UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 [HARRIS, Joel Chandler]. Putnam County, 
 Georgia. A Guide to Immigration. Edited by D. T. 
 Singleton. Illustrated, original printed wrappers. 
 Atlanta, 1895. $9.00 
 
 Contains a three-page article by the famous Southern au- 
 thor entitled " 'Uncle Remus' Has a Word to Say of 
 Putnam As It Was and Is." Illustrating the text is a 
 portrait of Harris and a drawing of "Uncle Remus." 1st 
 ed. of an interesting Uncle Remus item.
 
 ft Quide to Immigration 
 
 THE LEADING COUNTY IN THE STATE IN THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY. 
 AND IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIVE STOCK. 
 
 Tft
 
 A GUIDE TO IMMIGRATION. 
 
 PUTNAM COUNTY, GEORGIA 
 
 AND ITS RESOURCES. 
 
 THE LEADING COUNTY IN THE STATE IN THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY, 
 AND IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF LlVE STOCK. 
 
 COMPILED AND EDITED BY 
 
 D. T. SINGLETON, 
 
 WIULARD, PUTNAM COUNTY, GA. 
 
 ALL INQUIRIES ADDRESSED TO THE CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS PAMPHLET, AT 
 EATONTON, GA., WILL RECEIVE PROMPT AND CAREFUL REPLY 
 
 ATLANTA, GA.: 
 METHODIST BOOK & PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 1S95. 
 
 CONTRIBUTORS. 
 
 B. W. HUNT. 
 
 H. R. DE JARNETT. 
 
 R. B. NISBET, M. D 
 
 DR. J. D. WEAVER. 
 
 M. R. HUDSON. 
 
 M B. DENNIS, SCHOOL COM, 
 
 WM. H. HEARN, ROAD COM. 
 
 E. M. BROWN. 
 
 JUDGE J. S. TURNER. 
 
 JUDGE W. F. JENKINS.
 
 COUNTY COURT HOUSE, EATONTON. BUILT 1810.
 
 COUNTY GOVERNMENT, 1895. 
 
 Judge of the County Court W. B. WINGFIELD. 
 
 Judge of the Court of Ordinary I. H. ADAMS. 
 
 Clerk of the Superior Court J. W. ADAMS. 
 
 Sheriff R. J. TERRELL. 
 
 Tax Collector J. C. REID. 
 
 Tax Receiver W. H. CLOPTON. 
 
 County Surveyor H. R. PINKERTON. 
 
 Treasurer W. L. TURNER. 
 
 Coroner J. KNOWLES. 
 
 Commissioners of Roads and Revenues. 
 
 W. H. HEARN, CHAIRMAN. 
 K. D. LITTLE, I. G. SCOTT. 
 
 County School Commissioner. 
 M. B. DENNIS. 
 
 Board of Education. 
 
 DR. R. B. NISBET, 
 
 DR. N. S. WALKER, H. R. DEJARNETT, 
 
 W. B. WINGFIELD, D. R. ADAMS. 
 
 4<S1 1 44
 
 Prefatory Note. 
 
 We have made no effort to present a list and description of lands for sale in this county. It is better 
 that the visitor make a general inspection and select a particular locality in which he may wish to reside. 
 
 Our plantations are too large even for the profitable production of cotton, and the general desire is to 
 sell a part to energetic, intelligent and progressive farmers from the northern sections. We need a larger 
 population, not a better location in any respect. We think that the development of our agriculture will keep 
 pace with the increase of white population, and that other wealth-producing industries will be stimulated by 
 its prosperous condition. But it is essential that whoever cultivates the soil should be identified with it, 
 by ownership, and by the stronger ties and influence of a home upon it. 
 
 It is to be regretted that such a condition does not more generally prevail in the South. Its absence is 
 conspicuous in the "wear and tear," the waste, and in a pervading aspect of improvidence and discomfort of 
 what is termed a tenant system. The immigration of a kindred people, together with an organized effort on 
 our part, to provide a plan by which our landless friends here can acquire a freehold, will in corresponding 
 degree, check a fatal retrograding tendency. 
 
 Domiciliation is the only base upon which can be built an enduring fabric of social order and good gov- 
 ernment. The desire for repose and security under one's own "vine and figtree," is an instinct of our animal 
 nature. When disregarded, or ignored, it becomes a dangerous element in human character. 
 
 Our Plantation life is similar in some respects to its condition before the war. The planter 
 abides in quiet and security among his dependents, the colored people the "monarch of all he surveys." 
 The unrestraint and independence of such a life will be surrendered with much reluctance by both land- 
 lord and laborer if demanded in the transformation of the ' ' New South. ' ' 
 
 There is a charm even in a "counterfeit presentment" of the "old-time" Southern home, so sacred to us 
 in its traditions, and the true picture of which is so fondly preserved in song and story.
 
 PREFATORY NOTE. 5 
 
 Our present system of labor, when more carefully utilized, will prove to be the~leading factor in our 
 future progress. It is incomparably better than any that prevails in other sections, or other countries. The 
 colored citizens of Putnam county are law-abiding, and proverbially peaceful and contented. In all social 
 relations, as distinct from the white race as if a sea divided them ; yet in business intercourse, confiding, 
 eager to be instructed and led, respectful, and in full sympathy with every effort to promote the general 
 welfare. 
 
 When our farms are largely reduced in acreage, the lands may be preserved and enriched; for with a 
 limited area under cultivation, and a growing population to be fed from it, a greater fertility is demanded. 
 
 It may be said that the wealth and comfort of any rural community increases as'the size of the farms 
 diminish. We can desire nothing better for our county than a test of this assumption by an extended 
 experiment, with an area in cultivation so limited as to allow the owner the opportunity to protect the soil 
 from washing rains as well as from too much bare exposure to the scorching sunshine, and by a regular rota- 
 tion of crops and artificial manuring, to increase each year its fertility. 
 
 When the "little farm well tilled" is no longer an anomaly in this section.of the South, we can boast of a 
 brighter landscape and more evidences of thrift and pi'Ogress . 
 
 The preparation of this pamphlet was deferred until the "eleventh hour," and as it was designed in 
 form and size, for convenient distribution among visitors at the "Cotton States and International Exposi- 
 tion," the space provided was too limited for any attempt to treat the subject-matter comprehensively. The 
 articles were hastily written, and are necessarily incomplete; but we hope that our object will, in a great 
 measure, be attained, if whoever shall receive a copy, and may desire to settle in Georgia, will understand 
 that it introduces him to the contributors, singly and severally; that he has access to them at any time, and 
 that he may rely on their assistance in his effort to form a correct estimate of the country; and furthermore, 
 that there accompanies each copy a cordial invitation to visit our county, to test our hospitality, to meet in 
 social intercourse our people, and with every facility afforded, to examine the many natural advantages 
 claimed for this immediate section. THEJEDITOR 
 
 Willard, Putnam County, Ga., Sept. 1, 1895,
 
 DAIRYING INDUSTRY. 
 
 Improvement of Livestock, Grasses and Forage Crops. 
 BY B. W. HUNT. 
 
 The old Romans condensed much wisdom in the few words, "By the herd we thrive." 
 tain it is without the herd civilization has never been attained by any people. The first 
 tion asked by any intelligent inquirer into the soil, cli- 
 mate and conditions of a country in which he thinks of 
 settling permanently is, " Is the country adapted to the 
 production of the best domestic farm animals?" If this 
 question be answered in the negative, then successful 
 farming, as understood by ninety-nine per cent, of the 
 Anglo-Saxon race, is there impossible. 
 
 Fortunately for Putnam County an affirmative an- 
 swer to this vital question can truthfully be given. 
 Here have been raised successfully race horses, beef 
 cattle and dairy cows, not mentioning the most valuable 
 factor in cotton raising, the mule. I give the planters 
 of Middle Georgia no information when I say, what 
 everyone already knows, that the Northern-raised mule 
 is not equal in efficiency to the home-raised animal. 
 
 Cer- 
 
 ques- 
 
 Dairy at Panola Farm.
 
 
 HOTEL PUTNAM, EATONTON, GA.
 
 RAILROAD DEPOT, EATONTOX, GA.
 
 DAIRYING INDUSTRY. 9 
 
 In dairy cattle the improvement in Putnam County within the last twenty years has been 
 remarkable. Before that date on the fewest farms only could good milk cows be found. Those 
 whose yield was sufficiently large to be profitable were called English stock, most of them car- 
 rying the blood of the Shorthorn. 
 
 Twenty years ago the first Jerseys were introduced, with the result of improvement beyond 
 the most extravagant anticipations. Now, beside the stateliest mansion or the humblest cabin 
 is seen the crumpled-horn and mealy-nose of the Jersey cow. From a few thoroughbred herds, 
 as centres, has proceeded this revolution. 
 
 Putnam, that formerly imported Northern butter, now exports about fifty thousand pounds 
 per annum. To find a dairy cow near Eatonton as poor as the average of twenty years ago is 
 almost impossible. This, I think, sufficiently answers the question the intelligent prospective 
 settler will ask regarding live stock. 
 
 An accidental importation from Southern Asia of the so-called Bermuda Grass, Cynondon 
 Doctylon, has proven the most beneficent factor to the dairyman and stock-raiser. Whether 
 self-planted in his green pastures, daily grazed by horned cattle, horses or sheep, or whether 
 mown and cured for winter hay, this grass has no rival in Middle Georgia as a forage plant. 
 Long despised, feared, and cursed as the enemy of the cotton planter, worse than all other nox- 
 ious weeds in his eyes, it has grown in the estimation of the better informed to be one worth 
 the ground it occupies. Not many years ago plantations in which Bermuda had found lodge- 
 ment, were abandoned by their owners in consequence of the increased tillage necessary to make 
 a crop; now on Bermuda grass land is made large and most profitable crops of cotton, maise and
 
 10 
 
 DAIRYING INDUSTRY. 
 
 small grain. The increased cultivation necessary to keep the grass in check insures a crop not 
 only larger, but also more profitable. Here, as often elsewhere, what proves so pleasing to the 
 eye and I know of nothing more beautiful than a Bermuda grass park stocked with the finest 
 cattle is most profitable to the husbandman. Not only remunerative in the present, but con- 
 servative of the land for the future, which preservation of the fertility of the soil cultivated 
 is an unquestioned duty the present occupant of land owes to futurity. A remarkable parallel 
 is found in the fear entertained by the early Indiana settlers of Blue Grass, which they vainly 
 
 tried to exterminate from their farms. To them this 
 
 grass remains, as Bermuda with us, their most valuable 
 forage plant. Its tenacity of life on suitable soil there 
 has outlived, as has Bermuda here, the enmity of those 
 it would befriend. 
 
 Indigenous grasses abound in Georgia and were 
 the foundation of the live stock industry before the 
 blessing of exotic Bermuda came amongst us. That 
 staple food of the red Indian, maize, furnished the 
 almost exclusive winter substance of domestic animals 
 before the introduction of Bermuda grass and mowing 
 machines, which, taken together, enable the horse with 
 a little intelligent management on the part of man, to 
 save more winter forage in a few hours than all the 
 blades of maize several hands could gather in as many 
 
 Private Park near Eatonton.
 
