Part 4

I had always been interested in the problem of irrigation. Many years ago, a Mr. H. S. Orme moved from Milledgeville to Los Angeles, California. When on a return visit of Mr. Orme, I asked him what was the most wonderful thing he had seen in the West. He replied that which most impressed him was the fact that on a piece of land watered by irrigation such splendid fruit and vegetables were raised that it was worth five hundred dollars an acre; adjoining this tract was land which could be bought for one dollar per acre because it could not be reached by water. This showed the great value of water, both pieces of land being of the same fertility.

There is no section of Georgia that is arid, but a large section of southern Georgia is subject to prolonged summer drouths, when the crops burn badly, sometimes being totally destroyed. It is good land and with the help of commercial fertilizer and water could make over one hundred bushels of corn and two bales of cotton to the acre. This section is geologically in the tertiary system and I believe that in it artesian water is everywhere obtainable.

I was so impressed with these facts and my belief in the underground waters of the State was so strong, that I determined, if I were ever financially able, to make a practical demonstration of what could be done in this section by the help of irrigation from an artesian well.

In late years, with much difficulty and limited means, I have illustrated the truth of my theory. I have, ten miles from Albany, a plantation known as Tompkins. The land is good and well suited to my purpose. On this plantation I determined to make an irrigation plant. With difficulty, in spite of accidents, I succeeded in boring a well five hundred and fifty feet deep. From a pipe six feet above ground there now flow thirty-five thousand gallons per day. This now fills a reservoir which holds four hundred thousand gallons. This reservoir is about four feet above the field to be irrigated. I was financially unable to make a cement reservoir which would have cost between three and four thousand dollars. I made a cheap substitute of sand and clay at the cost of about one hundred dollars. I plastered the sides and bottom of my reservoir with sand and clay, and which I had mixed by dragging a log back and forth across it. The log acted as a trowel, and made the reservoir perfectly water-tight.

This reservoir now irrigates a field of fourteen acres. On this tract I have for the last three years averaged per acre two bales of cotton, and over one hundred and fifty bushels of corn, and over four hundred bushels of fine onions.

Mr. Milo Williams, a United States irrigation engineer, on looking over my plant, said that this large section of Georgia was worth from three hundred to five hundred dollars per acre, that is, if the water supply was equal to what I believe it to be, and if the availability of the water became generally known. He said, too, that this land compared favorably with lands that were selling at that price in the irrigated section of the far West. The United States Department of Agriculture was interested in my work and gave me practical advice on the irrigation of my field, but on account of some technicality in the irrigation appropriation I was given very little financial assistance. I had hoped that the Department would take up my idea and do some developing on a large scale as they have done in the West.

I wish again to state more fully my reasons for my confidence in the possible development of the underground resources of Georgia--a matter I believe most important. There is a surface geological formation called eocene commencing near Dublin in Laurens County, extending in a southwesterly direction through the counties of Pulaski, Dooly, Sumter, Lee, Dougherty, Early, and Decatur, across a narrow strip of West Florida. I feel confident that under this formation flows a great river with collateral branches which comes to the surface at Wakulla Springs. Wherever this eocene formation is clear and distinct I believe an artesian well may be obtained, and that my well taps that great underground river.

There are other underground waterways taking different directions and different surface formation that flow under southern Georgia and Florida. There is a large quantity of fresh water that comes up in the Gulf of Mexico near Cedar Keys, Florida, another in the Atlantic Ocean at Sheep Island, near Brunswick, Georgia. Brunswick has excellent artesian wells.

I believe in the future this water power will be developed for irrigation. It will not require much capital, if the inexpensive furrow system of irrigation is employed, and the well once obtained is permanently there. I picture that part of the State prospering with the raising of cereals and cattle. There will be beautiful farms and comfortable homes. Thus showing that adding water to the other bounties of nature, this land can yield abundant crops with the aid of the wisdom and industry of man.

We shall now turn our attention to my work in fruit growing in northeast Georgia.

In the summer of 1886, we decided to spend the summer months in the cool and healthful climate of north Georgia. We bought a small cottage in Mount Airy, Habersham County, where my family have spent the subsequent summers. The last fifteen years being spent in a large comfortable home on the highest point in the village, with magnificent views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and surrounding country, and beautified with a profusion of flowers with which my wife has great success.

In north Georgia my first work was with grapes. In 1890 I bought some land near Mount Airy and planted out a vineyard of Concords and Niagaras. I raised splendid grapes. I have never seen their equal, being superior in quality to those grown in New York State. Our climate made them especially sweet and tender. I did not make much money with my vineyards as the prices were low and express and commission so high. The grapes were attacked by the black rot. I was unable to eradicate it, although I tried the best means then known to the United States Department of Agriculture. So I was compelled to abandon the cultivation of grapes on account of this disease which became uncontrollable.

