John Porter Fort - A Memorial and Personal Reminiscences
Part II

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AFTER THE WAR
When I returned from the army I had a severe cough and was in a very run down condition. Brother George feared that I had an incipient case of tuberculosis. So in the fall of 1865 I went down to a plantation in Sumter County to try to recover my health by living out of doors. That winter I lived the life of a hunter, the gun constantly in my hand. During the fours years of the war the game had not been hunted at all, consequently it had increased in great abundance. I was very successful in killing game of all kinds-quail, ducks, wild turkey, and deer. To show the abundance of the game, and my success, I remember that in fourteen turkey hunts I brought home a turkey every time but one. There were several large ponds in the place to which the ducks, principally mallards, came in great flocks to roost. One late afternoon I saw two trumpeter swans coming in to a pond. From a distance of one hundred and forty yards I raised my rifle and shot one of them dead. It was a magnificent bird, weighing thirty-nine pounds and measured nine feet from tip to tip of the wings. There were coon hunts at night and many hours spent with the fishing rod. On many of the trips I was accompanied by a faithful negro named Squash. My health improved, my cough disappeared, and I went back to Macon a well, strong man.

In 1864 my sister Julia, Mrs. E. D. Huguenin of Macon, then a widow, died as a result of a runaway accident. She left five children to my mother's care. She bequeathed to my mother her home and servants in Macon, and made brother George executor of the estate. The family then moved to Macon, where we lived for about twenty years. The family life was a most harmonious one. The household was presided over by my mother, assisted by sister Kate.

In the spring of 1866 brother George died. He had been in poor health for a long time, but, in spite of that, he had made a splendid success of his profession, and had acquired a good deal of property. He was the kindest and best of brothers. After brother George's death I applied for testamentary letters for the administration of the Huguenin estate. The letters were granted "de bonis non cum testamentor nexus". The estate consisted principally of three large plantations in Sumter County. At Colonel Huguenin's death there had been about three hundred slaves. I assumed the position of manager of the estate, which occupied most of my time for many years. When I took charge the estate owed about twenty thousand dollars to Mrs. Rosa E. Delony, Athens, Georgia, a daughter of Colonel Huguenin by a former marriage. I succeeded with great effort in paying off this indebtedness, although the extreme low price of cotton and the contraction of the currency made the payment very difficult to make. Some years I was not able to make any at all. At one time attempts were made to sell the plantations at public sale. But I managed to pull through. My commission for administrator averaged about eight hundred a year.

I resumed the study of law under the tutelage of Mr. L. N. Whittle in 1866, and I was duly admitted to the Bar in the following year. On account of the fact that the Sumter County plantations kept me so busy, I was only able to devote a limited amount of time to the practice of law. I was reasonably successful in my profession. I had a good clientage who felt that their affairs were in safe hands. Some of my cases involved interesting questions of law, several being taken to the Supreme Court. I believe my greatest triumph was the case of Mrs. Martha F. Woodson - versus- Bodeing & Company, in which the opposing counsel was Mr. Benjamin H. Hill, in which I achieved a great victory. I retired from the practice of law in 1885 and turned my entire attention to agriculture.

During my life in Macon I was interested in the welfare of the city. Under the auspices of the Ladies' Memorial Association, I erected the Confederate monument which is standing to-day at the crossing of Cotton Avenue and Mulberry Street.

My niece, Martha Huguenin, married Mr. J. Marshall Johnston of the firm of R. T. Wilson & Co., bankers of New York City. Mr. Johnston and I purchased large plantations in Houston, Lee, and Dougherty counties, twelve thousand acres in all. The title was conveyed to me and Mrs. M. F. Johnston. The affairs of the Huguenin estate being now wound up I could give most of my time to agriculture on the newly acquired plantations. The price of cotton continued very low. I do not think at that time any one made money planting cotton.

At just about that time the cotton caterpillar appeared in the fields of southern Georgia and bid fair to destroy the crop. Cotton growing seemed doomed as a profitable undertaking. One day while out in the fields I noticed that the moths, the parents of the cotton caterpillar, were flying very slowly, as if sick. I captured some of these moths and took them back with me to Macon, where with the aid of a compound microscope I discovered they were infested with a parasitic insect. This parasite killed them in a short time. I, at once, communicated this discovery to the Entomological Department in Washington. But they refused to agree with me in this, the true reason for the quick disappearance of the cotton caterpillar. Although I had testimony that the same trait of slow short flight was noticed in the moths all over the country, I do not know if any credit has ever been given to my discovery by the Department, or how they finally accounted for the disappearance of the caterpillar from the cotton fields.

In the year 1876 a society for the promotion of agriculture was formed, with headquarters in Washington City. The organization spread with astonishing rapidity, the farmers looking to it for assistance. At a general meeting in Atlanta of the Georgia organization, of which I was a member and officer, a resolution was passed requesting the legislature to form a Department of Agriculture. I was requested to prepare a bill. I had no guide before me; but I drew the bill, defining its object in various matters, and giving the commissioners power to prescribe rules, and to prohibit the sale of worthless fertilizers in this State. I handed the bill to Mr. Bacon, speaker of the House, and it was introduced by Mr. Butt of Marion County. The bill passed without amendment after much discussion, and was soon a law. A similar bill was passed almost at once by several other States.

