Mr. Clark Bell, the writer of the article on the fruit growing possibilities of the South Atlantic seaboard, is a New York lawyer, and editor of the Medico-Legal journal of New York. He has had a quite extensive practical experience in fruit growing, and his judgment as to the capabilities of the South for this branch of agriculture is that of a competent expert. Mr. Bell was one of the party of editors of medical journals who recently made a tour of the South Atlantic States under the auspices of the Southern Bureau of Information, located at Southern Pines, N. C.
It seems incomprehensible to a Southern man that there should be any doubt in the minds of Northern people as to whether Northern settlers will be well received in the South or not. Mr. Clark Bell, in an article in this number, says: “Northern settlers would, strange as it may sound to you, need to be assured in these respects,” and he thinks it necessary to quote the assurances on this point that he had from distinguished Southern gentlemen. Not only will Northern farmers and business men be well received in the South, but they will find awaiting them a most eager welcome. The newspaper utterances all over the South, the statements of public men, the personal letters to the newspapers from farmers and merchants, the actions of commercial bodies, indicate not only a welcome to the Northern settler, but a keen appreciation of the value to the South of immigration from the North, and a most eager desire for this immigration. No Northern man, who is respectable enough to have standing in his own community at home, need have any fear but that he will find in the South the utmost consideration and good will.
The superior train service on the Chesapeake & Ohio is well known to all patrons of that system. During the month of January train No. 1 made the run between Washington, D. C., and Cincinnati, twenty-nine days, exactly on time, and on the other two days lost but twenty minutes. Train No. 2 made every trip between the cities on time, and the “Fast Flying Virginian,” one of the finest express trains in the country, reached Cincinnati thirty out of thirty-one trips on time, although it was an hour late out of Washington on seven trips, caused by waiting for connections. This is a month’s record that the operating department can be proud of.