In my observation of the country around Mount Airy I became satisfied that a large section of the dividing ridge between the Chattahoochee and Savannah rivers, on which ridge Mount Airy is situated, was specially adapted to the growth of peaches. My principal reason for this belief was the freedom of this ridge from late frosts. This absence of frosts is caused by oscillation of the atmosphere--the cold air from the high lands draining to the valley. Frost does not form when the air is in motion. My theory that peaches planted on these ridges are not killed by a late frost has proved to be correct. I did not reckon with the cold winds that swoop down on this section from the northwest, the temperature going very low, sometimes to zero, and killing the fruit buds. This fall of temperature often comes after comparatively warm weather, which had caused the buds to swell. I determined to plant a peach orchard on one of these ridges. In 1895 Mr. R. H. Plant, of Macon, and I purchased some land splendidly situated about three miles west of Mount Airy. We planted about twenty acres in peaches. This orchard is known as "Clear View." Later I became the sole owner of this orchard. I also planted orchards in the other side of Mount Airy. I increased my orchards until I have one hundred and twenty acres in peaches--about twelve thousand trees. I, at first, planted a good many varieties, but my greatest success has been with Elbertas, Georgia Belles, Crawfords, and Fox's Seedling. In good seasons I have shipped from fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand crates to markets at Boston, New York, New Orleans, Cincinnati, and Chicago. I have obtained net, as high as $1070 for a car, my peaches selling as high as $3.50 a crate in New York. But this was by no means always the case. Some seasons on account of the glutting of the market it hardly paid to ship.

The fruit is of great beauty, of large size and bright color, and delicious flavor. My example has been followed by many others, and now from several miles above Mount Airy to Alto, ten miles below, are hundreds of acres planted in peaches, as many as six hundred cars being shipped out of this section in one season. I believe as a whole the growers have made money. Land has greatly advanced in price. When I first put out my orchard, ridge lands sold at two dollars per acre. Now it is worth from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars.

It has been very gratifying to me to see an industry, in this section in which I was the pioneer, flourish and bring prosperity to the people. During peach season as much as thirty thousand dollars are paid out for labor alone.

I now wish to speak of another experiment of mine in fruit culture. Although this experiment has not proved a financial success, it is of interest, and I believe that yet through scientific work it will be made a success. I speak of my cherry orchard. My largest orchard of cherries is at Clear View. I planted the large leaf variety of sweet cherry--the large leaf protecting the tree from the sun, which is too hot for them in this climate. I planted a variety of Bigarreau cherries that holds its leaves longer than most varieties. Though splendid trees, and generally blooming profusely, there is a lack of fertilization of the bloom, and what few cherries are made fall before maturing. I believe this condition is mostly due to the lack of moisture at the season of blossoming. I now have some ideas that may be able to correct this, and I believe my cherry orchard will yet prove a success. Man is made to overcome all obstacles.

I have been interested in the growing of many kinds of fruits. I have large pear orchards on my south Georgia plantations, Le Conte and Keifer pears. The trees have been badly blighted but have been a moderate financial success.

I now come to what I consider the most successful undertaking of the latter part of my life--the growing of apples in Rabun County, Georgia.

I shall begin with a few words on apple culture in Georgia. Draw a line through our State from Augusta through the cities of Milledgeville and Macon to Columbus, and we will note at these cities that our rivers break over the granite rocks, and from thence flow gently to the ocean. Below this primary geological formation is nearly two-thirds of the area of our State, none of which is more than five hundred feet above sea level. This large area is classed as tertiary, and presents a soil and climate in which the apple has never been successfully grown.

Immediately north of this line we come to the granite formation known as primary--comprising a large portion of the State, in which are included the red hills of Georgia. In this section certain classes of apples succeed well. This type may be illustrated by the Red June and Horse apple for summer; and the Yates and Terry's Winter for winter. These apples succeed better the higher altitude we reach in this primitive area of the State. They seem to approach a higher degree of perfection as the altitude above sea level increases.

I am inclined to think that climate and altitude above the sea level are the two most important factors in successful apple-growing in the State of Georgia.

We will now consider that area of our beloved State from which arise the headwaters of our streams that flow into the Atlantic and Gulf. This is termed the mountain section, and embraces that portion of Georgia lying from 1800 to 3000 feet above sea level.

To go back to the beginning of my interest in this question,--I moved in the fall of 1898 to Demorest, a few miles from Mount Airy, for the winter months, for the purpose of putting my children in school, Demorest having good educational advantages.