Among the plantations in the western part of Dougherty County, purchased by Mr. Johnston and myself in 1879, was a body of land of twenty five hundred acres known as "Hickory Level." The land was very fertile, there was no superior in that entire section of the State. The plantation was very sickly, no white man but one had ever lived on it for two consecutive years. Malaria in its worst form was very prevalent. The death rate among the negroes was alarming. At that time, the theory of the relation of the mosquito to the spreading of malaria had not been advanced. I considered the sickness to be due to a great extent to the very bad water, being what is known as "rotten limestone," which was drunk on the place. The question of obtaining pure water became so important that at one time it looked as though the place would have to be abandoned if some solution were not found. I thought first of building large cisterns with sheds to catch rain water, but that plan involved so many details, and expense, and there was the danger of easy contamination, so I gave up that plan. I suggested then that we bore an artesian well, as I had been investigating that subject and believed that a well could be bored with success. The question was discussed between Mr. Johnston and myself but held in abeyance on account of the expense and the uncertainty of the enterprise.

During the summer of 1880 there was a great deal of sickness on the place. There was very little rain. Water was difficult to obtain and was of a milky color. During that summer I tried to interest the town of Albany and the Central of Georgia railroad in the enterprise of boring an artesian well to obtain good water. At that time Mr. Nelson Tift, Sr., was Mayor Albany; General W. S. Holt was president and Mr. Shelman superintendent of the Southwestern railroad. As best I could, I laid before these gentlemen, the importance of good water to that section and what the benefit would be to the town of Albany and to the railroads. I explained why I believed artesian wells could be bored with success in this section. And as I felt financially unable to undertake the experiment of the first well, I wished to get financial assistance for the undertaking from those who would ultimately be benefitted. I received no encouragement. I wrote articles for the "Macon Telegraph" and the "Albany News and Advertiser", explaining fully my reasons for believing that artesian wells could be bored in southern Georgia. My theories were ridiculed, and received no serious attention.

At last, I determined to commence the undertaking myself. I had the consent of my partner, Mr. J. M. Johnston. We were jointly to bear the expense. I again laid the matter before the managers of the Central and Southwestern railroads for assistance. I saw Mr. Shelman in person. All he would do was to give me a free ticket over the Southwestern road for the man whom I had engaged to commence the well. This amounted to three dollars and fifty cents, which was all the assistance I received from the railroads, and that was done in anticipation of the freight charges that were to be on the engine and other material that were to be brought from Selma, Alabama, to Ducker Station for the purpose of boring the well. I had written to a friend in Selma, Mr. J. D. Campton, to recommend to me a man who was accustomed to boring artesian wells in that section of Alabama. He employed for me a Mr. Jackson from Selma at the price of five dollars a day, for his services, and use of his friction clutch and windlass. I purchase an engine and steam pump and commenced work on February 1, 1881.

My reasons for the faith I had in the practicability of artesian wells being bored in Georgia was a matter of thought and observation extending from my boyhood. One day while riding in a buggy with my father in the lower part of Baldwin County, we crossed a little stream known as "Reedy Creek," that flowed over many small round pebbles that looked like birds' eggs. The banks, too, of the stream were covered with these round stones imbedded in the earth. I got out of the buggy to get some to carry home as checker rocks for my sisters. My father then explained to me, that at ancient period of time this had been the shore of the ocean that had extended over what is now southern Georgia, south of a line drawn from Augusta to Columbus. I was interested in the facts explained to me by my father, and remembered the conversation.

Many years afterwards while on the southern Chattahochee River I noticed cut by the river bank a stratum of blue earth, which I felt assured was an ocean deposit known as blue marl, a deep-sea ooze. This ooze is impervious to water, preventing the water underneath from rising to the surface in springs. I noticed this deposit on the west bank, the Alabama side, and that it was sloping downward, eastward and toward the south. I crossed over to the east bank, the Georgia side, none was to be seen. But the natural supposition was that it was there only lower than the river bank. This was near Eufaula. As this marl appeared again at the surface near Brunswick, I took what seemed to me to be a logical position that this deposit extended under all southern Georgia, far down in the earth.

There were other phenomena I had observed on this subject. During the Civil War, I was attached to a cavalry scout service with headquarters near Saint Mark's, Florida. One day I went with a comrade, Jim Denham, in a skiff up the Wakulla River to the Wakulla Spring, about five miles from Saint Mark's. This spring is said to be the largest in the world. It is a great natural curiosity. Here was a river as large as the Chattahoochee or larger, rising up out of the ground. Whence came this water? The natural answer seemed: and underground river flowing under Georgia, which had been prevented before from rising to the surface by some natural obstruction, namely, earth impervious to water. The water had sunk into the earth in the northern plateau and mountains of Georgia, where there were no water-tight strata. I was greatly awed and interested in the Wakulla Spring. At first my ideas of its origin were only vague and crude, but became more definite and crystallized as time went on, and as I added to my observation and thought on the subject.

