EDGECOMBE
COUNTY!
NORTH CAROLINA.
HER PEOPLE AND RESOURCES.
THE FOREMOST
AGRICULTURAL SECTION
OF THE STATE.

RALEIGH:
EDWARDS & BROUGHTON, POWER PRINTERS AND BINDERS, 1891.

EDGECOMBE COUNTY.
THE FOREMOST AGRICULTURAL SECTION
OF THE STATE.
A GARDEN SPOT,
Where Plenty and Health Combine to Bless Humanity.
EDGECOMBE COUNTY AND TARBORO—HISTORY AND INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES.

Edgecombe County has an area of near 500 square miles. The tax lists show 309,000 acres. Population, 26,179, of which 7,956 are whites, remainder colored.

Edgecombe was formed from Craven in 1733 by Governor Barrington and his Council, and this action was confirmed by the Legislature which met in Edenton in 1741. During the period of the Revolution the county of Edgecombe was foremost in resisting the exactions of the mother country. The spirit and patriotism of her people were well attested by two noteworthy events.

At a very early day in our colonial history laws were passed making the rent due for lands (all then held of the crown) payable in produce and collectible on the premises. Governor Johnson undertook to force the people to bring their rents to the collectors at places designated by the government. The trouble began about 1735 and continued for several years. Finally patience ceased to be a virtue. Some-how it got abroad among the people of Edgecombe in the year 1736 that a man had been imprisoned by the General Court at Edenton for refusing to deliver his rents at the appointed places. The people rose in arms to the number

of 500 and marched on the town, but when, within five miles of Edenton, they learned that the man was detained for a different cause, they quietly dispersed and returned to their homes.

The second event alluded to happened in 1759, and grew out of the oppression of the agents appointed by Lord Granville to collect his rents in the province. The people of Edgecombe submitted for a time to these oppressions, but finally they rose in their wrath and marched to the house of Colonel Francis Corbin, Granville's chief agent, living near Edenton, seized and carried him to Enfield, then the county seat of Edgecombe, and required him to enter into heavy bond for his appearance at the ensuing Spring Term of the Court and to disgorge all the fees he had unjustly taken.

But it must not be supposed from this that the people of Edgecombe are of a turbulent character. They challenge comparison with any people for conservatism, intelligence, industry and everything which goes to constitute good citizens.

The county seat, is situated on the Tar river, at the head of navigation, and is 76 miles east from Raleigh, the State's capital, and inland about 100 miles. Population 3,000. It derives its name from the river on which it is situated. Tar, or "Tau," in the Indian tongue means " Health."

No town in the State has superior railroad and navigation facilities. Four lines of railroads and three steamboat lines give to Tarboro all the benefits and advantages of cheap freights and easy communication with all sections.

While Tarboro is located in an agricultural section, yet her people are awake to the progressive spirit of the age, and will not be outstripped by her sister towns of the South in this new race of industrial progress.

Without the aid of foreign capital we have in successful operation a cotton mill, with ten thousand spindles; a knitting mill, manufacturing cotton into hosiery and underwear in large quantities four cotton-seed oil mills and factories in

[Illustration:

ORDINARY STREET SCENE—TARBORO.
]

town and county, manufacturing the cotton seed into oil, and the cake and hulls into fertilizers.

The success of all these enterprises encourages us to believe that Tarboro is destined to become a manufacturing center of cotton products.

Two tobacco warehouses, and the necessary prize houses, have just been constructed. Also a peanut mill is in course of construction and will be completed in time for the present crop.

The hotel accommodations of Tarboro cannot be surpassed in the State. There are three printing establishments, banking, insurance, building and loan, express and telegraph facilities, saw, planing and grist-mills, agricultural implements, iron and machine works, blacksmithing, brick-yards, buggy, carriage and harness factories.

The town has just completed the handsomest city hall in the State, and hopes soon to have a system of water-works and electric lights.

A company of local and Baltimore capitalists have recently purchased a large tract of land lying in and adjoining the town, and in the junction of three railroads, upon which it is proposed to build an industrial town. Inducements will be offered parties seeking a good location for manufacturing enterprises. The people of Edgecombe County are noted for their hospitality, intelligence and thrift ; they extend a cordial welcome to all industrious people to come and locate with them.

There has recently been organized here a " Real Estate, Stock and Bond Brokerage Company," with a bureau of information for the purpose of disseminating information in regard to this section, negotiating purchases, sales, loans, etc. They solicit correspondence with all immigration bureaus and real estate agencies. Address J. R. Dixon, Tarboro, N. C.

THE WEST TARBORO LAND AND IMPROVEMENT COMPANY,

Organized by the act of the last Legislature, have purchased one of the finest tracts of land in Eastern North Carolina, lying partly in the corporate limits of Tarboro.

It is from twenty to thirty feet higher than the town itself. A beautiful brook forms the western .boundary, along which is a delightful drive.

The company is composed of Sam'l L. Foster, of Norfolk, Va., a live, pushing, far-seeing business man. Hon. Geo. Howard, of Tarboro, well known throughout the State; Reuben Foster, of Baltimore, Md., General Manager of the York River line, well known in railroad and steamboat circles in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston W. E. Fountain, Mayor of Tarboro, through whose push and energy the town hall, one of the handsomest public buildings in the State, was built, and through whose influence the cotton factory, running 8,000 spindles, and other industries have been set on foot; W. M. Powell and Thos. C. Pugh, successful merchants of Baltimore, Md., and N. M. Lawrence, of Tarboro, N. C., who is the Secretary and Treasurer of the Company.

The Company has donated the land and helped to build the Pioneer Tobacco Warehouse, situated at the junction of the A. & R., W. & W. and N. & C. R. R.'s; and a peanut factory situated near the same point.

The first tobacco sale in Tarboro, which took place September 23d, last, was pronounced by the buyers, who had attended most of the opening sales at other places in North Carolina, the most successful and best conducted of any that they had ever seen. Over 100,000 lbs. of tobacco was sold.

The acreage in tobacco in this county next year will be very largely increased. The tobacco interest is in its infancy. Read the prospectus of the Company carefully, it states facts.

There is an inviting field here for many other enterprises, such as shoe factory, shirt factory, tub and bucket factory, paper box factory, trunk factory, furniture factory, tannery, canning factory, twine factory, tailoring establishment, etc. All the above enterprises would succeed well here, and would receive the encouragement of home investments.

TOBACCO.

Tarboro is destined to be a great center for the sale and manufacture of tobacco. The coming year will witness large investments in the interest of tobacco, such as the building of factories, warehouses, prize houses, etc. We invite all to come and join with us in building up this great industry.

How many of us thought, a little more than a year ago, what an easy mastery the bright leaf would have over King cotton?

Edgecombe doesn't owe a dollar ; has better school-houses than any county in the State, and pays three times more per child than is the average for the State.

