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“ It is frequently said that there is nothing grown in any of the States except Florida that Georgia cannot profitably produce. A few of the tropical fruits of Florida cannot be raised in Georgia, but all those of the temperate zone succeed well. Tobacco may be grown in any part of the State, although it is not extensively cultivated for export. Cotton is the great crop of Georgia. ”

“ In the development of her industries a great future is predicted for Georgia. Indeed some of the more sanguine claim that she is already becoming a formidable rival of New England in the manufacture of cotton and woollen fabrics.
There are in the State 38 cotton factories, with 123,233 spindles and 2125 looms. There are 14 woollen factories, with 4200 spindles and 135 looms. Augusta and Columbus take the lead in the number and capacity of these works, for which certain important advantages are claimed. The water-power is so ample that the mills are run by it alone. ”

“ Cotton may also be successfully cultivated, but with less advantage than in other districts of the State. This fibre is chiefly produced along the fertile bottom-lands or contiguous uplands of the rivers. The same lands yield rice, Indian corn, and sugar. Middle and south-west Georgia are the most productive cotton areas. In the south-west the soil, though light and sandy, produces cotton. In southern Georgia there are millions of acres of magnificent yellow pine forests of great value for house or ship-building, and in these forests turpentine plantations have been opened. ”

“ Labour is cheaper. Finally, the State in order to encourage the investment of foreign capital in manufactures, has by law exempted such capital from taxation for ten years. The product of the Georgia mills finds a ready market in the Southern and Western States. It is asserted on good authority that during the years 1875, 1876, and 1877—years of unparalleled depression to the manufacturing interests of the United States—the mills of Georgia, especially those of Augusta and Columbus, were never idle, and paid a handsome return on their invested capital. ”

“ The Tallapoosa and Coosa, head-waters of the Alabama, and the Hiawassee, one of the sources of the Tennessee, rise in the mountains of Georgia—the last, however, finding its way to the Gulf of Mexico by the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.
Georgia has about 128 miles of sea-coast, but has few good harbours, except within the rivers emptying upon it. St, Brunswick, Darien, and Savannah are the principal. The chain of islands lying off the mainland produces the celebrated Sea-island cotton, but owing to the changes brought about by the secession war it is now little cultivated. ”

“ Pio Nono College at Macon is a recently established Catholic institution, chiefly founded by the efforts of the bishop of Savannah. The Atlanta University for the education of negroes was established by the now extinct Freedmen’s Bureau and various charitable societies of the Northern States. It receives an annual appropriation from the Georgia legislature of $8000. It accommodates 240 pupils. There are a number of institutions, in addition to those enumerated, that are entitled colleges, but come more properly within the designation of high schools. ”

“ County courts are established in most of the counties. There is an ordinary for each county elected for four years, who holds a court of ordinary and probate. The organic law of the State now forbids slavery or involuntary servitude except for the punishment of crime. Imprisonment for debt, and legislation affecting the free exercise of that personal liberty guaranteed to the citizen by the amendments to the constitution of the United States, are also prohibited. All male inhabitants between eighteen and forty-five are subject to military duty. ”

“ The belt of country stretching from Augusta across the State to Columbus, having a width of from 30 to 60 miles, is pronounced a very healthy district. At Augusta the mean summer temperature is about 79°, the winter 47°. At Atlanta careful observations give the average of summer heat as 75°, and winter 45°. Diseases of the respiratory organs are rare among natives of northern and central Georgia. The interior is comparatively free from the dreaded epidemics cholera and yellow fever, but Savannah and the coast are periodically scourged by them. ”

“ Atlanta is situated on the great iron highways from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia to Mobile and New Orleans, and from Chicago to Florida. The Western and Atlantic connects Atlanta and the Georgia system with the Tennessee lines at Chattanooga (138 miles) . Several great battles were fought for the possession of this railway during the secession war. The Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line extends to Charlotte, N.C. (269 miles) . ”

