The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-30
THE COMING SECTION.

If we were asked, which is the coming section of Aiabamag' and should reply that 1t Is down in the Southeast or Wire grass region. we might evoke an indig- nant denial, especially from the miperal region We do not deny or minimize the importance of the mineral region, for it Is adding vastly to the aggregate wealth and importance of Alabama. nor do we intend to depreciate the great cotton belt which brings into the State so many mill lions of dollars every year. Both these sections are important and it would be difficult to over-estimate that importance. or to turn the eyes of the world away from the mines and the cotton fields.
 But while this Is all true. it does not section of the State is coming forward in way that is genuine surprise to many who have not fully kept up with the Wire grass country. He does not need to be an old man to remember when all the south eastern portion of the State was looked on as good for nothing but to furnish pine timber and tIrpentine and as graz ing ground for cattle. That was the gen. eral idea, but how erroneous it was Is fast being developed. It Is quite true that there were some good farmers, some fine farms and some splendid homes in that region, but even one-third of a century ago, few thought of the Wiregrass coun- try as an important and promising section of Alabama.
 It is also true that the lumber and tur- pentine industries of that section have been of immensn benefit to the people and to the State. but 1t was not till after these industries began to wane that the real value of the lands became apparent. Then it was found that hardly any portion of the South offered greater inducements or gave surer returns to the farmer, the gardener and the fruit grower than does the Wiregrsss. Leaving out the cotton crops, which are surprising. and the fine yield of corn and small grain, it is found that almost every vegetable or fruit that will grow anywhere in the South can be profitably raised in the southern tier of counties. while as a cane-growing region it is surpassed by but few sections of the Union. There Is hardly any limit to the sugar and syrup, the fruit and the vege- tables. the eggs and the fowls, and the dairy products of the Wiregrass coun- try. Not the least of it's many advan- tages is that the land responds readily to the application of fertilizers, is easily cul- tx,a kaI a-I a1I A- It is an ideal section for home-hunters.
 Under such favorable conditions 1t is not to be wondered at that railroads are fnd- ing their way all through that region and that prosperous and growing towns are springing up in all directions. Where but a comparatively few years ago there was nothing but pine forests, with an oc- casionai saw mill or turpentine still, there are now many towns and villages, thriv- ing and spreading, with railroad commu- nication in all directions, and with every promise of continuing to grow in import ance and population in a way that is hardly equalled in any other section of Alabama.
 As we view the situation and prospects that region of our State is as yet hardly out of its swaddling clothes. As its won- derful possibilities become better known, they will be appreciated and sought out. Of course those who are looking for min erals will go to the mineral region. and those who want to go into cotton growing on a large scale may go to the Black Belt, but the seeker for a pleasant home, where everything needed can be produced with as little labor as can be done any where in the South, will turn their faces towards Alabama's Wiregrass country, and there they will be contented and