The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-12
BLOUNT COUNTY
 APPLE IS FAMOUS Old Time Fruit Wagon Is Well
 Remembered IMMIGRATION IS NEEDED Prominent Birmingham Attorney Says Alabama Needs More People to Pro- duce and Consume-Farmers
 Produce Railroad Tonnage.
IMMIGRATION IS NEEDED
BY WALTER HARPER.

BY WALTER HARPER.
 Chepultepec, June 11.-(Special )-For more than half a century Blount county has been the apple orchard of Alabama.
 The Blount county apple wagon, cov- cred with canvas and with forked limb with apples sticking on the end of each prong on the drivers seat was familiar sight in all the towns of middle Alabama for years.
 They drifted as low down in the state as Montgomery and Selma. We have all seen them. Perhaps everyone of you old boys have climbed up on the hubs and peered under the mysterious canvas.
 You remember, too, the little tin cup full of chestnuts advertising the fact that you could get chestnuts as well as Blount county apples.
 Have you ever tasted apples that were just as delicious as those from Blount county? I think you will agree with me that you never did.
 Apple Wagon Is Extinct. But the Blount county apple wagon is now almost extinct. You may get Blount county apples, but now they are apples just apples. They have lost their indi- viduality. Quick transportation and the spirit of intense commercialsm Is re- sponsble for this. Blount county ships lots of apples every year, but they go by railroad and are poured into the great hopper of trade. They are just apples now like any other apples. Our early impression of Blount county was that it was mountainous, rough country fit only for the growing of ap- ples. The fact is that it is not only rich in a great variety of minerals, but has large area of some of the most productive valley lands in the state, adapted to any number of the leading food crops
 Cattle raising and dairying is coming to be very important industry. All along this valley from Oneonta to Birmingham are fine dairy farms, whose owners are becoming independent The people of Birmingham only meet these people or their deliverymen occasionally at the back door-you know practically nothing about them, but they are here and they are doing well.
 They constitute very necessary part of that great scheme of life in the Bir- mingham district.
 Central Plateau.
 Running northeast and southwest through the center of Blount county is plateau eight to ten miles wide. The soil on this plateau is very fine and pro- duces fruit and vegetables abundantly. Murphys valley lies south of this plat eau and Browns valley to the north. It is on this central plateau that the fa- nous Blount county apples are grown. Both the valleys are fertile and finely adapted to the raising of hay, corn and vegetables.
 Blount county has a great advantage over many other counties on account of its abundant and well distributed water supply This is important in stock rais- ing Blount county has more fresh wa ter springs than any other county of the state and some of the largest There are springs in the county, especially in Browns valley. that discharge thousands of gallons of water per hour.
 Original County.
 Blount was one of the original coun- ties of the state and until the organiza- ton of Jefferson included the territory now covered by that county. It was es- tablished by act of the legislature in February, ISIS, and was named in honor of Gov William G. Blount of Tennes- see. It has an area of 7o2 square miles. It Is estimated that the coal measures alone embrace 46O square miles.
 Blount county is being rapidly devel- oped and will be found always in the front rank of the general progress that is setting In so strong in all lines.
 Need Immigration.
 Alabama Is behind on one strong fac tor which is essential to the rapid de- velopment of any state or community that is immigration. We need more peo- pie.
 In the black belt I saw thousands of acres of the finest lands In the state lying idle or being butchered by unre- liable tenants. On every 100 acres of this land there should be located thrifty white planter. Let him be Swede, Scan- dinavian, German, Hungarian, Italian or Russian. He is producer and con- sumer.
 Many Waste Lands.
 In the mountains and valleys of north Alabama I see waste lands and wild stretches of forests. These lands devel- oped by immigrants would bring mar lket for farming implements, cotton goods for clothing and the necessity for more railroads and more railroad cars The demand for steel rails would be increased. That would call for more mills and more employees in the manufacturing plants. Every man brought into the state means one more mouth of feed, one more back to clothes and two more feet to shoe. There is no end to the stimulus new corners bring to trade and the manufact- uring interests.
 The shortsighted farmer says: "No, no; more planters would cause an over production" This is not true. Immigrants must be fed and for every 100 farmers who come into the state 200 laborers will come into our cities. These must also be fed.
 There is room in Alabama for 5,O0O,000 or more people,
 A distinguished lawyer of Birmingham, who has devoted serious thought and study to the subject of immigration, said during recent conversation: There are many evidences of great development in all lines of industry in Alabama and espe- cially in agriculture. I am glad to see this. Agriculture is the foundation upon which all real prosperity must be built.
 Produces Tonnage.
 ''The farmer supplies the tonnage for the railroads and steamships and then produces the food for the men who man ufacture the cars, roll the rails and cut the timber
 with manufacturing in Alabama still in it's infancy, the farmers of the state