The writer remembers some years ago to have heard President Battle, of the State University, say that there were a greater number of college-bred farmers in Edgecombe than in any other county in the State. Since then the writer has cast his lot among the people of Edgecombe and his experience has confirmed this observation of President Battle. Indeed, the most striking and notable characteristic of the people of this county is the very high degree of intelligence and culture prevailing among our farmers. Before the war the farmers of Edgecombe were blessed with great wealth, and enjoyed in the fullest measure the advantages, comforts and luxuries which riches bring. During the period of their affluence they conferred upon their sons and daughters the priceless advantages of school culture and training. The practical value of this gift has been happily illustrated here, for in the somewhat impoverished condition of our people which succeeded the war there was, and is still, to be observed the fruits of this early blessing. They are to be seen in the value and store which our people put by education. Consult the catalogues of the University, Wake Forest, Trinity, Bingham's, Davidson, Davis', and the female seminaries of learning, and you will find Edgecombe is better represented than any county of its size in the State. Consult our

County Superintendent of Education, and learn from him how thoroughly our people avail themselves of the privileges of public education.

They are seen again in the air of thrift and comfort which grace our country homes, the cheer and hospitality which brighten them and the social amenities which adorn them.

They are still more fully exemplified in the intelligent methods which our people bring to the execution of what-ever they put their hands to, and which has won for us acknowledgment as the foremost agricultural county in the State.

Some years ago Judge Shipp, who had lived his life in the great county of Mecklenburg and had seen every section of the State, traveled through the country from Tarboro to pay a visit to his friend Capt. T. W. Battle, living in the northern part of the county. The writer remembers to have heard him say that that ride was a revelation to him that he had never dreamed of the existence of any such farming lands in the State, and had nowhere else seen such indications of comfort and prosperity in farm life. It is acknowledged that Edgecombe is the foremost agricultural county in the State.

We claim that her agriculture is directed and pursued with more intelligence, that there is more culture among her people, as little crime and disorder, and more comforts and refinement in her homes than can be found elsewhere in North Carolina.

We trust that we will not permit our enthusiasm, begotten of a high and hopeful future, to run riot with the facts and lead into the line of extravagant talk. Edgecombe County is not held out to the world as a land where old men grow young, poor men gather fortunes, and lazy men thrive, but as a land where man's every labor, when guided by judgment, returns an ample reward. Where peace and plenty bless all with their smiles. It is a land lying midway between the bleak North and the hot, languid South ; where the frozen blast of the North, which consumes so much of man's

vitality, meets and is deprived of its fierceness and terror by the genial and warmth-bearing breezes of the far South. A genial land, where there is just enough of cold to sharpen man's energy and give zest to his movements, and just enough of the sunny South to make man feel the warmth and gladness of out-door life the year round. A land where no hostile climate lays a heavy burden and tax upon man's time and energy ; here he has given to him by Nature every fair advantage that a reasonable being could expect. Here man can perform that labor of life, which God has com manded that he shall do, to the most advantage and with the most ease and comfort. To such a land we invite the stranger

The soil of the county has every variety, from the black peaty soil to the stiff clay. The predominating soil is a light friable loam, being about four inches in depth, shading off in most places to a subsoil of yellow sand. When fresh it is of a darkish color, wearing white by use when not well manured and properly cultivated. This soil is easy to till at all seasons of the year. A farm of fifty to seventy-five acres selected in most any part of the county, will contain soil of the variety adapted to raise all of the staple crops. It* is easy to cultivate, being entirely free from rocks. The drainage is good, there being many natural water-courses into which the drain ditches lead. It can be seeded to grain all through winter, though yielding best when seeded early ; easily prepared and readily cultivated. There are large deposits of fine marl, very valuable for fertilizing. Large areas of alluvial soil occur in the low lands of the river and creeks; these are very fertile, having the general characteristics of such soils This soil is favored with a most healthful and temperate climate, and only awaits the intelligent labor of man to make it bloom and flower like a garden. About one-half of the county is under cultivation, leaving a large area of virgin soil, about 125,000 acres.

The seasons are very favorable, the winters being sufficiently mild for man to work profitably all through them, and the summer heat never reaching that overpowering degree which saps man's vigor and threatens his life. The

long and distressing drouths which afflict other lands are unknown here. There is no section of the country in which the seasons are more equally distributed than in Edgecombe. An average temperature conducive to health and comfort-able for work, and an average yearly rain-fall, well distributed through the seasons, insure always a fair and satisfactory yield of crops.

As one would infer from such a varied soil, favoring climate and seasons, a very diversified vegetation is found throughout the county. Her flora embraces many beautiful and rare plants, and nearly all plants commonly familiar to the people grow abundantly. Many of the valuable plants used in the materia medica grow wild, such as hoar-hound, life-everlasting, pennyroyal, mullen, pig-root, snake-root, May apple, pipsisawa, sassafras, Jerusalem oak, slippery elm, stramnium, or Jamestown weed, sumac, belladonna, cotton root, black haw, wild cherry, cedar, turpentine, polk-root, burdock, dog-wood, and many others. In woods we have as many as thirty generic varieties, and about seventy-three species—principal varieties, short and long-strawed pine, oak, holly, persimmon, gum, hickory, cypress, ash, poplar or wild tulip, and many others—in fact, they range from the hard and soft shell-bark hickory to the soft and spongy black-gum. Her flora embraces many flowers, reaching from the graceful and bold mountain laurel to the timid and modest wildwoods violet. It is a singular but notable fact, and one of which we are proud, that within the borders of Edgecombe is the trysting ground where the trailing arbutus, the beautiful flower of cold and sterile New England, and the sweet yell low jessamine, typical of the South, meet, please the eye and make glad the heart. Here may semi-tropical trees and shrubs find a genial home ; the tea plant of China thrives well ; the magnolia attains fine proportions, and the pecan and English walnut yield fruit. Here the osage orange and the haw-thorn grow and flourish, as does also the osier or basket-willow.

With a soil and climate of such marked advantage, the resources of Edgecombe are necessarily many and varied. Within her borders can be profitably grown and cultivated,

cotton, corn, wheat, oats, rice, barley, sorghum or amber sugar-cane, tobacco, peanuts, broomcorn, field peas, clover, many varieties of hay, beans, ramie, flax, buck wheat, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, basket-willow, all varieties of beats, including the sugar-beat, melons, castor-bean, sun-flower, rye, chufas and some others of less value. The staple crop of the present cultivation of the county is cotton. In this crop the per acre yield of Edgecombe leads, except some counties in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee, the soil of which is a deep, rich alluvium, and limited in area. The annual product is from 25,000 to 30,000 bales. The tobacco crop is of much consequence and increasing. It has been proven by the market that her soil will produce as fine yellow tobacco as is grown in any land, as a sample from this county took the State premium this year. Peanuts attain great perfection. The writer has sold peanuts grown on his farm, in the Virginia peanut market, which graded fancy, though put on the market as farmers' goods. The yield of syrup per acre from sorghum cane is very large and of fine quality.

