Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-04-04
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPON-
DENCE.

Jessup: Where &c Is-RaiIrOad Mat
ters-ImprOVed Condition OF Az
faIrs-CrOp Prospects and what
Georgia Needs.
Correspondence of the Union and American.
JKssUP, GA, March 29.-It may be
necessary to tell where is the particular
locality from which l write Ii is where
the Macon and Brunswick Railroad
crosses the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad,
and ffty-seven miles FROM Savannah by
the latter road. At this place there is an
excellent eating house kept by Mrs. Anna
May, whose courteous attention TO the
Green Line Excursion last year cOntrasted
in SO noted manner with the reception
accorded them by Ms. Harriet Beecher
Stowe at her residence on the st. Johns,
in Florida, and of which took occasion
to speak at the time. Mrs. May is still
the genial lady and clever hostess, and
her table continues to be well supplied
and served up in the best manner.
The trip from Nashville has been
very agreeable one. Leaving that place
Monday night, we had a pleasant ride
over the Nashville and Chattanooga Rail
road. The road bed has been greatly i'm
proved, and is now in excellent condition.
l found the Western and Atlantic Railroad
in much better condition than had an
ticipated, from what has been said lately
about it. There is a grea. deal of energy
displayed in the management of the road
and the immense amount of freight that
passes over that thOroughfare, as was to
be expected from the management of Gov.
Joseph E. Brown and Col. E. w. Cole,
who are at The head of the company that
has leased that important link in the rail-
way system connecting the West with the
Atlantic seaboard. The Macon and West
ern Railroad is in superb condition, and
SO is the Macon and Brunswick road. The
trains on the former road make unusually
slow time; inOeed, this is complaint
made against all our Southern roads. In
the case of the Macon and Western, with
its excellent roadway, it ought to make
twenty-five OF thirty miles per hour,
whereas 1t makes only about fifteen.
l noticed all along the line Of the roads
thus far, considerable improvements going
on; new houses being built and old ones
repaired; fences rebuilt and farms i'm
proved generally. All the indications
point to more prosperous condition of
the landowners than even year ago.
1t is gratifying to see that the people have
so rapidly recovered from the disastrous
effects of the late war. But for the labor
question, the people of Georgia would be
in a very envisble condition. learn that
the planters find it very difficult to pro-
cure the labor necessary to cultivate Their
lands, especially the kind to grow cotton.
This is q great draw back to the South,
and is a problem of difficult solution,
The negroes, as q class, are wholly unre
liable. How are the places they filed S,
acCeptably before the war to be supplied
There is an impression that the cOttoI
crop in Georgia this year will not be neal
SO large as it was last year. Extensive
INQUIRY has satisfied me that this impres-
sion is erroneous. The crop may be s
short one from unforeseen causes, but thu
number of acres planted in cotton vii
not be materially short of last year,
planting. Many planters labor under tn
impression that the planting will be short
and the consequence is, they are putting
in the usual number af acres, and in som
instances more. So that with as favora
BILE q season Gs the last, the cotton crol
will be nearly as large. Cotton has beer
the favorite staple for so many years
dating back a long time anterior to tn
war-and it has been paying crop unit
now-that the planters appear very SLOW
ia learning the fact that it is greatly t
their interest to diversity their. crops
10 raise the corn and potatoes, the whea
and hay, the pork and beef, and the othe
articles they use in their families and t
feed their horses and cattle, than rails
the cotton and buy these commodities
When they and the other planters in tn
South put this fact into practice, the
will cotton become profitable crop.
has been pretty clearly demonstrate
since the war that planters cannot max
cotton profitable at present prices. Tn
crop of last year was too large for tn
demand, and the consequence is, tn
staple is considerably lower than it wa
at the corresponding period of last yeaI
The evil of producing too much of tn
staple viii gradually correct itself
and then it will become a pre-
fitable crop. All along the lin
of the railroads from Chattanooga ru1
ming through Middle Georgia, by way {
Macon and to Savannah, noticed col
siderable quantity of land devoted
wheat and much of it looked remarkab
well. learned too that more land won