GEORGIA. 



371 



decreased $500 each ; the contingent fund has 

 been cut down from $20,000 to $10,000, and 

 the printing fund from $15,000 to $8,000 ; and 

 clerical expenses of every description have been 

 made less. 



The act above mentioned which authorizes 

 towns and cities to compromise their debts 

 was passed mainly for the benefit of the city 

 of Savannah. The city had made a compro- 

 mise with its creditors, and desired legislation 

 to make it more effective. A general law was 

 therefore passed, for as a local law it would 

 not have been acted upon until the July ses- 

 sion. Of the city's debt, $400,000 had been 

 held in Baltimore; and, although suits had 

 been commenced on the coupons, the com- 

 promise was readily accepted by the bond- 

 holders. 



The report of the Committee on the Peni- 

 tentiary was made a few days before the re- 

 cess. They called attention to the large num- 

 ber of escapes and the mortality. The mor- 

 tality ranges from 10 per cent, per month to 

 16 per cent, per annum ; men and women are 

 chained together; there are 25 children, from 

 three months to five years old. The lease sys- 

 tem they regard, at the best, as a bad one. 

 The State should appoint some agent to stand 

 between the convict and the lessee. 



The reports from the State Agricultural De- 

 partment make a very favorable representa- 

 tion of the crops, and improvement in 1878. 

 The corn crop, compared with 1877, shows an 

 increase in the whole State of 10*6 to 10*7 

 bushels per acre. Southeast Georgia alone 

 showed a decrease. Cotton, as compared 

 with 1877, shows an increase of 12 per cent, 

 for the whole State. Southeast Georgia also 

 shows a decrease in this staple. The yield of 

 sugar-cane is largely in excess of 1877, being 

 239 gallons per acre against 159, and the sup- 

 ply of home-raised pork is 8 per cent, greater 

 than the previous year. . The returns of the 

 past year show that the farming interests have 

 improved, and 83 per cent, of a full supply of 

 provisions is on hand. Excepting in North 

 and Middle Georgia, the reports are invariably 

 of an enhanced condition. Of the total in- 

 debtedness of farmers the reports of the aver- 

 age of the estimates are : In North Georgia, 

 89 per cent. ; Middle Georgia, 97 ; Southwest 

 Georgia, 74 ; East Georgia, 83 ; Southeast 

 Georgia, 96 ; in the State, 88. These figures 

 have no reference to the actual indebtedness 

 of the several sections as compared with each 

 other, but exhibit only the indebtedness of 

 each as compared to the last winter. The list 

 of debts demonstrates that the status of farm- 

 ing has been raised in the preceding twelve 

 months. Economy has ruled more closely 

 than ever, and many planters in Southwest 

 Georgia who have been struggling with debt 

 for years have succeeded in paying off, not- 

 withstanding the low price of cotton. The 

 Commissioner estimates the number of sheep 

 in the State at 430,000, and the number of dogs 



at 150,000. In 1875 nearly 30,000 sheep were 

 killed by dogs. Senator Gordon stated to a 

 public meeting in Boston that the farmers of 

 Georgia were largely engaged in sheep-grow- 

 ing, for which the soil and climate were pecu- 

 liarly adapted. They had lands in Georgia 

 worth 45 cents an acre, in tracts 100 miles 

 long and 60 or 70 miles wide, covered with 

 tall pine-trees, with no undergrowth. The 

 ground was covered with a dense grass, upon 

 which sheep fed at all seasons of the year. 

 There are men realizing a clear profit of be- 

 tween 67 and 90 per cent, in sheep-growing on 

 these lands. They pay no attention to the 

 sheep, which are turned out in the spring, and 

 are not seen by the owners again until shearing- 

 time next year. What could not be done with 

 such land as that, and a climate like theirs, 

 where snow never falls, where the country is 

 rolling, open, and perfectly healthy! And 

 when you have put sheep on the land you have 

 solved the problem of the production of rye, 

 barley, oats, and wool. During the war this 

 section was called the Egypt of the South. 



In 1876 the returns of wild land in the State 

 showed 7,033,447 acres, valued at 26 cents per 

 acre. In 1877 there were returned 6,533,710 

 acres at an average value of 26 cents per acre. 

 In 1878 the number of acres returned was 

 7,582,323, at an average value of 22 cents per 

 acre, being an increase over 1877 of 1,048,613 

 acres. 



Considerable investments of capital were 

 made in 1878 in the gold-mining region of 

 North Georgia, especially in the neighborhood 

 of Dahlonega. The yield of gold was fairly 

 profitable, and greater results are anticipated, 

 as the mines are now well opened. The por- 

 tion of Northeast Georgia which embraces 

 the main developments in gold-mining, and 

 the most striking characteristics of mountain, 

 valley, and waterfall in the State, lies within 

 Cherokee, Forsyth, Hall, Dawson, Lumpkin, 

 White, and Habersham Counties, a belt about 

 100 miles long and 30 miles wide, north of and 

 immediately along the Atlanta and Charlotte 

 Air- Line Railroad. This region was the favor- 

 ite part of the Cherokees' reservation, and to 

 the eye it seems that no region on the globe 

 can surpass it in extent and variety of beau- 

 tiful views. The vision can here frequently 

 sweep unbroken for more than a hundred miles 

 over the most noble landscapes. 



An examination of the Savannah River with 

 the view to its future improvement shows that 

 for 150 miles above Savannah, and to within 

 12 miles of the point where the Atlanta and 

 Richmond Air-Line Railway crosses the stream, 

 it can be made navigable for steamboats at a 

 small cost. The total value of the foreign ex- 

 ports from Savannah during the year ending 

 August 31, 1878, was $18,552,634. The value 

 of imports during the same period was $502,- 

 574. The tonnage of the port for the same 

 period was 1,134,327 tons, and the number of 

 vessels 1,301. 



