The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-04
By Will T. sheehan.

This is not my thought. It was utter ed by leading merchant of Geneva While he used the general term of the wiregrass, as having its prosperity bestowed by commercial fertilizer or guana, he had no doubt in his mind the lower rim of the Wifegrass with which he was familiar. He brought l out clearly the great advantages that the pine lands had received from i'm ported guano
 The pine lands always have an ad- mixture Of sapd. They run largely to fsund near Inc Florida line sand which. however. even here Is mixed ! with loam. Cotton, if 1t was persisted 1 In by the farmer could easily draw the strength and sustenance from these sandy Ioam soils. To impoverish these soils would only need a few years of the continued growing of cotton. They were fine producers these lower Wire grass acres in the early years after the removal of the pine woods, but their constitution was not strong. They could be easily overexerted. The early farmers of Geneva and adjoining counties knew this. They | did not, however, realize how appre- ciative the acres were of fertilizers. | They did not know that the lands would pay back five fold or ten fold every dollars worth of fertilizer with which they were entrusted. The early | farmers in short did not appreciate the | riches that were at their doors. Some home grown fertilizer was of course used, but it was never extensively scattered over the land and the Geneva County farming compared with that of the present day was inconsequentiaL Adent of Fertilization.
 But some twenty or twenty-five years ago they began bringing guano up the Choctawhatchee on boats and barges. It was a new thing to the Geneva County farmers, whose names at that time were by no means legion. Some of them had probably known it back in their old homes in Henry, Bar bour and Pike Counties, but they soon learned that guano cut a far more inn portant figure in Geneva County than it did farther up the State. Of all | things guano-fertilizer of all sorts was most needed in this section just north of the Florida line.
 Fertilizers made farming pay as it had never paid before. It seemed to be just what the soil and the splendid climate had needed. What the soil had failed to give the plant in the way of food was easily supplied by the im- ported fertilizer.
 The farming industry which had lag l ged went forward in bounds. Where a few acres were cultivated around and in the immediate vicinity of the farm l houses, scores of acres were cleared of pine trees and put in cotton and corn. The news of the richness of the soil when it was helped along by imported | plant food travelled northward and new settlers hurried into this section | which had so suddenly grown rich in | agricultural possibilities.
 Gave Timely Aid.
 Whether the aid rendered agriculture
 in Geneva County by commercial ferti-
 lizers was of paramount importance to
 this county and it's section, there is
 some room to doubt, but 1t may not be | doubted that such aid was timely and valuable. And not the least important result of its introduction, was It's
 awakening the farmer to the soils
 hunger for help and discovering to
 him that such help could be as easily
 rendered by the home produced ferti-
 lizer as by the imported article.
 In his recent talk before the Inter- | state Cane Growers Association at
 Montgomery, Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief of
 tne tne Bureau of Chemistry at Washing | lands--the lands in the pine woods of 1 Georgia and Alabama--wera, overwhel-
 mingly composed of sand. He declared ! eAelt an dHdAySlS or SuCl lands at Way cross. Ga, had shown that 60 per cent 1 of the land was pure sand. Some of ms hearers finched when they heard this and shook their heads disapprOv- l inSly. 50 Tar as the pine lands of Ala
 bama were concerned, of which the wiregrass Is, large part, these hear CTS knew better. They knew what the wiregrass Snrt IT would do. and they knew the ] duced on the pine lands of Alabama. The soil around Waycross. Ga, mfght | pc composed of over 90 per cent of sand ana such a soil there might render It necessary to fee5S plants on 1t almost entirely upon fertilizers, but that was | " aycross, Ga. and Waycross Ga and
 Dothan. or Hartford or Geneva, Ala. l eosS msrs qulte separate and distinct in the conditions that surround them.
 Aiabama'S Advantage,
 | quoted this remark of Drl Wiley to J. F. Afford a farmer and turpentins l operator of Geneva County and a man
 who had been engaged in the sansn 1 soFt or business near Waycross Ga He | olssented from any statement fbat you'd make equal and similar the lands
 mere ana the lands in Southest Aia-
 What pr. Wiley said of the lands 1 around Waycross, Ga, is no donh1 true" said MT. Afford. The soil js very light and sandy It is a flat and sandy country. Water stands upon the
 ground in rainy weather, and if is noor land for farming purposes But the | lands in Geneva County are quite diff ferent. Our county Is rolling. with an
 excellent drainage. and the soil is much
 hrmer and stronger than the Eastern Georgia soil. The cotton and the corn
 stalks which are yet standing. speak Tor themselves. You have seen them
 and you know the sort of crop they
 Indicate"
 The quickness. the eagerness with
 which the lower soil, the sander soils.
 with their clay foundations, respond to fertilizer. the ease with which the rich ness of new ground could be maintained year after year by judicious fertiliza- | tton, brought a steady thrush of set- l tiers to this section. It was no sort of boom, but steady annual growth. In 1868 Geneva County was formed from sections of Dale and Coffee Coun- ties; it was estimated that the county had population of only 1,5OO people. | In it's first election. year or two later, 1t cast only 29s votes.
 Figures of Population.
 Ten years later, it's population had more than doubled. having reached a total of 4.7Sl. For any political sub- | division t5 increase It's population by
 100 per cent in ten years Is a remark able thing, but for it to maintain such an increase is still more remarkable.
 Tn the ten years which followed 1880,
 the population was again more than doubled. for the census gave the coun-
 ty l0,690. In the succeeding ten years
 this same high rate of increase was almost maintained for the last census, that of 1900 gave the town a total pop Asa1n