USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume I > Part 26
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vance in price. Many fertile tracts readily brought from fifty to sixty dollars per acre.
With respect to soil and products the state may be divided into four sections; the sandy lands of south Alabama, generally called the "timber belt." extending about one hundred and fifty miles northward from the Gulf of Mexico, the "cotton belt" or "black lands" crossing the state centrally, east and west, embracing seventeen counties and an area of 13,160 square miles; the "mineral region," lying directly north of the black lands and extending northward to the valley of the Tennessee, cov- ering about one-third of the state; and that rich valley which comprises eight counties and extends to the northern boundary of the state, called by Dr. Riley in his "Alabama as It Is," "the cereal belt."
In the first or sandy land section, while the lands are generally poor. and without the application of fertilzers unproductive, they respond gen- erously to fertilization, are easy of cultivation, and yield bountifully when well tended. There are also in this section many naturally fertile tracts along the river banks and in the creek bottoms, in which the soil is as rich and productive as much of the land in the cotton belt. The products are corn, cotton, sugar cane and rice; and in the lowlands, oats, rye, sweet potatoes and field peas. In Mobile county, and other localities in south Alabama favorably located on railroad lines of transportation, much attention is paid to truck farming, which is now conducted on a. large scale, and, in favorable seasons, with good profit. From a small beginning, a few years ago, the shipments of early vegetables and fruit, to the northern and western markets, have grown to large proportions, exceeding in value one million dollars per annum. The shipments in their season, of English peas, beans, squash, cucumbers, cabbage, tomatoes and Irish potatoes, are enormous. Pears, peaches, water-melons, straw- berries and grapes are also grown and shipped to northern markets.
Corn, well tended, will produce on the best lands from twenty-five to fifty bushels per acre. Oats (the rust proof), are also generally a sure crop, easily grown and reasonably productive. Rice is cultivated and yields well on lands adapted to its growth. Cotton, although not generally a remunerative crop, has been successfully raised within a dozen miles of Mobile, and sugar-cane (the Louisiana or Cuban varieties) is now cultivated on many farms, where the home supply of syrup, and often a goodly surplus for sale, is annually made. Tobacco is grown to some extent, but mostly for home use. The fish and oyster trade of Mobile is also very large, exceeding in value $300,000 per annum. The sweet potato crop is enormous and forms a large portion of the food supply of the people in this section. This potato is readily grown on the sandy lands, and, when suitable fertilizers are used, it yields prolifically- in some instances four hundred bushels have been grown on a single acre of well tilled land. In early days wheat was largely and successfully cultivated in northern and middle, and even, to some extent, in southern
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Alabama. Along in the fifties, a number of flouring mills were operated in different parts of the state, in which flour of excellent quality was made, not only for home use but well packed for shipment. The writer distinctly remembers visiting, in 1849, a flouring mill in the town of Talledega, which turned out large quantities of excellent flour in merchantable shape-in barrels-for shipment. Quantities of this flour in those days found their way to Mobile, where it was highly esteemed and found a ready market. There was also a flouring mill in Mobile, but the supply of wheat was brought from Texas and the west.
The predominance of agriculture in the early days of Alabama is seen from the census statistics taken in 1850, when there were 68,459 farmers and overseers to 2,468 merchants; to 1,264 physicians; to 1,109 teachers; to 570 lawyers; to 702 clergymen, and to 19,124 of all other pursuits. No account is taken, in this estimate, of any but the white male population. If the large number of blacks then in the country, the great majority of whom were employed on the plantations or in farm work, were included, the percentage engaged in agricultural pursuits would be much larger. But the figures, even as stated, make the agriculturists nearly seventy- five per cent. of the entire working population of the state.
The agricultural products of Alabama in 1850, according to the census returns of that year, were as follows :- number of acres of land under culti- vation, 4,436,614; number of separate farms and plantations, 41,964; cotton produced, 451,543 bales of 500 pounds each ; corn, 28, 754, 048 bushels; wheat, 294,064 bushels; oats, 2,965,697 bushels; beans and peas, 892,701 bushels ; sweet potatoes, 5,475,204 bushels; Irish potatoes, 261, 482 bushels; sugar, 8, - 242,000 pounds; molasses, 83,428 gallons; butter, 4,008,811 pounds; honey and beeswax, 897,021 pounds; rice, 2,311,252 pounds; tobacco, 164,990 pounds; wool, 657,117 pounds; hay, 32,685 tons, and the animals slaughtered during the census year were valued at $4,823,485. The farming implements in use at that time were valued at $5, 125, 623.