 MADISON STREET, EATONTON, GA.
 
 STREET SCENE DURING THE COTTON SEASON IN EATONTON. GA.
 
 DAIRYING INDUSTRY. 13 
 
 days. Our corn, the maize of botanists, is the most beautiful forage plant that grows, and furn- 
 ishes here, as elsewhere on this continent, our cheapest grain, shortening its summer growth 
 irom the equator to Alaska to fit the summer solstice. The European, man or norse, who knows 
 not maize is truly deserving of pity from all Americans. Let no stranger be disappointed because 
 he does not find the Kentucky Blue Grass, the Rhode Island Bent Grass, or New York Timothy, 
 in the perfection of their home. They can be raised, it is true, but not so perfectly as our 
 Bermuda, Crab Grass, Burr-clover, Lespedeza Striata, Johnson Grass, and many other either in- 
 digenous or exotic grasses and clovers. The Cow Pea here is to the grain dairyman what the 
 maize plant was to the Indian the one plant whereby he can be almost independent of all 
 -others. No land is too poor to raise it, no better butter can be made than from cows fed on 
 it, as both hay and grain. No field planted with it that is not left richer after the crop is 
 gathered. 
 
 I but write my own experience when I say permanent pastures support more cattle each 
 succeeding year without re-seeding or re-planting; that Jerseys are yearly improving here as 
 dairy cattle as they adjust themselves to the conditions. The outlook to the raiser of improved 
 livestock twenty years ago offered but a bare possibility of what the present shows to be an 
 assured fact. There is no question but that the future of this country shall become largely what 
 we of the present labor to make it. In this I approach so near the domain of the coming ethical 
 prophet that he can finish what I have but begun. 
 
 I feel safe in asserting that there is no other food as cheap for live stock as the grass which 
 they gather for themselves, in Putnam County. A dairyman can depend on grazing, without
 
 14 DAIRYING INDUSTRY. 
 
 other forage for cattle, from April Q to October 31, a period of 205 days. This leaves only i 
 days of the year requiring the feeding of hay. I should say good feeding in winter would c 
 14 cents each a day for milk cows, say $22.40 cents, as against 3 cents per day for 205 days 
 summer grazing, $6.15, making the yearly keep of a milk cow $28.55. 
 
 If we realize 300 pounds butter per year per cow at 25 cents per pound (the usual pr 
 here) the income will be $75 gross, or $46.45 per cow net, not counting anything for incre; 
 of herd, and buttermilk. 
 
 The books of Panola farm for five years show an income from butter alone of $7,773 .63, 
 average of $1,554 73 P er year for an average of 18 cows and heifers in milk, or about $86 
 per cow per year. While the income is accurate the number of cows is approximate, as Pan 
 Farm is more often below 18 cows in milk than above that number. Animals are being c 
 stantly sold from the herd, which changes the number weekly, and their places are soon fil 
 by young heifers raised on the farm. 
 
 The prices for dairy produce here have for a series of years been higher than in North< 
 States. Upon inquiring the price that farmers realized in Orange County, New York, wit! 
 easy access of New York City, I found that milk in August, 1894, was I 9-10 cents per qiu 
 In Chester County, New York, it was 2 i-io cents per quart at condensed milk factories 
 select dairies only. This is about equal to 20 cents per pound for butter, and therefore 1 
 Putnam County dairyman who gets 25 cents for his butter gets 25 per cent, more than 
 Northern competitor. 
 
 There seems to be certain diseases that are peculiar to the livestock in certain localiti 
 and tuberculosis is now the great enemy of Northern dairy cattle. Georgia has little to f<
 
 DAIRYING INDUSTRY. I/- 
 
 from this scourge. It seems more of a stable disease than an open air trouble. While we 
 have cattle fevers, the "Bloody Murrain"of the old settlers, the disease is entirely unnecessary. 
 If we but take the precaution to give the fever to our calves, they are thereafter immunes, and 
 no particular harm results. Some grown cattle die of this disease in Putnam County every 
 summer. That no more die is because the larger dairy farms are so infected with the disease 
 that young animals go through the fever without the knowledge of the owner, and are there- 
 after as immune to Texas fever as vaccinated children are to smallpox. The United States 
 Government reports have been issued with the idea that all Southern cattle were safe, and only 
 Northern cattle died of this disease. I feel absolutely accurate in asserting from personal 
 experience that this is not true. Only those Southern cattle that have had the fever, or have 
 grazed upon infected pastures, are immunes. 
 
 There is one other trouble among cows, called by t*he old settlers "hollow horn" and 
 "hollow tail," which they will freely believe in, as they do in the kindred disease, which they 
 call "big head," in horses. Both diseases appear to result from imperfect nutrition and want of 
 assimilation of bone-forming constituents, such as phosphate of lime, sulphur, etc., for both 
 diseases yield quickly to treatment if the animal be grazed upon grass, without grain or hay, and 
 given phosphates. 
 
 He who would introduce domestic animals to different latitudes from their natural habitat 
 must not expect success to crown every importation. Middle Georgia lies south of any parallel 
 of latitude that touches Europe, while civilized man and usually most of the animals and plants 
 longest under domestication will finally adapt themselves to their surroundings; some men do. 
 No gardener can make our maize grow successfully in England, and I have never seen a herd ot
 
 vlS DAIRYING INDUSTRY. 
 
 long-wooled sheep in Middle Georgia capable of competing with those in England. So 
 think to succeed we must raise only those animals best suited to our climatic conditions 
 There is open to a future Bates or Bakewell the making of a breed of sheep that shall suit ou 
 country, as the Southdowns suit the Downs of England, the Lincolns, Lincolnshire and th 
 Jerseys Middle Georgia. 
 
 To sum up the advantages of Putnam County for the stock-raiser: here are no long sever 
 winters, with their consequent evils of disease and expense. Here is found a genial climat 
 .and responsive soil, only requiring intelligent effort to reward the husbandman liberally. Ove 
 this summer land lying at the foot of the Alleghanies, is arched a sky as blue as that of Ital 
 and the air that stirs its pine trees is as soft and balmy. And to this favored region with it 
 pure waters and rich grasses and bounteous harvests, nature invites man with his flocks an< 
 herds, assured that here he will find the realization of the old Roman motto "Omnis pecnnia 
 fecns fnndamentum" ("By the herd we thrive.")
 
 Nature of Soil and Staple Products. 
 
 Farming for Profit Under Present System Current Prices of Farm Lands. 
 
 BY H. R. DEJARNETTE. 
 
 Home seekers and investors want facts presented for their consideration. As a rule they 
 are business men and view matters from such a standpoint. Glowing descriptions which, upon 
 investigation fail to materialize, will always discount actual advantages. Putnam county 
 wants business men as citizens, and in presenting her advantages, only such statements will be 
 made as can be sustained. The visitor will be hard to please who cannot find in Putnam 
 county the kind of soil he may desire, whether it be the white level sandy lands, free of stones 
 and easy to cultivate, or the broken, but more productive oak and hickory, or the stiff red, or 
 mulatto lands, that stretch out in broad acres before him; or if he seeks his ideal farm in the 
 rich low lands, it can be found along the valleys of the Oconee or Little Rivers. 
 
 As these soils differ in appearance, so they differ in quality, but all retain much of their 
 original fertility, or are rapidly being recuperated under judicious management. They never 
 wear out when properly cared for. There lies in sight of the writer, land said to be the first 
 in this section of the country brought into cultivation after the old Indian purchase, more 
 than eighty-five years ago. Under constant cultivation since, it has recently produced 1300 
 pounds of seed cotton per acre. Another comes to mind which had been so badly handled as to 
 be considered worn out. After a few years of rest it was again brought into cultivation and 
 with light fertilization, produced 23 bushels of corn per acre. These examples can be duplicated 
 on almost every farm in the county. Nowhere in the State are lands susceptible of greater 
 improvement, or respond more readily to intensive methods. With such a variety of soils,
 
 2O NATURE OF SOIL AND STAPLE PRODUCTS. 
 
 originally strong and productive, and which are so responsive to all intelligent effort made t 
 build them up, it is a matter of no surprise that the country long ago won, and still holds, th 
 reputation of being the best home for farmers in Georgia. 
 
 Having satisfied himself that the kind of land desired has been found, the home seeke 
 next inquires as to the remunerative crops that are grown. Lying south of the mountains am 
 north of the piney woods section of Georgia, our staple products reach a greater perfection thai 
 can be attained in either. 
 
 Our county is not dependent on the production of cotton ; we could live and grow riche 
 with a far less area devoted to this crop, and the tendency each year is to lessen the acreag 
 on each farm, yet no where in the State does this, the present money crop of the South, gro\ 
 to greater perfection. Success in its cultivation only follows industry and business methods 
 the latter are not common to all men even in Putnam. We find farms where it takes thre 
 or four acres to produce a bale of cotton. This is not always due to the land, as has bee; 
 proven time and again by a change of owners. Our new men having adopted a system c 
 rotation, prepare well and cultivate thoroughly. They apply a sufficient amount of fertilizers 
 prepared under their own direction, and of ingredients purchased direct from the manufacturers 
 to sustain the crop during the growing season. As a result, the capacity to yield 400 hundrei 
 pounds of seed cotton is increased to 1,200 or 1,500 pounds with very little additional expense 
 This is no fancy picture and can be easily verified. 
 
 The writer, with an application of 300 pounds of fertilizer per acre, made in 1894. 83 bale 
 OL cotton weighing 500 pounds each, on 120 acres. Another farmer reports 96 bales from 14 
 acres. Another 37 bales with two plows. Another 54 bales with three plows. Another 24 bale
 
 RESIDENCE OF J M. RAINY, EATONTON, GA.
 
 HOME OF BENJ. W. HUNT, EATONTON, GA.
 
 NATURE OF SOIL AND STAPLE PRODUCTS. 23. 
 
 with one plow. Fortunately, however, cotton is not our only or chief resource. The rapid 
 decline in its price has directed our attention to other crops, and it is gratifying that our soil 
 responds most liberally to the new demands made upon it. The man who fails to raise grain 
 sufficient to supply all home demands is farming at a loss. There is no part of the county 
 where under proper treatment an abundant supply of provision crops cannot be produced. Nor 
 are we confined to any one variety. Corn is our chief reliance, and is cultivated on every farm.- 
 When proper care is given, an average yield of 15 to 25 bushels is easily attained, and under 
 more favorable conditions, a much larger yield. For instance, one farmer reports 76 bushels 
 from one acre, and 67 bushels per acre on 20 acres. Another, 80 bushels from one acre. Another 
 100 bushels from one acre. Another 120 bushels from one acre. 
 
 PEAS. 
 
