Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-06-16
NORTHUMBERLAND.

Editor Morning NeaOs The article in the
News Of day or two ago relative to Hutch
inson's Island was sound and correct. The
island should be made one vast garden or
gardens, and every inch that could be cult
waited should be devoted to the gardening OF
vegetables. It is supposed by many that the
cultivation of the island would produce
sickness. Never a greater absurdity, and an
absurdity because 1t is based upon the igno-
rance of the laws Of nature. The cultiva
ton of the soil will produce health, whel Q
non cultivation harbors malaria Of all kindF.
What does common sense and common
observation prove to us every day? That
when forests are cut down and the land
opened to the sunlight, that the nd dries
aud becomes fit for cultivation; that eli
mate and atmosphere are both modified I'm
a greater or less degree. Where now stands
the Baptist Church was once a pond; also
the same OF the jail location. How were
those localities made inhabitable but by cut
ting down the trees and building upon the
lands As soon as the trees were cut away
the land opened, it became dry, for there
are always springs, marshes and ponds where
there is no cultivation of the soil or the cut
ting down of the forests.
The rank vegetation on Hutchinson Island
Il allowed to grow all summer, and in the
fall the decaying vegetation is but nursery
for miasma and malaria. Have no decaying
vegetation on the island make OF It gar
den, as above mentioned, and the island will
become as healthy as the natural location
will permit. 1t never can be healthy spot
as long &c the world lasts and the present
laws of nature work as they do. The fogs
aud dampness are necessary consequence;
and at night it would not be well to sleep
upon the island, unless white man sleeps
some forty or fifty feet above the ground.
Malarisl atmosphere rises from fifteen to
thirty feetthat Is, atmosphere sIrchGrged
with carDontc acid gas, and which, when
breathed, produces disease and death.
A negrO-I mean the pure blooded negro,
not the mongrel type of mulatto, tercerOn
or octaroon-can sleep in climate and In
malarial localities that will kill white man
in very short time. The negro is created
for a malarial climate; his organization,
blood, bones, etc, are not the same as those
of the white man. That is wise provision
in nature which gives to man certain AeXI-
Dility of constitution whereby he can adapt
himself at the earlier periods of his life to
most any climate. After forty wears 1t is
dangerous for man to change his isOther-
NAL line or indulge IN new habits of life.
In climate like ours one should sleep as
high as possible in the fal,.-!n the third or
fourth stories II possible. So much In the
way of slight depression on the laws Cf
Of health.
The old ideas Of Our fathers were that It
would be injurious to the health CT the city
to cultivate Hutchinson's Island. 1t is only
an idea, and that is all that 1t Is. There Is
no common sense In 1t, and, furthermore, it
is in direct variance with the laws Of ma
ture. Cultivate the island, and cultivate
every inch of II, and 1t will be far more
healthy than 1t is now. When | think of
our old fathers ideas about many things,
the old one, TOR instance, that a railroad
pa sing town would ruin IT, is on par
with the idea that decaying vegetable mat
ter is more conducive to health than grow
ing vegetation, such as tprnips, 6eets, car
rote, potato vines and the many vegetables
our market should have, and have in abun-
dauce.
ANY one who Is at all familiar with an
cient history, In the growth OF countries and
cities, will at once recall to mind that as the
country was opened and cities built even In
unhealthy locations, became healthy as for
ests were cut away and the land drained.
Where is DOW the pontine marshes near
home was once studded with villas, fields
and gardens, and it is now death to pass
through them at night or live near them.
Let the Eternal City be what it was in the
days Of the Caesars, and those marshes would
again be beautiful resorts as they were in
the days of Rome's glory. Cultivation did
1t all; disease was driven away by the growth
OF healthy vegetation, and not decsylng
vegetable matter, Ii. M. q.