As is indicated by the title, the "timber belt" is not now devoted pri- marily to agriculture. Of its value for lumber and its manufacturing indus- tries special mention will hereinafter be made. These developements came along after the decade of 1850-60, and are a part of the recent history of the state. But even now agriculture hold's no inferior place in nearly all the counties constituting the timber belt, and is still the basis of support for the general population. In 1870, which was a midway period between the old and the new in this section of the state, there were 788,541 acres of land under cultivation distributed among the various crops, as follows: -in cotton, 305,261 acres; in corn, 298,294 acres; in oats, 51,988 acres; in sweet potatoes, 10,578 acres; in sugar cane, 3,796 acres; in rice, 1,243 acres; in rye, 373 acres; in wheat, 346 acres; and 87 acres in tobacco. The cotton production in 1870 in this "sandy land" section reached 89, 189 bales. Of the characteristics of the soil of this "belt" Dr. Riley, in his "Guide Book of Alabama", well says: "that its present great uniformity
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of character in its surface confirmation, in its soil and its vegetations. The surface is generally undulating, with occasional hills breaking off into fertile bottoms which lie along the numerous water courses", with the "frequent occurrence, however, of level plateaus or table lands, which cover immense areas. The surface soil of this region", he continues, "is generally of a sandy nature; the bottoms and the lands adjacent are quite fertile and yield largely of all the products of this latitude." Again he says that, besides being adapted to stock raising and having a soil capa- ble of producing excellent crops, "it is the best watered section of Ala- bama." Swamp or wild cane abounds on the margins of the numerous streams, which affords a grateful supply of nutritious food for the cattle during the winter season.
THE COTTON BELT.
This fine region, bounded by the "timber belt" on the south, the "mineral belt" on the north, Georgia on the east and Mississippi on the west, is celebrated for the wonderful richness of its soil, its great pro- ductiveness, for the large preponderance of its black population, and, agriculturally speaking, it is considered the "garden spot" of the state. It embraces seventeen counties and has an area of 13,600 square miles, and, although not all of equal fertility, the counties have similar charac- teristics and are always classed together. The soil is generally very black or dark, abounding in lime, and is not surpassed in fertility by the famed lands of the Genesee valley, or the rich prairies of Illinois. Be- fore the system of slavery was broken up by the war, the owners of these plantations were rich and hospitable, gentlemen of elegant leisure, well educated, traveled and cultivated, and providing liberally for the education of their families. "Cotton was king" without dispute in those days, and business, legislation and society seemed based on the fleecy staple. With lands that would yield a bale of cotton to the acre, with plenty of labor to cultivate them, without the fear of strikes or disorder, with a ready sale for their products at satisfactory prices, and with a world seemingly ready to do obeisance to the "uncrowned king," these were halcyon days for the planter of the canebrake, and right royally were they enjoyed.
The results of the war destroyed this supremacy, and, for a time, it seemed as if the "cotton belt" would be hopelessly ruined; but the neces- sities of both races, the unexampled fertility of the soil and the good de- mand for the staple, after the war was over, stimulated to effort, and although not as rich and prosperous as of yore, the "black belt" is still a "power in the land" and maintains its reputation for productiveness and influence. Agriculture is naturally the chief pursuit of the people. The crops of late years have been more diversified, although cotton is still in the ascendant. In the year preceding the war two-thirds of the cotton and one-half of the corn crop raised in Alabama were the products of this district. Ten years later, in 1870, the cotton product of this belt was
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349,285 bales, or a little less than one-half of the entire product of the state. The census reports for 1870 show that in that year 2,550,421 acres of land were in cultivation, of which 1,236,938 were devoted to cotton ;. 685,122 to corn; 12,304 to wheat; 684 to rye; 96,125 to oats; 18,537 to sweet potatoes: 285 to rice and 273 to tobacco. It is probable that the di- versity shown in the crop cultivation of 1870 has increased since then; also the aggregate production, especially in the supply crops of corn, oats, wheat and sweet potatoes. The time will come when many large tracts of rich and inexhaustible lands in the canebrake will be divided up into farms of comparatively small dimensions, and be occupied by in- telligent and thrifty immigrants who will own and work them. Then the fear of negro domination will be a "dream of the past," and then this re- gion will "blossom as the rose" and become what nature designed it, a garden of fruitfulness-productive as Egypt and fertile as the delta of the Nile.