 Next to corn in importance is the cow pea. Indeed, so rapid has been its growth in pub- 
 lic favor, that we wonder how people ever farmed without it. As a food crop it excels any- 
 thing we raise. Harvested after ripening and fed in the hull, it answers all the purposes of- 
 rough food and grain. It fattens stock more rapidly and keeps them in better condition than 
 any food we use. Fed to milch cows, it produces butter rich in flavor and beautiful in color. 
 Valuable as it is for feeding purposes, this does not measure its value. It is the clover of the 
 South, and makes rich every acre upon which it is grown. The grain when gathered 
 takes nothing from its fertilizing properties. Agricultural chemists assure us that its main 
 value as a manure lies in the roots. The grain and vines may be removed with little detriment 
 to the soil. The pea can be planted from May I5th to July 25th in several ways. It follows- 
 an oat crop profitably ; sown broadcast, an immense amount of excellent hay can be harvested..
 
 24 NATURE OF SOIL AND STAPLE PRODUCTS. 
 
 Planted and cultivated on same land, it yields from 8 to 12 bushels at a very small cost. Plante( 
 between each row of corn, it yields 5 to 8 bushels per acre, and in this manner is the cheapes 
 crop grown, because in plowing the corn the pea in the middle of the row is cultivated withou 
 additional work. 
 
 OATS. 
 
 When to corn and peas we add oats, our demands for grain are well supplied. Sown ii 
 the early fall they are considered a sure crop, particularly when sown on Bermuda lands whicl 
 have served as pasture through the summer. During very severe winters the crop may be killed 
 When this occurs, as during the winter of '94 and '95, a spring crop may be made and goo< 
 results obtained. This was done the past spring. One farmer reports 3,000 bushels on 41 
 acres. Another 87 bushels on one acre. Another sowed one and one-half acre in February las 
 and harvested 140 bushels. He now has a crop of cow peas growing on the same land. 
 
 WHEAT. 
 
 This grain has always been raised to some extent in our county. It is rather an uncertaii 
 crop, yet some of our farmers have always made enough to supply their demands. More intei 
 est manifested in this crop would lead to much better results. One farmer reports this seasor 
 So bushels from two acres. 
 
 RYE AND BARLEY. 
 
 Near the home on nearly every farm may be seen during the winter months a luxuriant lo 
 of rye or barley. It is grown not so much for the grain as for winter grazing and soiling 
 tonic by which our stock are very much strengthened. It is converted into milk and butter an 
 keens the vouncr stock in o-rowino- condition
 
 NATURE OF SOIL AND STAPLE PRODUCTS. 2$ 
 
 SWEET POTATOES. 
 
 Another crop destined to play a more important part in the farm economy is the sweet 
 potato. Always highly appreciated for table use, and as food for hogs, the discovery that it 
 makes fine butter when fed to cows, and is relished by horses and mules, has added much to its 
 value. The yield is enormous, ranging from 100 to 350 bushels per acre. 
 
 SUGAR CANE. 
 
 As indicative of the capability of our soil and climate, we note that sugar cane, really a 
 tropical plant, is raised successfully throughout the county, yielding an abundant supply of 
 syrup unsurpassed in table qualities by any in the world. Two to four hundred gallons per acre 
 is often made. 
 
 We have now concisely given what we believe to be a fair statement of the variety and 
 quality of our soil and the products of the same. It only remains to state the figures at which 
 the lands of this county can be purchased. In doing this we want to say that our people are 
 conservative in all things. We really want honest, industrious, intelligent farmers to come and 
 live among us. We honestly believe our county presents unsurpassed attractions. We have 
 no "wild cat" schemes to boom prices of our lands. We will deal with people from abroad just 
 as we would with our home folks. 
 
 We can furnish homes for several thousand, in farms of 50 to 5,000 acres, at $3 to $12 per 
 acre. Cleared in part and ready for cultivation. Come and see.
 
 Sanitary Conditions of Putnam County. 
 
 BY R. B. NISBET, M. D. 
 
 The State of Georgia is divided into three distinct sections, known as Cherokee, or North 
 Ge rgia, Middle, and South Georgia. These differ from each other in several respects. In the 
 face of the country, in the character of soil, in their water courses, and in the 
 great varieties of timber growth that were originally found upon them, and that still remain in 
 great abundance. Also upon their elevation above the level of the sea; and more or less in 
 climate and climatic influences. 
 
 Middle Georgia has always been considered the most desirable portion of the State, both 
 because of the richness of its soil, and healthfulness, and was the first part of the State that 
 was fully settled. 
 
 It is known as the "Oak and Hickory Belt," as these hard woods predominated in its 
 primeval forests. Its soil is as a rule of a dark red clay, with occasional outcroppings of lighter 
 or "gray" lands. 
 
 In the very center of this belt is situated 
 
 PUTNAM COUNTY, 
 
 Which possesses in an eminent degree all the most favored characteristics of this section. Fine 
 soil, fine water, abundance of streams, perfect natural drainage, and in health unexcelled by any
 
 RESIDENCE OF C. D. LEONARD, EATONTON, GA.
 
 RESIDENCE OF CAPT. C. M. DAVIS, EATONTON, GA.
 
 SANITARY CONDITIONS OF PUTNAM COUNTY. 2Q 
 
 county in the State. While it has a large river on its eastern border, a smaller one entirely 
 through its center, and these fed by smaller streams, yet there are no swamps or morasses, and 
 no portion subject to malaria. 
 
 It is in latitude 33 degrees north. Its elevation above the level of the sea ranges from 375 
 to 400 feet. Its mean temperature for mid-winter, 50 degrees; for mid-summer (July), 75 de- 
 grees. Its rainfall averages 50 inches. 
 
 It is free from objections which may in a moderate degree hold good as to the other 
 sections of the State, especially as to health. 
 
 In the early settlement of the country, like every part of the South and West, when the for- 
 est was first cut down and the accumulated vegetable matter of centuries was first turned up 
 by the plow there was more or less malaria diseases of a bilious type prevailed, often of a 
 violent congestive form. The diseases of winter, too, pleurisies, pneumonias and other kin- 
 -dred affections were not uncommon. Yet never to that extent that these same diseases 
 afflicted the early settlers of Eastern Indiana, Illinois or Michigan, under the same circum- 
 stances. 
 
 As the lands were opened up to cultivation these forms of disease, especially those of 
 malarial origin, rapidly changed their character, becoming milder and milder until now a purely 
 malarial chill is unknown, or if found at all, is caused by some special and limited local cause 
 easily removed. 
 
 There are no epidemics of any kind; none of the fevers of the coast cities ; none of the 
 acute pulmonary diseases, or dysenteries of the mountain valleys. 
 
 The County of Putnam is almost entirely exempt from the much dreaded affections
 
 3O SANITARY CONDITIONS OF PUTNAM COUNTY. 
 
 rheumatism, that curse of the outdoor laboring man, so common to the bleak prairies of the 
 West and the Lake States and that horror of the mothers of the New England and Eastern 
 States, membraneous croup. This latter disease is so rare that the writer in a practice of forty 
 years has never seen but two cases. 
 
 The summer temperature is so mild and equable, the nights so cool and pleasant, that this 
 disease, which in all cities North and South, is more destructive to life than any pestilence, is 
 very rarely encountered here. 
 
 The summer complaint of teething is never severe, is of short duration, and yields easily 
 to remedies. 
 
 It is true we have more or less sickness. We have some fevers which are generally of a 
 mild form, are self emanating in character, and seldom fatal. Nor is the county exempt from all 
 the diseases that are incident to humanity wherever found, but no local disease or diseases of 
 local origin. 
 
 Consumption, or tuberculosis, in its manifold developments, is not a disease of this 
 section. Here and there a case develops independent of heredity, originating from some special 
 cause, or following pneumonia or bronchitis, or where lungs already delicate and feeble become 
 ready recipients of the infection. On the contrary, experience has proven that every per- 
 son of Northern birth who has settled in the country for the benefit of his health, has 
 improved. Winter visitors invariably are improved by a sojourn here, and are enthusiastic in 
 their praise of the climate. In many tespects for invalids it is far superior to Florida. It is 
 higher and has a drier atmosphere. It is free from the north-east winds, which often make 
 the eastern coast of that State as bleak as the coast of New Jersey. It is also free from the
 
 RESIDENCE OF R. W. HUTUHINSON, EATONTON, GA.
 
 RESIDENCE OF HON. T. G. LAWSON, M. C., EATONTON, GA.
 
 SANITARY CONDITIONS OF PUTNAM COUNTY. 
 
 33 
 
 humid and heavy atmosphere, from the sultry and enervating days which are so depressing in 
 their effect upon lungs already enfeebled by disease. 
 
 Eatonton, the county seat, elevated upon one of the highest points in the county, is noted 
 for its healthfulness. It is a perfect health resort, for either the Northern invalid in winter, 
 or the residents of the seaboard in summer. It is naturally well drained. Its sanitation is 
 well cared for. Its school system is good and free. Its population moral and intelligent, and 
 the stranger within its gates most hospitably received.
 
 FRUIT-VARIETY AND CULTURE. 
 
 BY DR. JAS. D. WEAVER. 
 
 The counties of Middle Georgia are acknowledged to be the natural home of many desira- 
 ble fruits, while so great a number of exotics are thriving and prolific, as to lead one to be- 
 lieve them all indigenous. Of Putnam County this statement is pre-eminently true. Our 
 farmers have at all times taken a lively interest in the cultivation of orchards. Although until 
 recently, no effort has ever been made to grow fruits for the Northern and Eastern markets,. 
 for with cotton at a remunerative price, they were gathered for pleasure and luxury, and not 
 for profit to their owner. But that day has passed, and in place of the old orchards, choked 
 with dark vegetation, are seen trained fruit farms, giving every evidence of careful attention 
 by, and ample profit to, their possessors. 
 
 The most important factors in the successful growing, cultivation and propagation of 
 fruits are suitable soil and climate. We claim these. Our climate is perfect, and the 
 quality of our soil so varied, that one can find lands, even on a small farm, adapted to the culti- 
 ation of all the varieties. 
 
 To enumerate the fruits produced here is almost impossible. One might safely include 
 every one, with the exception of those of the Tropics ; But the fruit which has engrossed the 
 attention of the people of both the North and South, and which, for that reason, deserves more 
 than passing notice, is the peach. 
 
 So well is our climate and soil adapted to its perfection, that an uninformed person, oa
 
 RESIDENCE OF B. R. BECK, EATONTON, GA.
 
 RESIDENCE OF MBS. JONES, EATONTON, GA.
 
 FRUIT VARIETY AND CULTURE. 37 
 
 seeing a Putnam County fruit farm, might conclude that the peach was indigenous. Pomo- 
 logists are agreed that a clay soil, containing some sand, or what is generally known here as 
 "mulatto lands," is best fitted to its cultivation to the highest degree of excellence. While 
 certain varieties appear to do well on sandy soil, or sandy loam, they are liable to lose their fruit 
 through decay, and should it mature, yet that rich, peachy flavor, so highly prized by peach 
 connoiseurs, and so characteristic of the Putnam County peach, is lost. In this section one 
 may find peaches for table and market from the first of June to the middle of October. 
 
 Much has been said about the southern section of this State as a fruit paradise. 
 
