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- - ' a nr. rilNHHUKbT OUTLOOK lfl5 .-.-sl- T 7
IK1
taken in an automobile through sixty
miles of continuous corn fields. Another
of the old customs there, which no doubt
was taught to white, settlers by the
Indians, is the growing of what is known
as " stuck corn. " The forests are great
in area, many of the trees being of im
mense size and there is a tangle of sub
tropical jungle, with vines oftentimes a
hundred feet long. Trees are felled and
the logs left as they lie, the underbrush
is roughly cleared away and then the
planting is done. With a sharpened
stick a hole is made in the ground, which
is often quite wet and indescribably rich,
a grain of corn is dropped, covered by
the foot and left to work its own sweet
will. By and by the corn stalks rise like
a young forest, a sea of. green, concealing
stumps and logs. Then when the crop
is ripe men walk through this strange
bio of new ground and by hand gather
the corn. Early the next season logs
and stumps are set on fire and much of
them consumed.'
Then the corn is " stuck again," and
there is another big crop, for the ashes
which literally form a bed make the
ground as rich as cream. The next sea
s"on fire is applied and the land is soon as
smooth as one's hand, and then planting
can be done in the regular way. Many
thousand acres of what are known as
swamp lands are thus reclaimed, and in
the region embracing Lake Mattamus
keet and the territory round about one
of the largest drainage districts in this
country nas Deen created, mis em
braces the lake-bed, of nearly 50,000.
acres, and 75,000 acres of adjoining lands
Bonds to the amount of $500,000 have
been issued and ten immense drainage
pumps will this year begin to lift the
water from the lake and put it into a
canal, which will empty into Albemarle
sound, this canal to be used in handling
freight, etc., between the lake-rim and
the sound. When the lake is pumped
dry its bottom will become an enormous
cornfield.
In parts of that extreme eastern region
are what are known as the "swamp
gardens." It is a watery world and so
the gardens must be raised above the
water, which is a mixture of fresh and
salt. Near the eastward side of the
sounds there is a little salt water, which
gets in from the sea through the rela
tively small inlets, but elsewhere the
water is fresh or at the most a trifle
brackish. There are fresh water lakes
and ponds and the beds of these have
very rich soil. This is thrown up into a
sort of island and raised some distance
above the water, a wire fence is put
around the island to keep away the
ducks, etc., and then very high ridges, at
least two feet above the general level,
are raised, in which pototoes, etc., are
planted. Generally around these places
there are myrtle bushes which make
screens against the sometimes too cool
north wind and so in these tiny gardens,
which sometimes look like squares on a
checker-board, with little intervals be
tween, not only are large crops grown
but very early ones, and fish are used as
a fertilizer, being simply thrown on the
ground and the place being cultivated
with spade and hoe.
At the very base of the lofty light
house at Cape Hatteras these gardens are
to be seen, and they remind a tourist at I
once of the queer little square farms
which so mark the slopes of the Azores
islands and Madeira. Then along the
sea-beach, which is entirely of sand,
generally the sport of the winds, gar
dens and even little farms are to be
found, and not far from quaint old
Beaufort town there is on the great
barrier-reef known as Shacklef ord's
banks, " a tiny farm, on land as black as
any prairie; on one side of this being
gigantic live-oaks, on another a wall of
Spanish bayonet or yucca at least twen
ty feet high, on the third side fig trees a
loot in diameter and as high as the
yucca, and on the fourth side the ghastly
sand-dune, which is ever marching on
from the sea and which in less than ten
years will completely cover the farm,
which is so situated and in so gentle an
air that crops mature there several weeks
earlier than at Pinehurst.
It is strange to observe the return to
the old crops and find tobacco growing
on the very shore of the sea. When the
first white settlers landed in what is now
North Carolina, that is in 1584, they
found the Indians growing " uppowoc, "
which was their name, for tobacco, as
well as "pagatowr, " as they called
Indian corn, and " pappoes, ' their word
for the Irish potato. As time passed
the white settlers planted much tobacco
and indigo. Then for a great number of
years the culture of both ceased and no
tobacco worth speaking of was grown in
a line east of Ealeigh. About thirty
years ago tobacco-growing in the eastern
section was promoted and now it is the
greatest producer of bright tobacco in
the United States, with such very large
markets as Greenville and Kinston, and
this particular tobacco, gold colored,
very thin and light, is much in favor for
cigarettes and of a variety known as
" pin-head," which are made in this
country and shipped to the far east in
enormous quantities.
To a buckwheat grower in the splen
did rolling country of the mountain
plateau the swamp gardens would seem
as utterly foreign as if they were in
Holland, but all this story only goes to
show what a land of contrasts North
Carolina is, and how many modes there
are of doing things. The mile3 of vine?
yard and of cultivated blackberries, say
in Moore County and in the region round
about, would be a great curiosity to the
man who thinks so highly of his swamp
gardens, but all of these people, are mak
ing use of opportunities as they present
themselves. It is this sort of thing that
is making North Carolina prosperous.
There is Charles Parker, a sixteen-year-old
boy, in Bertie Countie, who holds
the record in the United States as , a
corn-grower, outclassing all the men.
Charles got from one acre last year 235
bushels of corn, and this after it was
crib-dried, was again measured ana
showed 196 bushels, with only twelve
per cent oi moisture. nuance
known to the Secretary of Agriculture
of the United States and the Commis
sioner of Agriculture of this State, and
there is no guess work at what he has
done, for the corn was officially gathered
and measured under the direction of
Thomas B. Parker, the State crop dem
onstrator, and Mr. I. O. SchauD, wno
has charge of more than a thousand
boys' corn clubs in North Carolina.
THE JEFFERSON
The Most Magnificent
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RICHMOND, VA.
The New 8-Hole Golf
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EUROPEAN PLAN
Rooms single and en suite, with and without baths. Turkish and Roman
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The many points of historic interest in, and around the City, make Rich
mond a very desirable stop-over place for tourists, where they can enjoy the
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For handsomely illustrated booklet and reservations, address
THE JEFFERSON, Richmond, Virginia
O. F. WEISIGER, Manager
STERLING SILVER TROPHIES
The mos1; popular lineof Trophy Cups ever
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Height with
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" 22 3-4 in.
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" 30 in.
HOTEL
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Broadway at 55th St.
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11 Combines every con
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WASHINGTON, D. C.
Stoneleigh Court
Connecticut Avenue and L. Street
Apartments for rent furnished or unfurnished,
single or en suite, by the month or for shorter
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D. E. STEPIIAN, Manager
THE LEXINGTON
Pinehurst, N. C.
OPEN ALL THE YEAR
Electric Light, Baths, Excellent Table
Edward Fitzgerald, Manager
Summer Fitzgerald Cottage, Bethlehem,
White Mountains, N. II. Elevation 1570 feet.
jKifTwo modern summer homes in the heart of
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Sold by jewelers everywhere
TOWLE MFG. COMPANY
Colonial Silversmiths
NEWBURYPORT, MASS.
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17 Maiden Lane Madieon & w abash
Supplies For The Lumbee
River Canoe Trip
Midwinter Canoeing Club literature on request.
Agents for The Badger Chemical Fire Extin
guisher. PACKARD BROS., Pine Bluff, H.G.
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
PINEHURST LIVERY