Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-07-31
LETTER FROM THE SOUTH.

L
ATHENS, ALABAxA, July sth. 80.
ED. NoETHwEsIs-A former residence in
an adjoining county to you, and somewhat
large acquaintance with Ohio people, both
here and in your county, is my excuse for ad-
dressing you and your many readers through
your valuable paper. To begin, am FORM
er resident of Allen county, Ohio, but have
spent some years in Iowa, Illinois and the
Northwest before coming here. i meet here
| in this delightful country many people from
Henry county, Ohio. prominent smong
son. Frank Edwards, Joe. Coppick and Eugene
Booher, of Hamler, also Jacob Allesch and
Peter George from HolgAte, besides the
Winkleman brothers, Deitrick and William,
and many others whose names cannot now
recall. All those mentioned here made in
vestments in this county and 50 far as / can
learn all are well pleased. have been 9
close observer of the emmigration movement
10 the Northwest for the past few years, and
it has been great query 10 my mind, why
people would continue to seek homes in the
far Northwest with its severe cold winters
| and short seasons besides the many other dis.
advantages incident to that section, while
lands in the South and particularly in North
| ern Alabama, good as those of the West,
sonable prices with far more advantages to
the farmer, labor or the stock raiser. / have
| spent most of these years in North Alabama,
and have observed its glorious crops, and eli
| mate changes. and / have arrived at the con-
clusion that in this latitude, with not more
than two months winter and that very mild,
farmer can raise more grain or stock with
less work and expense than he can in any of
| the northern States. First, let me say that
farmer can raise here easily with proper cul-
tivation fifty bushels of corn to the acre and
can always get fifty cents per bushel for it,
and that too right at home. We can easily
! raise forty to fifty bushels Of oats per acre
and can always get forty to fifty cents per
bushel; of wheat we can raise just as good
ern Ohio and can get just as good price for
it. OF vegetables, such as Irish and sweet
potatoes, cabbage, onions, and in fact all
kinds of garden and field vegetables. we can
beat the world. We plant potatoes as early
as the last week in January or the first OF
February, and begin to eat them by the first
of May. This year the season was unusually
late and cold. yet the 25th of June found us
eating roasting ears and ripe tomatoes.
We have abundance of fine grass growing
luxurisntly all through our timber lands, and
on this our cattle feed and keep fat from
March till December. Our lands will produce
clover, red top. timothy or any of the tame
kEu6oob db bUuuuAukky anu SUCCESSFULLY rs Any
lands in Northern States. We are somewhat
behind in the matter of farm machinery, but
are fast catching up with our northern breth-
rem on that score. Lands can be had at
very reasonable prices, varying at from 81 to
$20per acre, and there is still some government
land open for settlement quite near Athens,
which is our county seat and which contains
two thousand people. / am living on q farm
near town viz. 21S miles, which I obtained
from the government short time ago, and
on which am starting the fruit growing
business, aud there is still government land
within three and four miles of town that can
be entered or pre-empted. Fruit Of all kinds
do well, and enough wild fruit grows along
the highways to supply one half of the people
of the State of Ohio.
Now tho question may arise with some as
to why these chesp lands still remain and the
vacant lands untaken. To any one famil-
lar with the facts this question ID easily
answered. Before the war these lands were
owned in large tracts and cultivated by slave
labor, mostly to cotton. With the freedom of
the slaves come the abandonment of many
of these plantations, followed of course by
the terrible scourge and devastation of the
war, and owing to lost fortunes, death and
desolation much Of this class of property has
never been reclaimed and now the owners or
their heirs are offering much of these lands
for sale in smaller tracts to suit the purchaser
and hence the low price at which they are
now offered. Slavery was of course a bar to
immigration and hence the vacant lands were
not taken up by the European immigrants,
as is the case In the Northwest. Alabama
has yet about one million acres OF land open |
to homestead. We have good markets, free |
schools, and churches in abundance of ali |
denominations. Our people ere kind, gener- |
ous. and will extend hearty iHelcome to all /
good people who may come among u.s. /
There is no sectional feeling here. The fed /
eral soldier (of which ] was one) and the con-
federate boys get along just as harmonious
together as IL there had never been q war be-
tween us. You can vote and talk rs you
please politically, and no one cares what
your politics are. We want more good steady 1
farmers and some tradesmen. Athens needs |
q first-class ice cream and lemonade restur-
ant, good bakery and confectionery would /
succeed admirably we'll here. A good photo
grapher would do we'll, . first-class farm ma !
chinery and seed store Is badly needed, and |
there is splendid opening for that branch
of business. A frst-class harness shop would
do good business, while agood meat market
is among the absolute needs of the people.
We have no race troubles among rs here, as
our colored people as q rule are good law
abiding and industrious people, and are
fairly and honestly treated by the whites.
know of no better place in the whole coun-
try for man with either large or small
means than Limestone county, Alabama. We
are high, dry and healthy and no fevers or |
epidemics can reach us. But ! am already |
too lengthy. will cheerfully answer any |
and all enquiries regarding our county who
NAV address, me- Very VFuiy.