Any one of the above crops can be cultivated alone or successfully combined with one or two others, as the farmer may desire. In addition to all the above, all truck crops can be grown, including every variety up to the class of the semi-tropical, and even many of those. All fruits, including the varieties of small fruits, grow and do well ; we have fine pears, apples, peaches, plums, cherries, etc , as fine straw-berries, raspberries, currants and gooseberries as need be. In fact, the writer had several cranberry vines that bore nice fruit.

The resources in timber are large and valuable pine timber and the pine products, beechwood, persimmon, most valuable for shuttles, cypress and oak.

The soil contains brick-clay of very superior quality, and in many places very fine kaolin, used in pottery and making fine china-ware.

In Edgecombe is found everything which makes a rich, comfortable and healthful land for man to spend the days of his life, except coal, metals and minerals. And this was so, because fortune in favoring this land must needs remember that Edgecombe was not to be endowed with all of Nature's gifts. One other great resource comes from the hand of the artisan in putting the many products into useful and market-able form. No other land offers a home more genial and labor more remunerative to the artisan and manufacturer

[Illustration:

TARBORO FROM TOWN HALL, LOOKING SOUTH.
]

than Edgecombe. Here is the place for the cotton mill, the tobacco warehouse and factory, the canning factory, the dairy business and cheese factory, the tannery, turpentine distillery, brick factory, pottery and porcelain ware factory, basket factory, broom factory, oil factory, the mighty forests of gum trees afford endless work for the dish and plate factory, the refuse wood from this factory will supply all wood pulp for a paper factory, and other industrial pursuits. We assert there is no section which has such unusual advantages, no land which lays all zones and climes under such heavy tribute. A considerate reading of these facts will show that the rich and poor can alike find comfortable homes here; there is abundant work for both. Here every grade of labor, from the crudest farm labor to the skilled artisan and expert, can find employment and homes.

The possibilities of Ed2ecombe County for truck raising are very great. It is finely situated for this crop, which can be very profitably grown in connection with the leading or staple crops. It is well adapted for the growth of melons, and large crops of very fine melons could be shipped every year to the large markets. [For means of transportation, see article on that subject.] This crop, if intelligently grown and marketed, would bring large returns. It has reached such proportions in Georgia as to have an Exchange and each year the crop realizes more than $1,000,000. The crop here, in point of time, would follow that of Georgia A farmer of the county, Mr. James Ruffin, this year grew a large number of melons weighing over fifty pounds each. Irish potatoes thrive and produce very well. From the patches in gardens, this crop has risen to more than 3,000 barrels in the short space of two years. One planter has raised an average yield of sixty-four barrels, or about 200 bushels, of marketable potatoes per acre; and this without any great preparation, or such heavy manuring as is practiced in regular truck sections. This crop could be grown in connection with any staple crop, or the truck crop could be grown exclusively where it suited best. Here it can be made an all-the-year-round

business. Garden peas thrive well and make good yields; these can be planted in October, and followed next May with cabbage, which in turn would he followed in August with turnips, etc. The climate enables the trucker to have some crop on hand and growing all the year. Spinach and kale do well, and thousands of barrels, the seed being sown in August, could be shipped and sold during the winter. Asparagus grows well where attended to, and makes a fine yield and most always sells high. No better county for cucumbers for pickles onions grow well and make a good yield. As fine turnips and rutabagas can be raised as any-where, and in great abundance. Strawberries and raspberries grow wild, and where properly cultivated grow well and produce fine crops, which sell well in the markets. The blackberry is here in its native home, and responds wonder-fully to culture. This crop could be sold to considerable extent in its ripe state; but in its dried condition a large traffic could be developed. The fruits do well; pears would pay. The writer has grown fine crops of Bartlett, Seckel, Bell, Lucrative, Nellis, LaConte and other varieties.

The county offers every opportunity for the trucker, and all that is needed is some men among us who have not cotton in their eye, first, last and all the time.

Considering the cheapness of the land, the favorable aver-age of the seasons, the adaptability of the soil to so great diversity of crops, the general good health and longevity of life, the hospitable and hearty welcome accorded strangers, the good order, faithful services and abundance of labor, no country in the United States offers superior advantages to Edgecombe County.

It is the place for a man with small means to buy a home.

Of course we would not turn a cold shoulder to capitalists looking our way for investment. We would receive them with open arms and point them to opportunities for investment

unsurpassed anywhere in the South, but what we especially want, and would most cordially welcome, is a class of small thrifty farmers among whom to divide our over-large plantations.

Our white population is about 8,000, and our territory about 320,000 acres. The main trouble with our system of agriculture is the too great extent of our farms, which, in the past, has made us pursue rather exclusively the cultivation of cotton. Our farmers are now breaking away from this line of agriculture and are entering upon a policy of diversification of crops. Cotton is no longer King! A large measure of their allegiance is transferred to tobacco and peanuts. Edgecombe is destined to become a great tobacco county. In a very few years it is sure to be the very centre of the culture and manufacture of tobacco.

It is well known that negro labor is unsuited to the cultivation of tobacco. It is a crop for white labor and small farms. And this is just what we want—farmers with families to come among us and help cultivate our bright tobacco lands.

Of all essentials to the growth and development of a country or a community, the educational advantages and facilities are to be most carefully considered, and the thoughtful man who visits a town for the purpose of establishing his abode, very naturally and very properly makes inquiry as to the advantages offered for giving his children the best education.

In this respect we are most fortunate to be able to state that the schools of Tarboro and Edgecombe County will compare most favorably in every particular with the schools of any section of North Carolina. "What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul," says Addison, and the utmost care and wisdom should be manifested in the selection of teachers, whose duty it is not only to instruct the children entrusted to them, but, in a great measure, to imbue their minds with the loftiest principles of morality, truth and virtue therefore, the responsibility of the teacher cannot be overestimated.

In Tarboro there are six schools, as follows : One public graded school with a full equipment of competent teachers,

one male academy, one female academy, one music school and one school for small children. The school buildings are most substantial, commodious and comfortable.

The highest branches are taught in these schools, and the standing of the scholars is highly satisfactory to the instructors.

It is no boast, but a matter of fact, we have as efficient, intellectual and refined a corps of teachers as adorn the calling of education in any part of our State, and we are justly proud of them for their genuine worth and service. The following statistics will show to what extent education is fostered and encouraged in Edgecombe County:

There are 29 1/3 per cent. in public schools. There are 23 1/2per cent. in private schools. Making 62 4-9 per cent. of the entire number of children between the ages of 6 and 21 in Edgecombe County at school.

The number of school-houses in the county for whites is 36 ; number of children to each house, 78 ; average value per house, $250 ; average number of months taught last year, G; amount apportioned for educating whites, $7,793 ; to each pupil that entered last year, $7.04 ; to each child in county of school age, $2.77.

The average amount expended per capita in North Carolina is 44 cents, while the average in the fifteen Southern States is 98 cents, and in the United States $2.05.

