The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-06-11

n3..s AID rivers tr.b1tary t. the
so-aas ant ocean; it b. I'm. climate,
fcrtilc sol vast ;;nl Nar-oa resources
of water. held and 1oIc I: its men
and Won n. worthy d@31eEdaE's Of
these N.ho lrat sett4ed the colony in
the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies ns X its progre-s, property
and conms rcial Epbulidln6 ssortny oi
the thought. isLoia, .neIgy 3nI best
ericIts OF cItiz and stat men.
| love every foot OF No-tl Carolina
soil, but ] may b pa-doaed some ex-
traya 9aac IS OF expression III speaking
OF that section in which / was born
and reared. because OF my intense IN
terest in all that concerns 1T welfar'
and progress.
Eastern North Carolina for genera
tions has been the home OF a noble.
I. fined and cultured j oIla. We are
now celebrating at jamestown, Nd.,
the first permanent settle nent Of tbs
English people upon this continent
three centuries $50; but more tran
tw enty wears before jamestown. Rai-
eighs adv eaturous ships landed upon
Roaroks ard found here q goodly
land. d land Of won 4rous beauty and
fe~tility, such a promised land even
as the spies sent out by Moses, the
lea,er OF the Lords chosen people.
Israel, found in Canaan OF grapes, and
milk and honey, and VINE and
fruits.
And when century after Roanoke
and jamestown, eastern North Caro-
lina was also permanently $ tiled, ii
became the home Of men of Anglo
Saxon blood and heritage who laid
broad and deep the foundation Of the
colony and state: the home of patriots
and soldiers and statesmen. Of Teo-
pie who scorned the tyranny of kings
and Parliaments, who won the first
victory over the British at Moore's
IL u
rlotism ut the Congress in Halifax.
April l.. 1776. 1t became also the
most fertile and prosperous spot in
our great c0mnonWe attn. the para
disc of the home seeker and home
builder.
But 50 great have been the natural
advantages 80 vast the resources of
f. stern North Carolina, so content
its people with its balmy climate. Ita-
liam skies fertile soil and teemA7g
waters that this section has not made
the rapid progress which the cod OF
Nature and Of Nations intended.
With such a people and such re-
sources az | have pictured to your
minds Eastern North Carolina needed
one thing more-thc magic touch Of
capital TO send the life blood of COM
rnerce throbbing and pulsating through
every artery of trade and business to
awai.en II to wealth and activity as
great as its PEOPLE anG natural advan-
tages And it is beginning 10 feel this
mage touch and aroCsing even as q
man strong in bone and slnew ana IN
tellect fresh from the slC-nbers OF the
night time.
4 transformation is being wrought
in Eastern North Carolina, due in part
to the etead dy progress Of twenty years
and the skill. ingenuity and charac-
ter 9 our people, and n part 70 an
inffux of capital. in recent years.
Twenty years ago the cultivation Of
the strawberry in Eastern North Caro-
lima for shipment was practically only
beginning. now the crops shipped by
the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in
refrigerator cars annually is worth
millions of dollars.
Two decades q go we did not realize
the vast undeyeloped resources OF our
truck farms: now. land which former
ly sold for five dollars per acre can
not be bought for one hundred dol
lars per acre. And we ship our melons
and vegetables 10 the Northern mar