Through Demorest there used to pass covered wagons full of apples on their way from the mountains to Athens. I was struck with the beauty of these apples, especially with an apple called the "Mother" apple which was capable of a very high polish and very free from blemish. On talking to the wagoners I found that they came down from Rabun County, Georgia, and near Shooting Creek, North Carolina, and that they grew their apples with very little care or cultivation. I was so interested that I went up to Rabun to study the apple question. I applied for the government meteorological maps of this section. I was struck by its heavy rainfall. An area of about thirty miles square with the center at Clayton, Rabun County, and extending into North Carolina, has the largest rainfall of any part of the United States, except Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast--a rainfall averaging from seventy to one hundred inches per annum. This does not come in floods, but all through the year in continual showers. I have often stood in Rabun Gap and been struck with wonder at the mist being drawn through Rabun, Hiawassee, and Crow Gaps, forming clouds laden with moisture to be deposited upon the mountains and vales of this favored country. They often present scenes of sunshine and clouds so inspiring and grand that they seem to encircle us with the majesty of Almighty Power. This rain upon a well-drained soil is very adaptable to the growth of splendid apples. On seeing what fine apples could be grown without cultivation, one naturally asked what could not be done with modern scientific culture. I wished very much to plant an orchard in that favored section. At first I tried to interest persons with capital in this enterprise, which I felt confident would be a profitable investment. I met with no success so, in spite of my limited resources, I determined to make the venture myself.

In pursuance of my long contemplated desire, I purchased in 1906 fifty acres of land near Rabun Gap in northeast Georgia, for the purpose of planting an apple orchard. The position chosen was within a mile and a half of Rabun Gap, on the Tallulah Falls railroad. The place was known as Turkey Cove, situated on Black's Creek which forms the headwaters of the Tennessee River. There were upon the place about fifty apple trees that had been planted fifteen or twenty years. They were overgrown with wild vines, and presented a very neglected appearance. I had the old trees cared for and I planted a young orchard of twelve hundred trees of approved varieties of apples. The young apple trees I planted grew, and the old trees responded to the care given them. After the first year's care and cultivation, I noticed in the old orchard four trees that produced a red apple that surprised me with its splendid appearance. They ripened about November 1, 1908.

About this time I received by mail a pamphlet stating that there was to be held at Spokane, Washington, the first National Apple Show. A prize was offered for the best two barrels or six boxes of apples grown in the sixteen Southern States. This prize was called the "Southern States Special" and was divided into first, second, and third prizes. I decided to send six boxes of my apples to contest for the "Southern States Special." I had about twenty-five bushels from the four trees. I shipped six boxes by express. In return I received a check for $50 for the second best apples--North Carolina receiving the first prize, my apples the second, and apples from Oklahoma the third prize.

Being elated with my success I had my four apple trees specially cared for. On November 1, 1909, they presented an appearance superior to any similar sight I had ever beheld. The National Apple Show was again held in Spokane in November, 1909. I again contended for the first prize, "Southern States Special," with superior apples to my entry in 1908. They were awarded the first prize of $100 above all competitors. The chairman of the committee making the award is the most renowned pomologist in our county--Mr. H. E. Van Deman, of Washington, D. C. I obtained also a diploma for the best new variety of apples.

The cancelled check of one hundred dollars for this prize was applied for by a trustee of Mr. Ritchie's school, near Rabun Gap, and is now framed and hung upon the schoolhouse wall, to remind the children that their county can produce the best apples.

This apple, having been pronounced a new variety and worthy of being put upon the pomological books at Washington, was listed and given the name of Fort's Prize. The apple has demonstrated those qualities that make a financial success, such as appearance, color, taste, and above all, keeping without decay until the spring.

Anticipating that an orchard of this new variety of apple will be valuable, I have obtained grafts from the old trees and have put out an orchard of them. I have a confident hope and belief that this variety of apples will become very valuable in future to apple growers, and that they will become money-makers, such as the Baldwin and Ben Davis are among apples; the Elberta peach, among peaches; the Concord grape, among grapes. It originated in Georgia. I am gratified that I brought it to public attention.

This season, 1916, my orchard at Turkey Cove has an abundant crop of splendid apples, and I hope in the next few months to harvest a crop of two thousand bushels. I have just returned from a visit to my orchard, and it presents a beautiful sight. My youngest son, William, has the active management of my orchards.

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR, ATHENS, GEORGIA, October 22, 1915.

COL. JOHN P. FORT, Mount Airy, Georgia.

DEAR DOCTOR FORT:

I received the basket of apples about a week ago and thank you for them. You have no idea how much I appreciate a kindness like this, particularly when it comes from the man who has rendered the greatest service to Georgia of any living man.

Yours sincerely,

DAVID C. BARROW.