 Putnam asks only for a fair comparison of results from the careful cultivation of any kind 
 of fruit. 
 
 Putnam is only a few days (four or five) behind Southern Georgia in the markets, and in 
 three seasons out of five there is no perceptible difference in time of ripening. 
 
 A careful analysis of the two soils will prove that Putnam's possesses every ingredient 
 necessary for the propagation of the peach. 
 
 The same degree of latitude in which this county is situated, if followed east, will lead 
 to Central Persia, the "fatherland" of this incomparable fruit. Every essential element of 
 its growth to perfection in its native soil and climate is found here. 
 
 We have on our farms, and in our orchards, trees that have stood for more than fifty years 
 and are still yielding the most delicious peaches, retaining their identity, size and flavor. This 
 is especially true of the seedlings we have propagated, many of which the Tinsley, Blount and 
 Reid deserve mention as having more than a State-wide reputation. 
 
 The plum is indigenous to our soil. We have that type known as the Chicasaw, com- 
 
 461144
 
 38 FRUIT VARIETY AND CULTURE. 
 
 monly called "wild-field" plum. It was planted here in the early settlement of the country and 
 grows everywhere over our farms. They thrive without cultivation, planting or care, 
 and furnish us nice fruit early in the season. From the Chickasaw we have cultivated and 
 evolved many choice varieties, equal to any of foreign import, with the "Wild Goose," as an 
 intance. In addition to these we have many of the exotics. Japan has furnished us with some 
 of her best kinds, and our soil and climate seem well suited to them. No doubt they do as 
 well, if not better, than on their own native soil, and we predict that the time will come 
 when many will be cultivating the plum for profit, and that it will hold as high a place in the 
 minds of fruit men as any of their products. 
 
 Grapes are grown successfully here. As is the case with the plum, many are of native 
 origin, but our best have been given us by the northern section, more especially by New York 
 State. All varieties do well with us, as our soil and the general topography of the country vary. 
 Having hill lands as well as plains, one can find all conditions for the cultivation of this, the 
 best and healthiest of fruits. 
 
 We never miss a crop of grapes, having species ripening from June 20th to September;, 
 and when the peach crop fails, grapes for market yield handsome returns. 
 
 Apples, pears, quinces, apricots and cherries do well here, although they have not received 
 deserved attention, and are found around every country home. 
 
 We have many varieties of small fruits and berries, notably, raspberries, strawberries, black- 
 berries and dewberries. The latter three can be found growing either in a wild or cultivated 
 state. 
 
 All of these have been receiving more than usual attention just now (heretofore they have
 
 FRUIT VARIETY AND CULTURE. 39 
 
 been grown principally for table use). Being early and productive, when grown for market, they 
 pay well. We have other fruits of less importance, but deem it unnecessary to mention them. 
 Our orchards are comparatively free from disease. The spraying apparatus is quite unneces- 
 sary and unused by us. 
 
 A very appropriate conclusion for this article will be the selection and arrangement of a 
 number of fruit trees to form an orchard intended mainly for family consumption, and bearing 
 from June 1st to November ist. Whatever product of such an orchard not required for home 
 use, can be sold at fair prices to the " Eatonton Canning Factory." The information thus 
 supplied will be invaluable to the new settler, or immigrant, who can have the benefit of an 
 experience in fruit culture which we have acquired by long years of patient experiment. 
 
 Assuming that the orchard shall contain 400 trees of the different varieties profitably grown 
 in this county, and arranged in the order of maturity, or approximately so a convenient distri- 
 bution will appear as follows : 
 
 Peaches 250 Trees Plums 25 Trees 
 
 Apples 50 " Apricots 2 " 
 
 Dwarf Pears 10 " Nectarines 3 " 
 
 Standard . 25 " Mulberries 3 " 
 
 Cherries 10 " Japan Persimmons 2 " 
 
 Peaches, free stone Amsden, Alexander, Beatrice, Louise, Early Livens, Early Tillotson, 
 Mountain Rose, Foster, Susquehannah, Thurber, Stump the World, Columbia, Elberta, Musco- 
 .gee, Gaylord, President Church, Late Crawford, Late Admirable.
 
 4O FRUIT VARIETY AND CULTURE. 
 
 Peaches, cling stones Tuskena, General Taylor, Chinese, Old Mixon, Pine Apple, Indian 
 Blood, Remington, Heath or White English, Eaton's Golden, Austin, Darby, Blount, Cooper, 
 Reid, Late Admirable. 
 
 Apples Red Astrachan, Early Harvest, Red June, Horse, Red Margaret, Julian, Buncombe, 
 Carter's Blue, Ben Davis, Mangum, Chattahoochee, Stevenson's Winter, Shockley, Yates, 
 Romanito, Wolf River. 
 
 Pears Standard, Bartlett, Beurre Superfine, Clapp's Favorite, Belle Lucrative, Lawrence, 
 Dnchesse d'Angonleme, KeiJJer, Le Conte or Sand Pear, Seeklt, White Dogenne. 
 
 Plums Caraduec, Wild Goose, Cumberland, Apricot Plum, Hattie, Newman, Japan. 
 
 Cherries Imperatrice, Eugenie, May Duke, Werder's Early Black, Early Richmond, Gov- 
 ernor Wood. 
 
 While the above list comprises a careful selection of the best varieties, those in italics have 
 been more generally cultivated and proven. As I have endeavored to render a valuable service 
 to those not familiar with our locality, in directing what to plant, for the further important 
 information as to how to plant and to cultivate, so as to attain satisfactory results, I can safely 
 refer the enquirer to a publication, by Wm. N. White, of Athens, Ga., an accomplished and 
 successful orchardist and gardener, printed in 1856, and known as White's "Gardening for the 
 South."
 
 RESIDENCE Of JUDGE J. S. TURNER, EATONTON. GA.
 
 RESIDENCE OF JUDGE W. P. JENKINS, EATONTON, GA.
 
 Truck Farming and Market Advantages. 
 
 BY M. R. HUDSON, 
 Secretary of Putnam County Truck Association. 
 
 No county in the State offers superior inducements to truck growers. With its fertile soil, 
 genial climate, coupled with its close proximity to the large cities of the State, and supplied 
 with railroad facilities, in the shape of convenient schedules, and low freight rates to all points, 
 it offers everything to the experienced truck farmer that could be desired. Previous to five 
 years ago there was but little attention paid to the growing of truck for outside markets. With 
 the low price of cotton, our principal crop, being barely above the cost of production under the 
 present method of cultivating and marketing it, the farmers in this county have been prompted 
 to look out for oiher means of revenue Under the auspices of the Putnan; County Fair 
 Association, the annual exhibitions have done much to develop the truck industry, by exhibiting 
 not only to strangers, but to our own people, the possibilities of truck growing, and have led 
 many of our farmers to engage in growing from one to ten acres each. With the seasons of such 
 duration that three crops, and in some cases, four crops can be raised on the same land each year. 
 Success depends on the experience of the grower and fertility of the soil, two factors that the 
 initiated will recognize as of the highest importance in truck growing. The principal crops 
 grown for market are Irish potatoes, of which two crops can be grown per year; the early spring 
 crop, planted in February, from which more can be raised the same year, and the fall crop that
 
 44 TRUCK FARMING AND MARKET ADVANTAGES. 
 
 is sought after by all the seedsmen, making a far superior seed potato to either the Northern or 
 Eastern seed, both in earliness of maturity, and yield per acre. This, coupled with the ease and 
 facility with which the retailer can use them in competition with the higher priced Bermuda 
 potatoes in January and February, renders the fall crop much the most profitable. The yield 
 will average Irom three to four hundred bushels per acre. 
 
 Fairly abreast of the Irish potatato crop is the cabbage crop of the county, which 
 is probably grown and marketed twelve months in the year. The yield, with experienced 
 growers, is about two hundred crates per acre, and the price ranges from two dollars a crate for 
 the fall and winter crop, to one dollar for the summer crop. This being a vegetable of unusual 
 consumption, large quantities of it are grown annually. 
 
 Next in importance comes the onion crop, specimens of which that have been grown from 
 the seed have averaged six inches in diameter. Our mild winters, preceded by the natural 
 humidity and coolness of the fall months, make this the home of the onion. Planted in 
 August they readily attain by Christmas, marketable size, and are used by the retailer success- 
 fully to compete in the markets with the Bermuda crop in January and February. This crop 
 here, as in all other localities, while it requires much care, is by all odds the most profitable. 
 The yield is about five hundred bushels at an average price of a dollar and half per bushel. 
 
 The next crop in importance to the onion and Irish potato crop, is the turnip crop. This 
 crop, owing to the ease with which it can be raised, is probably the most popular crop grown in 
 the county. The yield is about four hundred bushels per acre, and the price during February, 
 March and April, a dollar and a half a barrel. 
 
 The crop next in importance and which will eventually occupy the first rank in the truck
 
 TRUCK FARMING AND MARKET ADVANTAGES. 45 
 
 crop of the county is the sweet potato, owing not to its great yield, price, or the ease in raising 
 it, but to the familiarity of the average farmer with its cultivation and experience in keeping it 
 in marketable condition. The average yield is about two hundred bushels, and price about 
 fifty cents per bushel.. 
 
 The next crop of importance is the tomato crop, which is growing yearly in popularity and 
 consumption in our markets. The best yield that has come under the writer's observation was 
 grown by one of the most experienced tomato growers in the county seventy-five bushels on 
 one-eighth of an acre. The average price for shipping is about fifty cents per bushel in the 
 midst of the season, with prices ranging from two to three dollars for the eastern and later 
 crop. This crop can be extended from May 25th until the 1st of February, under the present 
 method of. handling it. 
 
 Two years ago there were no green peas shipped out of the county, now the crop is rapidly 
 coming into favor, and the yield and price are fairly good. About one hundred baskets is a fair 
 yield per acre, at an average price of one dollar and a half per basket. 
 
 While the foregoing are the leading crops, quantities of beans, cucumbers, squash, egg- 
 plant and pepper, are raised and sold. 
 
 Now as to markets; we are in an hour and a half of Eatonton and Milledgeville, with a 
 population of ten thousand people, with a freight of fourteen cents per hundred; and only six 
 hours from Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, and Macon, with an average freight rate of twenty- 
 three cents, and a population of nearly four hundred thousand people, that consume everything 
 good, bad and indifferent, at some price.
 
 4 6 
 
 TRUCK FARMING AND MARKET ADVANTAGES. 
 
 The foregoing is the result of the writer's experience in growing truck exclusively for the 
 past seven years. 
 
 Good lands suitable for trucking can be bought in tracts of from fifty to a hundred acres 
 improved and contiguous to railroad, for from fifteen to twenty-five dollars per acre. Larger 
 tracts can be bought at much lower rates. The railroad companies have adopted a wise policy 
 in giving low freight rates, and also in stopping its freight cars at any point conven- 
 ient to the truckers. This result has not been gained so much by individual effort as by the 
 combined efforts of the truckers, leagued under the name of the " Putnam County Fruit and 
 Truck Growers' Association." 
 
