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f VOL. XV. STARKVILLE, MISS., AUGUST 6, 189G NO. 43 - -- The Wire Grass. Dr. B. F. Riley, president of How ard College, has just returned from a trip through south and southeast Alabama. He was reared in that section of the commonwealth and re tains his love for its breezy forests and clear streams. He was talking entertaingly of what he saw to an Age-Herald re porter, and here is the substance of what he said: For a number of generations the domains of pine lying in the south eastern portion of Alabama have been facetiously, designated “the gopher region.” The territory covered by this region embraced the counties of Pike, Crenshaw, Covington, Coffee, Dale, Henry, and Geneva. Within the last two decades, as agricultural science has advanced, the attention of the farmers of Alabama has been called to the value of these lands. Still the jocular epithets of “wire grass” and “gopher” clung with such tenacity to these level leagues of pine that the experimeftt of under taking their tillage with a prospect of ___x_i __ m . i g<Mu woo uinoiou upuu wiiu taruy caution. Planting in Alabama bad so long been associated with the Black Belt that the. citizens of the commonwealth had come to think of it aB the only productive region in the state. But the surface of sand, resting upon the lap of a subsoil of clay, seemed to unite two of the con ditions necessary to successful til lage. When to this was added the generative qualities of fertilizers, all the requisite conditions were com bined. ' Besides, the level lands favored the retention of fertilizers. Then again, farm work was not so seriously hindered as it was upon lime or hummock lands. Thus, by degrees, planters began to settle in southeast Alabama. Lands were cheap and because of this the plan ter t)f limited means founu this sec tion more inviting. But another difficulty presented itself—that of lack of transportation facilities. But this difficulty was soon removed by the penetration of this region by the Alabama Midland railway. The consequence is that a finer agricultural district is not known to the people of the south. Denuded 41 of its valuable timber this laud hat bean brought rapitlly into CUltlVa^ tion, ami thousands of these leve! acres have been transformed from supposed sterility into neat and re munerative farms. To the unspar ing use of fertilizers these thin landg respond most readily, and rapidly enrich the diligent tiller of the soil, A week or more spent in this beautiful southeast country has con vinced the writer that there is not to-day a more thrifty portion of the south—one where the people are more happy and prosperous. One of the interior communities visited was Spring Hill, in Pike county. The long, sunny, sandy road lead ing from Troy to Spring Hill is lined on both sides by the finest fields of corn and cotton. In all directions are to be seen comely homes sur rounded by all the evidences of thrift. A public gathering serves to call together as fine a display of sleek horses and mules as one would wish to see. I have never seen cotton more abundant or fruit and corn with a richer green and bigger ears than I have found here. Farm suc ceeded farm to the right and left from Troy to Spring Hill, as we wended our way to the latter place. This was not true a few years ago. Then the uplands were passed by the farmer seeking an abode for a livelihood and the bottoms along the streams were brought into cultiva tion. Or if by force of necessity the uplands were tilled, nothing more than a scanty yield was expected. Now the higher lands are prelerable. Again, from Ozark to Pleasant Ridge in Dale county I was taken, and the same tokens of prosperity were visible on every hand. Here again upon the high pine lands grew the rankest corn and cotton; here again were the mammoth ears and the multitudinous bolls. Again I was delighted with the fat stock that roamed the fields or drew vehicles and the plows. Lower down the Alabama Midland, the writer still proceeded until he came to a city in name if not in fact—Midland City. Taking a vehicle and going north ward twenty miles from this point, one travels as level region as greets the eye beyond the Mississippi. i Regions embracinghundreds of acres ■ lie as level as a parlor floor. Tsoi did this far interior section prove an exception to the prevailing prosperi ty found in the counties adjacent. In many instances the farms were small, but they were well tilled and covered with a luxuriant growth of corn, cotton, peanuts and sugar cane. m In the region about Abbeville one meets with much refinement and in telligence. But one thing is needed to make this a most delightful sec tion—that of a railroad. Why would not a road from Eu faula via Abbeville and other interior towns to some point on the Midland, pay? No one can for a moment doubt it who visits that portion of the state. As yet I have said nothing of what may be called the minor crops, such as fruit, sugar cane, grasses and potatoes. These flourish in this lati tude almost with the most indolent culture. Pears, peaches, apples, plums, figs, grape, watermelons— how easily these flourish in this same gopner region—so-called. As one rides along the roads of white sand, he is regaled here and there by the narration of the achievements of plucky men, who, a few years ago settled upon government lands which they had entered and began life without a dollar in their pockets. The rude hut was soon displaced, however, by the sweet home built after the most improved methods of modern architecture. Now' his beau tifully painted houses and barns, his neat fences about his yards and farm, his orchards of fruit and his yard adorned with floral beauty, tell the story of the prosperity of southeast Alabama. And then it is the paradise of the white man. In many portions ne groes are not to be seen. The people live at home, provide con veniences and do their own work. | At one time I needed some laundry sewed. A respectable white woman, who did washing and ironing for the community, did the work. I have | never seen this rule of exclusive and ! independent white labor so rigidly | observed, but it works emoothiv and seems to'result in contentment and liberty. In other portions, however, I notably Henry county, many ne groes are to be found upon the farms and as servants in the houses. As yet no allusion has been made to the healthfulness of this beautiful region. It was concerning this por tion of Alabama that Dr. Billings of the United States army said, that it was the most desirable resort for con sumptives on the continent. He claimed that it was preferable to the portions of Florida usually sought by this class of unfortunate invalids, because it posses a dry, resinous at mosphere. Purer freestone water one cannot find than abounds in the springs, streams and wells of this portion of Alabama. One of the most striking evidences of thrift here is the great advance ment in prices of land. Where it sold a few years ago for $2 or S3 it will now command from S10 to fclb. Think of a man buying a few hun dred acres at $3, a few years ago, now gathering ninety bales of cotton from ninety acres of that same cheap pine land! And yet I am told this has been done. Early Corn in Monroe County. W. W. Sartors, brought us on Saturday a specimen of a ten acre field of early corn. The field was planted on the 20th of March, and is now ready for fodder pulling, and will be ready to gather by or before the 10th of August. It is now hard enough for feeding and grinding. The crop is good for twenty-five bushels per acre. Altogether this corn is very valuable for this climate, being early to ripen, its growth covering the rainy season. We all' know that bounteous rains make the corn on our average lands.—Aber deen Weekly. ------ A hord of rats eat as much as a horse. A barrel set here and there and filled half full of water hidden by oats or wheat chaff will catch hundreds. Piaster of paris mixed with flour or meal and left where they can get it will give a few the stomach ache so that the rest will clear out. Arsenic, stryohnine or paris green with some dainty rats like will make them suspicious and scarce. All that is needed is pluck to get about the work.