There had been several attempts to bore artesian wells in Georgia. In about 1850 an attempt was make to bore a well in Albany; which proved a complete failure. They were wanting in continuous pipes to reach water-tight strata. The water would seep out and never reach the surface. Mr. Jones of Newton, Georgia, was the contractor for the Albany well. I wrote to him upon the subject. He answered with a most discouraging letter, stating that when a young man he had lost a good deal of money in that enterprise, which he had never been able to recover from the town of Albany. Another attempt was by a Mr. Walker, called "Rich Billy Walker," a very wealthy man of Pulaski County, who bored two wells near Longstreet, Georgia, both of which were failures, although he went over six hundred feet deep.

My attention was also called to the fact that scientists and especially the famous geologist, Joseph Le Conte, had said that artesian water could not be procured in Georgia. In the face of all this discouragement I am astonished that I was still determined to go ahead, and too my finances were very low. In after years, in thinking this over, I have sometimes felt that I was compelled to continue the undertaking by some power outside of myself.

Commencing February 1, 1881, I continued the work through the spring and summer. My tools were so inferior that I almost had to abandon the well, especially when a boring tool, a reamer was broken off in the bottom of the pipe. My well seemed to be a failure and was ridiculed by some of the citizens of Albany. I remember one day on the street that a Mr. Brazemore, a warehouseman, stopped me and laughingly said that he had an injunction against me, because I was trying to rival Noah,-the difference was that Noah wished to rescue from a flood while I wanted to flood the State. Such ridicule only made me more than ever determined to go on. With great difficulty I succeeded in getting the reamer out. At about the depth of four hundred feet I reached the water tight stratum, a deposit of deep-sea ooze known as blue marl. I had been looking for this water-tight envelope and felt greatly encouraged.

On August 1st, I returned to Macon leaving word to continue work until my return, which would be within a few days. On August 4th, at ten o'clock in the morning I received the following telegram, "Water flowing at seven gallons per minute." I was greatly gratified at this, which was a triumph for my belief and for my perseverance. I took the next train accompanied by Mr. Harry Edwards of the "Macon Telegraph". We arrived at Ducker Station the next morning, Sunday, and went out at once to see the little well. It was an inspiring and gratifying sight to see the water flowing from the pipe.

The country was in the grasp of a parching drought, and presented the appearance of a country in a great need of the blessing of water. A great number of awe-struck negroes had assembled. They regarded me with great wonder and astonishment. It was thought that the Almighty had informed me to strike at that special spot, and I was likened to Moses, who in the wilderness struck the rock from which water gushed out. The news spread. The well was visited by many people who came to wonder and drink the splendid water. An account of my success was published in many of the State papers. The first being the "Macon Telegraph" with an article by Mr. Edwards in which I was much praised.

This gem of a little well, five hundred and fifty feet deep, of the purest life-giving water, of less than on hundred grains of any substance to the gallon, flowed nineteen years without diminishing. Its diminution at the end of this time was caused by chemical corrosion of the pipe, a hole being made, through which the water passed into the great sand bed above the water- tight strata. I successfully telescoped the pipe with a smaller one. The well had only ceased to flow two or three days.

LOG OF THE WELL OF JOHN P. FORT
U. S. Geological Survey

A few feet of surface clay, followed by limestone boulders Limestone with silicified layers containing shells - Traversed by subterranean streams Blue marl (clay?) Shell rock, sand rock, and marl (clay); water rose to within 14 feet of surface Sand tinted blue; layer of very fine white sand at 370 feet, below which was some coarse sand with shell fragments and sharks' teeth Blue clay and sand rock in alternate layers Blue clay with soft sand rock to flowing water Sand and clay, forming water-bearing stratum Hard rock

Thickness Feet 65 85 15 95 120 30 80 40 17

Depth Feet 65 150 165 260 380 410 490 530 547

My successful boring of this well was quickly followed by the boring of others. The town of Albany and the Central railroad bored two at once, showing that they recognized the fact that it would be of value to them. Soon there were wells in Jacksonville and Sanford, Florida, and Brunswick and Savannah, Georgia. Other places quickly followed, getting their entire water supply by this means.

Gradually the excitement occasioned by my well died out. By many it was looked upon as an accidental discovery and I was put in the list of cranks. I believe that it even caused my credit to suffer, for the banks of Albany, looking upon me as a crank, refused to lend money to a visionary. Nor has the Central of Georgia railroad, which more than any corporation was benefitted by my success, ever acknowledged it in any way, or ever extended to me any special courtesy. The boring of my well, which cost eleven hundred dollars, was never a help to me financially. But it was a great satisfaction to me, to know that I was instrumental in procuring the blessing of good water for a great section of my native State, and to know this has been recognized and praised by many.

