Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-02-28
FACTS ABOUT EAST TENNESSEE.
Products Of the Soil.
NO. TX.

Until recently, our people have paid very
little attention to the raising of grass
Within the past ten or twelve years, how
ever, it has been extensively engaged in,
and is found to pay. Since the war, large
quantities of baled hay have been shipped
to the States south of us, bringing back 8
| fair profit to the farmer. The varieties of
grass grown are principally clover, red-top,
or herds grass, and timothy. Other varie-
ties have been introduced since the war,
and found to thrive, but their cultivation
has not amounted to much yet. The three
varieties above mentioned comprise all
that have been made profitable. Glover
has been found a good crop for improving
the soil, as well as yielding rich return to
the farmer, a crop of hay and crop of seed
! being produced the same year. Those en-
gagged in raising all kinds of stock find clo-
yer fields to be first-class pastures. We
have great deal of low land exceedingly
well adapted to red-top, and it is found to
pay well. Timothy is made profitable al
most everywhere.
A great deal of our wild mountain land
furnishes natural grazing for cattle about
seven months in the year. Vast herds are
taken there in the month of April, or
thereabouts, owing to the season, and are
allowed to remain, with very little atten
ton, until the first SHOWS, generally the
latter part Of October or the first of Novem-
ber. They are brought away in good or
der, many of them taken at once to the
butchers stall, while those that are not,
are very easily wintered in our mild eli
mate. We know of many men who have
accumulated handsome living, not to say
snug fortunes, by driving cattle to the
grazing mountain lands bordering on the
North and South of the valley of East
Tennessee, and herding them there at no
expense through the summer, bringing
them to market at good prices in the fall
and winter.
Of the esculent tubers, we have almost
an endless variety. Potatoes of every spe-
cies grow and are profitable crops. Much
more attention has been bestowed OH their
cultivation since the war than before. The
latest varieties have been introduced and
IOulu 10 QO Wclls LII lt UlltoS, we
may rsention turnips, carrots, parsnips,
beets and onions, all of which are to be
found on almost every farm in East Ten
nessee.
A great many farmers have their cotton
patches, where they annually raise enough
cotton for their own consumption, from
which they make substantial home-spun
clothing. In some few instances, cotton
has been planted on a larger scale, but did
not yield large profit. Flax is also raised
to some extent, but as yet has not proved
very remunerative. Hemp has been pro-
duced extensively throughout East Ten
nessee, but has been pretty well abandoned
for several years, other crops being found
to pay better.
Beans and peas have been found to thrive
everywhere, and if the demand for them
was larger, large quantities could be pro-
duced.
Melons of every variety thrive here with
comparatively little care. Watermelons
of the finest quality are usually found in
our markets, at low prices, from about the
first of July to the middle of August The
same may be said of every species of the
muskmelon.
Tobacco has been found to thrive in
many localities, and if properly cultivated,
we can see no reason why it should not be
rendered profitable. Though we do not
conceive this crop will ever be cultivated
here to any great extent, as there are others
which will produce and pay better.
The tea plant has been cultivated on the
farm of James Campbell, six miles East of
Knoxville, on the French Broad River,
with every prospect of success.
We may have omitted in the above some
important items in the products of our soil
that would be interesting to immigrants,
but from what we have stated, the truth of
what we said in the outset will be seem
that the products of our soil are varied,
perhaps as much as of any locality in the
United States.
THE CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL.
We propose to allude briefly to the man
ner in which sorne of the leading crops
here are produced. Corn is planted usual
ly from the middle of April to the middle
Of May, the kind of soil and the season
regulating the matter to great extent.
The ground is prepared for its reception in
the fall and winter preceding. The ground
is broken upquite teshallow, say about three or
four inches. Latterly there has been much
Improvement in this respect, especially
among our best farmers. Good plows and
deep plowing are coming into vogue, and
are found profitable. Some lowlands are
cross-plowed in the spring just before
planting, but much of it is planted after
one breaking up. Corn is plowed with
ordinary plows, (the cultivators not yet
being in general use) about four times,
beginning about the middle of May and
ending about the first of July or per-
haps one week later. This is the princi-