The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-26


ment. But the demands Of commerce
necessitdted the building Of the Atlantic
and Gulf railroad westward from Savan-
nah. The development along the line of
the road was wonderful. Valdosta, Quit
man and Townsville grew from villages
to fourishing little cities, Saw-mills,
fine farms, cotton congresses and other
industries, opened the eyes of far-seeing
people as to south Georgia's possibilities.
Similar development occurred along the
lines of the Macon and Brunswick and
Brunswick and Albany, and later, the
Georgia Southern and Florida and the
Savannah, Americus and Montgomery
roads. Towns sprang into existence, saw
mills and tram roads were built, and the
world -renownd Georgia pine, its value at
last fully appreciated became an i'm
portant item in Georeia's export trade.
Traders and professional men followed
the manufacturers, and an expansion of
the agricultural industry was natural
consequence.
TIE NAVAL STORES BUSINESS.
After the saw mills came the naval
stores operators. Experienced North
Carolina tUrpentine men saw fortunes
In the pines of South Georgia, and they
came after them. The business proved
so lucrative that in few years Savau-
nab became the principal naval stores
ness was overdone, and the prices, through
overproduction, were driven to a ridlcu-
lousy low figure But the business is in
south Georgia to stay, and thousands of
sturdy toilers and traders find employ
ment in it,
Naturally, in discussing South Georgia,
the timber business demands considerable
attention. II may be as well to grasp the
TACT now as later that the timberin South
Georgia is not lneXhaustible. At the
same tlme IL will not be exhausted for
years TO come. With lumber at the
ridiculously low price of Is TO IS a thousand
at the mills, there will be no expansion OF
the business. and AS yet the supply has
scarcely been touched. The greatest
menace is from the naval store operators,
many of whom kin the trees, from the
largest to the small sapling by too free
"0oAlng.' For every pine of size suitable
for timber there are several smaller trees
which, in few years, will be ready for
the ak, and others younger than these,
and so ad inhnitum. If cut judiciously
the timber supply of South Georgia would
never fall low.
Great as is the value of South Georgia's
timber, it is not in that direction that its
greatest possibilities lie. At present the
timber on tract of land accessible To
railway line is worth two or three times
as much as the land itself after the tim
Der has been removed. But the value of
this land is little understood 1t is not
rich in the sense Of productiveness as
compared with the North Georgia valleys
and the alluvial bottom lands of Alabama
and Mississippi, but it is fertile in the
sense that 1T brings forth good returns for
labor expended, ana responds readily to
cultivation.
Some OF the advantages of farming in
South Georgia are rather negative ones,
but they are advantages. nevertheless.
Corn will not grow as luxuriantly as
farther north, but much less corn is
needed. All the food crops with the sol-
tary exception of wheat, can be grown.
The soil is light and easily titled. 1t re-
qu1res no dltching or thing, its porosity
being such that surplus moisture passes
readily away. Sugar cane, both genera
Of potatoes, sea island and upland cotton,
"goobers," the royal cow pea, prince of
legmen, furnishing excellent food for man
and beast, while 1t enriches the soil
pumpkins, melons, and all garden crops
thrive wonderfully. Cattle roam the
forests without further care than being
given an occasional sailing, and after en-
richipg the soil cwth their droRnings.
bring IN revenue from the beeve traders.
RazorDacks and rooters prowl where they
will, finally TO be converted into the
toothsome rasher and savory ham. Sheep
demand little attention beyond shearing,
goats and fowls none at all.
OUR INDUSTRY THRIvEs.
Let none be deceived, however. Here.
as elsewhere, industry and thrift win. A
climate awithout winter permits outdoor
labor the year round, but idIeness the
year round would receive about the same
reward as elsewhere No section in the
world is more healthful than South
Georgia's pine forests, but spring fever
lurketh there, as in other parts. The tan
nin-tinged water is sweet and fresh, but
the denizens say that the "red water''
don't make people strong and hearty as
do the sparkling springs of the up coun-
try. Perhaps that is one reason red
Ticker is in occasional demand.
Having surveyed the ground, it is a
safe prediction that within fifty years
the population of South Georgia will be
denser than that of any other portion of
the state; and it will be of the best char
acter-industriOus thrifty persons who
own their own farms and houses, and
who may, literally, rest under their own
vines and fig trees, and only know of
strikes and anarchy, and socialism, and
Tom Watson, as vague echoes from affair