766 ALABAMA 



(peaches and nectarines, $1,055,971; apples, $620,745). O January I, 1912 there were 

 on farms 143,000 horses, 265,000 mules. 396,000 milch cows, 540,000 other neat cattle, 

 140,000 sheep and 1,533,000 swine. 



Besides the staple fruit crops, especially peaches, the Alabama farmers have recently 

 experimented with pecans, Japanese persimmons, Satsuma oranges (usually planted with 

 pecan trees) etc., and many cotton farmers are turning to horticulture or truck-raising 

 because of the advance of the boll-weevil. The same cause tends to promote the selection 

 of hardier cotton and more scientific methods of cultivation. The Alabama experiment 

 station at Tuskegee in 1911 and 1912 carried on important studies in feeding beef-cattle 

 and swine; it has bred two new varieties of cotton, notably "Carver's hybrid," and had 

 experimented with Indian corn to produce a breed which will resist weevil. There is a state 

 department of agriculture and industries, and a board of agriculture (established in 1911) 

 supervises appropriations for farm demonstration work. County commissioners are au- 

 thorised to appropriate funds for farm demonstration work or "farm life clubs" in counties 

 where such work has been undertaken by Federal or state authorities. 



Minerals. Natural gas and petroleum were discovered at Fayette in the W. part of 

 the Warrior coal field, early in 1909, when gas was found 475 ft. below the surface. Wells 

 drilled early in 1910 some 2,200 ft. deep had varying success. The field is undeveloped 

 and the find has not yet been of commercial importance. In 1911 the total value of mineral 

 products was $28,005,278. The largest items were: coal, 15,021,421 tons, valued at $19,- 

 079,949, nearly 10% less than in 1910, but ranking Alabama 5th in the Union; and iron, 

 1,617,150 tons (pig), worth $17,379,171 (not included in total given above), more than a 

 quarter less than the value in 1910, and 3,955,582 tons of ore ($4,876,106; 3d in the United 

 States). The Woodward mine with 502,471 tons of ore ranked I7th of the iron mines of 

 the country. Clay products, $1,947,102 a slight increase over 1910. Mineral waters were 

 reported sold from IO springs (3 in Mobile county), and a little mica is found. 



Manufactures. In 1909 the number of establishments was 3,398 (in 1904, 1,882, the in- 

 crease being largely in saw mills and timber plants) ; the number of persons engaged in manu- 

 facturing was 81,972, of whom 72,148 were wage earners; the invested capital was $173,180,- 

 ooo; and the value of products, 145,962,000. Among the more important manufactures 

 were: lumber and timber products (mostly yellow pine), including the output of planing- 

 mills and wooden packing boxes, $26,058,000; cotton goods, including small wares, 

 822,212,000; cotton-seed oil and cake, $9,178,000, ranking the state 6th in this industry; 

 iron and steel blast furnaces, $21,236,000; foundry and machine-shop products, $11,550,000, 

 and iron and steel, not separately reported; coke, $8,843,000; steam railway cars and shop 

 construction, $7,528,000; fertilisers. $6,423,000 ($2,159,000) Alabama ranking 7th in ferti- 

 lisers; flour and grist mill products, $2,779,000; printing and publishing, $2,768,000; and tur- 

 pentine and rosin, $2,472,000 Alabama ranking 3rd in this industry. 



The principal manufacturing cities were: Birmingham ($24,128,000, nearly of the state's 

 total and including 45 % of the state's foundry and machine-shop products) ; Bessemer 

 (6,106,000); Montgomery ($5,442,000); Mobile ($5,429,000), and Anniston ($4,333,000). 



Transportation. Railway mileage, January i, 1912,5,295.11 m. Under the Federal 

 River and Harbor Act of 1910 work was begun on making a 4 ft. depth in the Alabama and 

 Coosa rivers to Wetumpka and on the 27 ft. channel (200-300 ft. wide) in Mobile harbour, 

 to be finished about 1914; on the Warrior and Tombigbee rivers, three locks, in addition to 13 

 formerly built in a series of 17, were practically completed in 1911-12. The legislature has 

 created a state highway commission, authorised to administer for good roads an annual 

 appropriation of $154,000, which may be increased at the option of the governor by not 

 more than $4000 a year for each county appropriating an equal amount. 



Government. The quadrennial regular session of the legislature was held January 

 to April 1911. A state court of appeals of three members (salary, $5,000), elected for 

 six years, was created, to relieve the supreme court and to have final jurisdiction in 

 certain minor cases. A constitutional amendment prohibiting the sale or possession of 

 liquor was defeated at a special election, November 29, 1910. The strict prohibitionist 

 legislation of 1907 and 1908 (in effect January i, 1909) was replaced by the Parks local 

 (county) option bill (Feb. 21, 1911), which provides that counties may vote not only 

 for or against the sale of liquor but whether liquor shall be sold by dispensary, and 

 prohibits the sale of intoxicating liquor except within the corporate limits of cities or 

 towns which continually employ at least one policeman. This law was held constitu- 

 tional by the state courts in 1912, when it was attacked by the Anti-Saloon League. 

 Under this law 15 counties voted in 1911 and 2 in 1912: 9 for no licence, 7 for licence 

 and i for a county dispensary. The Smith Bill (1911) regulates strictly the licensed 

 sale of liquor, forbidding it between n P.M. and 6 A.M. and limiting the number of saloons 

 in incorporated places according to population. 



