The weekly true Democrat. (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1905-1912, 1909-09-03

0lG TInss aad oia TAinss Raplalv
Bslng Bisplacaa ~ Nov.

/ lllalA IlaI| |aANMA sNlNMEMas AlEallau Win
incessant seine airs from the Mexican
SEA hard By, and tempered BY securing
showers, nifty aqaare miles 0f fertile
territory Incorporating the county of
Leon, IN tie State Of Florida.
For upWard9 Of eighty years Talla-
hassee, its capital site, and aal0briOus
suFroundingss have experienced pres
ence and purpose Of numbers Of culti-
yated, men and women, and their be-
longinRa.
From beginning Of such time, L has
been 3 center Of moral, intellectual and
social culture, together with acquired
means and sustance, tending towards
refinement and comfort % established
homes Of taste and finish.
Within the limits and suburbs Of the
little capital q learned judiciary and
efficient corps Of State officials, an able
bar, and large compliment Of polite,
Well.bred people, have tended % extend
an influence Of courteous bearing and
exemplary living among the rural folk
Of the locality, until 9 more orderly
community Of fairly intelligent people
Ia to be found nowhere. Main interest
Of the country surroundings has ever
been agricultural, In conjunction with
the breeding Of pure-blo0ded live stock
Of one kind or another,
Herds, studs, flock and kennels of
Leon county have for decades been
source Of supply Of cattle, horses. sheep
and dogs Of high degree. Among the
thousand or more whites constituting
the cOuntrymen, there are practically
lodged no individuals Of low, bad pro.
pensities, while commonly plain unpre-
tentious people Of Anglo-Saxon, Gallo
or Celt extraction, from the mountains
OF Virginia and North Carolina, there
have ever been dispersed among them
numbers OF planters from tide. water
regions there, example Of whose cour-
teOus manners and exemplary home
lives failed not 70 effect their neigh
bors. Even 70 this day most vestigss
of such occupancy having gone with ex-
igencies Of war and reconstruction. |
Forms Of speech, tricks of manner.
modes Of life, peculiar among folk OF
that school, are traeeable among wOr- |
thy people in the country whereabouts, |
especially among the old negroes, who, |
in the long ago, were attendants about |
the persons and homes OF revered old
masters.
Extensive culture, with trained forces
Of slaves, Of cotton, tobacco, sugar
cane, rice and other grain obtained in |
those days. Occasional vestiges Of
broken arch, a walled canal or solitary |
chimney, or columned portico, tell of
enterprise and luxury Of the past.
The acres remain, estates frequently !
boast Of like boundaries, but ell else is
changed.
Extended areas Of planta ton homes,
with imposing manOr-houseg, clust ering |
negro quarters, gin. houses, cotton. |
presses and cattle shslters, haYe All
disappeared from the prospect, Sec. |
tiOns OF tumbling walls, g broken arch, |
a lone chimney or column left standing, /
tell Of the passage Of war. Following |
emancipation of slaves there obtained /
throughout the beautiful land system
OF ten ant farming. Unintelligent heads /
Of negro families became renters Of
small holdings. Cabin homes we're
dispersed, very much at random, over
the land, division fences, deeayed and
burned up
White planters abandoned their eoun-
try homes, moving into towns for self
protection, and for a period Of ten 20
twenty years the old order Of things, or
any conditions &C al resembling them,
ceased to exist.
Land prOprietOrs held on 20 their lands,
deriving therefrom reduced and preca.
rious incomes from ili-directed eOlOred
ten8ntry.
Low prices for cotton, sole source of
rentals, and los long continuance, so de-
pleted incomes that penury generally
supplanted opulence. Rotation Of
crops, or any attempt ut conservation
Of soils, was out Of the question. The
gently undulating land surfaces, where
cleared and cultivated, had, under form.
err REGIME, been successfully protected
from becoming eroded by use Of q syB
TEN Of horizontal hillside, surface
ditchinE engineering skill Of negro Oc.
cupantq, was Unequal 20 maintaining
such practice, and In time serious in
jury resulted, over wide expanse OF fer
tile lands By erasion and outlying.
Along with such conditions, nature,
great puryeyor Of earthly needs, evolved
IN the succession Of her greatest vege
telal farms, indigenous, yielding enor-
nous returns Of Organi, matter, need.
ful for restoration Of soil fertility, hav-
Ing roots infested with animal organ.
SINS, capable Of gathering fee nitrogen
from the exhaustleBs atmosphere, and
ixinR it q soluable nitrate In the sur
face soils. Then, too, q close, hrm sod
ding species Of perennial grass, BeTmu-
a.. sprang into existence, taking volun-
sary possession Of worn. eroded land
surfaces, and protesting from further