 The writer can give the assurance that those who have experience and practical knowledge 
 can here be sure of fair remuneration for time and .labor devoted to the truck industry.
 
 RESIDENCE OF D. T. SINGLETON, NEAR WILLARD, PUTNAM CO., GA.
 
 DR. J. T. DK.JARNETTE'S RESIDENCE, PUTNAM COUNTY, GA.
 
 Diversified Agriculture and Manufacture. 
 
 BY JUDGE J. S. TURNER. 
 
 The advantages of diversified agriculture, and other pursuits, can be better illustrated by 
 the simple story of a Putnam County plantation, during the war, than by any modern instance. 
 A study of farm life during that period will show actual success in diversified pursuits, under the 
 most adverse circumstances. 
 
 Turnwold, a plantation locally famous in the history and traditions of Middle Georgia, is 
 selected for the story, not because the results accomplished there were greater than on many 
 other well managed plantations, but having been born and reared thereon, the facts are more 
 familiar to the writer. Besides, Turnwold is extensively celebrated as having once been the 
 home of Wm. H. Seward, who, during a short period of his young manhood, taught school in 
 the old academy thereon ; and at a later date, during the period of which I write, of Joel Chan- 
 dler Harris, who has woven around it a literary interest as the place where Uncle Remus 
 quaintly told the adventures of Bre'r Rabbit to the little boy. 
 
 Here for four years, during which civil war had paralyzed the general business of the South, 
 with no market within which to buy or sell, a busy hive of laborers produced in magnificent 
 abundance not only all the necessaries but many luxuries for the sustenance and comfort of 
 their families, more than a hundred people, besides furnishing the quota prescribed by law for 
 the support of the Southern army. 
 4
 
 5O DIVERSIFIED AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 Cotton, which had been extensively grown before, and which furnished the money with 
 which the planter purchased the necessary supplies for his family and his slaves, by reason of 
 the vigilant blockade of federal gun-boats, no longer found a profitable market, and its culture 
 was abandoned, except to the extent which was required by the actual demands of the farm. 
 
 The fields, which had been devoted to the culture of cotton, were seeded in grain, or con- 
 verted into pastures, and herds of cattle, sheep and goats, hundreds of hogs, and horses and 
 mules, were annually raised, where only a few had been required formerly. Corn cribs, grain 
 houses, barns and store-rooms were annually filled to overflowing, and the display of hams, 
 shoulders, bacon and sausages, hanging from the grimy rafters of the smoke-house, soon demon- 
 strated that for food neither master nor slave would suffer. 
 
 Realizing that many other articles, formerly bought in the markets, were as essential to the 
 welfare of those dependent upon him, and that they could no longer be thus procured, every 
 energy of the master was exerted to make his plantation self sustaining in every respect. Ob- 
 stacles which at the present day would seem almost insurmountable, despite our boasted prog- 
 ress, were successfully overcome, and prosperity and comfort were the result. 
 
 Shops, for the manufacture of the various necessities and comforts, were gradually erected 
 and placed in charge of slaves who were found to be most apt in learning the trades, and who 
 soon became skilful in their several pursuits. 
 
 The blacksmith and wood shops turned out every implement used upon the farm, from axe- 
 handles and hoe-handles, to plow-hoes, plow-stocks, wheelbarrows, and wagons. The buggies 
 and carriages were repaired er remade, and many other articles formerly made or repaired else- 
 where were daily sent out of these shops for use upon the farm.
 
 DIVERSIFIED AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 51 
 
 At the tanyard the green hides of all domestic animals were converted into leather, from 
 heavy sole to pliant calf and kid. Even the hides of small game, such as rabbits and squirrels, 
 were turned into leather as soft and delicate as chamois skin. 
 
 This leather was manufactured at the shoe shop, by hand, into harness of all kinds, for 
 plowing, for hauling with wagons, or for the more pretentious use of the master's buggy or the 
 mistress's carriage. Coarse shoes for the field hands and softer ones for the women and chil- 
 dren were all made here. Even the mistress and children drew their general supply from this 
 humble shop. Inelegant they were, and comparatively ill-shaped and rough, but they were dura- 
 ble and comfortable, and in these respects, at least, answered as well as the fine ones, which 
 they had worn in former years. The very lasts, and pegs, the awls and thread, the wax and 
 other materials used by the cobbler, were produced upon the plantation. 
 
 In the cooper shop, hogsheads, barrels, tubs, buckets, and kegs were turned out in workman- 
 like manner, and in sufficient quantities for every demand. The cedars and pines growing in 
 profusion everywhere furnished the material for staves, and hickory withes supplied the place 
 of metal hoops. 
 
 The grain and fruit, which could not be otherwise consumed, was distilled into spirits, fur- 
 nishing many barrels to the medical department of the army, and proving a source of revenue 
 to the planter from a surplus, which would have been wasted if not put to this use. 
 
 A cane mill, manufactured upon the place, extracted the juice from sorghum and ribbon- 
 cane, many acres of which were annually planted, which in turn was boiled into syrup as sweet 
 and clear as honey, or into sugar crude and unrefined, but pure and wholesome, a great boon to
 
 52 DIVERSIFIED AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 the busy house-wife, who, in some mysterious way, born of the necessity of the times, prepared 
 therefrom delicacies fit for Epicurus. 
 
 The manufacture of hats was even ventured, and that too upon a comparatively large scale, 
 and under the supervision of a white workman, common field hands were taught to make from 
 wool and the furs of many native animals, such as rabbits, minks and beavers, hats both shapely 
 and comfortable. This venture proved a great success, and many thousands of these hats were 
 sold all over the Confederacy. One, which has survived the wear and vicissitude of over thirty 
 years, was shown to the writer not many years ago. 
 
 Money being scarce these hats were priced for so many pounds of wool, or so many rabbit 
 skins, and many a boy has been made happy, who, after hunting every Saturday, had procured 
 by this means enough pelts to buy a new hat. 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting industry on the place was that devoted to the manufacture of 
 fabrics and clothing. The work in this department was done entirely by female slave? presided 
 over by the mistress, who in skilful management and the wonderful diversity of resources dis- 
 played a genius most remakable. This department not only supplied all the cotton and wollen 
 cloth, with which the whites and blacks were clothed winter and summer, but replaced the car- 
 pets, rugs, bedticks, sheets, towels, and window curtains in the "big house," as those articles 
 gave way to use and the ravages of time. 
 
 From the gin-house the lint cotton went into the carding room, where skilful women, with 
 hand cards, converted it into soft and downy bats, which were taken by the spinners, and to the 
 droning music of the wheel, drawn into thread of various sizes. Wound upon bobbins, or folded 
 into hanks, dyed to suit the fancy of the mistress, this thread was conveyed to the looms, where
 
 RESIDENCE OF HON. J. T. DENNIS, 6 miles South of Eatonton.
 
 RESIDENCE OF DR. N. S. WALKER, WILLARD, PUTNAM CO., GA,
 
 DIVERSIFIED AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 55 
 
 fast fingers passed the flying shuttle, and created the warp and woof of fabrics useful, durable 
 and frequently beautiful in design. 
 
 The variety of fabrics turned out from these simple looms was truly marvelous, embracing 
 the light weight, creamy colored stuff for undewear, and sheets, the checked or striped home- 
 spun for dresses, osnaburgs for field hands, and a still heavier cloth for bags, wagon covers and 
 grain sheets. 
 
 Woolen goods were woven from the heavy jeans of unpicked wool, sometimes with a warp 
 of cotton, to a smoother finished article from fleece which had been picked and washed, and 
 carded, until the bats were as soft as down. Blankets, piano covers, and covers for furniture, 
 whose former upholstering of plush or satin had succumbed to wear and tear of time, were 
 created with taste and ingenuity. Carpets and rugs were woven from woolen scraps, and where 
 the colors were tastefully chosen, were not only comfortable, but gave to the apartments where 
 they were laid an air of cheerful elegance. 
 
 From the loom room, or store house, the cloth was taken, as the occasion demanded, to the 
 sewing room, where it was deftly fashioned into finished garments, the very buttons being made 
 of wooden forms, covered with cloth of becoming color. 
 
 This is the story plainly told, and without exaggeration. 
 
 Recalling in memory the thirty years which have intervened, I can see the master now, after 
 the labors of a long summer day, sitting upon his vine-clad porch with his wife and little ones 
 around him. A spirit of happiness and content takes possession of him as he realizes that his 
 work has been successful, and that his loved ones and his slaves have been comfortably fed and
 
 56 DIVERSIFIED AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 clothed ; that his store rooms are full, and the crops promise an abundant harvest for another 
 year. 
 
 The cow boys drive the lowing cattle to the pen, where soon from generous udders, rich 
 streams will fill the milk pails full. The tinkle of the bells blended with the distant bleat of 
 sheep, the squealing and grunting of hogs, as Harbeet with melodious voice calls them to their 
 evening meal, make sweet music on the listening ear. 
 
 Darkness descends upon the old plantation, and hides from human eyes the sweetest picture 
 of peace, contentment and prosperity ever seen. 
 
 To tell the story is to draw the lesson. What was accomplished then may be again 
 achieved, at least in so far as the exigencies of the times require. 
 
 The growing of cotton alone is no longer profitable. The farmer whose smoke-house and 
 grainery is in the West ; whose spinners and weavers are in the East, can no longer produce 
 enough cotton to buy the bare necessaries of life, and none of the luxuries. 
 
 Putnam County, being among the first to learn this lesson, has diversified her agricultural 
 pursuits, and is rapidly becoming happy and prosperous. Her lands, as productive as any under 
 the sun, will produce in bountiful harvests everything necessary to the comfort and happiness 
 of her people. Her people, industrious, intelligent, and law abiding, gladly welcome in their 
 midst the same class of people from every section, without prejudice or discrimination, and 
 who seeks a home, where he and his children may prosper and be happy, can find none more 
 desirable.
 
 RESIDENCE OP DR. H. H. COGBURN, PUTNAM CO., GA.
 
 EATONTON ACADEMY.
 
 Educational Advantages Public Free School System. 
 
 BY M. B. DENNIS, 
 County School Commissioner. 
 
 Putnam county offers to those prospecting for future homes educational advantages 
 -equalled by no other county in the State not operated under a special system. 
 
