Wilmington journal., 1876-07-14
PnmlicO County-Che Agriculture
ERdOFadO.

DEAR RJOURNAL.-JC mas D6On my eX
ceeding good torture to visit the fines
{ agricultural section my eyes ever be
held, and think it is nothing bu
proper that / should tell your reader
something about it.
On the 4th of July I left the goot
city of Newbern, where had been th,
guest of Mr.. s. r. Street, of the Gas
/ ton House, altogether one of the bes
hotels in North Carolina. with one o
the cleverest landlords) with n part,
of gentlemen. bound for the little vii
lage of Stonewali, in PdmlicO count y
A drive of about two hours ovei tn,
best natural road [ ever saw, brough
US to Stone wall, seventeen miles dis
taut from the eastern bank Of th.
Neuse
Ind heard much of the Bay rive1
lands, and had listened with much
incredIbility to the reports of crop:
raised in that section l knew that il
was good fish country as well, and
supposed its people had very naturally
learned some fish stories and ap
piled them. with easy changes, to then
lands and crops. Besides [ had in very
early days been quite familiar with
the Mississippi and Yazoo bottom
lands, and of course there was nothing
in North Carolina equal to them, and
these famous lands must only be good
when compared to others III this State.
The ride, must confess, only con-
tirmed me in these opinions. There
are no very good lands just opposite
Newbern, and when we come to the
| sand ridge which divides the Neuse
and Bay River sections, my heart
| actually sunk within me with my great
disappointment. So that when L
reached the neighborhood of Stone
wall [ was less prepared to realize the
| full confirmation of all ana more than
all [ had heard, for L must acknow-
| ledge that not one-half had been told
me.
Oh all sides my eyes fell upon the
finest lands and the best crops 1 had
ever seen. [ drove rapidly on. to tue
village, and for several hours saw
nothing more Of the lands. A politi-
cal meeting had brought together sew
eral hundred of the citizens of the
county. who formed as intelligent and
enthusiastic an assemblage as L had
ever seen collected together. The
patience with which they listened to
the speakers, the quiet but determined
earuestness which they evinced, spoke
even louder of the healthy condition
of political feeling than did the mag
rific-nt maj jorlties which they gave
Major Yeates for Congress, and Mr..
Shepherd for Convention. at the only
two elections ia which they have voted
separately.
After the mass meeting had ad-
iourned, and it was magnificent affair,
but, dear Journal, it was not of that
l intended to write, and we had en-
ioyed the bonntiful hospitalities of
sheriff Caho, we being the gnests of
hisinteresting family. Col. Kenan and
my3eif had the pleasure of visiting
some of the plantations in the immedi-
ate vicinity, and what [ actually saw
was more difficult to believe than what
had been previously told me. As I
entered the long lane which divided
the plantations, and looked at the
land and the crops, and the
forests in the distance, / could well
imagine [ was in the Mississippi bot
tom, except that the gum and popl ar
here would be supplied 10y cotton |
wood thera. And such gum trees I |
never saw before.
The land is black, with clay sub
soil, underlaid with mari. | was |
lottloIS AllNiCdS CtS IOOhSll NJ IIltSt
rich lands. of au expression of a kins-
man, long since dead. when he would |
follow the plows as they turned up
the rich soil of his Honey island lands
on the YazOo. "Joe," he would sa'.
-" it looks good enough to spread upon
biscuits and eat it." But when I
that those lands were
subject to repeated and disastrous
overtiowa, and frequent visits from the
army worms, that the roads are almost
that market was distant
and transportation expensive, that
everything had to be purchased for the
support of farm hands at very high
prices, and above all that there it was
very unhealthy, the contrast to those
lands and to this section was very
striking.
Here there is no overflow. The
lands are high and easily and cheaply
drained into the creeks which flow
into the rivers. l was struck wiCh
an expression which 1 frequently
heard used of going up into
the swamp" when speaking of
their farms, and upon inquiry [
learned as we'll as the bitches plainly
showed. that the swamp lands were
actually higher than the sandy pin
land upon which StonewslI is bull
No crops have been lost or injured by
the ravages of worms. The roads are
as good as the Virginia and Kentucky
burnpikes. Steamers from Newbern
aud Norfolk make weekly visits, to say
nothing of sailing crafts, and every
farmer can ship from his own barn and
gin house directly upon their decks.
Everything needed can be raised ia
and the finest 1ish and
oysters fill the neighboring rivers and
sounds. Aud, too, the health of
the section is good, only the
miIder diseases Of the lower country
being known here. And l was told
that those families who drank clstern
water had little or mono of the diseases
which prevail in a miasmatic secti II,
O fact worthy the consideration of the
medical faculty, whether we drink as
much or more miasma than we breathe.
The gathering of quite one-third of
the white voters of the county showed
a hardy, healthy population, brimfuil
Of energy and enterprise.
The particular belt of country of
which these lands are part, all of
which are equal to those in fertility,
extend for twenty miles from South
Creek on the East, across Bay River
to the Neuse on the West, a distance
of sixteen miles, Bay River dividing
1T in half. learn that beyond South
Greek to Blount's Greek and the Tar
River in Beaufort county the lands are
equally fertile, and down the peninsu-
lar to The Sound opposite Hyde county
also. In 1860 but fifteen palas of cot
ton We're raised in the territory which
forms the " IF pon,lIr0 |
Lest year one thousand bales were
shipped from the little village of
Stonewall alone. I was told that an
average OF bale of $50 pounds for
every acre planted was shipped from
the county for several years past,
which, when we consider how indiffer-
emily some plantations are cultivated,
and how much is lost by the unrelia-
billty of labor, is certainly equal to the
productions upon the best lands in
the South. And then it must be re