336 



GEOEGIA. 



year, 814,441 bales of cotton on 2,617,138 

 acres. The average production per acre is high- 

 est in upper Georgia, and decreases through 

 middle and lower Georgia. The following are 

 the chief cotton counties : 



Burke, 29,172 bales; Washington, 23,058; 

 Houston, 19,099 ; Troup, 18,655 ; Coweta, 16,- 

 282; Meriwether, 15,154; Hancock, 15,010; 

 Floyd, 14,545 ; Jefferson, 13,377 ; and Cobb, 

 13,092 bales. This list comprises all the coun- 

 ties that produced more than 13,000 bales. 

 Bartow, Greene, Gwinnett, Harris, Henry, 

 Monroe, Oglethorpe, Pike, Stewart, Sumter, 

 Talbot, Walton, and Wilkes, are each credited 

 with more than 10,000, but less than 13,000 

 bales. 



In the manufacture of cotton Georgia had 

 200,974 spindles, employing 6,678 hands, and 

 using 67,874 bales. 



The average production of wheat was only 

 6'64 bushels per acre, and of corn 11 bushels. 

 It appears from the census that the chief corn- 

 producing counties were Burke, 505,290 bush- 

 els ; Gwinnett, 470,409 bushels ; Washington, 

 411,499 bushels; Cobb, 406,730 bushels; and 

 Floyd, 405,290. The product of the State was 

 23,202,018 bushels, from 2,538,733 acres of 

 land. 



Of oats, Brooks produced 163,862 bushels; 

 Thomas, 158,467; Wilkes, 133,277; Houston, 

 121,261; Coweta, 106,331; Lowndes, 102,276. 

 The product of the State was 5,548,743 bushels, 

 and the. acreage 612,788. 



The production of rye in the State was small, 

 although well distributed, nearly every county 

 adding something to the crop. Union contrib- 

 uted 9,132 bushels; Fannin, 8,050; Rabun, 

 6,811; Towns, 6,669; Washington, 5,456, and 

 Wilkinson, 3,790. In the State, 101,716 bush- 

 els were grown on 25,854 acres. 



The foremost wheat county of the State was 

 Bartow. Its product was 131,935 bushels. 

 Then come Gordon with 113,222 bushels; Cobb, 

 80,617; Coweta, 77,075 ; Carroll, 74,826 ; and 

 Gwinnett, 74,795. The State produced 3,159,- 

 771 bushels. The acreage was 475,684. 



ISTo coal was mined in Georgia in 1869, but 

 in 1880 about 100,000 tons were produced. 



In the latest report of the Commissioner of 

 Public Schools, issued during the year, there 

 is a summary of the school-work of the State 

 since the foundation of its school system, as 

 follows: 



In 1871, white pupils, 42,914; colored, 6,664 ; 

 total, 49,579. In 1873, white, 63,922 ; colored, 

 19,755 ; total, 83,677; increase over the attend- 

 ance of 1871, 34,099. In 1874, white, 93,167 ; 

 colored, 42,374; total, 135,541; increase over 

 the attendance of 1873, 51,864. In 1875, white, 

 105,990; colored, 50,385; total, 156,394; in- 

 crease over the attendance of 1874, 20,808. In 

 1876, white, 121,418; colored, 57,987; total, 

 179,405 ; increase over the attendance of 1875, 

 23,011. In 1877, white, 128,296 ; colored, 62,- 

 330; total, 190,626; increase over the attend- 

 ance of 1876,- 11,221. In 1878, white, 137,217; 



colored, 72,655 ; total, 209,872 ; increase over 

 the attendance in 1877, 19,246. In 1879, white, 

 147,192; colored, 79,435; total, 226,627; in- 

 crease over the attendance in 1878, 16,755. In 

 1880, white, 150,134; colored, 86,429; total, 

 236,663 ; increase over the attendance in 1879, 

 9,936. 



The work of 1880 was accomplished on an 

 appropriation by the State of only $185,789, 

 or much less than one dollar a scholar. The 

 county school commissioners received in addi- 

 tion to this sum about $160,000 the net pro- 

 ceeds of the poll-tax, making the total amount 

 paid by the people toward the support of 

 schools $315,748, or seventy -three cents a 

 head of the school population, $1.39 of the 

 enrollment, and $2.39 of the average attend- 

 ance. Commissioner Orr estimated that the 

 receipts on account of the liquor-tax might 

 swell the State appropriation of the current 

 year to $380,000, which would be about eighty- 

 eight cents for each child in the State within 

 the school ages. The appropriations of certain 

 cities and counties that maintain schools under 

 local laws amount to about $150,000 making 

 the total appropriation in the State toward the 

 maintenance of public schools $530,000. The 

 school population is 433,444. 



The railroads of Georgia are 2,616 miles 

 long, and cost $49,676,723. The capital stock 

 stands at $31,380,615 ; the funded debt at 

 $23,033,200, and other debts at $1,103,527 

 total, $55,517,342. The Georgia roads earned 

 in 1880 $8,419,626, the net earnings being 

 $3,429,013, of which $1,051,111 was paid out 

 as interest on bonds, and $1,619,936 as divi- 

 dends on stock. Several important railroad 

 enterprises connected with the State were ini- 

 tiated during the year. 



The Cincinnati and Georgia syndicate was 

 organized in New York in May, with a capital 

 of $16,000,000. The company purchased the 

 Macon and Brunswick system in Georgia ; the 

 Selma, Rome, and Dalton in Alabama ; the East 

 Tennessee and Virginia in the States named, 

 and a lease of the Memphis and Charleston, 

 and will build at a cost of about $7,000,000 

 several lines of road to connect the purchased 

 properties into one system. The work on the 

 connections was at once begun, and when 

 finished will give the syndicate a cart-wheel 

 system, the hub being at Chattanooga and the 

 spokes penetrating the richest sections of the 

 South in five directions, and finding termini at 

 Bristol, in Tennessee, the Mississippi River at 

 Memphis, at Meridian, where the Southwestern 

 roads end, and the Atlantic Ocean at Bruns- 

 wick and Savannah. 



The Georgia Pacific syndicate was organized 

 to build from Atlanta to Birmingham, Ala- 

 bama, through the coal and iron fields of 

 Alabama, heretofore virtually impenetrated, 

 and thence to the Mississippi River. General 

 John B. Gordon, who resigned his senatorship 

 to give himself to such enterprises, is president 

 of the company. 