As above stated the amount per capita in Edgecome is $2.77.

Total value of taxable property in Edgecombe County is $4,557,398.

The public schools for white children in the rural districts are conducted in the most successful and satisfactory manner.

Many of the teachers in these public schools are ladies of high social culture and of most excellent literary attainments, and they possess to an eminent degree all the requisites to make them successful instructors, and in this respect they are the peers of those in the public schools of Baltimore, New York and Boston.

The progress in education for the past decade in this

county has been most phenomenal and efforts are constantly being made to promote the standard, and in a few years the educational advantages and facilities will be equal to those of any section of the United States.

An examination of the statistics shows that in the past seven years the increase in school-houses throughout the county is about one thousand per cent., thus showing that the people recognize the necessity of having more schools for the education of their children. In these the highest principles of morality and virtue are inculcated, besides the latest and most improved methods of instruction.

The influence and importance of the growth of stock and grasses in any community cannot be overestimated. Nothing more surely betokens the thrift and prosperity of a people. One of the most hopeful signs we have to point to is the progress and improvement our people have made in this direction. Indeed our own people do not begin to appreciate the very considerable strides we have taken in the past few years in the breeding and improvement of stock, the growth of grasses, and the development of the dairy business. We have a hundred and more persons interested in the various branches of this industry to-day where there were none ten years ago. In every part of the county great interest has been awakened on this subject. Immediatel3 about Tarboro we have the Shiloh, Panola, Coolmore and Hilma stock and dairy farms. The home market is to a very large extent supplied by our native product, while much of it is shipped to Wilmington and Norfolk. We are within four hours of the cities of Norfolk, Richmond and Wilmington, and sixteen of New York.

The first and foremost consideration of the stock breeder and dairy farmer is the availability of cheap food. Edgecombe soil is splendidly adapted to all leguminous plants. Many varieties grow spontaneously upon untitled soil, and yield abundantly when cultivated. Rye, wheat, oats, orchard, timothy, Kentucky blue grass, Italian rye and tall

meadow oat grass furnish fine grazing for horses, cattle and sheep all winter, and yield abundant hay during the spring, summer and fall ; from one and a half to five tons per acre frequently being mowed from three to five times. The best early spring grasses are Bermuda and Crab. The ensilage crops, in addition to those named above, are Indian corn, yielding from ten to thirty tons per acre, and sweet potato vines, yielding from three to ten tons per acre. All the root crops can easily be grown here, but the cheapness with which the green crops can be grown and preserved in the inexpensively built silos (owing to the mildness of our winters, the contents never freeze) renders it unnecessary to grow roots. In addition to all this, we have our cotton seed as a great source of food supply. Cotton-seed hulls and meal make the very best and cheapest known cattle food. Four cotton-seed mills in the county furnish an abundant supply of this food.

The investigations of Prof. Stone of the Tennessee Experiment Station, seem to justify the following conclusions--

• 1. The practice of feeding cotton-seed hulls and meal as an exclusive diet is well established, and increasing in the vicinity of the cotton-seed oil industry. All the information available indicates that the practice is economical and profitable.
• 2. It seems in no way harmful to the health of the animal nor to the healthfulness of the products (beef and milk) resulting.
• 3. The diet seems adapted both to the production of beef and mutton as well as milk.
• 4. The average ration should consist of 25.35 pounds of hulls, and five-eighths pounds of meal daily.
• 5. The hulls are a cheap and effective substitute for hay.
• 6. The manure produced by this system of feeding is an important factor in considering its profitableness.

Another important food for live stock, which is now attracting much attention and promises well, is the peanut. Both the nut and vine are relished by all kinds of stock.

The mildness of our winters gives the dairymen of this section great advantages. The warm climate permits good grazing all the winter and requires the minimum consumption of food to keep up animal heat. No expensive barns

are required as is the case in colder climates. Ordinary shelters to protect the cattle from the sun's heat in summer and the rain in winter are sufficient.

It is justly claimed that the best thoroughbred horses in the State are bred in Edgecombe County. An association has just been organized in this county for the promotion of this great interest. Anyone desiring information upon this subject can address Dr. L. L. Staton, Tarboro, President of the Association.

More than 35,000 pounds of butter will be made in this county and sold this year.

This amount is not so great, but when it is remembered that six years ago not one-tenth as much was sold the significance is apparent.

This, with manure from the cattle and the increase, is proving quite profitable to everyone who has engaged therein.

The prices are remunerative, none selling for less than twenty-five cents net ; much for thirty, and not an inconsiderable amount for thirty-five and forty cents a pound. J. C. Powell, from his Coolmore dairy, will sell this year more than 3,000 pounds for forty cents, and is unable to supply the demand which comes from Wilmington, Norfolk and other cities.

Mrs. John L. Bridgers finds a ready market for hers at thirty-five cents 2,000 pounds from eight cows.

Dr. L. L. Staton is making fifteen to twenty pounds a day, and finds more people who are willing to pay thirty cents a pound for his butter than he can possibly furnish.

Besides this, he, C. H. King and the Panola Farm furnish the town with rich, fresh milk twice a day, at five cents a quart. It is from the unsold milk he makes his butter. Butter is now being made on the Panola Farm and also by Mr. King.

Ed. Gorham, on the Flag Marsh Farm, near Rocky Mount,

[Illustration:

TARBORO FROM TOWN HALL, LOOKING EAST.
]

is making this year over 4,500 pounds, and finds a ready sale for every ounce.

Frank Gorham, his brother, on a farm near by, makes 2,000 pounds, all of which the people of Tarboro take, and more if they could get it.

Sheriff Knight is no inconsiderable butter-maker. S. F. Jenkins is well up in quantity and quality. So is W. F. Thigpen.

The butter of Elias Carr, President of the State Alliance, is far-famed, and wherever the Bracebridge Dairy product is offered for sale a purchaser is never wanting.

The milch cows are chiefly Holstein, Jersey and Shorthorn, of which there are some of the best strains.

The effect of these dairy farms is apparent in many ways. The fertility of the land is increasing rapidly. The quality of beef offered in the markets is of a superior order, equal to that of Richmond or even Fulton Market. (Some of it goes there.)

The money which comes in weekly affords many a comfort and convenience to the farmer; enables him to run his farm without going in debt and paying time prices. Farmers who have tried it say the manure from the cattle pays for the attention and feed.

No section is superior to this for growing peanuts. Great quantities have been grown in this and adjoining counties. A four-story factory is now in course of construction, for the purpose of handling and cleaning peanuts. The owners of the enterprise will keep up a live and active market for the product throughout this section. Tarboro is destined to become a great peanut center.

Edgecombe has been proud of her cotton lands, producing a bale to the acre, and so it was good enough until we knew how to do better. But now we know that almost all of our land will yield from $200 to $500 in tobacco.

Edgecombe lands in any part of the county are good for from 800 to 1,200 pounds of tobacco to the acre.