During the first ten years my little well was used by a large circle of the surrounding population who daily hauled barrels of water from the plantation. No charge for this water was ever made. It was free to all. It was a great satisfaction to me to see how the health on the plantation was improved. Malaria decreased, and hemorrhagic fever, the great curse of the country, almost disappeared. Pure water is a great preventive of sickness.

Times were hard, but I met all my pecuniary obligations, although sometimes paying as high as fourteen percent for money loaned on my real estate as security, taking it as valued at one dollar per acre.

I consider the year 1881 the brightest in my life, as it contained two momentous happenings; in August the boring of my artesian well, and October my marriage to Miss Lulah Hay Ellis of Atlanta, which event was the most important in my life.

I brought my wife to Macon where we lived three years. I then gave up entirely my law practice, and left Macon. I took my family, my wife and two little daughters, to spend the winter months on Cooleewahee, one of my plantations near Albany. My wife became devoted to this plantation. We lived a healthful and happy life in the open. As game was plentiful, Lulah, with her fishing rod, and I, with my gun, supplied our table.

I now return to my work with the water of south Georgia.

During the boring of my artesian well we drilled through a limestone stratum, eighty feet from the surface to one hundred and ten. When this stratum was reached all the water which could be pumped down the pipe would disappear. I considered this a strange thing. I inquired of contractors in Albany and the neighborhood if they had met with similar strata. They informed me that they had. On receiving this information, I felt confident that water let down into this stratum from a pond would disappear. I became so interested in this proposition that I determined to make the experiment.

This section of Dougherty County is not over two hundred feet above the sea level and has on it a great many shallow ponds which have no natural drainage and which, because of the flatness of the land, cannot be drained by ditching. Near the artesian well on my Hickory Level plantation there was a pond of this character. It was not over twelve feet deep and covered several acres of ground. I thought that this stagnant water contributed to the sickness of the place, and to the high death rate from malaria. Later scientific research concerning the mosquito has proved the connection of stagnant ponds and malaria.

I determined to drain this pond into that subterranean limestone stratum eighty feet below the surface. I had a boat built and transported pine logs to the center of the pond, laid them in a square, building this up until it was above the surface. I then had a platform put upon this crib, connected a small derrick, made a large swinging maul, and drove a three-inch pipe down to the hard-rock stratum. I then attached a chisel to a two-inch pipe which was let down in the three-inch one and cut the rock by continually raising it up and down, thus cutting through the rock until we reached that honeycombed stratum which I was looking for. When the chisel struck this porous rock it fell about two feet. A large quantity of air rose to the surface, startling the two negroes who were working on the chisel. The top of my three- inch pipe was several short pieces screwed together. I now unscrewed and left open at the bottom of the pond the three-inch pipe. The roar of the water as it went into this subterranean cavity sounded like a small cascade. The water in the pond decreased gradually for about two weeks, when it disappeared. The drained bottom presented a remarkable sight-many fish, alligators, and trunks of ancient trees were exposed to the sun.

This was complete drainage and cost about one hundred and fifty dollars. By preventing the pipe from being stopped up with debris, the pond was kept successfully drained for several years. But, finally, through the difficulties of keeping it open, as there were only negroes on the plantation, and because of general inattention, the pipe became stopped up and the pond filled again.

I would here like to state that to my knowledge this method of subterranean drainage has been taken advantage of, in several localities. One that has been specially drawn to my attention is the drainage with six pipes by Mr. T. F. Putney, of Albany, of several hundred acres. This has greatly increased the value of his land. There are many ponds in south Georgia that I believe could be drained in the same way, as I feel assured that this same porous limestone stratum extends under that entire section.

I believe that this method could be the answer to the great problem of draining the Everglades of Florida. That State is now spending large sums of money on the attempt to drain parts of these vast swamps by canals and ditches. I believe that under this section of Florida is the same geological formation as under Dougherty County, Georgia, and into which could be drained the surface water. And at only a fraction of the cost of the system now being attempted.

I also hold the theory that the earth slides at the Panama Canal could be remedied in the same way, these slides being caused by very wet earth. The geological formation at the Isthmus is volcanic, resting on tertiary. Where the slides occur is one hundred feet above sea level. I think that a system of pipes, from the surface into a sand stratum which runs under the Isthmus, would remove the water from this wet earth. I shall not here go into my theory in detail. I have suggested it to Mr. Goethals, the engineer of the canal, and state it here not only as a theory of mine, but as a prophecy of the system that will ultimately be used.

As I became more and more convinced of the immensity of the underground waterways of Georgia, vast underground rivers making their way to the sea, and as I realized more fully the inexhaustible supply of good water to be obtained, I had the vision of a large area of our State being made more healthful because of pure water, and prosperous by the use of that same water for the irrigation of the land in the growing of crops.

I had always been interested in the problem of irrigation. Many years ago, a Mr. H. S. Orme moved from Milledgeville to Los Angeles, California. When on a return visit of Mr. Orme, I asked him what was the most wonderful thing he had seen in the West. He replied that which most impressed him was the fact that on a piece of land watered by irrigation such splendid fruit and vegetables were raised that it was worth five hundred dollars an acre; adjoining this tract was land which could be bought for one dollar per acre because it could not be reached by water. This showed the great value of water, both pieces of land being of the same fertility.

