Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1869-08-13

OAAb " ] LII " ~
Westerly region. The cadaverous counte-
nanccs too often encountered are the result,
not of ague, but Of the immoderate use of |
Tobacco.
SOIL, CULTIVATION, PRODUCTS.
Most Of the land | saw Is &C the tired |
land variety we'll knosn In New Jersey |
aud Maryland-a sort Of clayey loan tinged |
with iron or sme kindred mineral, aud OFT |
on testifying, where it has been cut
through by the railroad to its marine orr
gin. II Is naturally strvLg aud fruitful,
free f,om stone, ga lily worked when not too
wet, and inviting deep and thorough cult
ure, while rarely addicted to weed. Yet
the underwood portion of II has been 30
long and so steadily treated as badly as pos
sible-plowed three to Ave inches, rarely or
never msuured, devoted to Wheat, TObac
CO and Corn, and never seeded when thrown
out Of cultivation, that It seems wholly ex
hausted. A drouth has prevailed for weeks
trough most Of this region, aud the average
stand OF Indian Corn is miserable. | arn
confident that saw ten thVussue acres that
will not yield five bushels per acre much
of IL not one cdy. Of sound corn per acre
noticed that the shocks Of WHEAT and O.s
often standing in the field were small aud
far apart. Tobacco is favotits crop
throuought, aud it GENERALLY makes a poor
show. Even where Glover (every where
greatly needed) has been sown it is too eft.
en- allowed to stand till dead ripe, and then
the little life LEFT in it is deliberately fried
ont by days of needless drying IN the swath
ar cock. Other grasses may be treated =
less insanely, but not much. As q rule,
they are cut three weeks too late, and left
| out too long to make themselves into into
hay that onl y the severest paugs of hunger
will induce cattle to eat. There arc, of
course, xceptions-felds of thrifty Corn or
Tobacco, stacks and stubble of bounteous
Wheat or Oats fair fields of second growth
Clover, &C., Sc, to attest the trite old
truth
"if vain our toll,
| We ought to blame tho culture not the soil -
and am confident that, even without fer
tilizing, these same barren fielis, that now
serve no purpose but to repel immigration,
| would yield fair crops If simply plowed
twelve indies instead Of four. Time and
sgain was tod OF tho droutb, and the in.
ability of the people to buy fertilizers,
where it was manifest that simply condning
10 ten acres the labor and care now abso
lutely squandered on thirty or forty would
have INSPIRED the cultivator deccut return
for his efforts, where lies will not now re.
ceive twenty Ave cents for each fair DAYS
work. Secession was a transient deliriun
but here is madnes persisted In from youth
to age, aud handed down from genratioC
to generation. And It seems to me that the
, habit of slovenly, niggardly farming is SC
inveterate that only through large infusion
of new blood is renovation probable.
TIMBER.
Virginia is to-day the best timberet
State in the Union. The plantation or large
farm system is to be credited with this go ID
in Offset to its many evils. Men who ownet
, 500 tc 10000 acres left one-third to nine
4 tenths of it in timber from necessity, o
they skinned it by their wretched chop
l ping till il would not produce even mullen
, when they burned mp or carted away wha
little fence still enclosed il, and left it to b.
y run over by cattle Bnd struggle up int
: wood. Oak and Pine seem TO bo Nature
3, fayorites but the timber Is in good variety
i Locust is more thrifty here than almost any
(: where else, and seems to be untouched b.
tho borer. In the W, stern region lravers
ed more deliberately by wagon or o
[ horseback - Pulaski, Giles, AMI Bland Coun
, ties-I Judge that seven eighths Of the sol
q (mAinly hills or low mountains, rarel
N rising 800 feet above the streams an
their generally naarow but fertile intervalr
Is still covered by the primitive forest
= most Of which has never been robbed If
u .res. yellow Pine and Black oak, usual
}. ranging from IL to 80 inches in diameter
ave here most prevalent but White an
Chestnut Oaks, Hickory, Chestnut, Locnf
"a White Pine, White Beech, TULIP, Syc,
more (ou the streams), H-mlock, Sugs
u Maple, Gum, &c., are often manifest.
traversed miles 81 superb White and Blac
| l..lf q
SQUARE two feet, making admirable sbil
timber. In time, this timber, despite 1
=, location, will command high prices, b.
. cause of its disappearance from the Stat'
10 further North.
4. MINERALS.
N NV friends were looking after deposits
. Iron Ore In which they were interests
he and found them abundant and rich. The
"a own two or thee adjacent tracts am iln
ing TO 10, 900 acres, covering most of u
o, western half of Giles and the eastern ha
~ Of Bland County. These tracts, wate
y by Walker creek on one side and We
70 creek on the ether, are mainly wooded
ho above, and consist DC half dozen mode
mountains and tho intervening slopes al
be yalleys-the latter still IN timber as VIZ
as the former. The mountains are plain
Of sandstone, overlaia by thick strain
as OF lime, above which their erests are Who'll
composed OF Iron Ure-0itener Red llel
40 attic, but there are other varieties. Sor
Id Of this is 10 place, aud would require bla
NV ing; bnt on each OF the three (out OF man
crests visited, there we're mllions OF tu
ready 10 be shoveled up and carted {
ed Ike any see. side barlS OF pebbles. IL
us .aid 10 be pure, Fielding so 10 30 per CO.
of metal OF excellent qTality. Our wit
nc country might be provided rith Iron To-
va hundred years from this property, AID lea
enough to supply the waole world for "a
DIT thereafter, OF course, there are more 50
properties on every side, though did |
visit them. Coal, said TO be abundant q
re- excellent, Ia also developed on this prop
Nv and all around but bad not timo
examine II.
ess / heard vaguely Of mines Of Copp
~ Lead, Znc, Plumbago, and even Silver,
'"o this western part OF Virginia proper,
lnd know nothing OF their value. wes "
glad TO Ind az Dublin depot lot of Oh
coal Pig Iron from a mine ten miles DIST
In the opposite direction from Giles Co
IN ~, and 10 learn that the company WI
made Il expected s0ou 20 turn out 100 4
per week. trust that many such c.
panies are or soon will be open'pg. cre-b
and coa-deposits thru ughont this region
lut- Yet Of even more Immediate lnteres
4, ! the agriculture Of Nifgbis Is deposi
that Gypsum IN Smythe County, on tho b
Inee waters of tho Tennessee, (llolstnu en-
d IN some thirty miles westward. This q
Isru sum is OF unsurpassed excellence as
her tiliz ,r, soft, and easily quarried is sew
, by hundred acres 10 area while shan 81
TITS into il to depth Of 5S2 feet has found
urg, different stratum nor any depreciation
a. quality. Farmers who have es,d this L
,nce ter certify that each dollars worth ad
inty ten dollars to the value of their frat or
), on and do not deem this exlravagant.
orth Asyet, this benrfcent deposit Is aces
nty. BILE ouly by wagons, aud It's use Is co
Vest quenlly limited but a branch Of the 1
rier, nessee dlroad up tho ilols'on 10 mi
rat over grades never exceeding twenty fee
may the mile, Is projected, which, when cal
con. can be found to build II, viii diifuse