 The Board of Education is composed of educated and progressive men. Knowing the value 
 of education, and fully realizing the evils that must inevitably follow indifferent, to say nothing 
 of poor, intellectual training, the Board is bending every energy to the upbuilding of the public 
 schools of the county. Again, appreciating the fact that whatever intellectual training, or pre- 
 paration for life, a great majority of the youth of the country is receiving to-day at the hands of 
 our public schools, is about all they will probably ever get, owing to the fact that so many of 
 the farmer-boys are forced to work in the farms to the unfortunate neglect of their education, 
 as well as to that spirit of indifference that, sad to say, is swaying the conduct of so many peo- 
 ple all over this broad land of ours, in this department of duty and activity, the Board is doing 
 all it can to increase the efficiency of these schools and raise them to that plane of dignity and 
 usefulness they should occupy. This statement may surprise some, but it need not when it is 
 known that in the United States "ninety-six pupils in everyone hundred enrolled are studying 
 elementary studies; less than three in a hundred are in secondary studies in high schools, acad-
 
 6O EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 
 
 emies, and other institutions; only one in a hundred is in a college or school tor higher studies;" 
 showing conclusively that very few children ever get beyond the elementary branches. But 
 while this is in the main true, Putnam county can show a goodly number of boys and girls in 
 attendance upon high schools and colleges, and this number is gradually increasing. This point 
 of definiteness in education and special preparation for the work of life is being specially stressed 
 in the public schools of Putnam county just now, and in the near future will no doubt result in 
 good to the children. The people of the county are unusually awakened to the importance of 
 the work, and are cheerfully and liberally co-operating with the Board of Education in all its 
 efforts to better the system. And the system is strengthening and improving each year. Then 
 there is an evident growing interest on the part of the people. Gradually, but surely, the 
 standard is being raised, and the usefulness of the schools increased. As the summers come 
 and go, the percentage of children in attendance is increased And it is the fixed purpose of 
 all concerned, before many winters roll away, to have Putnam present, in fact as well as theory, 
 a solid front against ignorance and all its attendant evils. 
 
 Believing that the concentration of patrons, children and money would naturally result in 
 power and force, and that these were contingent upon a rational decrease in the number of 
 schools, the Board of Education, under section 24 of the public school laws, sub-divided the 
 county into fourteen sub-school districts. In each of these, and at a point most convenient for 
 the people of the districts, one school for the whites and just as few for the colored race as are 
 actually necessary, were located. Under this plan the county has fourteen white and twenty- 
 four colored schools; and only these are recognized. 
 
 The advantages of this consolidation plan are several. I. It enables the Board of Educa-
 
 PHCENIX ACADEMY, PUTNAM COUNTY, GA.
 
 SCHOOL AT ROCKVILLE ACADEMY, PUTNAM CO., GA.
 
 EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 63 
 
 tion to offer six months public term to the children of the county. This is one month more 
 than is offered by any other county in the State not under a special system. 2. The people, 
 thoroughly aroused, are voluntarily taxing themselves each year to raise a supplemental fund 
 with which to operate the schools from three to four months longer than the regular six month's 
 public term. Under the plan of consolidation this burden is decreased by the cost of one 
 month's expense. 3. Again, under this plan good teachers can be secured, for not only better 
 salaries can be paid, but longer periods of work are afforded them. It is proverbial that Put- 
 nam's teachers are far in advance of those of the average counties of the State. 
 
 The public school fund for the entire State for 1895 ls $1,156,052. This, under the law, is 
 prorated to each county in school population of children between the ages of six and eighteen. 
 Putnam's prorata share is about $10,000. This is paid by the Board of Education to teachers 
 under the law on the salary plan. 
 
 The public schools usually open early in January of each year and are taught in two terms 
 The school buildings are all neat, comfortable, and are supplied with easy, modern seats and 
 desks. 
 
 The school population of the county according to the census of 1893 ls > white 1,097, colored 
 3,800. The attendance upon the public schools for 1894 among the whites was 868. From this 
 it is seen that about 20 per cent, only of the white children do not attend school. This number 
 is almost wholly confined to those boys and girls from 16 to 18 years of age who have either 
 married or for some other cause have quit the schools and settled down to work. This is co- 
 sidered a good exhibit when compared with the attendance for the United States. The statis- 
 tics for the States show that 31 per cent, of children of school age do not attend school. When
 
 64 EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 
 
 it is understood that in the East and most of the Western States where the population is so 
 compact and the schools so convenient, and in some, free delivery of children during the winter 
 months is practiced, our exhibit is simply remarkable. 
 
 But while Putnam's public school system is good the best, so said, in the State Putnam 
 is cognizant of the fact that the goal is not yet reached, and will not cannot rest contented. 
 If anything better can be attained it must be realized. There is already a movement on foot to 
 secure a regular nine month's special system. This will necessitate specific taxation of about 
 three-eighth's of I per cent. But the people are ready, willing and anxious for anything that 
 offers better educational facilities. The sentiment in favor of the system is strong and is daily 
 growing. When it shall become a law, the funds for this purpose will warrant the employment 
 of the best talent the land affords. The advantages will be unsurpassed by any 
 county. With her country schools thus established on a sure, solid basis; and with a strong, 
 central school of high grade at Eatonton, the county site, from which her sons and daughters 
 may pass into college, Putnam may well and truly be called the banner county of the State. 
 
 The curriculum of the Eatonton Academy (a free public school, of the highest degree of 
 modern equipment) is as high as any school in the South, to which are added departments of 
 Music, Art, Elocution and Physical Culture, in charge of competent instructors.
 
 Public Road System, and Taxation for County Purposes. 
 
 BY W. H. HEARN, 
 
 Chairman Board of Commissioners. 
 
 PUBLIC ROAD SYSTEM AND TAXATION. 
 
 The public roads of Putnam county are under the direction and control of the Commis- 
 sioners of Roads and Revenues of said county. 
 
 Power and control over the public roads were conferred upon the Commissioners of Roads 
 and Revenues by the act of October 2ist, 1891, and was adopted for Putnam by the grand jury 
 at the March term of Superior Court, 1892. 
 
 In carrying out the provisions of this law the Commissioners of Roads and Revenues 
 adopted and published certain rules which, together with the above law, constitute the road law 
 of Putnam county. 
 
 Under the present system Putnam county is divided into sixteen road districts correspond- 
 ing exactly with the militia districts. In each road district there is a district overseer, con- 
 tracted with by the Commissioners, who has charge of all the road hands, tools, implements, 
 etc., who is directly responsible to the Commissioners, and who makes regularly his report to 
 the Commissioners after each working of the road. 
 
 These district overseers give to the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners receipts for 
 all tools and implements used on the roads, and are required at the end of each year to render 
 a strict account of all such. They are also required to record in a book, kept by them for this 
 purpose, the names of all persons in their district subject to road duty, and to report as 
 defaulters to the Commissioners all road hands summoned to work and failing to do so.
 
 66 PUBLIC ROAD SYSTEM, AND TAXATION FOR COUNTY PURPOSES. 
 
 In addition to this, the district overseers are required to keep receipt books with stubs 
 opposite each receipt, for the commutation tax they are allowed to receive from road hands 
 in lieu of road service. This commutation tax is paid by them to the Commissioners, accom- 
 panied by the book of stub receipts, and the Commissioners pay the same into the County 
 Treasury to the account of public roads. The Public Road fund of the county is made up im 
 this manner : ist, the commutation tax above referred to, which is money in lieu of road 
 work; 2nd, an additional general ad valorem tax of two mills on each $i,oqf) of property valua- 
 tion, is authorized to be levied. 
 
 In addition to the plan of road work by districts, we have a special road gang consisting of 
 an overseer and about ten hands, eight mules, one yoke oxen, one improved road machine, wheel 
 scrape, wagons and other tools. 
 
 The business of this special road gang is to build and repair all the main bridges, put in 
 sewer pipe for water ways, and in addition to this to do all the road work they can, such as 
 macadamizing, grading and blasting. All the principal roads in the county leading to Eatonton 
 have been worked and graded by the road machinery to a distance on each of seven miles, and 
 are in the most excellent condition and shape, and this work is still going on. 
 
 Our public roads will compare favorably with the very best in Georgia. 
 
 While we claim better roads than any of our adjoining counties, our tax rate is as low, and 
 in some instances lower, than any of them, in the face of the fact that they have no road 
 system so complete as ours. Our tax rate for all county purposes is only 6 l / 2 mills per Ckuujiuiil 
 dollarl of property valuation.
 
 RESIDENCE OF E. B. EZKLL, EATONTON, GA.
 
 RESIDENCE OF W. E. RA1NEY, PUTNAM COUNTY GA.
 
 Trade, Transportation and Banking. 
 
 BY E. M. BROWN. 
 
 A. TRADE. 
 
 Eatonton claims to be one of the best business towns in the State, and that she is 
 fully entitled to that claim, is duly attested by her own people, as well as by the numerous busi- 
 ness men who constantly visit the town, soliciting her trade in their respective lines. The town 
 has long enjoyed this well-earned reputation, and its commercial importance as an interior point, 
 population considered, has but few equals and no superior, in the State. This record bears the 
 impress of more than half a century, and is duly accredited by all with whom she has business 
 intercourse. Her business men are recognized throughout the country as men of established 
 character and probity, whose conservative methods and honest dealing have gained for them the 
 confidence and respect of all who know them. 
 
 Situated in one of the best counties in the State, with a central geographical location, and 
 excelled by none in its agricultural resources, it is not surprising that the town of Eatonton 
 should enjoy a large and most lucrative trade. In substantiation of the foregoing statements, 
 relative to the financial standing of the mercantile markets of Eatonton, one has only to refer 
 to Bradstreet's or Dun's commercial agencies, to ascertain that their commercial rating is high; 
 in fact, as a whole, it is considerably above the average of other towns, throughout Georgia, or 
 the South. This high rating of Eatonton merchants is of incalculable benefit and advantage,
 
 7O TRADE, TRANSPORTATION AND BANKING. 
 
 not only to themselves, but also to their "customers and the entire community of interests 
 touched by them. With an established credit and commercial rating fully known and appre 
 elated by both the small and large markets of the country, they are not restricted in the selec- 
 tion and purchase of their stocks and wares, nor hampered by the restraints imposed by a con. 
 tracted credit; to the contrary, their business is solicited and sought after, by both domestic and 
 foreign dealers, thereby opening to them the choice of the best and cheapest goods produced in 
 the markets of the world, thus enabling them to give to their customers the best product for the 
 least money, realizing a fair and legitimate profit for themselves, and at the same time confer 
 ring upon their customers the inestimable privilege of obtaining the best goods for the least 
 money. 
 
 Hence it is that the merchants of Eatonton have an established advantage in this respect 
 over many of their would-be competitors, and with the clear-sighted policy and generous dealing 
 characteristic of the wise merchant, they make their patrons the participants of this advantage, 
 While this much desired state of affairs exists, it would be an error to suppose that it is the re- 
 sult of accident or any peculiar condition of things, other than that born of pluck, energy and 
 the honest effort to obtain and command success. 
 
 To this end the people of both town and county, aided by the natural advantages afforded 
 them, have harmoniously and systematically wrought together, until, with justifiable pride, com- 
 mendable Zealand the conscious satisfaction resulting from faithful effort, and duty well per- 
 formed, they behold the work of their united efforts crowned with that success which they sc 
 richly deserve, and they can truly pronounce good. 
 
 There are twenty houses in Eatonton who have done, the past five (5) years, an annual re-
 
 RESIDENCE OF [MRS.JE. H. GARRARD. NONA, PUTNAM CO., GA.
 
 SCHOOL AT SALEM ACADEMY, PUTNAM CO., GA.
 
