year of grace, 1901. Georgia is progressing on all lines. In this chapter, however, we are speaking of diversified farming.

The potato crop is another source of wealth to Georgia. Both Irish and sweet potatoes make good yields; but the acreage and production of the latter are much larger than of the former.

The Sweet Potato.-In sweet potatoes Georgia comes just behind North Carolina, which State ranks first in this product. The soil is well adapted to their culture, and when the season is propitious the yield is very abundant. Not only is this a favorite crop for home consumption, but great quantities are exported to the northern States. In some sections they are used also for fattening hogs. The average yield is 781 bushels to the acre. Very large yields have been reported from some of the best farms, viz.: 800 bushels to the acre in Berrien, Crawford and Richmond counties; 500 bushels in Brooks county, and 400 bushels in Fulton county. Of these counties Brooks is in the extreme southern part of Georgia, Berrien just north of it, Crawford partly in southern, partly in Middle Georgia, Richmond and Fulton in Middle Georgia, the last on the edge of Northwest Georgia. By the census of 1890 the production of sweet potatoes in Georgia was 5,616,317 bushels, worth $3,250,000, raised on 71,399 acres. No report has yet been received of the acreage and production of sweet potatoes in Georgia for 1900.

The Irish Potato.-At one time the Irish potato crop was entirely for home consumption. The demand for early vegetables in the northern markets is such that it has caused a great increase in the cultivation of Irish potatoes, and the truck farmers of Georgia have not been slow to take advantage of this fact. Ordinarily two crops are made in the year, and there is one instance of a gentleman in Decatur, Georgia, who raised three crops in one year. Taking the average of all lands, good and bad, the yield is 74 bushels to the acre, something less than the average of sweet potatoes estimated in the same way. But as many as 420 bushels to the acre have been raised in Wilkes county, Middle Georgia, and 109 bushels to the acre in Walker county, among the mountains of Northwest Georgia.

There is no need to be apprehensive about an overproduction of Irish potatoes in Georgia. Like all other crops of vegetables, berries and fruits the Georgia products are so much earlier upon the market, that they preclude all competition. Our Irish potatoes command the early and best prices and the Georgia truck farmer cannot be forced out of the market by his Western or Eastern neighbors. In April, 1895, a truck farmer of South Georgia shipped to the Eastern markets one hundred and fifty

barrels of potatoes, which brought him $7.50 a barrel or $1,125.00 The production of Irish potatoes in Georgia for 1900 was 391,816 bushels, valued at $301,698. These were raised on 5,762 acres. This is a falling off in acreage and production from 1890, when 431,008 bushels were grown on 5,791 acres.

Tobacco has never been a staple crop of Georgia. Yet it can be grown with great success. Many farmers have cultivated it for their own use, and some have made a good profit by its cultivation and sale. Improved facilities for harvesting, curing and marketing it will greatly increase its production. The type of tobacco depends upon climate and soil. Rich lands give one type of tobacco, while other lands, almost useless for cereal crops, yield a tobacco very valuable for color and flavor. Of course the culture and curing of the plant have great influence on the quality. The plant is first raised in seed beds and when large enough transplanted like cabbage and tomato plants. The land used for the crop must be well plowed and harrowed. Before seting out the plants, the land must be marked three feet or more apart each way, and hills or ridges must be made at the intersection of the marks, and in these intersections the plants are set out as soon as warm weather is assured.

A German farmer in Dodge county who tried tobacco-raising reported that he raised on one-twentieth of an acre 160 pounds of Sumatra leaf tobacco. He was offered $80.00 for the crop, which would be at the rate of $1,600 to the acre. In Decatur* county, about eight miles from Bainbridge, is a tobacco farm of 600 acres, which yields the famous Sumatra tobacco of the finest grade.

By the census of 1890 the area devoted to tobacco in Georgia was 800 acres, which produced 263,752 pounds, or 329.69 pounds per acre. In 1900 Decatur county alone produced more than the whole State of Georgia in 1890.

*See account of tobacco farm in Decatur county in the sketch of that county.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF GEORGIA IN 1900.

CHAPTER VII.

