Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-04-23
From Northern AIabama-SOme aseonn. = :.
Country and Climate. vi ihe
1ense o. the State journal.

EFr1nr
oed, where contrabands, suffers, black.legs
ana railroad switches are too numerous 70 :.
counted. He has been neither Ailled wound
ed nor missing but has rather been "lost A.
stroyed or worn out in the service basido.
being occasionally "sold" and freona,.I.
4@transferred
Your readers have lost little as vel f., h.
can they lose what they have never had,
Besides, had any stray scrawls been possible
during the past winter, they would have !.
Vored 100 strongly of fnel, forage stationa,,
| and miscellaneous stores" of orders oana.,
special and local, and of red tape generali,.
TO have been very interesting. Even no,,
acquisitions and receipts" regulationa5
and reports" are performing mixei Coil
lions in my brain, and an" abstract" of M
thoughts would be drier than algebra in tba
region Of pure equations" Somuch apoIo.
getically. WV
All quiet on Crow Creek would mass e..
stale, spiritless axiom in this region. Ste.
venson is not on the Tennessee as most man.
make it, but is at the foot of Mount -
(sOmething big,) on the northern limit of the
Tennessee valley, nearly five miles from the
green waters of that notable and statalv
stream. In days of peace and aristocraey +
may have enjoyed a kind of fourth rate rem.
tatiOn as a watering place, for from the NOM.
tain's rugged side gush numerous fountains of
! very passably clear and, aside from a faint
too much of iron and limestone in solntion
tolerably wholesome water. A stone reser
voir boards few hundred barrels Of the gen.
erous flow at the largest spring, and an iron
pipe conducts the sparkling liquid to what
used to flourish under the title of the /" Ala.
bama House, but which is now crowned with
blue coats as "Soldier's House." Ii also
supplies the water-tank of the railroad. and
would easily support number of fountains if
well managed. The water does not taste ali.
solutely bad, and yet to a Wisconsin palate
accustomed to the brilliantly sparkling lime
stone water of that State, it has peculiar
clayey, lifeless taste. 1t reminds me of brook
water as it is found in the clay-soil and mossy
bed regions of northeastern Ohio. In the
laundry it is deemed almost soft, while for
bathing and the toilet it has a sticky-squeak
feel that have never noticed so emphatically
as here. 1t does not curdle with soap, per-
ceptibly, and removes dirt with its aid. but
after washing in it the towel feels as though
it had been busted with powdered rosin or
calcined magnesia.
The soil seems to be, as might be inferred
red clay loan. 1t cannot but be product
i've under ordinary management Crops of
all kinds, from white beans to sugar cane and
cotton, must be easily produced in any part
of this valley. have seen stalks of corn
standing in the fields, the ears of which, to
say nothing of the tOps-I could but lust
reach with my cane. 1t looks incredible, but
il is literally true, though | confess | would
doubt correspondents word myself, if | had
not repeatedly tested the truth of my asser-
ton. Ifit grows to this enormous size under
the very imperfect system of cultivation in
vogue here, what would become of it under
Yankee fostering The wheat grown here is
of excellent quality and large yield, when
managed with any approach to agricultural
skill, but 1T is not extensively raised. Oats
do extremely well. Irish potatoes are almost
failure under Southern cultivation, being
seanty in syield, small, and of fiat, watery
quality. ] cannot see why there should not
be potato crops Of the finest kind, both as to
quality and quantity produced, in the noun
tain cOves and on the rocky slopes of this
section. / have Irish blood in my veins, and
consider myself (modestly, but by hereditary
right, Judge of the tuber, both in the hill
and in the pot, aud l am sure / should not
ask better facilities of location, soil and eli
mate, than are here afforded, to produce
them in abundance and of good quality
Sweet potatoes flourish, as matter of course,
but the natives turn them to comparatively
small account, by providing no means of
keeping them, as they might do throughout
the winter. A live "Yank," as they term all
Northerners, would have his table supplied
from September to May, but majority of the
IL ov.I
thought or providence, are reduced to their
ordinary standard of corn bread and pork, or
perhaps game, by the middle of winter.
Most kinds of fruits that grow in a tenn
perate climate flourish here in great luxur-
ance. Apples and peaches grow without
stint, and little horticultural taste and skill
would produce the rarest specimens and in
the greatest quantity and variety. The small
fruits, with few exceptions, including straw
berries, gooseberries and eurrants, which
seem to be almost a failure, do remarkably
well. Raspberries and blaekberries grow ev-
erywhere wild in the greatest abundance, and
of the largest size and finest quality. | have
seen blackberry standards which would over
top my big cOrnstalk, if it were not that they
seem conscious of their OVerweening heighth
and hang their heavy heads.
As to other products, cotton, cane, ETC., L
know little or nothing of their requisites or
the success attending their cultivation in this
mart of the world. | have seen no cane and
but little cotton growing.
The timber throughout southern Tennessee
and northern Alabama is excellent in quality,
and grows in as great variety and to as great
size as could be desired.
mention this outline of my observations
of the country as brief general reply to the
numerous inquiries of northern farmers, and
others who have turned their thoughts thith-
erward since this rebellion has opened the
door to a re-settlement of this undeVelOped
region. q ai =!
a word with regard to the climate. 1t IS
not perfect, yet it is far preferable on many
accounts to that of the Northwestern States.
Extremes of weather are not so frequent or
sn excessive IN WiseOnsiu, nevertheless
they occur. In winter there is seldom COZ
tlEuOuS week OF what would be termed cold
weather, and in the midst or January the
mercury often stands for days andeven weeks
at range of from 709 to Sc in the shade.
The coolest weather known for years oc-
Cured the first week in January, this winter
but even then the mercury did not get with
in five degrees of zero. We have had not
more than a single inch of snow until the 22d
of this month, when we got an equinocta
foot in one body. BY some measurements
it reached sixteen inches, but / attribute
these high figures to the universal over-e1-
pansion existing throughout the military
world Ten inches may be nearer the truth
than either statement, though measured 1t
only with my eye. Peach trees had been IN
bloom week when the snow came, and as
it froze quite smartly for two nights, | fear
our boys viii have slim picking next autumn;
lAnnla. nrnhards are now on the point OF