Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-01-31

!, possessing the sarie general character
istics.
The soil of the level uplands is a sandy
loan, sometimes resting on a clay subscii
but more frequently there is no percepti.
bic difference in the soil for depth of seye.
raj feet. It is usually underlaid with soft,
porous sandstone, at depths ranging from
eight to thirteen feet, but occasionally
cropping out upon the surface. One fact
4 i'm this connection it may not be out OF
place to mention, even at the risk of hav-
ing my statement doubted. During the
periods of protracted drouth, crops grow
ing where the sand rock approaches to
within q few inches of the surface are less
| affected than where the soil is of greater
depth, and I think it may be explained
upon purely scientific principles.
The soil, in natural state, is capable of
producing any of the products of tenn
perate climate in moderate perfection.
That it will not bear exhaustive cropping
without some return being made, is how
ever, settled feet, but with decent sys-
/ tenn of farming, and a judicious rotation of
crops, the returns are highly satisfactory.
The effect of any manurial application is
quickly perceptible and Is durable in its
effect.
The climate of this Plateau is probably
unsurpassed in America. Owing to our
latitude, the winters are short and mild,
| while our altitude so modifies the heat of
summer as to render them truly delightful.
1t is rare, indeed, for the mercury to sink
below zero, and 90e Fahrenheit may be ta-
ken as the maximum during summer.
The nights, too, are always cool, enabling
one TO sleep comfortably under some sub
stantial covering and with entire immuni-
ty from musquitos. AS to heslthfulness,
refence to the official returns show that for
the year ending May 3lst, 1870, the NOR
tality for this county was but %, and of
this number three were over IS years of
age, six over rs years, aud one the result
of accident.
When it considered that large propor-
ton of our Northern element-which
number about one-fourth Of the entire
population came here confirmed invasids,
the remarkable healthfulness of this local
ity will scarcely be questioned. The en-
tire absence of all malarial influences, of
course, contribute largely to this result;
but the remarkable purity and elasticity of
the atmosphere is alike noticeable even by
transient visitors.
Chalybeate and other mineral springs
are also frequently met with, many of
which possess rare medicinal virtues, hav-
ing been found especially efiicacious in dis
eases of the liver and kidneys.
The mineral resources are almost wholly
undeveloped. Iron ore and excellent Bit
luminous coal are found in abundance,
while lead, zinc, gypsum, EPSON salts, salt
petre, alum and other minerals are found
i'll greater or less quantities.
Game is still abundant, and hunting the
chief resource of many of the old settlers,
and to this cause is largely attributable the
very backward condition of everything
pertaining to agriculture. The use of the
rifle is more congenial to the tastes and
habits of many of our citizens than the
implements of trade or husbandry, and as
a consequence the latter has been sadly
neglected.
notwithstanding the large influx of
settlers from the Northern and Western
States, lands can still be purchased at prices
ranging from 81 to $40 per acre. Tracts of
200 or 800 acres, with some cleared land, an
orchard and ordinary log buildings, rate
from So to S. per acre, according to loca-
ton and improvements.
The very probable speedy completion
OF the Cincinnati and Southern Railroad,
now being surveyed through this county,
is already giving an additional stimulus to
immigration from the Northern States,
and it is fairly to be presumed that Cum
berland county has already entered on an
era OF progress, dazzling to the comprehen-
sion of those who have only known it in
the past as an isolated wilderness. Not
withstanding the depressing influences of
our State Legislature, churches and school
houses are already springing up as if by
magic, and if public sentiment in other
portions of the State was as emphatic and
decided as here, our Legislators would
scarcely dare to longer trifie with our edu-
cational interests.
The remarkable inducements to success
fui and remunerative fruit culture should,
even without reference to the many un-
doubted advantages otherwise possessed,
attract thousands to this county. Our ele-
vation enables us to produce, In great per-
fiction, all the fruits Of temperate eli
mate; but our greatest claim to pre-emi-
nence in this branch of industry, consists
in the fact that winter varieties of
fruits produced here retain their
keeping qualities, which il is well
known is not the case throughout.th South
generally. The markets of the South have
hitherto been largely dependent on the
Northern States for their supplies of winter