There is no section of Georgia that is arid, but a large section of southern Georgia is subject to prolonged summer droughts, when the crops burn badly, sometimes being totally destroyed. It is good land and with the help of commercial fertilizer and water could make over one hundred bushels of corn and two bales of cotton to the acre. This section is geologically in the tertiary system and I believe that in it artesian water is everywhere obtainable.

I was so impressed with these facts and my belief in the underground waters of the State was so strong, that I determined, if I were ever financially able, to make a practical demonstration of what could be done in this section by the help of irrigation from an artesian well.

In late years, with much difficulty and limited means, I have illustrated the truth of my theory. I have, ten miles from Albany, a plantation known as Tompkins. The land is good and well suited to my purpose. On this plantation I determined to make an irrigation plant. With difficulty, in spite of accidents, I succeeded in boring a well five hundred and fifty feet deep. From a pipe six feet above ground there now flow thirty-five thousand gallons per day. This now fills a reservoir which holds four hundred thousand gallons. This reservoir is about four feet above the field to be irrigated. I was financially unable to make a cement reservoir which would have cost between three and four thousand dollars. I made a cheap substitute of sand and clay at the cost of about one hundred dollars. I plastered the sides and bottom of my reservoir with sand and clay, and which I had mixed by dragging a log back and forth across it. The log acted as a trowel, and made the reservoir perfectly water-tight.

This reservoir now irrigates a field of fourteen acres. On this tract I have for the last three years averaged per acre two bales of cotton, and over one hundred and fifty bushels of corn, and over four hundred bushels of fine onions.

Mr. Milo Williams, a United States irrigation engineer, on looking over my plant, said that this large section of Georgia was worth from three hundred to five hundred dollars per acre, that is, if the water supply was equal to what I believe it to be, and if the availability of the water became generally known. He said, too, that this land compared favorably with lands that were selling at that price in the irrigated section of the far West. The United States Department of Agriculture was interested in my work and gave me practical advice on the irrigation of my field, but on account of some technicality in the irrigation appropriation I was given very little financial assistance. I had hoped that the Department would take up my idea and do some developing on a large scale as they have done in the West.

I wish again to state more fully my reasons for my confidence in the possible development of the underground resources of Georgia- a matter I believe most important. There is a surface geological formation called eocene commencing near Dublin in Laurens County, extending in a south-westerly direction through the counties of Pulaski, Dooly, Sumter, Lee, Dougherty, Early, and Decatur, across a narrow strip of West Florida. I feel confident that under this formation flows a great river with collateral branches which comes to the surface at Wakulla Springs. Wherever this eocene formation is clear and distinct I believe an artesian well may be obtained, and that my well taps that great underground river.

There are other underground waterways taking different directions and different surface formation that flow under southern Georgia and Florida. There is a large quantity of fresh water that comes up in the Gulf of Mexico near Cedar Keys, Florida, another in the Atlantic Ocean at Sheep Island, near Brunswick, Georgia. Brunswick has excellent artesian wells.

I believe in the future this water power will be developed for irrigation. It will not require much capital, if the inexpensive furrow system of irrigation is employed, and the well once obtained is permanently there. I picture that part of the State prospering with the raising of cereals and cattle. There will be beautiful farms and comfortable homes. Thus showing that adding water to the other bounties of nature, this land can yield abundant crops with the aid of the wisdom and industry of man.

We shall now turn our attention to my work in fruit growing in northeast Georgia.

FRUIT GROWING IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA
In the summer of 1886, we decided to spend the summer months in the cool and healthful climate of north Georgia. We bought a small cottage in Mount Airy, Habersham County, where my family have spent the subsequent summers. The last fifteen years being spent in a large comfortable home on the highest point in the village, with magnificent views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and surrounding country, and beautiful with a profusion of flowers with which my wife has great success.

In north Georgia my first work was with grapes. In 1890 I bought some land near Mount Airy and planted out a vineyard of Concords and Niagaras. I raised splendid grapes. I have never seen their equal, being superior in quality to those grown in New York State. Our climate make them especially sweet and tender. I did not make much money with my vineyards as the prices were low and express and commission so high. The grapes were attacked by the black rot. I was unable to eradicate it, although I tried the best means then known to the United States Department of Agriculture. So I was compelled to abandon the cultivation of grapes on account of this disease which became uncontrollable.