YOU STIR THE EARTH,
NATURE DOES THE REST.
ONLY A FEW INSTANCES OF THE. GREAT PRODUCTIVENESS OF
EDGECOMBE'S SOIL.
[These statements are from prominent and reliable parties, who would be glad to answer enquiries addressed to them.]
CROP YIELD, 1890.

I planted ten acres in tobacco, yielding ten thousand pounds, for which I received $1,983.47. Had never tried tobacco before. I also had sixty acres in peanuts, from which I gathered 5,500 bushels, selling for $3,200.

LEE L. STATON.

Tarboro, N. C.

I had four acres in tobacco last year that made me 3,200 pounds, and sold for $540.

T. H. RUFFIN.

Tarboro, N. C.

My four acres in peanuts gave me 500 bushels, and sold for $425.

ALLEN WARREN, JR.

Old Sparta, N. C.

I tried tobacco last year, for the first time ; cultivating ten acres. The result, 11,700 pounds, which I sold for $1,200.

ELKS CARR.

Old Sparta, N. C.

My first experience in tobacco turned out as follows: Six acres averaged 920 pounds per acre, sold for $108.26 per acre; five acres, 1,048 pounds, $127.46 per acre.

W. L. STALLINGS.

Tarboro, N. C.

I had in peanuts ten acres and sold 1,000 bushels for $880. My experiment with potatoes, planted alternate rows with cotton, returned $607, on five acres. My cotton crop was good, having planted 105 acres, which gave me 132 bales; sold for $4,124.

N. B. DAWSON.

Conetoe, N. C.

I only tried nine acres in peanuts, and got 1,050 bushels. I sold them for $630, and fattened 5,200 pounds pork on the refuse left in the field.

V. B. SHARPE.

Tarboro, N. C.

My tobacco crop on eight acres was 9,796 pounds, for which I received $1,556.66 ; seventy-five acres in cotton made 84 bales; sold for $2,850.

J. A. DAVIS.

Tarboro, N. C.

I planted 65 acres in cotton, making 100 bales and sold it for $3,580.71; eleven acres in tobacco, 13,000 pounds, sold for $1,836.20.

A.B. NOBLES.

Tarboro, N. C.

I had 17 acres in peanuts and got 2,005 bushels, which sold for $1,200. On the peas left in the field, I fattened 6,400 pounds of pork. Am unable to estimate the value of the pea-vine hay fed to my stock. My 105 acres in cotton made 113 bales, which brought me $3,842.

GEO. L. WIMBERLEY.

Tarboro, N. C.

I planted 300 acres in cotton and made 284 bales. Only had 6 acres in peanuts, making 700 bushels, selling for $560.

W. M. EDMONSON.

Tarboro, N. C.

I tried tobacco, for the first time, on three acres. I made 3,670 pounds, for which I received $647.39 five acres in peanuts made 550 bushels, bringing $440.

F. D. FOXHALL.

Tarboro, N. C.

I had 30 acres in peanuts and sold the 2,700 bushels for $1,586 ; 1G0 acres in cotton gave me 185 bales, and brought $6,311.25.

W. A. HART.

Frank D. Foxhall, a young farmer, living three miles from town, grew a beautiful lot of bright yellow tobacco last year, and in competition with some of the finest tobacco grown in the State, his sample of tobacco took the first premium at the State Fair last Fall. Mr. Foxhall sold, from one acre grown in tobacco, $461.09. He was totally inexperienced

when he began its culture. A sample of Mr. Foxhall tobacco was purchased by a tobacco buyer of Henderson, who sent it to the Atlanta Exposition for exhibition.

S. P. Jenkins, on 103 acres, made 133 bales of cotton ; on eight acres 750 bushels of peanuts, 1,500 bushels of oats and corn and hay enough to last eighteen months. his was the work of only six plows.

Col. Elias Carr, on one acre, cultivated in cabbage, made six thousand fine marketable ones.

On five acres, Geo. R. Gammon housed 1,600 bushels of sweet potatoes.

Jas. Hales, on J. A. Carbolt's farm, in No. 10 Township, made, with one plow, on 15 acres, 23 3/4 bales of cotton, and more than enough corn, forage and meat.

The County of Edgecombe embraces an area of about 320,000 acres of the best farming lands in this or any other State, of which about 150,000 are cleared for cultivation. They are assessed higher for taxation than any other lands in the State, and are better drained than those of any other section. Therefore, the cultivation of tobacco has been con-fined to the middle section of the State, and the conviction has prevailed that the plant could not be successfully grown east of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, but the past three or four years have revealed to the people of Edgecombe that they have as good tobacco lands as are found in any State in the Union. About 1,000 acres were cultivated last year by farmers in all parts of the county, each cultivating a few acres by way of experiment, and while they were largely without experience, the result was truly surprising. The average yield throughout the county, even under these circumstances, was $125 per acre. Extra care produced better results. For instance, Armstrong's crop of 30 acres was worth from $8,000 to $10,000 Many others did as well, though in smaller quantities. Nobles, Nettles, Fox-hall, Davis, Stallings, Killebrew, and many others, sold from $250 to $300 to the acre. We have 60,000 acres of the best yellow tobacco lands within our borders. Its average production

is 750 to 800 pounds to the acre. Because of the mildness of our climate and the fitness of our soil, the crop mature earlier and is produced at much less cost than that grown farther west. We can cure our crop by the middle of September.

The tobacco crop in the county has been more than doubled this year. The farmers have turned to its cultivation with zeal and hope, and are everywhere greatly elated with their success.

Already is the success of Tarboro as a great tobacco market assured. Two handsome warehouses and the necessary prize houses have been erected for the present season. The attention of tobacco men all over the State has been drawn to the tobacco interest in this county they have come in great numbers to examine our land and inspect our crops, and have pronounced both incomparable. An agent of the American Tobacco Company was sent to examine the situation, and he was so well convinced of the certain success of Tarboro as a future great tobacco market that he called a buver of the company from a market which sold three mil-lion pounds of tobacco last year and located him here, even before our market had opened. This is said to be the first instance in which this great company has manifested such interest in anew tobacco market. The confidence of the tobacco men who have visited our county has inspired our own people with a new hope; a new spirit has seized upon our people ; and an air of energy and enterprise is every-where to be seen. It has not been difficult to secure experienced and responsible men from the older tobacco sections to take charge of the warehouses, nor to interest buyers in this market.

On the 23d of September Tarboro opened her doors to the tobacco men of the State, greeting them with her accustomed hospitality. The opening sales at the two warehouses attracted buyers and sellers from all parts of the State. The opinion and prediction of all was that Edgecombe was destined soon to take her rank as the foremost tobacco county in the State, and that Tarboro would advance to the very front as one of the great tobacco markets of the State.

Alongside of Edgecombe are the counties of Pitt, Martin and Halifax, whose soil and climate make them our equals in the production of the weed, while our location and transportation facilities naturally make Tarboro the market for the sale of their crops.

