Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-07-31
BUCKEYEs IN TENNESSEE.
What Six Of Them Saw from Nashville
20 the MOuntains-SOmethi About
Our Crops and a Little Wholesome
Truth About Our People.


10 the MOuntains-sOmething About
Our Crops and a Little Wholesome
Truth About Our People.
The following communication appears in
the Cincinnati Commercial of yesterday,
over the signature Of s.DOu Felix"
81 saw in your paper, this morning, a re-
| quest that persons would send you infOr-
nation in relation to tie crops in various
parts of the country, and having but Just
returned from a driving tour of two hun
bred miles southeast of Nashville, and
back again, some items cleaned by the way
may b. Of interest to your readers. On
/ the 18th ult., a party Of SIX Cincinnatians,
| possessed with the idea Of adventure, and
DESTROYS ofruralizingwhe it could be made
a success, started to the mountains Of East
| Tennessee, via Nashville, from which point
we proposed to drive through, being eqaip-
| ped with wagons, tents aud commissary
stores suitable for that purpose. We had a
| very pleasant and enjoyable trip of three
weeks duration, driving through some Of
| the richest portions Of Tennessee; and
what was observed by the writer as to the
| condition Of the people and of the crops, is
| here briefly sketChed. Leaving Nashville,
we drove eastwaTdly on the Murfreesb0ro
| and Nashville Turnpike, the distance be-
| tween these places being twenty-nine
| miles. The turnpike is a fair one, though
| about half the country is billy and broken.
"AlOng the line Of this road, as We went
| south, the wheat was already harvested,
| anu the ''sh0ckS" Stood thick in the fields.
] Some was already threshed, and the yield
/ was pronounced good, the average being
| from fifteen TO twenty bushels to the acre.
| When we passed down it was selling at
| ninety cents per bushel, but was worth a
| dollar when We returned. Corn was look
| ing well, aud a larger area than usual was
planted, as many Of the people failed to
| make enough 70 "bread" their families, IS
| they express il, last year. Oats were being
! harvested, and the crop seemed TO be very
| good indeed, though none were threshed.
| About half way from Nashville to Murffees-
| bOrO, We began 70 reach the cotton plan,a
| tons on our TRIP, and though the writer has
| travelled extensively in tie South, he has
never seen a better ''sLaudn Of cotton in
| Tennessee than is is TO be seen this
/ year. The crop was for the most part well
/ cultivated, and the fields were clean, the
| appearance being that more labor is be-
| slowed upon the cotton than any other
| scrap" GOOd timothy and herds-grass hay
| is scarce, the farmers raising instead the
! Hungarian Miilet, which makes an i'm
mense bulk Of coarse hay, with heavy
| grain-iilled heads. Many gentlemen have
| sOwn large areas Of this grass, owing TO the
fabulous price Of the seed last season.
$50 much for the general appearance of
/ things TO the outsider, who travels through
the country without lOOkicg into its true
inwardneSS.'
"As we drove through the country, stop
| ping at night, or for dinner, at large, old
| fashioned Southern houses, we sometimes
met with men who had practical ideas of
life, and having survived the war and
learned its lessons, were row irving to
bring order out Of the ruin which it oc-
caslOned in very many cases. From these
gentlemen, Cftentimes men Of cultivation
aud more than OrdiT airy observation. some
valuable facts were learned in regard to
the prevalence Of idle habits among the
negroes, and the want Of thrift and
intelligent industry among MANY of
the whites. The wheat, cut and 5Ty
when we drove south, in the latter
days Of June, was YET standing in the field,
and soaking with the rains which drove Us
back in the middle Of July. Much of il
was sproUting, and is probably lost. Now
this was all sheer want Of care and indus
try. The people have large houses and no
barns. They wait Tor threshing machines,
which are yer comparatively scarce, to come
around and thresh out the grain IN the field.
They do not, therefore, resort to the labor
Of stacking the wheat, as q Western OF
Northern farmer would do, and with the
plea that the cotton and corn need work.
neglect the crop already made for the uncer-
tain one yet growing. Large fields of wheat
were left out in all the week or ten DAYS
rain from July q TO July -. IncOnversatiOn
with gentlemen between Murfreesboro and
.Shelbyville, in regard to this matter, they
admitted the want Of enterprise and in
telligent industry which it exhibited.
From hve hundred TO one thousand acres
are under. culLivatiGE by some Of the larger
farmers but it Is only in few cases. Gen |
orally the area devoted TO all crops is only
a part OF that devoted to corn and cotton |
before the war. The uncertainty Of labor
IS great drawback. At Lypchhurg, Ten |
nessee, we stayed over uight with DR..
Salmons, gentleman Of refinement and |
Culture, who has made his Tennessee expe-
rlence a success. He assured us that no
farmer IN that country could venture upon |
.arge crops, owing to the uncertainty Of |
labor.
latlon 20 property or its requirement. They /
are not industrious. In some cases tbey |
have been repeatedly sWindled out OF their |
wages and their share Of the crops raised: |
but the majority OF the Southern farmers
are as far from such things, and as aDyioDs |
to have the negroes industrious, as the want |
Of reliable help, and the desire for If. can /
make them, bit the lghiteS do not set ne 4
example, and until the superior race be- |
comes industrious, patient, and perseverinp.
bringing out OF such life its legitimate re- /
suits, little can be expected Of the blacks.
who are, and must be, from the nature Of i
things, dependent upon them for their ideas
OF life. The people Of Tennessee, with
whom the writer cOnverSed on the nature
Of the present relations between the RAGS
were all in favor Of colonization.
"There seems to be an idea, all tbrouOb /
the portions Of the State through which We
visited, among the mOuntaineers and the
few jewellers among the "Barrens," as well
as among the planters of the richer porticns
Of the Stale, that the negro never will h.
come industrious and honest, and one oen-
tleman, after giving the writer his ideas
upon the subject, pointed out cotton folds
on opposite sides of the road, and called a.
tentiOn to the marked difference between
them. This being admitted, he said the
better field was culti5ated by white labor.
and that there Wss a necessity for intaIIi ]
gent work, in order to success. This ga-,
tleman has one Of tie best cuIti.,o+aI
farms we saw in our whole journe-. and he
himself, as well as his sons, w,nS in tLo
fields, like Northern farmers, ana have IL ~,
reward of their industry springino mn mn
around them on all sides. But such easas
are rare. Through the less fertile nortions
Of the State, and that part where an boDos3
living would seem to require the greater
industry, the passing Of our little Caravan
never failed to bring to the door of t6a a.
lapidated dwelling the head of the fsg1ilv
as wen e as ms spouse and their offspring.
The husband and father was ALWAYS isIoI7;
Tho house somewhat The TsDnas so,..
cracker IS a character. he viii divide nc
last hOe-cake and bacon. s ~ ms
you at bis own inconvenience, ,T ,TI