In my observation of the country around Mount Airy I became satisfied that a large section of the dividing ridge between the Chattahoochee and Savannah rivers, on which ridge Mount Airy is situated, was specially adapted to the growth of peaches. My principal reason for this belief was the freedom of this ridge from late frosts. This absence of frosts is caused by oscillation of the atmosphere-the cold air from the high lands draining to the valley. Frost does not form when the air is in motion. My theory that peaches planted on these ridges are not killed by a late frost has proved to be correct. I did not reckon with the cold winds that swoop down on this section from the northwest, the temperature going very low, sometimes to zero, and killing the fruit buds. This fall of temperature often comes after comparatively warm weather, which had caused the buds to swell. I determined to plant a peach orchard on one of these ridges. In 1895 Mr. R. H. Plant, of Macon, and I purchased some land splendidly situated about three miles west of Mount Airy. We planted about twenty acres in peaches. This orchard is known as "Clear View." Later I became the sole owner of this orchard. I also planted orchards in the other side of Mount Airy. I increased my orchards until I have one hundred and twenty acres in peaches-about twelve thousand trees. I, at first, planted a good many varieties, but my greatest success has been with Elbertas, Georgia Belles, Crawfords, and Fox's Seedling. In good seasons I have shipped from fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand crates to markets at Boston, New York, New Orleans, Cincinnati, and Chicago. I have obtained net, as high as $1070 for a car, my peaches selling as high as $3.50 a crate in New York. But this was by no means always the case. Some seasons on account of the glutting of the market it hardly paid to ship.

The fruit is of great beauty, of large size and bright color, and delicious flavor. My example has been followed by many others, and now from several miles above Mount Airy to Alto, ten miles below, are hundreds of acres planted in peaches, as many as six hundred cars being shipped out of this section in one season. I believe as a whole the growers have made money. Land has greatly advanced in price. When I first put out my orchard, ridge lands sold at two dollars per acre. Now it is worth from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars.

It has been very gratifying to me to see an industry, in this section in which I was the pioneer, flourish and bring prosperity to the people. During peach season as much as thirty thousand dollars are paid out for labor alone.

I now wish to speak of another experiment of mine in fruit culture. Although this experiment has not proved a financial success, it is of interest, and I believe that yet through scientific work it will be made a success. I speak of my cherry orchard. My largest orchard of cherries is at Clear View. I planted the large leaf variety of sweet cherry-the large leaf protecting the tree from the sun, which is too hot for them in this climate. I planted a variety of Bigarreau cherries that holds its leaves longer than most varieties. Though splendid trees, and generally blooming profusely, there is a lack of fertilization of the bloom, and what few cherries are made fall before maturing. I believe this condition is mostly due to the lack of moisture at the season of blossoming. I now have some ideas that may be able to correct this, and I believe my cherry orchard will yet prove a success. Man is made to overcome all obstacles.

I have been interested in the growing of many kinds of fruits. I have large pear orchards on my south Georgia plantations, Le Conte and Keifer pears. The trees have been badly blighted but have been a moderate financial success.

I now come to what I consider the most successful undertaking of the latter part of my life-the growing of apples in Rabun County, Georgia.

I shall begin with a few words on apple culture in Georgia. Draw a line through our State from Augusta through the cities of Milledgeville and Macon to Columbus, and we will note at these cities that our rivers break over the granite rocks, and from thence flow gently to the ocean. Below this primary geological formation is nearly two-thirds of the area of our State, none of which is more than five hundred feet above sea level. This large area is classed as tertiary, and presents a soil and climate in which the apple has never been successfully grown.

Immediately north of this line we come to the granite formation known as primary-comprising a large portion of the State, in which are included the red hills of Georgia. In this section certain classes of apples succeed well. This type may be illustrated by the Red June and Horse apple for summer; and the Yates and Terry's Winter for winter. These apples succeed better the higher altitude we reach in this primitive are of the State. They seem to approach a higher degree of perfection as the altitude above sea level increases.

I am inclined to think that climate and altitude above the sea level are the two most important factors in successful apple- growing in the State of Georgia.

We will now consider that area of our beloved State from which arise the headwaters of our streams that flow into the Atlantic and Gulf. This is termed the mountain section, and embraces that portion of Georgia lying from 1800 to 3000 feet above sea level.

To go back to the beginning of my interest in this question,-I moved in the fall of 1898 to Demorest, a few miles from Mount Airy, for the winter months, for the purpose of putting my children in school, Demorest having good educational advantages.

Through Demorest there used to pass covered wagons full of apples on their way from the mountains to Athens. I was struck with the beauty of these apples, especially with an apple called the "Mother" apple which was capable of a very high polish and very free from blemish. On talking to the wagoners I found that they came down from Rabun County, Georgia, and near Shooting Creek, North Carolina, and that they grew their apples with very little care or cultivation. I was so interested that I went up to Rabun to study the apple question. I applied for the government meteorological maps of this section. I was struck by its heavy rainfall. An area of about thirty miles square with the center at Clayton, Rabun County, and extending into North Carolina, has the largest rainfall of any part of the United States, except Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast-a rainfall averaging from seventy to one hundred inches per annum. This does not come in floods, but all through the year in continual showers. I have often stood in Rabun Gap and been struck with wonder at the mist being drawn through Rabun, Hiawassee, and Crow Gaps, forming clouds laden with moisture to be deposited upon the mountains and vales of this favored country. They often present scenes of sunshine and clouds so inspiring and grand that they seem to encircle us with the majesty of Almighty Power. This rain upon a well-drained soil is very adaptable to the growth of splendid apples. On seeing what fine apples could be grown without cultivation, one naturally asked what could not be done with modern scientific culture. I wished very much to plant an orchard in that favored section. At first I tried to interest persons with capital in this enterprise, which I felt confident would be a profitable investment. I met with no success so, in spite of my limited resources, I determined to make the venture myself.