The farmers of Edgecombe are also within easy reach of the tobacco markets at Wilson, Rocky Mount and Greenville.

Within five years Edgecombe will grow 20,000 acres in tobacco.

Anyone desiring information in regard to the capability and adaptability of Edgecombe soil to the cultivation of tobacco, or wishing to buy lands in Edgecombe, can communicate with any of the parties named below:

Lee L. Staton, Dr. L. L. Staton, Dr. J. M. Baker, F. D. Foxhall, J. C. Powell, A. B. Nobles, W. L. Stallings, W. T. Knight, Battle Bryan, John A. Davis, T. H. Ruffin, Tarboro, N. C.; Elias Carr, J. T. Dupree, Dr. M. B. Pitt, B. F. Eagles, V. B. Sharpe, Old Sparta, N. C.; R. D. Armstrong, J. G. Nettles, C. T. Killebrew, Jesse Broke, Rocky Mount, N. C.;W. H. Powell, Dr. W. H. Whitehead, F. M. Rawlings, J. R. Vick, J. O. Bryan, Battleboro, N. C.; V. W. Loud, W. D. Pittman, Whitakers, N. C.

The cultivation of various kinds of fruit in Edgecombe County is by no means experimental. Many who have engaged in their cultivation, in an intelligent and systematic way, have generally been rewarded with the best success. In many portions of the county are to be found large apple, peach and pear orchards, where an abundance of these delicious fruits are cultivated and gathered in large quantities.

The climate and soil are peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of the apple, peach, plum, pear, grape (many kinds), damson, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, apricot, nectarine, gooseberry, currant, fig, and, in fact, almost any fruit that can be grown in the South.

In this enterprise there is a broad field for safe investment of capital, and we believe that, with the exercise of good judgment and proper attention, the cultivation of fruit in Edgecombe County would be as remunerative as anything one could wish to embark in.

A few acres of land, properly cultivated in fruits, would be a revelation to the grower as to what could be produced in the way of fine marketable fruits, with a small expense.

TARBORO.
ITS TRADE.

Tarboro, the county seat of Edgecome County, centrally situated at the head of navigation of the Tar river, and with four railroad outlets, has commercial advantages possessed by few towns in the State.

Its trade embraces almost every branch of industry, from that of the village blacksmith and petty cobbler to that of mammoth manufacturing enterprises. For many years, while Tarboro possessed but two freight lines, it contented itself with a retail trade which extended to the adjoining counties, but with the completion of new lines of railroad, and the growth of small towns and stations along the line of the same, the business sagacity and energy of its merchants have seized upon and turned to the best advantage, its splendid opportunities for a wholesale and jobbing trade. The great number of country villages, tons and stations within easy reach of Tarboro, and the superior transportation facilities which this town enjoys, insure for it great success as a jobbing and wholesale center. In addition to the immense amount of purchases made through our jobbers, brokers and other agencies, and consigned directly to the neighboring towns, the annual purchases of our merchants aggregate $800,000 to $1,000,000.

In days now happily passing away the trade of Tarboro was largely conducted on a time or credit system, but we are already in the dawn of a new era which will soon see the complete overthrow of that pernicious system. Tobacco, peanuts, trucking, dairy farming, and many other cash crops and pursuits, have rung the death-knell to a system which has brought failure and ruin alike to merchant and farmer throughout the south. Wherever tobacco is grown and manufactured, there is- always abundant cash to drive the wheels of trade.

We make the boast that there is no town in the State of the size of Tarboro that can count as much wealth as we possess. We refer not merely to the value of our town real estate, worth $1,500,000, but also to a large accumulation of wealth in the form of solvent credits (listed at $900,000), which is available for the development of industrial enterprises

[Illustration:

TARBORO FROM TOWN HALL, LOOKING WEST WITH COTTON FACTORY IN THE DISTANCE
]

There are more than half a dozen fortunes in Tarboro ranging from $50,000 to $500,000.

There were no less than 150,000 acres in cultivation in Edgecombe County during the past year. It is estimated that 50,000 acres in cotton yielded upward of 33,000 bales; that 1,200 acres in tobacco yielded 850,000 pounds; that 8,000 acres of peanuts produced 500,000 bushels; that 25,000 acres in corn, peas, etc., produced enough to supply the county for two years.

The agricultural products of the county are worth $2,500,-000. Is there a like extent of agricultural territory in the United States that can beat it?

We invite the man who' doesn't believe farming pays to Edgecombe. We can count for him more men who make money at farming than can be found in any other occupation.

There is a smaller percentage of farm mortgages in Edgecombe than in any county in the State.

What we want is increased white population to cultivate the tobacco crops in Edgecombe.

As to the health of Tarboro and Edgecombe, it is necessary only to state that in a series of observations, extending over many years, its reputation for healthfulness is well established. A high and dry sandy soil, well drained low lands, and climatic advantages unsurpassed, furnish a reasonable basis for the opinion that where there is proper application of personal hygien the amount of sickness of whatever nature is far less than in communities making greater pretentions as health resorts. The annual reports of the State Board of Health show a death-rate from all causes exceedingly low, and a majority of these are from those diseases which occur the world over, being influenced but little by climatic conditions.

The best recommendation of its healthfulness is the hale

hearty and vigorous condition of the people. Scores of the inhabitants of this section have passed for beyond the allotted three score and ten, and still do duty at the plow, the anvil or in the workshop, with vigor equal to the mature manhood of less favored localities. One critical glance at the sturdy yeomen assembled in Tarboro on any public day would reveal as fine developed specimens of physical man-hood as the world could produce.

It is probable, as a residence for those unfortunates, suffering with pulmonary phthisics, that this section has its greatest reputation. For a number of years these people have found a hospitable shelter here from the rigidity of Northern winters, and it has been invariably the case that they have returned home much benefited. It is not claimed that we have an Eldorado, but the fact is indisputable that the anti-septic exhalation of the piney woods (the natural growth of this section of country), the mild winters, the comparatively low degree of humidity, and the sandy soil, which dries off rapidly, offering little opposition to out-door exercise, and the abundance of game, offer superior advantages to the consumptive in his efforts to regain his health.

Here the sportsman finds an abundance of game of all kinds, a genial and hospitable people, and companions for the hunt that will give him ample opportunity to display his skill.

Persons contemplating a residence here, may rest assured that no diseases will have to be contended with, other than which mankind is heir to "whithersoever he goeth."

A statement of my impressions of Tarboro, its climate and its people, will, perhaps, be best prefaced by a statement of my reasons for being here, and, briefly, these are impaired health, and the necessity for rest from the cares and anxieties of business.

My departure from New York partook somewhat of the nature of a voyage of discovery, and beyond my medical adviser's restrictions to your State, and a warm climate, I had none other than to locate at some point sufficiently elevated above the sea level to afford a comparatively dry

atmosphere. More with a view to breaking my journey, and for the purpose of getting a change of clothing, than with any idea of making a protracted visit—certainly with no intention of spending the winter—I arrived here on November 14th, fully intending to resume my journey on the following Monday, the 17th, but became so favorably impressed by my surroundings that I concluded to remain, condition-ally, with my physician's approval.

