The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1881-04-27
Questions Asked, and Our
Reply.

"What about the climate, crops and
health ?
What is the price of land, and what
time do you plant corn and potatoes
and in what month can you have new
potatoes?
When do you harvest your wheat?
What is land worth close to market
say within two or three miles of Win
chester?
What amount of corn, wheat ant
vegetables can you raise to the acre?
Can a person buy small tracts of lane
lmproved-say 40 or so acres, or any
amount he wishes?
Have you plenty of fruit, and what
kinds do the best ? Is it a good pcacl
and apple country?
What is the population of Winches
ter, and is it thriving town? Can
you sell your produce there, such as
wheat, corn, butter, eggs, potatoes, &C.!
Can a carpenter get anything to dc
there?
Have you churches and schools con-
vcnlent?
Send me Il copy Of your county pa
per, and give me a general history of
your county, and if satisfactory there
will be quite number Of families who
will move there this fall"
This was written the eth Of this
month, and the writer said: {" We are
having Il big snow here now, two feet
deep" He also wishes to know if re-
duced rates can be procured on railroads
for actual settlers, and what the fare
would be from Lima, Ohio, to Chatta-
nooga, Tenn.
BY way of a general response to most
of the above interrogatoricS, We would
state the climate of Tennessee is unsur-
passed by any in the United States for
health and pleasantncss, and we say
this from knowledge obtained by consid-
cradle travel and the assertions of many
persons who have Travelled far more than
we. Barring few cold "snaps" every
few years, the winters are mild, yet SUI
cold to make it an easy matter
to save pork, Very often the winter is
mild enough to render the digging and
of Irish potatoes unnecessary
md many bulbs which have to be taken
up during winter in the North, can re-
main in the ground all the winter here
and not be injured. We never have
protracted spells Of cold weather. And
up here in Franklin county, in the
shadow almost Of the grand old Cum
bcrland mountains, the summer months
are never opprcssively warm; the mer-
curry rarely reaching 800. Nor are we
in dread Of hurricanes from the South,
because, we suppose, the mountains are
our protection. AS to health, we fear
lcssly assert that you might travel the
world over for a healthy atmosphere,
and when you reached this county you
could safely cry out Eureka" We
never have here any cholera, yellow fe-
yer, or similar contagious, and when
other towns in our own State have suf-
fered terribly from cholera and ycllew
fever, this immediate section has been
sought by refugees, and if there has
been one or two cases Of cholera and
one of yellow fever, they were refugees
who came with the disease already con-
tracted, and did not spread. Add to
the health of our section the delightful
ness Of its scenery and the purity Of its
many springs Of mineral and frccstonc
water, and we are forced to conclude
that q search for better country would
be as foolish as the search Of Ponce de
Leon for the fountain Of rcjuvenescencc
spoken of in Indian tradition.
Here, too, we raise all the grain and
grass crops. Corn is planted from the
25th of March until the lst of May, and
varies in yield, according to the quality
of land, from 10 to 80 bushels per acre.
Wheat is sown from the last of Scptcm-
Der to the 1st Of January, and yields
well on good lands, averaging, accord
ing to land and mode of cultivation,
from 7 to % bushels, and is harvested
from the 1st to the 10Th of June.
Both Irish and sweet potatoes are
prolific crops in Tennessee, yielding
largely when cultivated we'll. The
Irish is planted from the 10Th of Febru-
AIRY to July 1st, and it is becoming
quite an industry to plant the early va
ricties early, ship them North, and I'M
mcdiatcly plant the smaller potatoes for
Il second crop the same season, the first
crop being ready for market by the mid
die of May or lst Of June.
The Sat crop is good one in this
State, and also rye and barley. As to
the grasses, we raise clover, orchard
grass, Herds grass, millct and blue
grass in this section, but blue grass does
not do so well as the others.
Winchester is a good local market for