Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-11-15

urer Haywood, of Raleigh, and the county
seat from General Wayne, of the Revolu
ton of '76.
The trade in Ginseng and other medici
nal roots, of which wrote you over yeal
ago, continues to be the life of Western
North Carolina. Ginseng, Snake Root and
a number of medicinal vegetable produc'
tions, are Indigenous to the mountains OF
this State They are eagerly sought after
by the North so much SO that capitalists
have been known tc furnish our merchants
out here, with ready money, for buying up
these roots The result is, in many neigh
borhoods the sale of these articles has been
nearly their only source of income. They
are dug from the mountains by the poor
generally; Indians engaging considerably
in the enterprise.
Ginseng is by far the most important of
them all This is substitute, as l have
said before, for tobacco and is chiefly ex-
ported to China But the Ginseng grows
in an endless variety of shapes. In the
main it is shaped like a carrot but it varies
from this to an almost endless variety, oc-
casionally assuming almost human shape.
While the Chinese use the ordinary roots
for medicinal purposes, or substitute for
tobacco, it Is said that these human shaped
pieces are objects of superstition among
them and are perhaps worshipped by them
as gods.
Counting all the counties that lie in the
vicinity Of the Blue Ridge, for say fifty
miles in the east and from that line out to
the border of the State on the west, the
income from these roots would presume,
hardly fall short of quartel of a million of
dollars year. This carries comfort to
many a mountain home of the poor and
destitute and is nearly their only means of
raising money, these roots being nearly the
only marketable thing they have.
! Zen. Polk has now a son living and in
l., mess at Asheville, Capt. Polk and the
W. low of the lamented Bishop has recently
been on a visit to her son. He is merchan-
| ling. His firm is Polk & Summey.
| The first white child known to have been
born in North Carolina west of the Blue
Ridge was born few miles west OF Ashe-
Vile His name heads this paragraph, and
was the son of IN early settler, named Dan
! iel Smith, the famous "Indian fighter. -
Smith, ir, built q house with port holes,
which is still standing. The old man was
noted for his extensive possessions. He
lived near the French Broad, and died not
too soon to see large white population
follow the wake he had led to an Indian
territory.
I see here at Waynesville, the first col
ored person born West Of the Blu Ridge,
Smart Welsh by name, now an ID man,
and greatly respected by the peop of this
country for his upright department.. He
is said to have become "red string one
morning, but, like the man who passed
through five States in one cay, old Smart
became uot "red string" before sunset
He represents that after getting in the ring
he looked around, but not seeing any white
faces he liked, he bolted, and mas never
seen the lantern since.
Anew apparatus for making Sorghum,
is penetrating this western country. There
is vast difference between the eastern
counties and the western, relative to the
Sorghum culture. It has been compara-
lively abandoned in the east, but is abund-
antly grown in the west. Let US see who
are the wiser.
It has been demonstrated at the North
and West, that al acre of the right kind of
Sorghum will yield 200 gallons molasses
| and 1000 pounds of sugar. The interest
| in the product has increased until there is
| monthly journal published in Cincinnati
devoted to Sorghum ''The Sorghum Jour-
nal" 1t gives the proceedings of the Sorg
hum Conventions, al the results of labor
with the cane.
! A new Evaporation is in use. 1t consists
| Of copper pan, twelve feet long, say four
| feet wide. This pan has a series of bars,
reaching nearly across the inside Of the
! pan at the bottom, so arranged as to allow
! the liquid to run up and down these ribs.
It enters at one end of the pan, runs up
one rib and down another, until it reaches
| the opposite end, when it leaves the pan
not only syrup but as clear as white honey,
| free from the peculiar Sorghum flavor,
thick and heavy, and by far the best mo-
| lasses / ever knew made from this cane
! Nbn ~ in Achn
ville.-Cor. of Raj Sentinel.
| AGREEABLE TO THOSE WHO CAN CARRY
OUT THE PRoGRAN1ME.-We were attra ,ted
yesterday morning by large display of
boats-one, some 25 feet long, and small
er ones of light draft, with dray loads of
preparations, including trunks, provisions,
&C., and very naturally supposed that
some expedition was on foot. Our sur
mise was correct a party of gentlemen,
Captain n. B. Palmer, of New York, IAN
old shipmate,) and Messrs. Stone, Brew
er, and Semminor, were embarking on a
tug, which towed along their conveyances,
en- route for Currituck Sound, where they
intend passing some leisure days in dis
cussing curlew, swan, geese and duck
shooting The larger boat was provided
W1Gn Sails, duu Was capaDle Oh tOW1uS
from point to point on the Sound the
lighter floats, on each of which the
several sportsmen could embark on his
own hook. The latest style of "blind'
: something new was brought on too, and
) q more elegantly gotten up establishment
| we have never seen.-Norfolk J0u7a0l.
ARRESTED. Holmes, freed
man, who committed a murder in Edge
comb County, N. g., last June, was ar
rested by Chief of Police Radcliffe, or
yesterday, through information obtained
t from Private Riggs, of Co. B, 9Th U. S
: Artillery. Holmes had been in the freed
mems hospital, in this city, for length
of time, and 1t was while at this institu
ton that disclosures were made which let
: to his arrest Columbia Picnic.
D1ED.-At his residence near Chulahoma
t Miss, on the Goth ult., of dyspepsia, Col
! ! Richard Philips He was born in Walk
:. county, n. c., in 1911, and was one Of th
first settlers of North Mississippi. His flu