48 RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ALABAMA. 



Ida, Virginia, Mississippi and Tennessee, in the order named, 

 and the average resident lived about 49 miles from his 

 birthplace. 



In 1906 the leading religious denominations among the 

 white population were Baptist, M. E. South, Primitive Bap- 

 tist, Church of Christ, and Methodist Protestant ; and among 

 the negroes, Baptist, A. M. E., A. M. E. Zion, and Cumber- 

 land Presbyterian. 



In 1910 the percentage of illiteracy for the whole popu- 

 lation over 10 years old was 21.2, or a little less than the 

 State average. 



The largest cities, with their population in 1910, are as 

 follows. Troy, 4,961; Enterprise, 2,322; Ozark, 2,229; Lu- 

 verne, 1,384; Abbeville, 1,141; Clayton, 1,130; Headland, 

 1,090; Elba, 1,079. All these have electric lights, water- 

 works, newspaper, etc., and together they increased in pop- 

 ulation over 50 per cent between 1900 and 1910. 



The leading railroad is the Atlantic Coast Line (for- 

 merly Alabama Midland, Abbeville Southern, Southwest 

 Alabama, etc.), and the only other of importance in this 

 region is the Central of Georgia. At the present time there 

 are several lines of automobiles making regular trips from 

 Luverne, Elba and Dothan to other towns with which they 

 are not directly connected by rail. 



AGRICULTURE. 



In ante-bellum days agriculture was comparatively un- 

 developed here, as already shown by the sparse population 

 and small proportion of negroes. In 1850 about 6 per cent 

 of the area was under cultivation, but this more than dou- 

 bled in the next decade, and reached 43 per cent in 1910. 

 The progress of agriculture in 60 years and its status in 

 1910 are shown by Tables 6 to 8. 



As in the western division, the scale of farming opera- 

 tions was increasing rapidly just before the Civil War, and 

 since then the tendency has been in the opposite direction. 

 The percentage of improved land in the total area (and 

 therefore the number of farms) has increased more rapidly 

 than in the western division, this increase being due largely 

 to discoveries of fertilizing materials in Germany, Chile, 

 South Carolina, Florida, etc., since the middle of the last 

 century, as will be explained farther on. 



