Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-05-01
LIFE In TENNESSEE.

An Ohio Farmers Impression OF
Our soil and Peopie-Better Come
south than Go West.
j.. 5. Patterson, Of Erie County, Ohio. in the
Country Gsntleman.l
l have lately travelled by wagon, with
three friends, from Lake Erie to the
Gulf of Mexico at Cedar Keys; thence
across Florida to Lake Monroe on the
ST. Johns Here we sold our horses and
came home by water and rail. Our object
was mainly to see the country, and learn
what We might about the South and its
people. After we had been through
Southern Alabama and Florida, we could
hardly think of Tennessee as belonging
to the South. In the southern halt OF
Tennessee they grow cotton, bat more or
less throughout the State; and in the
coves aud valleys of northern Georgia
and Alabama, the capabilities of the soil
and climate are favorable for grain and
st~ock-growing. But farther south, after
we reach the sand where cotton still is
and always has been the leading crop,
and still farther, where sugar cane and
oranges grow, we are in a sort OF otter
world, where wheat aud clover fields, and
meadows of the cultivated grasses, are
never seen-this is properly the South:
Tennessee in the middle belt, and
| Florida in the Southern belt, are attract
ing the attention of the Northern people,
more perhaps than any other portions OF
the Southern States along our route.
Tennessee has published an account of
her resources, and interested parties are
from time to time adding facilities for
acquiring q knowledge Of the country.
Quite a good many Northern people ere
locating in Tennessee. Some are set
Ting on the table lands and in the bar
rens on the Highland Rim-not a very
wise selection | fear. These lands are
mostly poor, and of little value. Land
costs more in Davidson county Nash
ville), and in Rutherford county (Mur-
freesboro), but it is better to pay more,
and get land that is of certain value for
farming purposes. There is no more de.
sirable part of Tennessee, or in the
South, so far as l know, than the rich
lands Of these counties. They have &C
cess to Northern and Southern markets,
and once the land falls into energetic
hands, it must rise rapidly in value.
Another good region is in Franklin
county (Wincherter), in the red, rolling
lands along the foot of the Cumberland
mountains. There are considerable set
Elements Of Northern people there al
ready. Land can be had at from ten to
twenty dollars per acre, with a good
prospect, / think, of being worth twice
that much in ten years.
l may say in a general way that the
South is no place for a poor man to move
to. The South is full Of poor people
now, and it will not help the matter for
more to 90 there. The scale of prices
for farm labor tells the story-0hio, SIS
to 500 per month; Kentucky, $l2 to SIS;
Tennessee, $40 to $l2; Southern Ala.
bama, So TO $40; Florida, So to IS A
man who goes South should be able to
employ himself and others. With five
thousand dollars at command, il he is
careful to find the right place to invest
his money, he may do we'll in the middle
belt Of the South. He will hardly keep
out of the hands of land agents, of which
the South is full, but he wants to give
little heed, and should take time to study
the situation well for himself.
Let no Northern man be deferred from
going South by the partisan hue and cry
Of Southern hate and intolerance toward
Yankees. This is one Of the DEVILS own
ISLANDERS. Nothing promises so much
immediate aid to the depr lsed South as
the influx Of Northern energy and North.
ern capitll. This is perfectly understood
and freely acknowl ]ged. Every intelli-
gent person you mt ct, and all 1.-The leading
journals in the South, are vieing with one
another, e.ch in his special way, to en-
courage immigration. They do not want
Northern politicians to come down there
and run their State and municipal gov
ernments, but they do want working and
business men from the North to settle
among them. All such are sure Of a
cordial welcome. l am quite inclined to
think that farmers may do better to 90
South than 60 West; hence l send this
brief statement, founded on personal OBJ
servation. No one has employed the
writer to say or not to say anything con-
corning the South or its people, and he
has not the slightest interest except that
of having the facts known.