The number of acres planted in cotton in the "cotton belt" in 1879-80 was 1,236,938, producing 350,305 bales. The acreage was increased in the- census year 1889-90 to 1,369,739, and the production to 457,287 bales-or more than half the cotton product of the state. The money value of this large product was $21,122,524. When to this is added the value of the grain, sweet potato and other products of this noted district, its claim to fertility and fruitfulness will hardly be disputed.
THE MINERAL BELT.
As has been seen, the mineral district of Alabama is of large extent,. embracing twenty-eight counties and more than one-third the territorial area of the state. The splendor of its treasures of iron, coal and stone, as developed within the last decade, and the working of which has enlisted so much capital and enterprise, has so dazzled the eyes and absorbed the attention of the great public, that its agricultural revenues. and products have been comparatively overlooked. Still there are some as fine agricultural lands in this section as can be found elsewhere, and the products of farm and garden are abundant and valuable. The unexampled growth of the city of Birmingham and other large towns in the mineral district have, by their large demands for food supply, natur- ally stimulated the farmer to increased diligence in his calling and brought additional farming lands into cultivation. Some of these counties are celebrated for the excellence and variety of their fruit product. Apples and peaches are of excellent quality and seldom fail to yield an annual crop. The river bottoms are good for cotton and the uplands for grain and hay and afford grazing for stock, of which considerable quantities are now raised. Some of the finest herds of blooded cattle in the country are now found in this region, and there are well managed dairy farms which yield a handsome profit on the investment. Calhoun county contains at. least two herds of Jersey cattle which have a wide reputation-one owned
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by Col. T. G. Bush, formerly of Mobile-the other by Hon. James Crook of Jacksonville, whose annual butter product amounts to 11,498 pounds. This butter is always in demand and readily brings thirty cents per pound the year round, delivered at the farm depot. His sales of buttermilk in 1891 amounted to $45,000, and his sales of Jerseys the same year netted the handsome sum of $2.775. Mr. Crook never permits the strength and quality of his herd to be impaired, and only sells the surplus and such of the increase as he does not need or care to keep. His farm is cultivated on the most approved system, is devoted chiefly to the supply of his dairy, and the result of his careful, intelligent and sagacious management is a handsome profit every year, beside increasing the value of his lands and of his herd. This is given as an example of what can be accomplished in dairy keeping in this region by enlightened and persistent endeavor. In Jefferson county, the very heart of the mineral region, are lands in the valleys of much fertility, and on the table lands the soil is wonderfully productive. Cotton, wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, potatoes (sweet and Irish) and ground peas are grown freely, and about Birmingham, garden vegetables in great variety and profusion thrive the greater portion of the year. Peaches, apples, plums, apricots, pome- granates and grapes are also plentifully produced in this and other counties in the mineral region.
By the census returns of 1870 it appears that the cultivation of the articles named in the counties comprising the "mineral belt" were as follows: Land in cultivation, 1,713,553 acres, of which 651,327 acres were in corn, 489,851 in cotton, 125.688 in oats, 177,564 in wheat, 9,878 in sweet potatoes, 1,838 in rye, 845 in tobacco, 727 in sugar cane, and 10 acres in rice. The production of cotton was 161,427 bales. Ten years later, 1879-80, the acreage in cotton was 520,982, and the product increased to 174,952 bales. At the beginning of the next decade we find a large increase both in acreage and product of cotton. The census returns for 1890 make the amount of lands cultivated in cotton 659,819 acres, an increase of over 20 per cent. in acreage, and the cotton produced 235,925 bales, an increase of more than 60,000 bales, or nearly twenty-five per cent. The value of the cotton crop of 1889-90 grown in the "mineral belt" reached the large sum of $10,933,893.
