GEORGIA. 



341 



them, see that the prisoners are properly fed, 

 clothed, and housed, and that they are not 

 inhumanly worked or otherwise ill-treated. 

 Adequate provision is made for the medical 

 treatment of the sick, and it is the duty of the 

 assistant keeper of the Penitentiary to visit 

 each camp every month and make a detailed 

 report, under oath, as to its condition. The 

 average number of convicts thus leased is 

 twelve hundred, eight tenths of whom are ne- 

 groes. The death-rate is rather under 1 per 

 cent ; of reconvicted criminals the rate is about 

 4 per cent. In two years only twenty-six have 

 escaped. Their diet for the daily ration con- 

 sists of | pound of bacon, two pounds of bread, 

 one pint of sirup, with vegetables in their sea- 

 son, and peas, turnips, and potatoes in winter, 

 and beef and mutton when procurable instead 

 of bacon. Their clothing consists of four suits 

 of clothes two summer and two winter two 

 pairs of shoes, and a hat or cap. They are 

 compelled to bathe and change their under- 

 clothing once a week. The bedding is a cotton 

 mattress, with sufficient blankets. The build- 

 ings in which they are sheltered are as good 

 as the ordinary cabins on plantations. On 

 October 20, 1882, the number of convicts was 

 1,243; of these, 112 are white males, 1 white 

 female, 1,100 colored males, and 30 colored fe- 

 males. The oldest convict is seventy-eight and 

 the youngest twelve years. The annual income 

 derived by the State from the lease of the con- 

 victs is $25,000. Out of this sum are paid the 

 salaries of the principal and assistant keepers 

 of the Penitentiary, and of the physician, and 

 the traveling expenses for the monthly inspec- 

 tion of the camps. The principal keeper rec- 

 ommends the expenditure of the entire rental 

 for the religious and moral instruction of the 

 convicts. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ETC. This 

 branch of the State government consists of a 

 Commissioner, assistant, three clerks, a chem- 

 ist, two Inspectors of Fertilizers at Augusta, 

 one at Atlanta, one at Columbus, one at Macon, 

 and one at Brunswick, and one Superintend- 

 ent of Fisheries. Since its organization, and 

 the establishment of the State College of Agri- 

 culture, farming has received a surprising im- 

 petus. The light of science and experiment 

 has been shed upon the vital subject of soil- 

 production, and the result has been an advance 

 which the farmers of twenty-five years ago 

 would have deemed impossible. In the in- 

 creased use and demand for improved farm 

 implements ; in the more systematic and eco- 

 nomical management of the farms ; in the 

 more thorough preparation of the soil, and in 

 the cultivation and harvesting of crops; and 

 in the largely increased acreable production, 

 this advance within the past few years is as 

 great as it is encouraging. The present sys- 

 tem of inspection and analysis of commercial 

 fertilizers has been of incalculable benefit in 

 the protection it gives the farmer against the 

 purchase of fraudulent and worthless com- 



pounds. During the season of 1880-'81 there 

 were inspected 152,404 tons of fertilizers; 

 and during the season of 1881-'82, 125,427 

 tons, a decrease of 26,977 tons, mainly attribu- 

 table to the more intelligent and economical 

 use of cotton-seed, and of the other manurial 

 resources of the farm, and also to a closer 

 study and practice of the art of agriculture, so 

 long beneficially practiced in other countries. 

 During the year 1880-'81, the net receipts in 

 the State Treasury from the fees for the inspec- 

 tion of fertilizers, after deducting all the ex- 

 penses, were $64,060.23; and for the year 

 1881-'82, $50,251.32. The average of ammo- 

 niated fertilizers for 1881-' 82 was: Available 

 phosphoric acid, 10 - 20 ; ammonia, 2 - 48 ; pot- 

 ash, 1*58 ; and the average of non-ammoniated 

 fertilizers was: Available phosphoric acid, 

 12-48; and potash, T05. Previous to 1877, 

 when the present system was established, the 

 fees arising from the inspection were the per- 

 quisites of the inspectors ; now the inspectors 

 are paid a fixed salary of $1,200. One of the 

 most noteworthy facts in the recent improve- 

 ments in economical agriculture is the develop- 

 ment of the value of cotton- seed. Its chief 

 value as a fertilizer is the large percentage of 

 the nitrogen it contains. This is all retained by 

 the system of composting with stable-manure 

 and acid phosphate ; the latter, from the large 

 percentage it contains of sulphate of lime, pre- 

 venting the escape of the ammonia evolved in 

 decomposition. It is estimated that the cot- 

 ton-crop of Georgia, raised on 2,617,138 acres, 

 amounts to 814,441 bales, yielding, at 900 

 pounds per bale, 366,498 tons of cotton-seed. 

 Deducting from this amount 78,464 for plant- 

 ing, 288,034 tons remain for use as manure or 

 for stock-food. These, at $10 per ton, are 

 worth $2,880,340. The oil which could be ex- 

 tracted from this number of tons of seed would 

 sell for $3,528,416 ; the lint which remains on 

 the seed is worth $443,572; the oil-cake, or 

 meal, is worth $2,016,240, and the ash of the 

 hulls, $60,480, making a total value of the 

 whole surplus crop of seed produced in the 

 State, after reserving a liberal quantity for 

 planting, $6,048,888, showing the increase in 

 value of the manipulated as compared with 

 the green seed to be $3,168,548. Farmers 

 who sell their seed to the oil-mills at $10 per ton 

 are thus losing annually over $3,000,000. An 

 effort is being made to induce the Legislature 

 to appropriate sufficient money to equip and 

 operate one or more experimental stations in 

 the State, to conduct experiments in fertiliza- 

 tion, culture, stock-breeding, stock - feeding, 

 improvement of seeds, tests of machinery, and 

 particularly to carry on purely scientific in- 

 vestigations bearing upon practical agricul- 

 ture. The State Agricultural Society has a 

 large membership which represents the county 

 societies. It meets in February and August 

 every year, and exercises a great influence in 

 the promotion of agricultural reforms and in 

 the diffusion of valuable information. 