TRUCK-FARMING.-HORTICULTURE.

TRUCK-FARMING.

Truck-farming has long been one of the industries of Georgia. Before the civil war there were in the neighborhood of our cities and large towns market gardens, where vegetables were raised for sale in the markets and upon the streets, and it is well remembered by many that an important part of the cargoes of vessels sailing from Savannah were early fruits and vegetables for Philadelphia, New York and Boston, which were raised not only near Savannah, but all along the lines of railroad that centered in Georgia's chief seaport. Augusta, even in those days was one of the points from which melons, fruits and vegetables found their way northward, either by rail or by steamer from Charleston and Savannah. Immediately after the close of hostilities between the North and South, there wa sa great revival of this business, and new men entered into this inviting field. From year to year there was a steady growth, until at the present time, not only in the neighborhood of cities and towns, but near even little railroad stations along all the great lines of transportation that traverse all sections of our State, market gardens have multiplied and trucking has reached those proportions, which entitle it to rank among the leading industries of Georgia. The vicinity of Savannah is still one of the chief centers of the trucking business. The soil is well adapted to the raising of fruits and vegetables, and the climate is so mild that one crop or another can be grown almost every month of the twelve. Major Garland M. Ryals, who moved from Virginia to Savannah soon after the war, has accumulated a fortune in trucking. From one acre he gathers 400 crates of cabbage, selling them at $1.35 a crate or $540.00 for the product of one acre. After the cabbages have been gathered, he raises a crop of corn which brings him $30.00. Then he raises a fall crop of radishes, the sale of which, added to the other amounts, will bring the total income of one acre to about $700 in one year. Another farmer near Savannah gathered over 500 bushels of cucumbers from a single acre, which sold for a little more than

$540, bringing him an enormous profit. Another truck farmer sold from one acre $400 worth of beets, a delicacy much in demand in the northern markets in the early spring. So mild is the season about Savannah, that lettuce can be grown in midwinter with only light covering of leaves or canvas during the cold spells. This product reaches the northern markets when most in demand. English peas constitute one of the most profitable crops. They are ready for the table at Christmas time, and being shipped to the eastern markets bring the highest price. One farmer reports a net profit from two acres of this crop of over $600.00 in one season. The crop of tomatoes is so planted as to come in just when the northern supply is exhausted, and they always command good prices. One small farmer west of Savannah made $250.00 net from less than one acre of tomatoes. At Bloomingdale, Meldrim, Guyton, Egypt, Oliver, Halcyondale, Dover and Rocky Ford, along the Central Railway, the lands are specially suited for trucking, and many farmers of that section have abandoned cotton for the more profitable truck crop. Mr. L. C. Oliver of Bloomingdale, gives an estimate of cost and profit by the acre on the Irish potato crop alone. His expense on one acre for fertilizing, seed, planting and working, gathering and freight was $100.00. An acre produced 60 barrels at $4.00 a barrel, amounting to $240.00, or a net profit of $140.00 to one acre. Fertilizing was the heaviest item of expense; but by this means his land is becoming permanently enriched. All truck farming enriches the land. In this famous trucking section lands can be bought at from three to fifteen dollars an acre, according to location in respect to towns and railways. Of course improved lands sell at a much higher figure.

The value of the trucking business of Chatham county amounts to $225,000 a year; of Richmond county, $85,000; of Bibb, $35,000; of Muscogee, $30,000; of Fulton, $150,000.

These are the counties in which are the largest cities, viz.: Savannah, Augusta, Macon, Columbus and Atlanta. Brunswick, the Georgia port of the Southern and Plant systems of railway, is the center of a large trucking business, which in that vicinity has taken a great bound for. ward. All kinds of vegetables and early fruits do well there. The bottom lands of the rivers of Southeastern Georgia are admirably suited, after drainage, to celery, cabbage, potatoes, strawberries and other products. The sea-islands cannot be surpassed in healthfulness of climate, and with the advantage of the fish and shell-fish, the market gardener near Brunswick cannot fail to live well and prosper. With some vegetables as many as three crops can be raised on the same ground in one year. The value of the trucking business in the vicinity of Brunswick is $50,000 a year.