Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 62, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1902 — LARGEST FARM IN SOUTH. [ARTICLE]

LARGEST FARM IN SOUTH.

Xt la in Georgia, and 4,000 of It* 6,500 Acre* Are Under Cultivation. Ten days ago I had the pleasure of Inspecting a big plantation In South Georgia. It embraces 6,500 acres,,4,ooo of which are in cultivation. Instead of being an old-time plantation it is a combination of one, two and three horse farms—operating seventy-five plows and under the immediate direction and the guiding hand of J. Pope Brown, says the Augusta Chronicle. In the center of this vast stretch of productive territory, stands the cozy home of the proprietor, presided over by his accomplished wife,, formerly Miss Miller, of Augusta. Driving over these gently undulating acres one sees the results of systematic work—how pine lands, and lands threatened with gullies, lands worn out and left to broom sedge, have been brought up to a high state of cultivation and productiveness. Thorough preparation of the soil, the free nnd intelligent ijse of commercial fertilizers and careful terracing have called into new life 4,000 acres that gladly respond In.a most generous manner to the touch of the plow and the shining blade of the hoe. This Is a great all-around farm—producing, in home-living proportion, corn, wheat, oats, pens, sugar cane and cotton. It is conducted on the wages and the tenant system. The results of the tenant system arc full of interest. Col. Brown provides a nice house, with front porch, shed, barns, crib, smokehouse aud well for each tenant, so that, with a good mule and the best farming implements, he may go forward to success under the general direction of the proprietor. Every tenant has his mule or horse, cow or cows, poultry and hogs. Every tenant’s barn and crib are full to overflowing, and his smokehouse and canemill make him independent of the pork packers in the far West. Col. Brown is not only doing good for himself and family, but he is lending. a hand to the 400 men, women and children on his farm that is helpfulhelpful along the lines most practicable nnd most needed. Standing on a liltle knoll in one of the great fields, the writer was lost in admiration, as he turned from point to point of the compass, when he behld a sleek mule and a happy tenant or wages hand, at close intervals, breaking the soil for the crops of the year. Thoroughness rules on every hand, and not a weed In sight. No wonder that Col. Brown, wooed by ambition—an honorable ambition in any man—to be Governor of Georgia, found it diflicult to turn liis back on this entrancing field of labor where everybody’s duties are new and every clod anxious to be turned to profitable account. I know the struggle he experienced, and we can all appreciate the victory he won, when he decided to let go his ambition and cling to this magnificent farm.