 TRADE, TRANSPORTATION AND BANKING. 73 
 
 tail trade of about $500,000, or say an average of about $25,000 each. They sell every article 
 required by a prosperous community of 15,000 souls. This annual trade of $500,000 represents 
 $33 !~3 P er capita, men, women and children, comprising the population of the county, thereby 
 showing a producing capacity of its citizens, of which its people are justly proud. The aggre- 
 gate total value of the entire property of the county being about $2,000,000, her people make 
 and spend each year, with the retail merchants, a sum equal to 25 per cent, of their whole prop- 
 erty. It must be borne in mind that this amount does not include a large amount expended 
 annually outside of the county; the large amounts in the nature of investments, money expended 
 abroad, and the value of supplies raised at home and consumed by the producer ; all of which 
 adds largely to the producing capacity of the country. 
 
 In view of the foregoing facts, is it not a pertinent question to ask, is it at all surprising! 
 that a county with such a producing capacity, and with a people who annually spend at home 
 an amount equal to 25 per cent, of their whole property, is much appreciated by our merchants 
 as a potential factor in making and sustaining for Eatonton the reputation of being one of the 
 best and most important trade points in the State ? 
 
 B. TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 While the town of Eatonton does not possess altogether the transportation facilities which 
 progessive citizens desire for her, and to which her commercial importance would seem to en- 
 title her, yet the conditions are so much improved in this respect to what they were a few years 
 ago that her people are hopeful and encouraged to believe that the near future will evolve a de- 
 cided improvement on this line. Until within the past four years the town had but one rail- 
 road the Milledgeville and Eatonton Branch extending from Eatonton to Milledgeville, dis-
 
 74 TRADE, TRANSPORTATION AND BANKING. 
 
 tance of twenty-two miles, and operated for years under the management of the Georgia Cen- 
 tral system, with which it now connects. During the past four years another important road 
 has been added, viz.: The Middle Georgia and Atlantic Railway, a line about forty-four miles 
 long, running to Covington, Ga., and connecting with the Georgia Railroad at that point. This 
 is a most important connection for the town of Eatonton and the people of the surrounding 
 country, giving to them another outlet, and supplying a long-felt want to the business necessi- 
 ties of this section. 
 
 The people now feel that they are in close touch with the outside world, and that there is 
 an easy ingress and egress afforded them, not formerly enjoyed. By the present convenient 
 schedules, with four daily passenger trains, one having business in the city of Atlanta, Ga., 
 may breakfast in Eatonton, dine in Atlanta, have several hours for business or pleasure in the 
 city, and return in time for the usual supper hour in Eatonton. The new road runs through one of 
 the most promising sections of the State, and is fast developing the latent energies and resources 
 of a people, which have hitherto remained dormant. This road traverses about ten miles of the 
 best and most fertile portion of the county, lands not only productive, but eligibly located as to 
 schools, churches and other important social features, thereby opening up to the home-seeker 
 one of the most inviting fields in Middle Georgia. 
 
 Located immediately on this line of railway and only three miles from the town of Eaton- 
 ton is one of the finest water powers to be found in the State, whose idle forces are being wasted 
 day by day for the want of capital to develop and utilize its active and far-reaching possibilities. 
 The natural location and environments of this power induce us to believe that the day is not
 
 KKSIDEMCE OF J. T. HOWARD, WILLABD, Pl'TXAM CO., GA.
 
 RKSIDENCK OF SK HI/TON NAIMKR, PUTNAM COUNTY.
 
 TRADE, TRANSPORTATION AND BANKING. 77 
 
 far distant when it will become the site of one of the most active industries in this section of 
 the State. 
 
 Putnam County lands have long been noted for their superior qualities of endurance and liberal 
 response which they make to the intelligent and energetic touch of the husbandman, in almost 
 every line of agricultural products grown in the South ; and both practical and experimental 
 tests have uniformly shown that the laborer can safely count on the soil of Putnam County doing 
 its full duty when he does his part. 
 
 The annual shipments of cotton, the great Southern staple, from this county, are large. 
 The receipts at this point alone have reached as high as 17,000 bales in a single season. The 
 handling of this large product by the railroads is one of the chief sources of revenue to them 
 in the way of outgoing shipments, and during the fall and winter months, it presents a busy and 
 attractive scene. 
 
 C. BANKING. 
 
 Eatonton has two banks, with a combined capital and surplus of $135,000, operating under 
 State charters, having been organized about four years ago. The capital stock of each of these 
 institutions was subscribed, and is owned principally, by the citizens of the town and county 
 and are essentially home institutions, officered and directed by its own people. While the man- 
 agement of both these banks, since their formation, has been eminently conservative and based 
 on rigid business principles, yet the greatest liberality consistent with sound banking, has been 
 extended to their customers and the public generally, and they have been of incalculable benefit 
 in aiding and promoting the private and public welfare of its citizens. 
 
 Each of the corporations are highly esteemed and liberally patronized by their respective
 
 78 TRADE, TRANSPORTATION AND BANKING. 
 
 customers, and they are regarded as essential factors in the upbuilding of the town and county,, 
 and the promotion of the general welfare. The solvent and flourishing condition of the two 
 banks cannot be better shown than by reference to the fact that both of them were organized 
 in the midst of a money famine, and christened during a period of depression, such as this 
 country, with few exceptions, has ever witnessed ; yet in the face of these adverse circum- 
 stances, their growth has been permanent and prominent, and their credit unquestioned at home 
 and abroad. 
 
 A brief review of their four years' work will show that each has added 20 per cent, to its 
 reserve or surplus account, and that each has disbursed to its stockholders in dividends 27 per 
 cent., making 47 per cent, in net earnings by each in a period of four years. The annual dis- 
 counts of the two banks aggregate in round numbers, $250,000. 
 
 These institutions are fast growing in public favor and confidence and are now recognized 
 by the people as public necessities and leading factors in the material make-up and advancement 
 of town and county. Since the establishment of these banks in our midst, the trade interests 
 of our community have in a manner been revolutionized, and the trend of all transactions is 
 in the direction of a cash basis. When this devoutly hoped-for realization is attained, as ulti- 
 mately it will be, then will have been consummated the grand triumph of the cash over the credit 
 system, and both buyer and seller will rejoice in the new order of things, and a material ad- 
 vance in prosperity and independence will be established.
 
 .1. T. DKNNIS. BAHN AND ( ATTI.K. PUTNAM CO., GA.
 
 SKELTOX NAPIEE'S MILL AND CATTLE, PUTNAM COUNTY', GA.
 
 Law and Order. 
 
 BY JUDGE W. F. JENKINS. 
 
 Law is understood to be a rule of conduct. This rule of conduct is supposed to command 
 what is right and to prohibit what is wrong. When the grand object of the law is substantially 
 accomplished, that is, when citizens of a country generally do what is right and abstain from 
 what is wrong, it may be expected that in time, in such country, the highest degree of civiliza- 
 tion will be attained and its natural resources brought to the highest state of development. On 
 the other hand, no country, however unbounded its natural resources, can really become great 
 or desirable as a place of residence where a disregard of law exists, or, in other words, where one 
 man may with impunity trespass upon the rights of another. 
 
 It is the proud boast of the Empire State of the South that no civilized people possess a 
 code of laws more just, humane and beneficent than hers. And while the people of the banner 
 county of this Empire State, if less modest, might boast of their own intelligence and culture 
 and while proud of her generous soil, her genial climate, her splendid timber, her rippling 
 streams and her capacity for supplying almost every product of the soil needed by man or beast, 
 there is nothing of which she is prouder than the fact that nowhere, perhaps, where civiliza- 
 tion has planted her standard is law more reverenced or order more perfect than within her own 
 borders. That this happy condition exists will be readily understood upon a careful considerc- 
 6
 
 82 LAW AND ORDER. 
 
 tion of the facts elsewhere presented with reference to our schools and churches and their nat- 
 ural product, a temperance sentiment, which many years ago culminated in the entire prohibi- 
 tion of the sale of all kinds of liquors in the county. 
 
 It is said that officers are powerless to enforce law in opposition to public sentiment. If 
 this be true, the faithful observance by the people generally and the complete enforcement by 
 the officers of this prohibition law attest the strong and healthy sentiment at its back. But, it 
 is said, facts speak louder than words. A reference to the court records of the county makes 
 assurance doubly sure. With a population of about fifteen thousand and a taxable property 
 amounting to about two millions of dollars in value, including about two hundred and twenty 
 thousand acres of land, the records of the Superior Court, the only court having by law general 
 and appellate jurisdiction, show that during the eight years preceding the present year only 
 eighty-one suits were brought on notes and accounts, four appeals and certioraris from lower 
 courts, nine divorce suits, (one being between white persons and eight between colored) and 
 three damage suits between individuals. Of the 81 suits on notes and accounts about fifty per 
 cent, were brought in closing up the estate of a deceased merchant, consisting largely of paper 
 assets upon which about $150,000 in cash was realized. Most of the remaining fifty per cent, 
 were not litigated and went to judgment by default. This small amount of litigation in eight 
 years demonstrates that our people are not litigious. During the same eight years there were 
 only seventeen colored persons convicted of felony, generally of some low grade, and only two 
 charges of felony were preferred against white people, in each of which there was an acquittal. 
 The semi-annual sessions of the Superior Court for many years have rarely occupied, in actual 
 labor, more than from two to three days each. The white and colored races sustain to each
 
 LAW AND ORDER. 83 
 
 other the most friendly relations. A drunken man upon the streets of Eatonton would excite 
 universal surprise. Many years ago The Sons of Temperance erected at the county site 
 (Eatonton) a handsome two story brick building, known as Temperance Hall, which stands 
 to-day a monument to their wisdom and a reminder of their good work. Perhaps the most con- 
 clusive evidence of the high order of culture and refinement existing in our midst may be found 
 in the almost total disuse of profane and vulgar language by our people. It would be safe, per- 
 haps, to say that not one white citizen in five hundred ever uses a profane or vulgar word upon 
 jhe public streets or at public gatherings of any character. The writer cannot recall when he 
 has heard a white man use language of this character. 
 
 Georgia, as has been stated, boasts of a code of laws just and wise, protecting all of her 
 citizens of every condition alike. They are available in behalf of the rich and the poor, the 
 creditor and the debtor, the employers and the employees, the landlord and the tenant. A very 
 brief summary of the leading provisions intended to protect these several classes will demon- 
 strate the truth of what is claimed for Georgia laws. 
 
 1. In the event of the death of the head of the family provision is made for the support 
 of the widow and minor children for twelve months. The widow is also allowed dower out of 
 the real estate. 
 
 2. In the event of misfortune each head of a family, or guardian, or trustee of a family of 
 minor children and every aged or infirm person or persons having the care and support of 
 dependent females of any age is entitled to a homestead of realty or personalty, or both, of the 
 aggregated value of sixteen hundred dollars to be exempt from levy and sale. This exemption 
 may be waived by contract.]
 
 LITTLE RIVER. Site of old Eatonton Factory, built ip 1833. Within 200 yards of the Railroad. Fall 25 ft.
 
