The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-07-27

Scant rains they must spend fortunes
in bringing water to their crops.
Why, then, do their lands command
these prices? 1t is because they have
put both beauty and fertility into
them. They have taken the dry and
arid plains and brought water to
them as they are compelled to do at
vast expense, and have converted
them into perennial gardens of fruits
and flowers. They have made of them
something many people want, and
when you turn out something some
body wants and wants badly he is
willing to pay the price for it.
Georgia Can Do 1t, Too.
Many other instances of valuable
farm lands in the West might be cit
ed, but the foregoing will illustrate
my point. We have better and more
productive lands right here in Geor-
gia than those of California. We have
a more equable and satisfactory eli
mate Why, in Southern California
it gets and stays as hot as blazes,
and no relief from it, except the
nights, which are almost cold. The
climate variations are too great. We
have just the rainfall we need, good
water everywhere and in abundance,
and we can do here in Georgia at less
expenditure of effort and money just
what they have done and more in
identifying and making attractive
our farms and rural homes.
! With me this is a matter of knoWl-
edge, for in limited way 1 have al
ready done it myself. I have never
| lived anywhere but that l made it
point to get trees and flowers all
around me, use plenty of paint and
land Of my former home place in
Epson county originally sold for
$125 an acre; it was then accounted
poor land and no one seemed to think
much of it. I cleaned it up, planted
flowers and trees in advantageous
places, set out fruit trees and built
up the soil. The expense was COM
paratively small, and today l can get
practically my own price for it, but
/ do not care to sell it.
l am doing the same thing on
South Georgia farm, recently pur-
chased, and with an expenditure of
scarcely $500 for trees, flowers, fruit
and shrubbery that place has more
than doubled in value in a few years.
Up to Georgia Farmers.
Any Georgia farmer can do the
same thing-do just what they have
done in Paradise Valley-adding not
only to his own enjoyment and that
of his friends and family, but in
creasing the invalue of his property
two or three fold in a comparatively
short time.
It is a delight to live among beau
ltiful surroundings. There is no more
forceful source of character building
and strengthening. And it is a source
of comfortable satisfaction to know
that the value of your property has
doubled by your own simple efforts.
This is a work the farmers, of Geor-
gia, of the South, cannot begin too
quickly. Keep the house and the
barn and silo painted; it preserves
as well as beauties. Do away with
unsightly and unnecessary fences;
where fences are necessary keep them
uniform and whitewashed. Dig up
the weeds. Plant grass where grass
should be planted, but keep it away
from where it does not belong. Plant
! flowers around the house and take
care of them-fowers that will bloom
| from season to season. Set out trees
and shrubs where they will look best
Plant fruit trees and take care of
them-spray and nourish them.
Big Return on Investment.
These things are simple; they do
not take much time and they do not
cost much, and there is a bigger re-
turn on the Investment than from
anything else I know of. 1t means
money in the farmers pocket, and an
added pleasure to country life that
nothing else in the world will bring.
1t will make our farms everywhere
look prosperous. 1t will bring people
to us. It will create a demand for
Georgia farm lands such as has never
existed before. 1t will make us a
greater and more prosperous state.
Beauty, beautify everywhere. A
reward quick and substantial and
satisfying awaits US if We will only
do it.