The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-08-10
BIGGEST DRAINAGE WORK
The Wilkinsons Have Reclaimed
$4,000 Acres.

There Are $50, 700 Acres of Rich Land
Between the Pamlico and Albemarle
Sounds Needing Drainage.
The biggest work of development
that is going on in North Carolina is
the drainage Of the lands. The last
Legislature made provision for drain
age in a way hat the small farmer
can be benefited.
Mr.. J. A. Wilkinson, of Belhaven.
who was in Raleigh yesterday, and
his brother, are pioneers in drainage
or a big scale. Their success has
been wonderful and inspiring. Twenty
years ago Mr.. Wilkinson left a small
farm to work for eighty cents a day.
Since then he and his brother have
bought that farm and many thousand
acres of land. and Z doing good
work for their State.
Mr.. Wilkinson has been engaged
for three years in the biggest and
most important land drainage work
thai has ever been undertaken in
the work that he lad o in drain
ing Albemarle swamp near Belhaven,
MI. Wilkinson said:
II was raised in that section and
was born on the black land and have
always known of it's possibilities. We
had a farm on the edge of the swamp.
My brother and myself own 25, 200
acres. We have now developed 5000
already complete and ready to be
settled up. 1t will be settled by this
fall.
we have a system Of canals which
gives perfect drainage and makes 1t
impossible to have the overflow that
has been had in previous years which
destroyed the crops. AS it used to be.
every dry year would bring a good
crop and every wet year there was no
crop at all. With the drainage that
we have had laid out it will max you
sure of a rop every year if it should
rain every day, if the land is porous
enough for the water to &C through
to these canals which will take it
away as fast as it falls without in
cut a mile apart and we have built on
each canal a public road made from
the san and mixed clay and forming
a hard white road. Some of the
canals are cut 80 feet wide, I and s
feet deep: others 20 feet wide and 6
feet deep.
1--WE have found that this work can
be done much cheaper and a good
deal faster than we thought it could
be done when the work was first
started. The most of this land was
heavily set in gum timber which,
a few years ago., was worthless but
was very expensive to get rid of in or
der to utilize the and for agricultural
purposes, but the gum timber now,
after being taken off for various pur-
poses, leaves the richest of soil to be
utilized for agricultural purposes. The
gum stump rots out in about three
years after the tree is taken up and
the water AIKEN out so the air can
enter. There are $4,000 acres OF this
class of land between A1bemarle and
Pamlico sound in Washington, Beau
fort, Hyde and TyrreH counties that
hasn't paid Is cents an acre tax
to the State and is easily worth 5000
per acre after it is developed as we
now figure to do.
1.-The practical drainage section of
Che Agricultural Department of Wash
problems in order to get our canals
properly located and of sufficient size
to give perfect drainage.
"This is a soil that appeals to the
Western farmers on aCcoun- of It's
producing qualities. in fact, it is the
same strata of soil that they have in
the corn belts of Ohio and Indiana.
of soil. To the farmer it Will produce
just as much grain and wheat per acre
as the Western lands and will produce
two OF three crops per year.
"I went to Belhaven ten years ago.
There was only one house there then
Now we have a population of 4,00V
and the outlook for an important
city. In the fall we are going = put
our drained land on the market and
it will attract settlers.
'"Too many North Carolina people
fail to appreciate what they nave.
Our people let the Northern ana
Western people come in and buy our
for from ten to twenty-five
cents a thousand stumpage. They aEo
about to make d like mistake about
heir lands. They are going to al
low our swamp and to be bought
I'D as the lumber was, and then ten
hanco fhav will he huNinG them