The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1903-12-31

f~-%0S ~ eiO aiotanCC- ANOW. thAo " 30
accomplished purely by strictly
Yankee way of doing things. These
sheep and cattle and hogs are high
class, fat and in fine condition. Here,
therefore. find practical illustration
CT the possibilities of a country that
now does not raise nearly enough beef
nor pork nor mutton for its own use,
but imports meat supplies from Kan
sas City. find the Southland Com
pany. which one year and a half ago
began colonizing a strip of 100000
acres Of land around about the town
OF Gateswood. were using this model
farm as an object lesson to great adj
vantage. 1 took from Pensacola. Flor
ida (via Cantonment, little station
on the L. & N. railroad system. few
miles from Pensacola) a train out on
the Mobile. Muscogee G. Eastern rail-
way line, now under construction, and
visited this bright little town of Gates
wood. II Is peopled altogether with
Northern settlers. clear-headed,
healthful folks. who had fed from tor
rid summer heat and grip-infected
North with its severe winters. 1
found a company Of Chicago people,
mostly educators. not many miles dis
tant who have an industrial associa-
ton and have planted nearly LOO
acres In peach and other fruit trees.
a nursery proposition so well planned
and so well worked out that its show
ing surprised me. I found all these
lands to be gently rolling, carpeted
deep In rich, nutritious grasses and
free from sandy ridges or swamps.
There were no malarial conditions
whatever and no pests of insect or
reptile life. There is limpid, soft
spring water on every quarter section,
and every drop Is fit to drink. Soft
freestone water is reached at from Is
to 80 feet, and at a depth of 80 to $50
feet inexhaustible flowing wells can
be secured.
In short, this is destined to be the
great stock, grain and fruit section
of the South Midway between Mo-
bile. with rapidly increasing popula-
ton of 10000, and Pensacola, with a
population of $4,000, now experiencing
boom (neither place over twenty
five miles away, the farmer. the dairy
man, the fruit raiser, the poultryman,
has market right at hand. The
freight rates based on export tariffs
are reasonable, and In twenty-four
hours special fast fruit trains will
transport all the early products to
Chicago or New York, putting the
same on the market ten days earlier
than similar products from other parts
OF the South.
For some time the great L. & N. rail-
way system has made a speciality of
these fast trains carrying berries,
peaches and cantaloupes from Castle
berry, Thorsby and Cullman to the
North. and these products have a dis
tinctive merit well known all over the
North. A few years ago neither OF
these places were known fifty miles
away. These fruit growers never had
the advantage as to soil, climate and
geographical location, nor freight tar
III, that these sturdy people at Gates
wood are blessed with.
I have visited the Offices Of the
Southland company at Pensacola, Flor
ida, and learned that the company IL
expecting to bring 1000 families into
this promised land" during the nexi
few months. This is only one Of the
several enterprises nurtured by the In
ternational Land and Harbor company
largely capitalized by Indiana, Illinois
and Ohio men, and having large means
at command. Among their posses
sions are lands and wharf rights al
Mobile, besides timber lands of vast
value, and it's own short line of railway
opening up this new and undeve,opet
territory Of which I have just written
Up around Birmingham. Alabama
the center of the great steel interests
of the country, found the truck gar
deners of that section were comine
further south and acquiring lands
which they will cultivate, thereby ex
pecting to care for their Northern
customers in the spring. gaining a full
month that must elapse before tn,
fields and gardens about BIRMINGHAM
are able to supply the trade
There is an unfailing rainfall alons
the Gulf coast There is some rail-
every week in the year. 1t comes vi
quickly and quits as quickly. The fall
is Sc inches a year, almost double III,
rainfall of the Middle States, therefor,
irrigation is never required I believ.
the time is not far remote when tn,
irrigated lands of Louisiana. nov
worth from 800 an acre up, will b,
second in value to the upland ric,
plateau of South Alabama, for here a.
great a yield can be had without tn
great cost Of irrigation.
Here is a summary Of the cro1
yields carefully made:
, Sugar cane yields a profit of SIS
an acre; upland rice $40 to $50; corr
$40; hay $50 to $45; Irish potatoe
1.-TWO crops) 500 to $3.50: sweet pots
toes $3.50 to $3.50.
Fig growing Is becoming a grea
industry on the Gulf coast and nea
Bay st. Louis q canning factory 1
establishing a splendid business Tn
yield of strawberries and peaches 4
so great that it amazes strangers an,