The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-04-26

tivatcal, and OF minerals (uhere sought
for, and of manufacturing facilities.
water power. &c, forb.ds the claiming
Of a Monopoly by any one district.
But it will he seen that each Of the
Eight Congressional Districts into
which the &c counties of North Caro-
lima are divided has its special feature ::
from which the intelligent reader NAV
get a fair idea OF the diversity In eli
mate, soil. and industries of the So
called Tar, Pitch, and ~Turpentine'
Statei
With this introduction, we present a
few items cleaned from our State Ex-
changes of the past ten days.
MISCELLAN Gus INDUSTRIES OF NORTH
CAROLINA.
There is an industry in our mountain
counties found in but few sections ofthe
country, viz: The collection ofivy roots.
The roots are shipped to Philadelphia
and Boston, where they are used for
making door knobs and pipe bowls.
They are found principally along the
line of the Cranberry Branch Railroad
ard III the vicinity Of Roam mountain.
where they grow In great abundance
and attain an enormous size. Recently
a root weighing 800 pounds was dug
and shipped to market. 1t is supposed
to be the largest ivy root ever found,
but roots weighing from seventy-ive to
$50 pounds are frequently found.
As for medicinal roots, ginseng, and
the like, the annual amount shipped is
enormous One firm sells above a mil
lion pounds yearly; and there are other
firms which sell large quantities. We
have seen IN Rutherfordton, ten years
ago, a large building filled with these
roots and herbs comprising more than
one hundred varieties, averaging from
3 to IS cts. per pound.
Mr.. Thomas Woods, On Col.
Lowndes' farm in Tranaylvania county,
last week drove Is steers to market,
whose total weight was 10, ITO pounds,
an average of l,3l4 pounds each.
State Geologist, Prof. Washington
c. Kerr, reports that Wongottun SON
bean is apt to turn out to be- if bali
that is now asserted, and seemingly
piOved by experiments- great boon
to the agriculture of North Carolina,
since it will stimulate stock raising
which is one oil the greatest needs of the
State at this j~uncture. Plenty ofstock
will not only keep at home the millions
of cash which go to buy western bacon,
but will also furnish the manure to i'm
prove the soil of our thin uplands.
SOFA, Kerr says, has a nutritive, or
food producing value of 2.71, whereas
the common COW pea has only LAG, and
corn 1.35.
Prof. Kerr remarks on another North
Carolina plant: Il believe the name
Japan Clorcr to be a misnomer, which
might be appropriately replaced by
that of Carolina Clover, or Old Field
Clorer. This plant was as abundant in
Mecklenburg and Iredell counties in
1856 as it was in 1864, when public at
tention was first called to it. 1t is said
that still it might have been introduced
from Japan. And SO it might have
come in on a stray meteorite, like DR..
Primordial moss; but
more probably it did not. The places
where it was familiar to us before the
war, and was matted thickly over miles
of piney old fields, were 20 miles and
upwards from the nearest railroad
And then there seems to be some occult
relationship between the vegetable
evolution of Japan and North Carolina,
quite independent of any possible or
s~upposable INSTRUMENTATION. The
famous .Shortia, found by Michaux in
'sthe mountains of N. c." a hundred
years ago, and red~iscovered by Hyans,
only two years since in Mcdowell, after
half a century's search, was found a few
years earlier, perfectly at home, In the
middle of Japan.
And in the border counties of South
Carolina and North Carolina, west Of
the Catawba, this old field clover vas rs
common as in Mecklenburg, as far back
anybody remembers
The Professor also advocates the
planting of ''old fields" and waste"
lands, in Catalpa. and Ailanthus. trees,
which are peculiarly prolific and hardy,
are fast growers, have long roots to
penetrate stiff soils, and f%ertilize them,
and are, both, of high value as cabinet
woods. In a few years they would re-
deem the barren broom sedge' wastes;
and could then be sold for more money
than the land itself.
An article on our outside pages
speaks OF Roanoke Island as Grape
The epithet is specially appli-
to the upper Cape Fear Country,
which has the indentical range of Their
of Bordeaux, whence
the finest of French wines.
We have not space to enter into par
ticulars: but will mention one case
which doesn't simply theorize as to
what can be done, but shows what is,
and has been, DONE
The Tokay Vineyard, nesr Faye:te-
ville-planted about twenty-five years
ago by the late Henry L. Myrover, more
for a pastime than for proft-has been
extended every year, until, under the
proprietorship ofCol. Wharton J. Green,
it has assumed huge proportions, as n
of the great industries OF the State.
Col. Green, a gentleman not only OF fine
culture and attajnments, but OF much
business talent and energy, has now a
wine trade which even his great wine
cellars can scarcely supply. His Con
cord wine is pronounced by connoisseurs
to be equal to the Claret his scupper-
nong, Delaware and other wines conn
mand a ready sale at home and abroad,
while he manufactures, champagne
that is as good as the large proportion
of what is bought in this country as
DRY Roderer' or Green Seal. Before
the Scuppernong natures, the early
grapes come on: and Col. Green ships
thousands of boxes of Delawares, Con
cords, Tomas, &c. &c, to New York,
Philadelphia and Baltimore. The table
varieties are not grown as the scuppei-
nong, on arbors, but are trellised, and