The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-08-04

off.
Out For Development.
Same way with all of them. Hatch
I'D a. scheme that gives any proInlS
of bringing people or Development,
and YOU can call for the industrial
agent and you will hear from him
before you hang up the telephone re
ceiyed. The railroads want to develop
the TERRITORY. 1t means business for
them all the rest of their lives.
SO while we all find more or less
pleasure in saying rude things about
the railroads we must confess that
they have a certain essential part to
play in the work of the country, and
that they are taking a proper hand
in their job.
What called this stuff up is the n
new terminal the railroads have built
in Wilmington, and the handsome
| home of the Coast Lin here by the
| station. It is a funny situation, that
although Wilmington is the home Of
the Coast Line the city is not on the
| main line of the road, and not on the
through trains of the road. n IS a
| condition that is not unusual. Never
| theless Wilmington is the home of the
| Coast Line, and the headquarters be-
ing here give the place a lot Of pres
tige and business.
-Four Busy Branches.
While Wilmington is not or the
main line Of the road, it is a point of
| tremendous Importance, and probably
will make the Wilmington branch
line as active a piece. of railroad as
any of the South, for instead Of one
line to the part the Coast Line has
four feeders coming into Wilmington.
Four busy branches the Coast Line
sends out from Wilmington, and on
four lines the road brings business
to it's main line and to the port OF
Wilmington for shipment and for
port. The transportation work OF
the system has been growing and sys-
first link was opened to the Roanoke
river, and today the Atlantic Coas,
Line, with it's many links anC
branches is absolutely essential to the
life of the United States.
You can get along with fewer
houses, and with fewer clothes, an6
with a reduction of such things a.
coal, and iron and lumber, and tn
many things that some railroad
carry, but you cannot get along yer.
far without food, which is the stron,
point OF the Atlantic Coast Line.
Hauls Much Food.
This road hauls annually about fit,
thousand car loads of fruit and vege
tables from the farms and orchard
Of the South, and pOurS that tire
mendOuS amoun of foo on the table
Of the North and East and West. A
average of a thousand cars a week
or of seven or eight solid train load
every day of the ear from NeN
! Years day until Christmas.
+ Railroads figure freight by ton.
v They do not count strawberries b
g quarts like you and l do. Last yea
the COaSt Linz moved nearly te
thousand tons Of strawberries, sew
f thousand tons Of peaches, fourtee
thousand tons of canteloupes, eighty
six thousand tons Of watermelon
i twenty-five thousand tons Of misce
laneouS fruits, nearly two hundr
e thousand tons Of vegetables. Yo
Is have no idea what these figures sly
e Nifty, or at least I have not. / hay
If stood by the railroad and counted tt
l. cars in a watermelon train, and
looked like a big thing to see tv
a engines sweating up the road wit
e forty-five car loads of melons. b
10 that is a small factor. The Goa
Line whips by several times a q;
for several weeks of the year wi
al melon trains like that. 1t plugs Il
a intervals with canteloupe trains, pea'
he trains, cucumber trains, straWber
Ill trains. Think of seeing a train
IN past loaded from the engine to t
If caboose with not a thing but stra'
sc berries, or beans, or peas, or cabbas
or any conceivable thing you want
Ia eat. Think of watermelon trains fl
"a, lowing each other in sections, and
or vegetable trains that start from Flo
ng ida by the first of January and Ike
n on moving vegetable crops until t
a North has it's gardens in the fall, a
of then commences with the fall ls
IS gardens after the North has finish,
Sc Then it must not be forgotten tf
to In the North are raised some thir
ng that come South for commissa
lat uses at certain seasons of the We
he Grapes from Lake Erie turn up
mt Georgia in October, and apples fl,
icy Northern New York, and things Ii
'ut that Potatoes come down FRI
ie- Maine and Michigan, and corr fir,
1ly Egypt, taking the corn belt to sta
be for Egypt. While the movement
yer vegetable and garden and orchs
we supplies to the North is enormo
os- there is a considerable movement