The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-01
The Canebrake of Alabama, Socially and Industrially
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.

color to life in the Canebrake Of Ala bama. To this day but for the passing of slavery the form and the color or the plantation life of the Old Dominion State endures.
 The North Carolinians, the Georgians and the South Carolinians moved over ton of Alabama, but the Virginian,s, ms, with the lares and penates in the wagon train that followed them. press ed on to the black cane covered nam mocks of West Alabama. They were the wealthiest class of immigrants that came into pioneer Alabama. The Vlr- ginian who looked for a site TOT ms plantation home on the canepraRe h,, train that awaited his selection the heritage of two centuries.
 The Virginia immigrants were hol only richer in worldly goods than ns tneLr fellow immigrants. but they were fresn from country where education ana culture were held in higher esteem ana where the ideals for the mental graces were, were higher tba than n4ea in asE states 1an They were from 0 section where the means of education were closer at hand anu the inspiration for their use greater. The Virginians came from section where family tradition was perhaps stronger than even the law of the lana And the family traditions were bullt upon the older English st-odaros Si honor transplanted upon American soil and after two centuries of Virginia life they had been conseerated into govern ing laws for individuals and Tor
 With this class of virginians, the mansion house class, the class of the large slave holder, hospitality was creed. For the friend or Tor the door and the outstretched hand: In the thousand indescribable little things that distinguishes the gentleman In ms daily intercourse with men. the Nlr- oct I., ,-tI ola ct He was of people whC believed in a broad culture of the mind and the heart and who believed that mo little detail or act of courtesy in his daily assocla- tion with men was small enough or unimportant enough to be neglected or overlooked.
 In the course of the development of the South the young mon who had had the training and the associations of the picturesque and opulent life of the river estates of Virginia came into Alabama The land into which they came In It's virgin State was richer than the richest land of the Virginia bottom. The sun of the South shone upon no more fruit full cotton land. As field for the operation of slave labor there was none better than the Canebrake. The first Virginians who came, were but the pioneers opening the way for others of the higher class of the old Dominion cleared and the foundation for the cultured social life of the older state had been laid.
 "'A A Fine Plantation.
 Almost within sight of Uniontown Is the fine Canebrake plantation of General T. T. Munford of Virginia, but who spends his winters on the Alabama place which is managed throughout tne year by his son William Munford. This plantation was bought years before the war by William II. Tayloe. the father in-law of General Munford as a place on which to provide labor and accomo. f4v h4 rpl. that accumulated on the Tayloe place in Virginia. It has since then been steadily cultivated by the family, mas been ever profitable and is today as well kept and is in as fine a condi- tion as at any time during It's history
 This is but typical instance of the circumstances which brought the ray loes, the Munfords, the Seldens, the Minges, the Prices, the Nicholsons. the Christians. the Davidsons, the Vaidens and a score of branches Of other Elr- ginia families into West Alabama.
 The land in every detail was espe- cially adapted for agriculture as the Virginians had known agriculture in the Old Dominion State. It was typicai plantation land, with a rich and fertile soil that was on the one hand the natural home of cotton and which on the other hand was as well adapted TOT grazing and cate raising, although tnls latter branch of farming has never re- ceived the attention that was devoted to the cotton fields.
 The immigrants when they came into this section of Alabama, the Nirg lnians and the others, for there were others, found the plains and hammocks literal- ly covered by a luxuriant growth or cane In dry weather when the cane became parched--a match touched to It would sweep the cane from the earth and leave the ground blacker ana all the richer for the fire.
 It has been confidently asserted that the Canebrake and the Black Belt lands and of themselves the richest farming lands of the State. The man who cultivated them was never faced by the necessity of treating them with fertilizers or of giving constant care to their upbuilding. Their in nate strength. their recuperative powers have made them among the most de sirable farming lands of the south ana in the opinion of those who know nost of them they are at natural premium over all others in the State. Negro labor has worked them and brought their labor has been done under closer white supervision than is ordinary or customary further east in Alabama Ana to this day they are productive ana re- and are held at as high figure as any farming lands of any Desirable Population.
 It has been said of the white people of this section that the best rural popu- lation in the world is made up of the farmers and planters who live in the country or in the small towns of the Black Belt. The character Of the im- migration to this section, the condl- tions which established its agricultural life, the influences which shaped its social life have been imperfectly out. lined. But 1t should be known that the form and color of the civilization which got its impress from the Virginia settlers has been but slightly arectcd by the march of time; The osd standafas sontas graces are still the same. The ancient traditions of hospitality are observed, that olden hospitality which is bestow- ed with so much of generosity ana so little of ostentation, which makes the recipient feel that he is conferring rather than receiving favor. Nor has the standard been departed from. in the acquisition of learning. in the broadening of the mental horizon, in the maintenance of the purity of the home and in the keeping of the ideals of honor so that they shall be not less esteemed than the cultivation of the arts of courtesy gently expressed ln d hundred nameleSs little ways.
 It is perhaps d thing of pride to the Canebrake people that so little or change has come into their social and intellectual life It Is q thing of pride to them that their life of today is SO similar to that of the section before the war. Ii is well that this should be so that such q pride should be felt. for because of so little change, because of the maintenance of the old standards the people of the Canebrake and the Black Belt have a distinction and an that is shared by the peo- ple of no other section of Alabama.
 The high character of tine people
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