Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-02-21

eu, IL soon becomes covered With q flno
growth of oak. There are large belts of
beech and maple and great deal of hick-
DRY and oak The hickorys are as tall
and straight as pines. There is lots of
elm, ash, iron wood and in fact, almost
all kinds of timber found at the north
and all those varieties, peculiar to the
south, such as gums, holly, hack berry,
magnolia and locust. The lime kilns,
near by, pay 81 per cord for the pine, in
the woods, the hard wood often brings,
in the city, in stacks, not four feet, but
feet long, as it is cut here, for the most
part, from to dollars per cord. About
200 acres of the land are under cultiva-
ton, many acres of which are already
green with oats and the rest of it is alive
with darkies and mules preparing for cot
ton, corn, rice, peanuts sugar cane, peas,
&c. The Alabama river forms one bound
airy of the place for long distance, and
there is a landing for boats, passing up
the river from Mobile to Wetumpka, Is
miles north of Montgomery. At the
same place there is ferry boat. A di-
vision of the Union army crossed by
means of this ferry, at the time of the
capture of Montgomery and, for long
time afterward, the cavalry were quarter
ed on the beautiful plane, lying along the
river bank at this point noticed while
walking about the woods, in this vicinity,
many beautiful peach trees, in full bios
som. | could not imagine how they came
there but, finally, learned that they were
from the pits of peaches eaten by our
soldiers l asked whether their fruit was
good for anything and my colored friend
said: "No fear bout dat de nkee'soldier
neber eat de poor peach" Aside from
the water, furnished by the river, there
is, on the place, stream made entirely
of springs, large enough and having fall
enough so that, before the war, it was
used to run a grist mill, saw mill and
cotton gin and press The old mill
stones and much of the iron work of the
machinery are still to be seen, on the
site of the old mill There are great
many little springs on the hill-sides pour
ing out just such cold and sparkling wa
ter as we have at the north. From these
springs, yesterday, obtained the first
drink, of naturally cold water have had
since we came here. Water here, from
wells 100 feet deep, is warm, both in
summer and winter, and even the artesian
water, coming from depth ofseyeral hun
dred feet, is warm. gathered lot of
the beautiful lavender colored moss that
grows in such heavy festoons, from the
branches of the trees, and saw, for the
first time, the mistletoe bou2h. My cur
iosity was so great Bthat I climbed
large tree so that L could examine it
closely and bring some of it home
1t is an evergreen, parasitic in nature,
having the popularity of fixing itself to
any part of tree, where it happens to
touch, and growing out, just as if it were
a part of the tree, and were it not for its
color, when looked at from distance, no
one would ever dream but that it was a
part of the tree 1t is said that bird,
having eaten one of the seeds and wiping
its bill on the tree is sufficient to cause
bough to growIout.
Only $4,000 are asked for these 900
acres of ground. 1t is in excellent shape
for division into small tracts of 40, 80
and 100 acres each; timber, water, up
land and lowland could be given with
each piece. There are coiored men here
who would take the entire plantation, in
lots of the size | have mentioned, at
good advance over the purchase price, so
that, as mere matter of business, it
would pay one well who has the money,
to take hold of it, but, besides, great
good would be done to a number of
worthy colored men. feel sure that
some one will take this land before long
and [ am afraid it may be some one with
out any concern for the colored man. I
should be glad to receive communications
from your readers in regard to this mat
ter
r, @. BEDFORD.
List of letters remaining in the Post
Office, WATERFOWL, Wis, Feb. 81, 1883.
Hagen, J. E. Hughs, Mark
Kelly, Edward Mellette, A. G.
Riley, Alfred Riley, Mrs. JOHN
Riley, Mrs. Mary Thomas, Chas. (2)
Walker, Chas (2)
Persons calling for any of the above
letters will nlease yI"adyertised -