Accessible by four lines of railroad; with its many manufacturing industries in successful operation its merchants thrifty, keen and pushing; the neighboring soil productive in the most remarkable degree attracting to itself, as it virtually does, the bulk of trade within a radius of a hundred miles; with contract signed for the introduction of a system of electric lighting, and for a street railway—these seem to me inducements of the most seductive character to the in-tending immigrant, and I can foresee no reason why Tarboro should not make rapid strides in the march of progress in the near future.

Respecting climate, my improved condition speaks volumes in its favor, and on reporting to my physician, himself a Southerner, his reply is to the effect that I could not have chosen more wisely, and on my return North I shall have no hesitancy in commending it to health-seekers. In fact, the improvement in my condition has been so marked that an enforced departure for any cause whatsoever, before the return of spring, would be a serious disappointment to me.

To my colder Northern nature, the warm, genial, spontaneous hospitality of the people of Tarboro has been a revelation. Meeting them a total stranger, the right hand of good fellowship has been extended to me on all sides, and I shall carry, to my Northern home, many pleasant recollections of my sojourn among them.

With apologies for trespassing on your space, and with very best wishes for your prosperity,

We hazzard the assertion that no better investment can be found within the confines of North Carolina than in the tobacco interests at Tarboro.

REFERENCES AS TO CLIMATE.

Parties wishing to build up their health and strengthen their constitution generally, can find no better place than Tarboro—where the climate is all that could be desired.

It is a splendid place, where the care-worn and delicate Northern man may visit and restore their health and find a most cordial reception—every attention being shown him by the hospitable citizens of the place.

For references as to the nature of the climate, communicate with the following gentlemen, who have been among us:

• C F. Morrill, 403 Washington street, Boston, Mass.
• Peter S. Whitecombe, Littleton, Mass
• John Whitecombe, Ayer, Mass.
• N. P. Jones, of Cumner, Jones & Co., Boston, Mass.
• O. W. Whitcher. Marietta, Ga.
• A. M. Tincker, North Adams, Mass.

Tarboro is cosmopolitan, as much so as any town in the South. English, Irish and Germans have their homes here. Maine and Mississippi have their contingents here, so have Montana and Florida. All are good neighbors Good citizens of every clime are welcomed.

The culture, high moral character and refinement of the people of Edgecombe are proverbial.

In whatever is essential to good society our people possess it to the highest degree, and for hospitality and generosity they maintain an enviable reputation. It is noteworthy that visitors among us always take away with them the happiest recollections of the generous hospitality, kind favors and courtesies extended them by our people.

When an effort is made to welcome and entertain visitors it is always attended with the highest success and satisfaction. Picture to your mind a community composed of the most enlightened, law-abiding, liberty-loving, congenial and courteous citizens, and you will beautifully present the best and most exalted characteristics of our people.

In Tarboro and Edgecombe County the professional men possess every requisite to win for them the esteem and confidence

of their fellow-men, and it is an indisputable fact that for advancement and thoroughness in their professional duties they are unsurpassed in the State.

The merchants and other business men are honorable and straight-forward gentlemen and are worthy of the confidence of anyone.

We cannot speak of the society of our section without bringing conspicuously into view our women, who are the bedrock of all society, and in whom, to a great, degree, rests the destiny of any country. They are the most refined and intelligent, and possess all the attributes of body and mind that are essential for them to adorn the highest society of the land.

There are five churches in Tarboro with a list of communicants as follows; Methodist 166, Presbyterian 68, Episcopal 200, Missionary Baptist 30, Primitive Baptist 40. Throughout the county there are 865 Methodists, 100 Episcopalians, 300 Missionary Baptists, 23 Presbyterians, 465 Primitive Baptists and 28 Catholics.

In every section of the county there can be found churches or chapels iii which the Word of God is preached, and generally the attendance upon the services is very large. The churches of Tarboro, taken as a whole, are as handsome as could be desired. The members of the Missionary Baptist Church have just erected a handsome and attractive ten thousand dollar edifice, which is of the latest style and finish, and an ornament to the town.

The Episcopal Church is a massive brick structure, and is said to be, in some respects, the most handsomely finished church in the State.

The grounds are a lovely spot, where the rarest, most beautiful and fragrant flowers are cultivated, and at all times they are kept in good condition, which make the grounds present a most neat and attractive appearance.

No more cultured, able and impressive ministers are to be found anywhere, and the Word of God is here imparted in the most instructive and intelligent manner. The regular attendance is very large and the efforts of the ministers are appreciated.

Tarboro's supply of pure wholesome water is assured. It has been demonstrated by recent experiments that we have

within easy reach an inexhaustible supply of as pure soft water as any community could desire. The system of water-works now in course of construction will obtain its supply of water by means of a deep-wellboring. The water is found at the depth of about 100 feet, and rises to within ten feet of the surface at any point in the town. The water has been analyzed by the State authorities and pronounced to be free of albuminoids, and in all other respects as pure as Nature supplies water anywhere. The strata necessary to be bored to sink these wells are such that the simplest labor is required. This water is found below hard-pan, in coarse, yellow sand, or gravel, and can be depended on for a supply of water equal in quality to any mountain spring.

The transportation facilities of Tarboro are second to those of few if any other North Carolina towns.

Four railroads now run to or through the town, viz. : the Wilmington and Weldon, the Albemarle and Raleigh, the Norfolk and Carolina, and Hamilton Railroad. Besides these railroad lines we have three lines of steamers navigating the Tar river, viz. : the Old Diminion and Clyde lines, running from Tarboro to Washington, and the low-water and up river steamer Beta, owned by the Farmers' Co-operative Company and running on the river above Tarboro up Fishing Creek, one of its important tributaries. The attention of Congress has of late years been called to the importance of this navigation, with the result of government appropriations, which are being applied clearing away obstructions for the purpose of giving more intimate communication between the Tarboro market and points up the river and creeks.

The Wilmington and Weldon Railroad is one of the most complete and perfect in all its appointments in the whole country, being one of the most important links of the great Atlantic Coast Line, connecting New England and New York with Florida and the South-east, and by which route we have quick rail communication with the world.

The Albermale and Raleigh road is now under the Coast Line management, and runs to Williamston and Plymouth

on the lower Roanoke river, putting Tarboro very close to all the great fisheries of Eastern North Carolina.

The Norfolk and Carolina is a new and fast line running from Norfolk and Portsmouth, and connecting the Wilmington and Weldon road here, and it is expected will in the very near future run direct to the State capital in a couple of hours at the outside, and at the other terminus connecting with the great Pennsylvania system of roads for Philadelphia and New York and the Bay Line steamers from Nor-folk to Baltimore. This line offers special facilities for getting our early truck to Northern markets.