“ In 1803 Georgia ceded to the general government all her territory west of the Chattahoochee, amounting to nearly 100,000 square miles, out of which the States of Alabama and Mississippi were subsequently formed. The cession of Louisiana to the United States was of great benefit to Georgia in ending hostilities which the Spaniards were continually inciting the Indians to commit upon the scattered settlements. By a treaty with the Creeks, Georgia became possessed of a large tract in the south-west of the State. ”

“ Columbus, Americus, Atlanta, and Rome, as well as Savannah, are considerable shipping points, for cotton; Athens is the seat of the university of Georgia; Augusta and Columbus are manufacturing centres; Macon has three religious colleges; Darien, Brunswick, and St manufacture and export lumber. Andersonville, in Sumter county, acquired terrible celebrity during the civil war as the site of the chief military prison of the Southern Confederacy. Atlanta is by far the best example of rapid growth the State affords. ”

“ The black is free to dispose of his labour to the best advantage. The contracts for labour are of three kinds,—for money wages by the month or year, for a share of the crop, or for specific rent in money or products. ”

“ The State judiciary consists of a supreme court of three judges, who hold office for twelve years, one retiring every four years, and of inferior courts, presided over by nineteen judges, appointed by the executive with the consent of the senate. ”

“ The Georgia Southern extends from Dalton to the Ala. State line (portion of Selina, Koine, and Dalton road) ; North-Eastern from Athens to Lulah (39 miles) ; Ocmulgee and Horse Creek (7 miles) ; Rome Railroad, Rome to Kingston (20 miles) .
Government.—The executive power is vested in a governor elected for four years by a majority of the people. If there is no election by the people, the general assembly chooses one of the two receiving the highest number of votes. ”

“ The property held by a married woman at the time of marriage, or subsequently inherited or acquired by her, is not liable for the husband’s debts. A married woman may also sue and be sued in matters pertaining to her separate estate, and may carry on trade as if single. Georgia is entitled to seven representatives and two senators in Congress. ”

“ The share system has been the one generally adopted, because the blacks greatly affected quasi-proprietorship of the soil, and because the owners were inexperienced in the management of free labour, and not inclined to come personally in contact with it. The share varies in different localities, but usually one-third to half the crop goes to the labourers, the landlords furnishing the necessary tools. ”

“ Population.—The latest official census of Georgia (1870) gives a population of 1,184,709 souls, 638,926 being white and 545,142, or nearly one half, black. This population is distributed among 136 counties, which include 8 cities and 134 incorporated towns. Georgia, which ranks tenth in area, is the twelfth of the Union in respect to population. Though showing an increase of 127,423 persons in the previous decade, which embraced the period of the war with the North, she has fallen behind one in her rank ”

“ With the aid of fertilizers it produces cotton, tobacco, and the cereals. We now reach the so-called Cherokee country of the north, containing lands among the most fertile in the State, lands which, notwithstanding their tillage from an unknown period by the aboriginal inhabitants, grow wheat, corn, Irish potatoes, pease, beans, &c., abundantly. ”

“ The decrease is owing to the emancipation of the slaves; but the State is steadily gaining ground in increased acreage cultivated, increased number and value of manufactories, and increased productive capacity everywhere. ”

“ There are 734 sawmills, 77 waggon and carriage factories, 6 iron-furnaces, 7 iron-foundries, 11 limekilns, 4 potteries, 68 tanneries, 6 turpentine-distilleries, 2 rolling-mills, 5 paper-mills, 12 furniture manufactories, 3 rice-mills, &c. The manufacture of rope, bagging, twine, tobacco, ice, sashes and blinds, agricultural implements, boilers and machinery, fertilizers, &c., is carried on more or less extensively. ”

“ Oglethorpe also established settlements at Darien, at Augusta, and on St island. In 1736 the colony received considerable accessions of emigrants, with whom came John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism. In 1738 the Rev visited Georgia, founding the orphan-house at Bethseda, near Savannah, from funds chiefly collected on his tour in the northern colonies. ”