Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-07-16
TURNING SWAMPS 70 EARMS

TURNING SWAMPS TO FARMS.
Public interest in the exclamation of GeOrgia's
Swamp and overflow lands is becoming broadly mani
fest and well defined. Within the past year a num-
Der of inland as well coast counties have launched
practical movements to this end OF particular i'm
pOrsnce is an enterprise soon to be put under way
BY Glyun and Camden counties.
In that district there are some twenty-five thou
sand acres which are naturally very fertile. but
which are now untillable and useless With the aid
Of government engineers it is planned to survey this
land. determine the cost and the means of drainage
and then. rapidly possible It into farms
II this projected improvement is carried out, its
value the people Of those counties viii be incalcu
liable such lands as is well known, are stored with
fertility They would yield luxuriant harvests and
open the way for settlers thus adding vastly to
the states productiveness More than that they
would add TO the states tax income for which they
worth only dollar Pc acre. if indeed they
have any market value at ALL when properly drained
would bring at the lowest estimate fifty dollars per
acre and from this increase the state treasury should
receive between half million and a million dollars
year.
pounding country would be improved MalariaI dis
eases communicated by certain species of mos
quitOes that abound in these swamps and wet ints-
riors. State GeOlogist McCalIie has compiled some
Interesting statistics this particular phase of
swamp reclamation. The census of 1870, he says
gave the number OF deaths from malaria in Indiana
Illinois and Iowa for the preceding year as fty-two
and ivetenths per thousand while the census $780,
after large areas OF land had been drained showed
that the death rate due to malaria was only eight
and six-tenths per. thousand Along the east coast
lands Of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, the
malaria death rate in 1870 was sixty-six and two
tenths per thousand In the states in $780, the
rate sixty-one and seven-tenths per thousand.
These figures, he adds, show that malarial condi-
tions did not materially change In the three last
named states during the two decades, which is &C
counted for in large measure by the lack of drain
age Improvement The facts brought out in the COM
parson Of these groups Of states one of which
drainage has been carried on to a large extent and
in the other but little drainage attempted,
demonstrate eonclusively that malaria depends
largely on swamp conditions which can be removed
By drainage"
For the most vital as well as the most practical
therefore, it behooves Georgia bend every
possible effort toward a reclamation of her swamp
and overflow lands.
The enterprise now being planned in Glynn and
Camden counties appeals to the good sense and the
progressive spirit of the entire state 1t concerns the
growth OF towns and cities well the upbuildng
Of the adjacent country 1t bears directly upon COM
mercial well agricultural interests 1t should
have the hearty cooperation of railroads as well as
that Of farmers and individual lind 1t merits
the support Of trade boards and chambers commerce
and, indeed Of every citizen who wishes to see his
own and the commonwealth's interests advanced
The state itself should come squarely to the aid
Of all such undertakings; and first practical step
in that direction the present legislature do
better than pass the bill sppropriating five thou
sand dollars annually for period Of FIVE years to
be used. jointly with a like from the federal
government in surveying and opening the way for
the reclamation OF these lands.
In Georgia there are two million, seven hundred
thousand of swamp and overflow lands, approx
imately one-fourteenth OF the states area-lands
which are now valueIess and menace to health but
which can be turned into gardens wondrously rich
and productive. If the legislature will pass the
this end viii have been accomplished.