The shortest rail line we have is what is known as the "Hitch Railroad" running from Tarboro to Hamilton, and connecting with Hitch's line of steamers plying between Hamilton on the Roanoke river and Norfolk and Baltimore. This is a private line, owned mostly by Mr. Frank Hitch, who built the road and has large lumber interests iii connection with it, and is now building a branch of the road in the direction of the towns of' Lawrence, Whitaker's and Enfield, bringing us much nearer than we have ever been to some of the most fertile and productive lands in this county and Halifax.

This line offers low rates of freight to Tarboro shippers, thereby holding in check any tendency on the part of the great trunk lines to extort on us in freights.

With all the advantages of location and transportation referred to above, what can hinder Tarboro from outstrip-ping all competitors for the trade of the surrounding country? Where is the town in all the land offering to manufacturers and traders better and more numerous facilities for a rapid general distribution of their wares? We challenge any town or city in the State to match us on these points, and we reach out the hand of welcome to all strangers or friends who may come among us with thrift and energy, which are the only things necessary to enable them to pluck success out of the golden opportunities which are now to be had among us for the taking.

Come and bring your families and your money, be it little or much, and cast your lot with us, and you will find work ready to your hands, and a diversity of advantages such as few communities on the face of the earth are blessed with.

[Illustration:

HOTEL FARRAR, TARBORO COST $40,000.
]

OTHER POINTS OF TRADE IN THE COUNTY.

Edgecombe not only has its county town as a center of trade, but, besides, there is dottted over it several villages, w here living is cheap, society good and trade brisk. No high city taxes to pay, and still with the advantages of good society, schools, and churches, good mail facilities and cheap freight rates.

Upon the Tar river, eight miles below Tarboro, is the village of Old Sparta, with a daily mail, cheap river freights and enterprising merchants. There are two churches already built and one in prospect.

Five miles south of Tarboro, on the Albemarle and Raleigh Railroad, is the village of Mildred, with two daily mails and the same freight rates with Tarboro. Here is one church already built and more in course of erection. It is sufficiently near Tarboro to enable the children to attend school here, and the railroad schedules are such that the children can leave home after breakfast and return for supper Four miles further south is Conetoe, a thrifty, live town, with one cotton-seed oil mill, several stores and two churches Conetoe has all the mail and freight advantages that Mildred has. East form Tarboro eight miles, is Coakley, situated on the Halmiton Railroad. Here, too, there is a daily mail and freight, and it is sufficiently near Tarboro for the children to attend school, with the railroad schedules to suit.

Twelve miles east is the town of Lawrence, a thrifty village surrounded by fine agricultural lands and thrifty farmers: The enterprise of the neighborhood is shown by the fact that they have always had a first-class day school, with the best teachers. There has just been completed to this point branch of the Hamilton Railroad, which will secure a daily mail.

North of Tarboro, eleven miles, is a settlement on the Tar river, with the foundation for a village. The post office is known as Doehead, and is in the midst of one of the most; beautiful farming sections in the cotton belt of North Carolina The post-office is within a few miles of Swift Creek Oil Mill a very flourishing institution, which enables all the farmers of that section to convert their cotton seed into fertilizers at a profitable rate of exchange

Eight miles north of Tarboro is a settlement known Leggett's, where there is a tri-weekly mail and weekly church services. A good school has always been maintained here

Besides these villages, which are entirely in Edgecombe County, we have Rocky Mount, Battleboro and Whitaker's upon the main line of the W. & R. R , half in Edgecombe and half in Nash Counties. They are all three near enough to the county seat to allow the citizens to come to the Court-house, spend several hours in attending to their business, and return to their homes all between the suns. They are all thriving, growing towns. About one mile from Rocky Mount, at the Falls of Tar river, are the Rocky Mount Cotton Mills, one of the most profitable in the South, and in the town is a machine shop, two tobacco warehouses, a good hotel, and churches of four of the Protestant denominations, and very superior schools. At Battleboro are good schools and churches with another building. At Whitaker's there are good schools and churches.

Then there will be found, ten miles south-west of Tarboro, the little village of St. Lewis, in the Town Creek section, where, both cotton and tobacco are successfully raised, and four miles to the south of St. Lewis is the Eagles settlement. These two. sections are especially prominent for their prosperity, and it is largely owing to the fact that this is the section of small farms, where there is less hard labor and more home supplies made

Between St Lewis and Tarboro, about six miles from Tarboro, is the settlement of Appleton, where there is a Methodist church and a good school.

All of these country villages are surrounded by prosperous and intelligent farmers, who make up a good neighborhood society, and when there are no mail lines reaching them they have a neighborhood arrangement by which the mail is delivered regularly from Tarboro, and in no one of them does a person fail to get his mail several times each week, and it is a notable fact that a large proportion of the farmers take some daily newspaper.

The good roads of the county enable the farmers, and also the merchants of the county towns, to haul very heavy loads to Tarboro, where they have not railroad facilities, but most of them have the choice between railroad and county road, and owing to the especially good freight rates which the number of railroads coming to Tarboro give her, many of the country merchants have their goods shipped to county depots and hauled from these centers.

SEEING IS BELIEVING.
WHAT OUR ADOPTED CITIZENS SAY.

Ex-Mayor W. E. Fountain, formerly of Forsyth County, says when he came to Tarboro seven years ago, he had been thinking of returning to the western portion of the State, where he had lived for several years, but after considering the advantage and the desirability of the two sections for residence, he concluded that while the west possessed advantages in minerals, this section had decided advantage in climate and fertility of soil, and the people, as a class, more prosperous, and the expense of living incomparable, as this climate is almost unvarying, spring like, and not a week in the year that out-door employment cannot be comfortably engaged in. That, as a. matter of health, he had not seen in the western section, or any other portion, of the' country in which he had found so many portly, healthy looking people, and so many old people who possessed so much vitality and vigor. That his observation has been that the diseases are of a mild type and seldom fatal. That for himself he has never enjoyed better health, and during his seven years residence here he has not been in bed a day from sickness.

As to the possibilities of this section, he concluded that Tarboro is unequaled in the State and believes that there is a fine field here for any industrial enterprise. Ile says that he has never seen a more progressive, public-spirited and thrifty people, and is happy that he cast his lot among us.

Judge H. C. Bourne, who came here from Mississippi more than a score of years ago, to make this county his home, says:

" The people of Edgecombe are unsurpassed for their energy, pluck and perseverance. They are hospitable and liberal, broad in their views and enterprising requisites that always command success."

R. H. Rowe, formerly of Richmond, Va., who, in search of a good place to locate and establish a business, came here and located.

He says that the people of Tarboro and Edgecombe County are as courteous, generous, industrious and enterprising as any people on the globe ; and his dealings and associations with them have always been most pleasant.

Edgecombe asks those who are striving and laboring in less favored sections to come and make their homes within her borders and assist in doing justice to Nature's manifold gifts.