Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-04-14
From Northern Mabama-Some Aeeount IS a. :
Country and Climate, vi 'le
ndence of the State Journal
STEVENSON, Ala, March 90

luis desolate military mortar
oed, "here eontrabands, suffers, black.lncs
and railroad switches are too numerous 70 ba
counted. He has been neither killed wound
ed nor missing, but has rather been ssIos+da
stroyed or worn out in the service - bas;aos
being occasionally "sold" and freonor.1,,
transferred"
Your readers have lost little as yet, for how
can they lose what they have never bada
Besides, had any stray scrawls been possible
during the past winter, they would have sa-
vored too strongly of /" fuel, forage stationery.
and miscellaneous stores, of orders, general
special and local, and of red tape general}v,
to have been very interesting. Even now.
acquisitions" and "receipts," regulations,
and . reports are performing mixed cotiI.
lions in my brain, and an 20 ABSTRACT of NV
thoughts would be drier than algebra in the
region of "pure equations" Somuch apollo
getically. q II s
"An quiet on Crow Creek" would pass for
a stale, spiritless axiom in this region. Ste
venson is not on the Tennessee as most mans
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 stately
| stream. In days of peace and aristocracy it
may have enjoyed kind Of fourth rate repu-
tatlon as watering place, for from the noun
taln's rugged side gush numerous fountains of
very passably clear and, aside from faint
too much of iron and limestone in solution
| tolerably wholesome water. A stone reser
voir boards a 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 a Soldiers House. 1t also
supplies the water-tank of the railroad. and
would easily support number of fountains if
well managed. The water does not taste alb
solutely bad, and yet to a Wisconsin palate.
accustomed to the brilliantly sparkling lime
stone water of that State, it has a peculiar
clayey, liteless taste. 1t reminds me of brook
water as it is found in the clay-soil and mossy-
| bed regions Of north eastern Ohio. In the
laundry it is deemed almost soft, while for
| bathing and the toilet it has 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.
|
a 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-o
| say nothing of the tops-I could but Just
reach with my cane. 1t looks incredible but
it is literally true, though l confess | would
| doubt correspondents word myself, if had
not repeatedly tested the truth of my asser-
| ton. If it 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 it is not extensively raised. Oats
do extremely well. Irish potatoes are almost
failure under Southern cultivation, being
scanty in yield, small, and Of a fat, watery
quality. l 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. l 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, and 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
''Butternuts," thriftless and without fore
thought or providence, are reduced to their
| r,I,, yr{o a,I nf
perhaps game, by the middle of winter
Most kinds of fruits that grow in tenn
perate climate flourish here in great luxuri-
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 currants, which
| seem to be almost a failure, do remarkably
well. Raspberries and blackberries 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
part of the world l 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 undeyeloped
region.
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
| so excessive as in Wisconsin, nevertheless
thew occur. In winter there is seldom con-
tinuous week of what would be termed cold
| weather, and in the midst of January the
mercury often stands for days and even weeks
| at a range of from 70o to Sc in the shade.
The coolest weather known for years oc-
Cured the first week in January, this winter;
bat 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 equinoctial
| foot in one body. By some measurements
| it reached sixteen inches, but I attribute
these high figures to the universal over-ex-
pansion existing throughout the military
world. Ten inches may be nearer the truth
| than either statement, though I measured it
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 will have slim picking next autumn.
| Apple orchards are now on the point OF
bursting into bloom, and gay-plumaged song
sters are as happy and musical as before the
Storm March is doubtless the most tickle