The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-05-21
THE CITY OF MOBILE.

THE CITY VI MOblLE.t at.I.' .
But all this is a DEPRESSION. set out 10
say few words about Mobile, the princi-
pal city OF Alabama, and some Of its most
striking features. Strange what little
things in life give US an opinion Of and a
liking or a disliking for place. Stranger
still that SHOULD have for so many years
associated Mobile with the pen and person
OF Mr.. John Forsyth, editor Of the Register
Of that city, now dead, whom I saw in the
great fight in the Baltimore Democratic
National Convention OF 1860, leading the
contest, as far as Alabama was concerned,
against Yancey, the secessionist. For his
sake have ever since felt as II wanted
to see and know something OF Mobile. l
never saw him before or since that memor.
able convention. 1tiwould have been q
real pleasure for me to have found him
alive and at h8 old post as editor, but 1t
was compensating pleasure to see that al,
though dead his works followed himin the
shape Of live paper that had left the dead
to bury the dead issues Of slavery and the
war, and was engaged in pointing out to
the people OF Alabama new and bet
ter way Of becoming q prosperous peo.
pie through the medium Of diversified in
dustries. ,A.-l'ls
That which interested me most at Mobile
was Its truck gardene, more properly It's
truck farms, for they comprisefrom twenty
to one hundred acres each. Your readers
have, / presume, generally very little idea
OF the present proportions and growing
Importance OF the truck business in the
South. When tell them that last year
1t amounted to, upward OF SSe7, 900 at
Mobile alone, they will at least have some
approximate idea OF sgrowing magnitude.
Lands that q few years ago could have been
bought within five miles OF Mobile for q
few dollars per acre on account OF the thin.
ness Of the soil and its plsyed.out capacity
for the leading staples Of the South, and
also on account OF the decadence OF Mobile
as an exportingportfo for cotton, have greatly
risen 10 value aud command now anywhere
from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars
per acre, according to quality, location. and
character Of their improvements particu-
larly visited the farms OF Mr.. Daniel Smith
and Mr. Cleve Pritchard, and am much
indebted TO these gentlemen, as am also
10 Mr.. Sam st. John (who drove me about
the country In one Of bis fine teams) for
an insight into and history Of their opera
tions as truck farmers. ventured after
going over the grounds Of the former and
seeing themodel way In which he managed
every detail to ask him In regard 10 the
profits OF the business. He said that last
year II had netted him q clear profit Of
$50 per acre. He raises four crops per
year off his farm (the same land) com.
mencipg with early cabbage and alterpat-
ing with beans, potatoes and tomatoes or
some other equivalent crops, the one iol.
lowing the other according to the season,
and keeping from three to six weeks ahead
OF similar crops in Tennessee, Kentucky,
Virginia, Southern Illinois, and other
regions whese they truck for the Northern
markets.
Z EARNING IN rHE SOUTH.
OF course constant fertilization is neces.
sary In thus farming the land, and in order
to reap literally the truck farmer must
expend liberally for such stimulants as
cotton seed meal and fish guano, bone dust
and other phosphatea The first Of these
has only come into Importance as fer
tilizer in the last few years, and its history
illustrates, as Alexander H. Stephens once
ssid about slavery and the new born Con,
iederacy. how the stone that the builderG
rejected has become the head Of the corner,
| "A few, years ago cotton seed was a part oi
| the waste and the litter Of the plantation
Gin houses all over the South. To-day II
Is an agricultural factor, second only In
importance 10 cotton itself. Il sells FOL
Sl2 per ton at the landings on the Missis
Sippi river and lis tributaries below Mem
phis, Ia carried to the cotton seed milll
and manufactured into oil and oil cake
lthe latter having greatvalue as. food ioi
cattle, and Is exported Tor that purpose In
large quantities 10 Europe) the refuse, q,
meal, selling at the mills Tor $50 TO S25 pei
ton az q fertilizer. when hear them tell O.
the useful metamorphosea Of cotton, eottor
seed, cotton seed oil, oil cake and the mea
or refuse, / can't help but think OF the iel
low who boasted that bis tobacco vas gool
10 chew that the chewa made good smoking
tobacco, that the ashes made good gnnli