In pursuance of my long contemplated desire, I purchased in 1906 fifty acres of land near Rabun Gap in northeast Georgia, for the purpose of planting an apple orchard. The position chosen was within a mile and a half of Rabun Gap, on the Tallulah Falls railroad. The place was known as Turkey Cove, situated on Black's Creek which forms the headwaters of the Tennessee River. There were upon the place about fifty apple trees that had been planted fifteen or twenty years. They were overgrown with wild vines, and presented a very neglected appearance. I had the old trees cared for and I planted a young orchard of twelve hundred trees of approved varieties of apples. The young apple trees I planted grew, and the old trees responded to the care given them. After the first year's care and cultivation, I noticed in the old orchard four trees that produced a red apple that surprised me with its splendid appearance. They ripened about November 1, 1908.

About this time I received by mail a pamphlet stating that there was to be held at Spokane, Washington, the first National Apple Show. A prize was offered for the best two barrels or six boxes of apples grown in the sixteen Southern States. This prize was called the "Southern States Special" and was divided into first, second, and third prizes. I decided to send six boxes of my apples to contest for the "Southern States Special." I had about twenty-five bushels from the four trees. I shipped six boxes by express. In return I received a check for $50 for the second best apples-North Carolina receiving the first prize, my apples the second, and apples from Oklahoma the third prize.

Being elated with my success I had my four apple trees specially cared for. On November 1, 1909, they presented an appearance superior to any similar sight I had ever beheld. The National Apple Show was again held in Spokane in November, 1909. I again contended for the first prize, "Southern States Special," with superior apples to my entry in 1908. They were awarded the first prize of $100 above all competitors. The chairman of the committee making the award is the most renowned pomologist in our county-Mr. H. E. Van Deman, of Washington, D. C. I obtained also a diploma for the best new variety of apples.

The cancelled check of one hundred dollars for this prize was applied for by a trustee of Mr. Ritchie's school, near Rabun Gap, and is now framed and hung upon the schoolhouse wall, to remind the children that their county can produce the best apples.

This apple, having been pronounced a new variety and worthy of being put upon the pomological books at Washington, was listed and given the name of Fort's Prize. The apple has demonstrated those qualities that make a financial success, such as appearance, color, taste, and above all, keeping without decay until the spring.

Anticipating that an orchard of this new variety of apple will be valuable, I have obtained grafts from the old trees and have put out an orchard of them. I have a confident hope and belief that this variety of apples will become very valuable in future to apple growers, and that they will become money-makers, such as the Baldwin and Ben Davis are among apples; the Elberta peach, among peaches; the Concord grape, among grapes. It originated in Georgia. I am gratified that I brought it to public attention.

This season, 1916, my orchard at Turkey Cove has an abundant crop of splendid apples, and I hope in the next few months to harvest a crop of two thousand bushels. I have just returned from a visit to my orchard, and it presents a beautiful sight. My youngest son, William, has the active management of my orchards.

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR,
ATHENS, GEORGIA,
October 22, 1915.

COL. JOHN P. FORT,
Mount Airy, Georgia.

DEAR DOCTOR FORT:
I received the basket of apples about a week ago and thank you for them. You have no idea how much I appreciate a kindness like this, particularly when it comes from the man who has rendered the greatest service to Georgia of any living man.

Yours sincerely,
DAVID C. BARROW.

There are now thousand of acres planted in this section of the State, and it bids fair to be one of the most profitable of Georgia's industries-and industry attributable in a great way to my success.

I now wish to write a few words on my interest the culture of pecans. When a boy in Milledgeville, in the year 1849, my aunt, Mrs. Moses Fort, widow of my father's brother, returned from a visit to one of her sons in Louisiana. She brought with her a little sack holding about a quart of pecans. She divided them among my father's children, my share being about twelve. The others ate theirs, but I planted mine in the back of the garden, marking the places with stakes from my bird trap. They came up that spring and some of them are now immense trees, sixty feet tall and bearing bushels of pecans. As far as I know these are the oldest pecan trees in the State of Georgia. About thirty years ago I planted a small pecan orchard on Tompkins plantation. They were not budded and were a poor variety, and for many years they were neglected. But about three years ago I had them budded and I believe that in a few years they will yield a profitable crop. The pecan industry in Georgia bids fair to be a very large one, as hundreds of acres have been planted.

My belief in the agricultural possibilities of Georgia is so great, especially in the growing of fruits, that I wish to mention all my work in this line, the successful experiments and the ones that have not yet, from one cause or another, proved successes, such as my cherries in north Georgia, and my experiment with figs in south Georgia. The latter proved a failure because of the avidity and lack of cooperation of the railroads. Figs are too perishable to stand shipping. I wished to can the figs in glass jars at the orchard, but the freight rates on fruit in glass jars were so high and as there was on local market I abandoned the orchard. It would have proved a difficult undertaking anyway as I could not be in that section at the time and the work would have lacked the master's eye.

