Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-04-13

IAdnh Oou,7dl tnls utsOIaUe military mortar
bed, where contrabands, suffers, black-lacs
and railroad switches are too numerous to ba
counted. He has been neither killed. wound.
ed nor missing, but has rather been lost de.
stroyed or worn out in the service" besides
being occasionally " sold " and frequently
transferred y
Your readers have lost little as yet for how
can they lose what they have never had2
Besides, had any stray scrawls been possible
during the past winter, they would have sa-
vored too strongly of " fuel, forage stationery,
and misee llaneous stores,n of orders, general.
special and local, and of red tape general.
to have been very interesting. Even nov.
acquisitions and receipts, f" regulations
and reports are performing mixed cotil.
lions in nv brain, and an " abstract" of NV
thoughts would be drier than algebra in the
region of "pare equations" SomUch apollo
getically.
g All quiet on Crow Greek" 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, Ola 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 aristocracv it
may have enjoyed kind of fourth rate repu-
tation as watering place, for from the noun
tains rugged side gush numerous fountains of
very passablv clear and aside from a 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 10 flourish under the title of the Ala
bama House" but which is now crowned with
r. -
supplies the water-tank Of the railroad, and
would easily support a 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 Il peculiar
cayev, lifeless taste. 1t reminds me OF brook
water As it Is found in tie clay-soii and messy
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 emphaticallv
as here. 1t does not curdle with soap, per
ceptibly, and removes dirt with its aid. but
after washing in 1t the towel feels as though
it had been busted with powdered rosin or
caIcined magnesia.
The soil seems 10 be, as might be inferred
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.-to
say nothing of the :9ns-I could but lust
reach with my cane. 1t looks incre dibIe, but
il Is literally true, though / confess | would
doubt a correspondents word myself, if l had
not repeatedly tested the truth of nay asser-
ton. If it grows TO this enormous size under
the very imperfect system of cultivation in
vogue |ere, what would become of il 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
a failure under Southern cultivation, being
scanty in yield, small, and of q fiat, watery
quality. | cannot see why there should not
be potato crops Of the finest kind, both as 70
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 bv hered
right judge Of the tuber, both in the hill
and III the pot, aud | 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. \ live "Yank" as they term all
NortherIers, would have his table supplied
from September to May, but a majority OF the
"Butternuts," thriftless and without fore
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 TEN
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-
crywhere 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 thew
seem conscious of their overweening height
and hang their heavy heads
As TO other products, cotton, cane, etc, I
know little or nothing of their requisites or
the success attending their cultivation in this
part of the world. L have seen no care 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.
a word with regard to the climate 1t is
not perfect, yet it is far preferable many
accounts to that of the Northwestern States
Extremes of weather are not so frequent or
so excessive as in Wisconsin, nevertheless
they occur. in winter there is seldom a con
tiruous 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 707 TO sec 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 fzero. We have had not
more than a single inch of snow until the 22d
of this month, when wN 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 | measured il
only with my eye. Peach trees had been in
bloom week when the snow came. and IS
it froze quite smartly for two nights, L fear