The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1873-09-04

writing last week about our trip TO Sc
vance and the great Improvements going
on there. Especially did we alludc to the
enterprise displayed by Mr.. j. W. Hays.
Away up, in the clouds almost, on top OF
Il mountain which was Il wilderness not
many years since, he has planted vineyards
and orchards, and has put up machinery
for drying fruit Of all kinds. a furnace
supplies tic heat, which can be regulated
in temperature to perform the desired re-
suits. This machinery cost him about
$1,000. and the operation thereof is exceed
ingly simple but eilectual. Ripe, luscious
fruit taken from the tree in the morning
can be dried and packed, ready for market
by evening. And its superiority is attest
ed In the tact that while other fruit, dried
in the ordinary way In the sun, commands
only five cents per pound in Nashville,
Mr.. Hays gets forty cents per pound for
his and in New York city can sell all he
can supply at fifty cents per pound. Nor
is there any limit to the demand, and Mr.
Hays expressed himsclfanxious for others
in our county to enter into competition
with him, for, said he, there is no danger
of stocking the market,eyen if every man
and woman in the county should 90 into
the business. When the fruit IL dried 1t
is pressed into bales something like
prunes making it easy Of transportation
and safe from incursions Of insects, or
damage from flies. Ofcoursc the quality
Of the fruit is to be considered. We said
last week that we had never seen finer,
larger, swceter fruit, and any one else can
raise just as good fruit by proper attention.
A little trouble in this respect will return
ten-fold profits. For instances: While
other persons find it difficult to sell their
peaches at fifty and seventy-tlve cents per
bushcl ut Scwanee, Mr.. Hays gets three
dollars per bushel for all he will sell. But
it pays him better to dry the fruit, and he
sells only Il few at rs cents per dozen, and
this he does for accommodation. This is
not his say-so. but is II fact attestcd by all
with whom we conversed up there.
Now. here is almost Il success for our
people. Mountain land can re purchased
at prices ranging from twenty-five cents
to one dollar per acre. Fruit never fails,
even when frost kills it all in the valley,
and we can see no reason why Franklin
county should not export one million dol
lars worth of fruit yearly if orchards were
planted and cared for on the mountain
where now the forests abound. And not
only does fruit thrive up here, with prop
er attention, but all kinds OF vegetables,
and IN proof of this fact one need only pay
q visit to Mr.. Hays and see the results OF
efforts. And by this drying process he
prepares other cdiblcs besides peaches and
apples. Corn is dried in its tender state,
and the slices Of pumpkin 50 prepared
look like great bars of rich gold. Moth
ing is lost, and we cannot conceive of a
better investment men of ordinary capital
could make.
The truth is, our people must begin to
do something for themselves by developing
the latent wealth of our county. There
are fortunes III store lOr tlOSc WHO Will
enter into the raising and drying of fruit,
and culture of wine on the mountain,
where lands are cheap. The best wine VIC
ever tasted was manufactured by Mr.. Hays
from the Concord grape which seem TO
be especially adapted to the mountain,
and we hope to see the day when the
mountain sides which lift their verdure so
beautifully and grandly in the distance
will be fcstooncd by the tendriIs OF the
vine, like the hills Of Palestine III oldcn
times, when 4 cluster of grapes, two or
three feet in length, gave an abundant
suppcr to Il whole family. With this de-
vclopmcnt Of the mountainous part OF our
county, and Il railroad 10 the splendid
quarries of marble which are idle in the
western and northwestern portion, we
shall cease to be hewers o wood and draw
ers of water for those who are tattcning
upon our want of cntcrprise. With these
developments of latent wealth, and the
manufacture of articles which we are now
buying from the north and west, we shall
cease to hear the cry of hard times. "Thc
Gods help those who help themselves