There is one more experiment in agriculture that I wish to mention which has been a success. I thought of growing vegetables in north Georgia to ship to Florida after its crop was over. So I planted half an acre in tomatoes to be shipped to Savannah and Jacksonville. The railroads considered shipping vegetables to southern points such an uncertain and foolish thing that they required me to give bond on the freight. My experiment was a great success, the commission merchant, Mr. Putzel, of Savannah, wrote me that in his twenty-seven years of experience he had never handled such stock. The half-acre netted me one hundred and fifty-nine dollars. My example has been followed by others, and vegetables are now being shipped in considerable quantities from Cornelia to south Georgia and Florida markets.

In June, 1909, when in Athens to attend the graduation of two of my sons, as an appreciation of my work for the State agriculture, I had conferred upon me by the University of Georgia, the degree of "Doctor of Science." That the trustees of the University contemplated this was entirely unknown to me. This honor was conferred before a large audience and was very gratifying.

My irrigation plant in south Georgia having proved a success, the Department of Agriculture at Washington sent a special irrigation engineer to Tompkins plantation to make a report. Such a good report was made that the Department conferred upon me the title of Collaborator of Irrigation, giving me a diploma stating this fact.

As I stated near the beginning of this story of my life, I believe that my mind and temperament are those of a naturalist. From my boyhood my interest in birds has never abated. I know their habits, I can distinguish the notes of all the birds of our woods and recognize them by their flight as far as my eyes can see.

This spring (1916) while seated on the porch of our home, at Mount Airy, I have succeeded with great patience and with the enticing power of the peanut, in getting a gray-crested titmouse to light on my hand, and to take a peanut from between my lips. And I persuaded a nuthatch to come within a foot of my chair. The titmouse knew me so well that when I was several hundred yards from the house it flew down from a tall tree and took a peanut from my hand. This was in the season when food was plentiful.

As an agriculturist as well as naturalist I have been always interested in the insectivorous birds as a great aid to man in the destruction of insects. I know of no bird that does not eat insects, except the goldfinch. I remember once examining the stomach of an American swift, it contained a mass of insects, six hundred and fifty mosquitoes and gnats which had been caught on the wing that day. Especially valuable is the purple martin because he can be attracted to our fields and orchards if the proper kind of house is made for him. He arrives from the tropics very early in time to meet the first flight of many noxious insects such as the cuculio which is so destructive to the peach and similar fruits.

When I built for irrigation my reservoir holding four hundred thousand gallons, I was afraid that it would be a great breeding place for mosquitoes. I placed around the reservoir boxes and gourds on poles as homes for the purple martin, so that the birds would destroy the mosquitoes. At the same time I had put in the water small fish to eat the wiggletails, the larvae of the mosquito. The fish and martins have largely eradicated this noxious insect from the plantations. (NOTE: Acknowledgement of Mr. Fort's observations on mosquitoes has been made in "The Mosquitoes of North and Central America and West Indies", pages 178, 403, vol. i. Authors: Leland O. Howard, Harrison G. Dyar, Frederick Knabe.)

At the present time the boll weevil has made its appearance in most of the cotton fields in southwest and middle Georgia. I believe that the ravages of the weevil cannot be stopped, but they can be checked and reduced to a minimum. In studying the history of this insect, I find that it is food for birds of the class hirundo, or swallow. When the boll weevil, which is one of cuculio, makes its first flight over the cotton fields before depositing its eggs in the cotton squares is the time that it is caught by the swallows and martins. The weevil is slow in flight and easily caught. If the first brood is caught it will decrease them by the million, as it has been calculated that the progeny of one female, if not destroyed, would by the end of the season be two million. I have had placed around my cotton fields forty martin boxes. I am confident that these birds will greatly lessen the depredation of the boll weevil in my fields. As the martin returns every year to the same home, each year I hope to have a larger colony.

We must protect the birds. A great French savant has said that in seven years, without the help of insectivorous birds, the world would become uninhabitable by man. The destruction of insects is greatest during the nesting season of the birds, as a young bird is a small mill continually grinding up insects. Birds should have our special protection at that season. A young bird just off the nest is prey to almost everything; cats. hawks, snakes, are among its principal enemies. The wanton destruction of bird life by man has so decreased them that it threatens the world with a great calamity. We must teach the young generation to refrain from this destructive work, and that the birds are our useful friends. Teach them to love the birds, to admire their plumage and song, to study their habits, and to realize that they contemplate the work of a munificent Creator who has fashioned these beautiful inhabitants of the air.

I now bring to a close these brief reminiscences of a long life, dictated to my daughter at her request. They are for my six children, being a short record of the life and work of their father.

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PART I - John Porter Fort - Personal Reminiscences
PART III - John Porter Fort - Personal Reminiscences