THE TENNESSEE VALLEY.
The picturesque and fertile valley of the Tennessee has been called the "cereal belt" of Alabama. The territory it comprises is less than the area of either of the other artificial divisions of the state, but in the variety of scenery and production, in the healthfulness of its climate, and in the energy, industry, and progressiveness of its people, it is unsur- passed. The beautiful river, which gives name to the valley, divides it into two nearly equal parts and extends through the valley a distance of nearly two hundred miles. The valley itself extends across the state
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from Georgia to Mississippi, and has an average breadth of about twenty miles. While this section is specially adapted to the production of grain, cotton and sorghum, sweet potatoes and other crops are successfully produced. Pears, apples. peaches, grapes and other desirable fruits are largely grown. The counties comprising this famous valley are Lauder- dale, Limestone, Madison, Jackson, Marshall, Morgan, Lawrence and Colbert-eight in all. The white race, even in the palmy days of slavery, was always in excess of the negroes; in some counties the latter were only about one-tenth of the population. In one county, Madison, the races were nearly equal numerically. The census of 1880 made the white population of the valley 112,162; the colored, 61,770-a difference in favor of the whites of 50,392, an excess of about eighty-two per cent. The divergence between the races has since widened from year to year, and as immigration is setting in from the north and west, it will not be long before the negro element will be eliminated, practically, from the population of north Alabama. . In 1879-80, the tilled lands in this "belt" were 936,230 acres, of which 365,974 acres were in corn; 266,905 in cotton; 59,090 in wheat; 41,573 in oats; 1,488 in rye; 3,588 in sweet potatoes; 744 in tobacco, and 154 acres in sugar-cane. The product of cotton, for that census year, was 86,202 bales. The census returns for 1889-90 show an acreage in cotton of 287,273, and a production of 59,274 bales, valued at $2,587,254. The production of cereals during the same year was: barley, 1,252 bushels; buckwheat, 1,402; Indian corn, 935,880; oats, 441,036; rye, 1,904; and wheat, 49,612 bushels.
In late years much attention has been paid to stock raising; for which the country is well adapted. The grasses and clover thrive well in nearly all the counties, and it is claimed that the famous blue grass can be grown as well in the Tennessee valley as in Kentucky, its home. Sheep, hogs, cattle, horses and mules are easily raised in this section and have been a source of profit-the abundant streams, the grass clad hills and the fertile valleys being conducive to that end. The improvement of stock and enlargement of herds are becoming more the fashion every year. The champion butter cow of the world, "Lilly Flag," is owned in Huntsville, her record the last year (1891) placing her easily at the head of registered butter producers.
THE STATE IN GENERAL.
Having given some particular account of each of the sections or belts into which the state, for the sake of convenient description, has been divided, we return to the consideration of the agricultural condition of the state generally. Although agriculture, as we have seen, has been from the beginning, and still is, the leading occupation of the people, 110 industry has, until within the last half-dozen years, received less attention from the state authorities. In the year 1887 a state agricultural department was established and a commissioner of agriculture appointed, but. even now, accurate information respecting the condition and progress of agri-
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culture in the state is hard to obtain. Save the occasional bulletins from the agricultural and mechanical college and from agricultural stations recently established, reliance must be placed, for the most part, upon personal observation and the statistics collected by the agricultural and census departments at Washington. The census bulletins for 1889-90, however, furnish some interesting figures. Cotton, the leading staple, according to these returns, shows as much fluctuation in production as in the prices realized from it. More cotton was grown in Alabama in the year 1859 than has been produced in any one year since. The product of 1859 was 989,955 bales. In 1869 the production had fallen to 429,482 bales. In 1879 the crop increased to 699,554 bales, and in 1889 to 915,414 bales- lacking 74.541 bales of being equal to the crop of 1859. There was an in- crease of 431,685 acres in the area cultivated in cotton over the year 1879-80, and of 215,760 bales in the production. The percentage of increase in acreage was 18.53; in production 30.84 per cent.
