The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-12-08
PEOPLE HAVE FOUND WHAT THE
SAND HILL COUNTRY VIII DO
They Have Told What They Have Learned-That Has
Led to development and the Section Is Now Land
of Promise.
BION III. BUTLER.

BION III. BUTLER.
Raeford. Dec. 5.-The success that
has followed the efforts Of the peo-
pie Of the Sandhills country to de-
velop their territory is a pretty good
pointer the entire State Of North
Carolina as to what can be done if
the proper course will be followed
twenty-five years ago the territory
included in the lines drawn from Fay
ctteville to Hamlet, Troy, and Jones'
horo included what was looked on
"a one of the most unpromising sec
tiors of the entire habitable globe
Today that same country is credited
with being one Of the most promising
parts OF the whole earth.
Vet the truth is that this Sandhill
country is exactly what it was in all
the previous time, a sandy, thin soil.
a land of wire grass and black jacks,
weak In some respects, yet in others
valuable field for agriculture. The
whole truth is that people have found
what the Sandhill country is good for,
and they have told it, and that has
interested development and the Sand
hills today are land Of promise.
The Sandhills have not thrived be-
cause Of any superior advantages. but
because the attention of the world
has been called to this part of the
United States.
The virtue of North Carolina as an
sgrlcyltural country is in the ex-
rainfall. The combination of rainfall
and climate seem here in North Caro-
.lina to make about the best average
to be found in the United States, II
any better Is found in any place.
With this for a beginning we have a
soil that is nearly all tillable except
where We got into the mountains or
that part OF the low land that is not
susceptible OF drainage.
No Limit To Productivity.
In consequence North Carolina is
den State Of such high productive
power that we can not see any prac-
dcal limit. II our population was as
dense as that Of some Of the Euro
pean countries North Carolina would
have from twenty to thirty million
people. England is just about the
size OF North Carolina. yet with two
or three times as many people in the
one city Of London as we have in
Dur whole State.
That big population lives and thrives
IN that space OF country. and 1t pro-
duces more in a year than we do II
bur State in possibly a life time. Yet
England is not naturally e bit better
endowed than North Carolina. Eng
Hand simply has moro people engaged
IN producing things. Nobody thinks
England is crowded, for It Is not. 81
am not so foolish as 1t sounds whe1
take care Of twenty or thirty or a.
many million people as you care II
figure on.
The limit 1 put on the possibility il
one bigger than 1t Is any use to en-
tertain for in our day we will neve
approach the inside lines Of it.
State With q Possibility.
North Carolina has the possibilit!
or becoming one Of the foremost o
conditions invite such q stand. Tn
price OF land alone should fill tn
State with people if the price Of LAM
Wero known to people who are look
ing for farms. At the last censu
the average value Of farm land II
North Carolina was less than slxteel
dollars an acre. At. the same tim
through the United States was owe
forty-six dollars an acre. 1t had IN
creased from little over twenty-fou
dollars, or over ninety-one per cen
IN ten years. There is no reason I
suspect that the increase in the vaiu
OF farm property Is any less at Ia
present than it has been in the pass
1t is pretty well known fact that Il
much Of the North and West Ian
has gone up until in many places farr
property Is held at hundred to tW
hundred dollars an acre.
Now Il does not matter what land
held at If it is held by a farmer VIII
mas bought it when it was cheap. 10
his increase in value is purely one Q
speculative character Ii he bough
the land years ago when 1t was te
dollars an acre he still has as invest
ment of ten dollars an acre In tn
@nd an1 his interest charge is aeou