There are now thousands of acres planted in this section of the State, and it bids fair to be one of the most profitable of Georgia's industries--an industry attributable in a great way to my success.

I now wish to write a few words on my interest in the culture of pecans. When a boy in Milledgeville, in the year 1849, my aunt, Mrs. Moses Fort, widow of my father's brother, returned from a visit to one of her sons in Louisiana. She brought with her a little sack holding about a quart of pecans. She divided them among my father's children, my share being about twelve. The others ate theirs, but I planted mine in the back of the garden, marking the places with stakes from my bird trap. They came up that spring and some of them are now immense trees, sixty feet tall and bearing bushels of pecans. As far as I know these are the oldest pecan trees in the State of Georgia. About thirty years ago I planted a small pecan orchard on Tompkins plantation. They were not budded and were a poor variety, and for many years they were neglected. But about three years ago I had them budded and I believe that in a few years they will yield a profitable crop. The pecan industry in Georgia bids fair to be a very large one, as hundreds of acres have been planted.

My belief in the agricultural possibilities of Georgia is so great, especially in the growing of fruits, that I wish to mention all my work in this line, the successful experiments and the ones that have not yet, from one cause or another, proved successes, such as my cherries in north Georgia, and my experiment with figs in south Georgia. The latter proved a failure because of the avidity and lack of coöperation of the railroads. Figs are too perishable to stand shipping. I wished to can the figs in glass jars at the orchard, but the freight rates on fruit in glass jars were so high and as there was no local market I abandoned the orchard. It would have proved a difficult undertaking anyway as I could not be in that section at the time and the work would have lacked the master's eye.

There is one more experiment in agriculture that I wish to mention which has been a success. I thought of growing vegetables in north Georgia to ship to Florida after its crop was over. So I planted half an acre in tomatoes to be shipped to Savannah and Jacksonville. The railroads considered shipping vegetables to southern points such an uncertain and foolish thing that they required me to give bond on the freight. My experiment was a great success, the commission merchant, Mr. Putzel, of Savannah, wrote me that in his twenty-seven years of experience he had never handled such stock. The half-acre netted me one hundred and fifty-nine dollars. My example has been followed by others, and vegetables are now being shipped in considerable quantities from Cornelia to south Georgia and Florida markets.

In June, 1909, when in Athens to attend the graduation of two of my sons, as an appreciation of my work for the State agriculture, I had conferred upon me by the University of Georgia, the degree of "Doctor of Science." That the trustees of the University contemplated this was entirely unknown to me. This honor was conferred before a large audience and was very gratifying.

My irrigation plant in south Georgia having proved a success, the Department of Agriculture at Washington sent a special irrigation engineer to Tompkins plantation to make a report. Such a good report was made that the Department conferred upon me the title of Collaborator of Irrigation, giving me a diploma stating this fact.

As I stated near the beginning of this story of my life, I believe that my mind and temperament are those of a naturalist. From my boyhood my interest in birds has never abated. I know their habits, I can distinguish the notes of all the birds of our woods and recognize them by their flight as far as my eyes can see.

This spring (1916) while seated on the porch of our home, at Mount Airy, I have succeeded with great patience and with the enticing power of the peanut, in getting a gray-crested titmouse to light on my hand, and to take a peanut from between my lips. And I persuaded a nuthatch to come within a foot of my chair. The titmouse knew me so well that when I was several hundred yards from the house it flew down from a tall tree and took a peanut from my hand. This was in the season when food was plentiful.

As an agriculturist as well as naturalist I have been always interested in the insectivorous birds as a great aid to man in the destruction of insects. I know of no bird that does not eat insects, except the goldfinch. I remember once examining the stomach of an American swift, it contained a mass of insects, six hundred and fifty mosquitoes and gnats which had been caught on the wing that day. Especially valuable is the purple martin because he can be attracted to our fields and orchards if the proper kind of house is made for him. He arrives from the tropics very early in time to meet the first flight of many noxious insects such as the cuculio which is so destructive to the peach and similar fruits.

When I built for irrigation my reservoir holding four hundred thousand gallons, I was afraid that it would be a great breeding place for mosquitoes. I placed around the reservoir boxes and gourds on poles as homes for the purple martin, so that the birds would destroy the mosquitoes. At the same time I had put in the water small fish to eat the wiggletails, the larvæ of the mosquito. The fish and martins have largely eradicated this noxious insect from the plantations.[1]

[1] Acknowledgment of Mr. Fort's observations on mosquitoes has been made in _The Mosquitoes of North and Central America and West Indies_, pages 178, 403, vol. i. Authors: Leland O. Howard, Harrison G. Dyar, Frederick Knabe.