The cereal products for 1889-90 were as follows: Buckwheat, 352 acres planted, product 4,622 bushels; barley. 201 acres cultivated, pro- duct 2,002 bushels; Indian corn, cultivated, 2,127,548 acres, product. 30,073,036 bushels; oats, 344,831 acres cultivated, product 3,231,085 bush- els; rye, 2,190 acres planted, product 14,618 bushels; wheat, 39,641 acres in cultivation, product 208,591 bushels. Total area in cereals, 2,514,763 acres. There was a decrease from the previous census year, in wheat, of 225,330 acres; in rye, of 3,574 acres; and in barley, of 310 acres; but an increase in corn, of 71,619 acres; in oats, 20,203 acres, and in buckwheat, of 310 acres. The aggregate decrease in cereals was 101,- 082 acres, but this was more than offset by the large increase of 431,685 acres planted in cotton in 1889-90. The cotton crop of Alabama for 1891 was 935,000 bales, averaging 503 53-100 pounds per bale.
Two features in the recent growth of cotton in Alabama are worthy of notice. The first is the increased average per acre; the second, the comparative cessation of the ravages of the dreaded caterpillar, which was for so many years the terror of the planter, particularly in the black lands. The former is the result, in a large degree, of the more liberal and intelligent use of fertilizers; the latter, from the methods now practised to destroy the fly and worm as soon as they appear and thus prevent the rapid reproduction, in which the danger consists. Doubtless the comparative freedom from the worm has also exercised some influ- ence on the increased production of the staple. Another encouraging feature in the agriculture of the state is the disposition among the farm- ers, growing stronger year by year, to plant more corn and raise, as nearly as practicable, their own supply of meat. With cotton at 5 to 6 cents per pound on the plantation, it is hard to make the ends meet when corn has to be brought from the western granary at a cost, to the con- sumer, of $1 per bushel, and bacon is worth, at the country store, from 10 to 12 1-2 cents and even 15 cents per pound. If the "Farmers' Alliance,"
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which is numerically strong in the state, and might be an instrument of untold benefit, would eschew politics and give its attention entirely to the practicable home questions which make up the prosperity or failure of the farmer's life, it would justify it organization, and, in lifting the husbandman to the high plane it is his privilege, and should be his am- bition, to occupy, become a pride and glory to the comomnwealth.
A state agricultural society was organized some years after the war and kept up, with more or less success, by individual effort, until 1887, when it was formally incorporated by act of the general assembly, approved February 24, 1887, and an annual appropriation of $5,000, was provided to assist in meeting the expenses of the annual fairs or exhibits. This society has since grown and prospered and been productive of much good. The annual fairs, formerly held in Montgomery, but now fixed at Birmingham, are largely attended and are creditable representations of the varied products of the state. Many of the counties have also local agricultural societies and hold annual fairs, some of them making very creditable exhibits. The department of agriculture in Alabama, to which reference has been made, was inaugurated by the act of legislature as far back as 1883. The act was amended February 17, 1885, and again in 1890-91. This act provided for an executive officer, with necessary assist- ants, to be called commissioner of agriculture. His term of office is for two years, and the salary fixed at $2,100 per annum. The revenue is de- rived from a tax on commercial fertilizers-each package of manufact- ured fertilizer being required to have a tag attached certifying to the character of the fertilizer as found by analysis by the state chemist. The violation of this law is punished by heavy penalties. All dealers in fertilizers are required to take out a license, and every effort is made to protect the farmer from being swindled, as was formerly the case, in the purchase of adulterated and worthless stuff sold as valuable fertilizers. The revenue of the department of agriculture for the year ending Sep- tember 30, 1890, was $54,097.28; of which $49,909.01 was derived from the sale of tags; $616 license fees, and $3.572.27 from the state treasury. The duties of the commissioner, as set out in the act of the general assembly, are varied and multiform. Among them may be noted the fol- lowing :
1st. To encourage the developement of agriculture and horticulture in the state.
2d. To organize a state agricultural association and county and beat. clubs throughout the state for the purpose of interesting and instructing farmers in the best methods of cultivation.
3d. To collect and publish, from time to time, statistics showing the condition and progress of agriculture and horticulture in the state.
4th. To investigate the diseases which attack and threaten the grain, cotton, fruit and other crops, for the purpose of warning the producer, and suggesting a remedy or the prevention thereof.
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