Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/308

ALABAMA. life of the State, and the creation of a most optimistic spirit concerning her future industrial progress. Coal and iron are the leading minerals, and the immediate proximity of these constitutes an advantage not enjoyed in the more extensively developed iron mining districts of Lake Superior. The industry has attained its greatest development in the Birmingham region. The value of bituminous coal mined in the State rose from $2,500,000 in 1886 to $5,000,000 in 1898 and $10,000,000 in 1900. This gave the State fifth rank in the amount and sixth rank in the value of the output. A large portion of the coal is used in the manufacture of coke, the State taking third rank in the production of that article. The growth of iron mining has been no less striking. In 1880 there were 171,000 long tons mined; in 1889, 1,570,000 tons; and in 1899, 2,662,000 tons, the value for the latter year being $2,600,000, and ranking the State next to Michigan and Minnesota in importance. Seventy-two per cent. of the product is red hematite and 28 per cent. brown hematite. Virginia alone produces a larger amount of the latter variety of ore. Limestone is quarried extensively, and most of it is burned into lime or used as a flux. The average annual value for the last decade was about $300,000. Bauxite is mined in Cherokee County, and graphite in Cleburne County. Building clays, sandstone, and mineral springs are each of some commercial value in the State.

Owing to the limited coast line of the State, its sea fisheries are of less importance than those of the other Gulf States. The industry gives employment to less than a thousand men, and the value of the product is only about $150,000.

Agriculture is the leading industry of the State, but it is not keeping pace with the other rapidly developing industries or with the increase of population. Agriculture received a decided setback from the Civil War, and has not yet completely adjusted itself to the new industrial régime. The acreage of farm land and the percentage of improved land (about 40 per cent.) are but little larger than they were in 1860, while the valuation of farm land and the amount and value of almost every kind of farm property and produce is less than it was in 1860. The old plantation system of large farms, whose cultivation was carried on under the direction of the owner, has given way to a system of small rented farms. The average size of farms, which was 347 acres, in 1860, has decreased about 60 per cent., and the rented farms constitute almost half of the entire number—both methods of renting, that for a fixed money payment and that fur a share of the product, being equally in vogue. The farm land is still held by a comparatively few individuals, a considerable proportion of whom are representative of the merchant class. The holdings are divided into convenient portions, and the negro renter receives a meagre supply of farm equipments, upon which, as also upon the prospective crop, the merchant holds a lien. The negro becomes the customer of the merchant and can seldom catch up with his obligations. The merchant finds his rent most certain and his sale of provisions greatest when the renter confines himself largely to the cultivation of cotton, which he willingly does, and thus cotton remains king. The continuous planting of this crop before the war, as well as since that time, has resulted in the exhaustion of a naturally fertile soil. While cotton is grown in most parts of the State, much the greater portion is raised in the “cotton belt,” a narrow strip of black prairie land extending east and west across the State in the latitude of Montgomery. Alabama usually ranks fourth in the value of her cotton product. Corn is next in importance, and its acreage is almost equal to that of cotton, but the product is of much less value. Oats are the only crop that has experienced a remarkable increase in cultivation—an increase about commensurate with the decrease in the cultivation of wheat, which has become relatively unimportant, though the past decade has witnessed a revival. These and small quantities of other cereals are grown most extensively in the “cereal belt,” or the valley of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the State. This valley is also very favorable for the raising of apples and other fruits, the mountains on either side giving protection from the heat of the south and the winds of the north. Peanuts are raised in the southeast. The State takes a high rank in the production of peaches as well as melons. Cowpease, sweet potatoes, and sugar cane are extensively grown throughout the State. Most of the sugar cane in recent years is manufactured into molasses. There is much barren waste land in the mountain regions of the north, while forests still cover the greater portion of the southern end of the State. Cotton being the predominant crop, the conditions are not favorable for the extensive raising of stock. Such as is raised goes to supply the local needs. The following table s indicate s the trend of the agricultural industry:

There is to-day evidence of a growing sentiment in favor of diversified farming and an increasing tendency toward the raising of pease, alfalfa, and other leguminous plants which are of special value to the soil, and there is in general a more hopeful view of the agricultural future, and a belief that it is sharing in the general industrial awakening of the South.

Recent years have clearly demonstrated that Alabama possesses a combination of advantages for manufacturing enterprise such as are scarcely found in any other part of the country, and which promise to place her in the front rank of manufacturing States. The raw material and the auxiliary