The Savannah morning news., 1903-04-12

once upon a time, and it may still
- the case, it was the custom of Adi-
.o-s Of newspapers, who only saw the
u,orld through the dingy windows of
.beir sanctums, to berate the South
arm farmer for his want of thrift and
lack of enterprise. Farms were pic
tured as miserable patches, poorly cul-
tivated, and lacking in modern meth
dds and the farm houses as little bet
ear than shacks. l don't know how
much truth there may have been in
elements of that kind in the long
ago" but l do know that those who
now write such stuff know little, If
onvthing, about farming as it is car
riad on in Georgia to-day. There are
Countless poor farmers in the state,
inst as there are Indifferent merchants
and botch mechanics, but that is the
ease in every state, but such farmers
are the exception and not the rule. 1
have travelled over the prairie coun-
nv north and west of the Ohio, and
the lovely rolling lands beyond the Po-
tomac. and while there is more clear
Cd land to be seen, the farmers are not
more advanced in agricultural science,
ar more thrifty than Georgia farmers.
THE Northern and Western farmer
has a shorter season in which to
make his crops, and therefore has to
hustle more at seed and harvest time,
than his Southern prototype. but it is
case of must" In the long run,
however, the Southern farmer works
harder, makes more money and lives
hotter than any other u1ller of the soil
in the world.
was much impressed with this
roseate side Of Southern farm life by
the well tended buildings and neat
homes of the farmers in the counties
which it was my good fortune to visit
during my late trip through old Geor-
gia. and especially in those counties
where the white people are the major
jty of the inhabitants and do most
of their own work. would observe,
parenthetically, that I think a large
negro population has a tendency TO
make white people look upon farm la
Dor as degrading.
county which impressed me ia
vorably was Madison. 1t is an old
County, having been laid off in 1911,
Gnd in years gone by was doubtless
better known than it is to-day, be-
cause of Madison Springs, the waters
of which are strongly impregnated
with iron and said to be of great cur
alive properties in certain diseases,
which once made it favorite resort
in the summer. The springs are still
life-giving, but their fame, as it were,
has been eclipsed by better advertised
places. A hustling hotel man with a
printers ink tendency, could doubtless
restore Madison Springs to their for
mer prestige.
But Madison county has what is
better for its prosperity than summer
hotels, a fertile soil, and a population
of thrifty intelligent and prosperous
farmers, than which there are none
better in Georgia 1 drove from Conner,
a town on the Seaboard Air Line Rail-
road to Danielsville, the county seat,
through an unbroken line of Well-tilled
farms, as clean and we'll kept as a
city flower garden, neat farm houses,
bright with shrubbery and flowers, and
barns that betoken well-cared for live
stock, and farmers and their wives,
daughters and sons too healthy in ap-
pearance to invite doctors to settle in
Madison.
The soil of Madison county is clay
and loan, and the land undulating.
Here and there are small reservations
OF trees for firewood or farm timber.
Cultivation extends to the ruts in the
roadways, for there are no fences. !
wager that there is no farming coun-
try North or West which SURPRISES
Madison in any particular.
At Danielsville I found quite a
number of citizens waiting to welcome
me, and 1 spoke at the Court House
TO a good audience, among whom were
number of ladies'
Capt w. r. Potterfield, DR.. ]. S.
Daniel B. ]. Moseley. E ]. Cristy
and other citizens extended me every
courtesy, and introduced me to the
people. I came within few votes of
carrying Madison county, and had /
mad the time to visit one more town
In it l doubtless should have secured
its delegation.
The Danielsville Monitor is the coun-
~ newspaper, and Messrs. B. T. Nose
ley and E. ]. Cristy are it's editors and
proprietors. 1t is published on Fri
days, and has a good town and coun-
try circulation.
Danielsville is built on a high ridge,
ana is pretty place. 1t was laid off
m 1912 and named for Gen. Allen Dan
lel one of the famous old pioneers of
those days. 1t has a handsome court
house. large enough for a city of $4,000
people; a comfortable hotel, once a
Planters home, kept by a lady who
belonged to the old regime; number
OF stores and residences. A railroad
is being built to a point on the Sea-
BOARD Air Line Railway, and when
1t is completed, there doubtless will be
large increase in trade and conse-
quent addition to the population of the
town.
Conner, named after a family of old
settlers, is the most bustling town in
lne county. 1t is on the Seaboard Air
Line, and the center of large and grow
ing trade. On my return from Daniels
vile, having about twenty minutes to
wait for the train which was to take
ne back to Athens, was requested to
talk and did so from the sidewalk
N the shade of a store, somewhat after
me style, but not the theme. of
hroughton street fakir selling his
patent medicines. The blacksmith and
IWVheelwright quit their forge and bench,
me merchants left their counters, and
customers stopped buying, to hear
what the South Georgia candidate for
Governor had to tell about managing
affairs of state. The whistle of the ap-
proaching train cut the speech off in
me me middle, and the candidate had to
oid hasty goodbye.