 LAW AND ORDER. 8|> 
 
 3. Creditors are allowed to contract for ample security by mortgage, reservation of title of 
 property sold, etc., on the one hand, while debtors on the other are allowed the freest resort to 
 all legal defenses. The courts by the constitution of the State are thrown open to all alike, 
 and the poorest, without even the payment of costs, -may litigate from the court of the justice 
 of the peace to the court of last resort. 
 
 4. The landlord, upon the one hand, is given a special preferred lien upon the crops of all 
 kinds raised upon his land for the payment of his rent. The tenant, upon the other hand, by reason 
 of this lien, may obtain credit for a home and shelter for his family, however poor he may be. 
 
 5. The employer is released by law from obligation to pay the laborer who, without cause, 
 abandons his contract before its termination, while the faithful laborer who fulfills his contract 
 is given by law a special lien upon the products of his labor and a'general lien upon the other 
 property of the employer for the payment of his wages. All daily, weekly and monthly wages 
 of journeymen, mechanics and day laborers are exempt from process of garnishment. 
 
 6. The owner of improved property, while allowed all legitimate defenses and means of 
 asserting them, upon the one hand, the mechanic, the material man and mason are allowed a 
 superior lien, upon the other hand, upon the property erected or improved, which may be 
 enforced any time within twelve months from the creation of the debt. 
 
 7. Usury is prohibited, imprisonment for debt is forbidden by the constitution, religious 
 services are amply provided for. 
 
 8. Taxation by the State, cities, towns and counties is fixed within certain low limits by 
 the constitution of the State, thus assuring the citizens against profligacy and waste by the 
 taxing forces.
 
 86 
 
 LAW AND ORDER. 
 
 9. The laws of the State are entrusted only to " upright and intelligent " jurors f 
 administration. That our jurors are of this class is demonstrated by the almost universal c< 
 rectness of the verdicts reached by them. 
 
 W. F. JENKINS.
 
 MAP OF PUTNAM COUNTY, GA.
 
 i BUSINESS.
 
 REVIVAL OF BUSINESS.
 
 JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS. 
 
 NOTK. The preceding matter had been arranged for publication, the type 
 ahd been set. and the press was waiting for work, when the widely known 
 Southern author, Joel Chandler Harris, by special request, handed in an 
 article which appears below. Born and reared in the county which we have 
 endeavored, in part, to illustrate in this little pamphlet, and for which he has 
 always shown so great an attachment, it is not surprising that he should con- 
 sent, after a manner, to be associated with his old home friends in this effort 
 to enable others to see Putnam county as we see it. 
 
 Our people feel jrreat pride in the success f Mr. Harris, and fairly claim 
 that his literary achievements are a part of the "resources" of our county. 
 
 "UNCLE REMUS" 
 
 HAS A WORD TO SAY OF PUTNAM AS IT WAS AND IS. 
 
 Uncle Remus met an old 
 Putnam county man on the 
 street the other day, when 
 something like the follow- 
 ing talk ensued : 
 
 " Marse Dave, dey tells 
 me dat our folks gwineter 
 git out a sho' nuff book 
 'bout what we all got down 
 dar." 
 
 "Well, not a book, precisely, but a neat little pamphlet." 
 The old man shook his head. 
 
 " I don't see how dat kin be, kaze ef dey aint gwine to get out 
 a book, howde name er goodness kin dey tell what we all got down 
 
 UNCLE ;REMUS."
 
 UNCLE REMUS HAS A WORD TO SAY ABOUT PUTNAM COUNTY. QI 
 
 dar ? I boun' you, right now, dat I kin set down on dish yer water-plug an' fling my head back 
 an' shet my eyes an' tell mo' 'bout Putmon county dan what you kin put in two books. How 
 you gwine ter collapse her up so dat she'l go in one er deze pamphlys ? " 
 
 " Well, some of your old friends down there have written little articles, and they are to be 
 put in a paper pamphlet. But it will be a pretty one. Mr. Hunt "- 
 
 " Gentermen ! " interrupted Uncle Remus, " dat ar man sholy is got fine cows. Down dar 
 fo' de war we aint had no fine cows like dat. One time Mass Billy Edmondson had forty-eleven 
 cows all milkin' at one time, an' dey didn't give but 'bout sixteen gallons er milk a day an* 
 dem ar cows wuz in about de best in de county." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Hunt is going to write about the dairy, and all about the fine cows." Here the 
 old man gave a grunt of satisfaction, and his Marse Dave went on to enumerate the names of 
 all the gentlemen who had contributed to the pamphlet, and the subjects, some of which Uncle 
 Remus did not understand. When Dr. Nisbet's name was reached he said : 
 
 " Dat ar man sholy do know how to give folks truck fer der ailnesses. I wuz gwine 'long 
 de street one day, jest er gruntin' an' grumblin', and he tuck en call me in his office an' cut off 
 de red flannel string what I had on my arm, an' den he gi' me a bottle er truck what tas'e like 
 dat ar gallwood an' worms what you read about. Arter dat de aches in de jints quit der hurtin' 
 an' I aint never had none twel 'long about year 'fo' last." 
 
 But at the end of it all, there was a dissatisfied look on Uncle Remus' face, so much so, 
 that the gentleman to whom he was talking asked him what the trouble was. 
 
 " Marse Dave," he said quite seriously, "aint dey nothin' 'tall in dat are pamphly 'bout de 
 blackjack possums what dey ketch down dar on de river, rangin' you may say fnm de Turner
 
 92 UNCLE REMUS HAS A WORD TO SAY ABOUT PUTNAM COUNTY. 
 
 plantation ter de Kinch Little place ?" When told that such a thing would be out of order, he 
 shook his head, saying : "Wheat bread mighty good, dey aint no 'sputin' dat, but its lots bet- 
 ter wid de gravy. Look like ter me dat folks 'd like ter know whar ter git ginnywine black- 
 jack possum mo' speshually folks what knowns 'zackly what dey want when dey gits hongry. 
 I kin shet my eyes right tight an' tas'e de blackjack possum right now." 
 
 *' I'm sorry about the 'possum," said the gentleman, "but it can't be helped now." 
 " Oh, I know'd you couldn't git in eve'ything 'bout Putmon county. You may set down 
 an' write an' write, but folks can't tell nothin' 'tall 'bout a place like dat twel dey go dar an' see 
 wid der own eyes an' hear wid der own years. I been wishin' I wuz back dar dis many a lone- 
 some day. Tell 'em all howdy down dar when you see "em." 
 With that the old man sighed and went off down the street. 
 
 JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.
 
 1352 acres 3 miles West Of Eatontpn, on the waters of Little River and 
 Glady Creek 500 acres in cultivation, 100 of it being in bottom land seldom over- 
 flowed. A fine location for stock farm. Now has twelve plows making Cotton, Corn, 
 etc. Water good, healthy locality, good neighbors. Adjoining waterpower of old 
 factory and Buckner's Wheat and Grist Mill. Plenty of house room; public road 
 through the place; one-quarter of a mile from M. G. & A. R. R. Tree growth oak, 
 hickory and pine. 
 
 41 7 acres 6 miles West Of EatontOn, mostly upland, but well watered. 
 Land red and gray, suitable for Corn, Cotton, Wheat, Oats, Fruit, etc. Has good 
 two-story, six-room house, besides houses for tenants, within a mile of school and 
 church; good neighbors, good water, healthy locality; is on pu lie road one mil* 
 from M. G. & A. R. R. Tree growth oak, hickory, pine, etc. 
 
 225 acres 8 miles SOUth-West Of EatontOn, on public road. Land-red 
 and gray. Two horse farm now in Corn, Cotton, etc. Land, high, rolling, but not 
 hilly; good neighborhood; near school, church and mills. Tree growth pines. 
 Houseroom sufficient. ' 
 
 22O acres 13 miles south-west of Eatonton and 6 miles 
 
 east Of HillsborO, on M. G. & A. R. R. Land red and gray, level, suitable 
 for Corn, Cotton, etc. Good water; locality healthy; two horse farm in cultivation. 
 Tree growth oak, hickory, pine. Enough house room for tenants. 
 
 2OO acres 1 O miles east Of EatOntpn, on public road. Soil red and gray. 
 Water good; good neighbors; healthy location; good school one mile away. Has one 
 horse farm now in cultivation of Corn, Cotton, etc. Tree growth, principally pine. 
 
 1 56 acres 6 miles north Of EatontOn in good neighborhood. Land gray, 
 slightly rolling; has two horse farm in Cotton, Corn, etc. Healthy locality, one- 
 half mile from public road. Tree growth Oak and pine. 
 
 567 acres 7 miles north-west of Eatonton and known as 
 
 PearSOn Place. Land slightly rolling, grey and red; well watered, suitable 
 for Corn, Cotton, Wheat, Oats, Fruit, etc. 300 acres open, 150 in cultivation thi 
 year. Tree growth is oak, hickory pine, etc. Hus large eight room, two story 
 house, besides houses for tenants; is a splendid home on a good road 1% miles 
 fromM. G. & A. R. R., and has church and school. 
 
 1 5O acres 7} miles north-west of Eatonton, known as Head 
 
 Place. Land gray, with some red, suitable for Corn, Cotton, Fruit, etc.; a con- 
 siderable part of it in Cotton, Corn, etc., this year; has an eight room, two story 
 house, besides houses for tenants. Good water, healthy locality. Tree growth oak, 
 hickory and pine. Only one mile from M. G. & A. R. R., by nearly level road, conve- 
 nient to church and school. 
 
 FOR ANY OR ALL. OF THESE LANDS, APPL.Y TO 
 
 ROBERT YOUNG, Eatonton, da.
 
 For Sale 1,400 Aeres 
 
 OF FINE PUTNAM CO. RIVER LANDS 
 situated on the Oconee River and Rooty 
 Creek. Three or four hundred acres of fine 
 river and creek bottoms well set in Bermuda 
 grass ; some fine meadows, good six-room 
 dwelling, large barn, gin house, twenty-five 
 tenants and servants' houses, five good settle- 
 ments ; also, large store house and good trade 
 to the store ; a well improved and desirable 
 place. Price $6.00 per acre. Will take pleas- 
 ure in showing the place. 
 
 W. G. ARMOR, GREENESBORO, GA. 
 
 For Sale 1,000 Aeres 
 
 OF FINE FARM LANDS one mile from Dennis 
 Station, in this county, near church and public 
 school. Would make a grand peach or grape 
 farm. Price, $5.00 per acre. Location worth the 
 price. Come and inspect it. 
 
 Also, 400 acres of fresh and new land, extra fine, 
 one-fourth mile from Dennis Station ; near church 
 and public schools. Will grow anything that 
 will grow in middle Georgia. Well and beauti- 
 fully terraced ; in a high state of cultivation. 
 Will take $15.00 per acre ; worth $25.00 acre. 
 Address R. R. & W. T. GARRARD, 
 
 EATONTON, GA. 
 
 W. T. DAVISON, 
 
 LAWYER, 
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 Will practice in the courts of Putnam and ad- 
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 SOUTHEASTERN BOOK DEPOSITORY 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
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