miles of the railroad only vary in price according to productiveness. Too little importance is attached to improvements. Barns, stables, and outbuildings, are generally inferior. The average value of these lands may be set down at from five to ten dollars an acre. Some choice places a little higher. The Northern men who have bought lands in this vicinity appear well satisfied with the community. There is no apprehension of violence from any source. We enjoy a state of quiet and peace.
Though this section has suffered from drought, there will probably be an average yield of cotton, and perhaps enough corn made for its consumption. What I have said of Morgan may be said of much of the State bordering the Georgia Railroad.
What is most needed with us is well-skilled labor, with a little capital. Small communities of good agriculturists; men who will properly enrich and prepare land for cultivation, would do well in this great middle belt of Georgia; and their system of cultivation would soon be adopted by the old laborers and proprietors. This is not a mineral region, it is too far from the mountains, in which the metals are deposited.
Others of your correspondents will sketch northern, western, and southern Georgia, with greater accuracy and fidelity than I can pretend to. It is a vast and varied field, that invites the attention of the agriculturist, the manufacturer, miner, mechanic, merchant, and the valetudinarian. As a country to live in, to live well, to live comfortably, to enjoy, summer and winter, uninterrupted health, I know of no spot of earth superior to middle Georgia.
I ought not to omit to state, that experiments in growing clover have been made in this county for the past two years, to a considerable extent, with most satisfactory results. Mr. Reuben Miller, a farmer from Columbia County, New York, Mr. Hermance, and the Messrs. True, all New York farmers, and some others residing in this vicinity, are fully satisfied that it is profitable to grow clover here. They have tried it for two years past.
The cattle and sheep are kept fat during the summer and autumn on the pastures of Bermuda grass, and a new variety of the trifolium which has suddenly spread itself all over this country. Up to December, and often later, it is unnecessary to feed dry cattle or sheep. The Bermuda grass is perennial, and forms good grazing in April, and on good. lands it makes fine hay. It is without seed, but grows from the bud, and if neglected, becomes troublesome to the farmer and gardener.
So much, then, for this particular portion of Georgia. Be assured that the picture is not overdrawn. The French mulberry and the morus multicaulis are found growing in the hedges and fence corners, as if indigenous; and it is the natural abode of the silk-worm.
I might extend this sketch, but I forbear. Immigrants from any clime will find in Georgia a soil and climate to please them, and an intelligent, hospitable people to welcome them to new homes.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOSHUA HILL.
FRED'K B. GODDARD, Esq., New York.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.