The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-06-13
SETTLING CUT-OVER LANDS.


SETTLING CUT-OVER LANDS.
The Hon. Joseph A. Brown. the
thriving town of C~hadbourn, and east
ern North Carolina are getting a great
deal Of publicity, North and South, be-
cause OF a recent editorial on the value
of cut-over timber lands as a means
Of attracting settlers to the South.
We had special reference to the long
leaf pine and which nave been eX-
plotted by saw mills till they have
been stripped of timber and abandon
ed for other forest sections.
These lands are peculiar to eastern
North Carolina and also to the Allan
tic and Gulf coastal regions from
North Carolina to Texas. Georgia has
a great area of the kinds of lands re-
ferred to i'll the Stars editorial on
the prosperous colony of Chadbourn,
which was pointed to as an example Of
hat could be done with the South's
cut-oVer lands. The News.
taking up the subject, discusses it in
his editorial:
North Carolina as we'll as Georgia
has her Little Joe Brown and North
Cardinals Little joe also does things.
A thing he has done to which We de-
sire to call particular attention. be-
cause it affords a u object les
son to our own people, is his creation
y q ~ oopCiouS ldII1liuS colony IN a
c%ut-over section of pine iand that 20
years ago wasn't worth 81 an acre
with the timbe off. Joe Browns
farm colony is at Chadbourn. on the
Atlantic Coast Line. in Columbus
county. some So miles on this side Of
Wilmington. Twenty-odd years ago
a big lumber concern got in there and
cut down and then cut up all of the
pine trees that were worth while. The
lands We're left bare of about every
thing except possibly grass enough
Tor a rabbit to hid in. Then came
along Little joe Brown, who had
saved a few dollars from carrying
daily a mai bag ten miles on his back.
Little Joe looked over the situation
and reached the conclusion that the
cut-oVer lands would make good
farms. The climate and the drain
6 were perfect. and there occurred
to his practical mind no good reason
why there should not be fine farms
there had formerly been fine
forests. SO he invested-plunged-in
the lands and started a campaign Of
publicity to induce settlers from the
Middle West and the Northwest to
come in and build homes.
For five or six years Little Joe
had pretty hare work At times he
was hanging on by his eyebrows. But
now his colony is one of the show
p1a1S II - d L 1NOIjN OdIOi1nd
and it's promoter is living on to- shady
side Of Easy street. He is a State
Senator and can Draw his check with
six figures after the dollar mark. The
point we wish to emphasize is this:
that these North Carolina cut-over
pine lands are identical in character
with the cut-over pine lands Of South
Georgia. The climate is the same. the
natural drainage is the same. If the
North Carolina colony finds it SO prof
table to grow onions, strawberries,
cabbage, beans, pea tomatoes and
corn on cut-over pine lands, why is
not the same sort of thing possible in
this section? There is only one con-
clusion to be drawn, and thai Is that
we are not making the best of our OPP
p~ortunities. There are tens Of thous-
ands of acres of cut-over lands in
South Georgia that would make as
good farms as any in the Int
These lands are now to be had at low
cost. After a bit we shall have some
of these Little JOes' to take hold
and show US how to develop our re-
sources. We hope that most of them
will be native: but we shall welcome
all in their coming"