, 1884-08-05
THE RUGBY COLONY.
Come of the Results Accomplished
by Tom Hughes Experiment.
The Culture OF the vIne-Uartbure's
vineyard-Thc WIIderncs~ Sub
dued Mt Tre-Forest Farm
Hughes.
Rugby Cor. Commercial Gazstte.l

Rugby Cor. Commercial Gazstte.l
Tn Rugby colony is by no means the fall
uro that many people scnntily informed In re-
gard TO it vaguely imagined it TO be. Those
settlers VIII were able to give an affirmative
answer 10 Tom Hughes question, "Am / pre-
pared for some years, during the working
hours Of the day, to live the life Of a peasant;
or, in other words, 20 earn my living out of
the soil by my own laborF" are doing more
than well. II is this limitation, during
working hours which forms one OF the chief
Attractions OF the settlement. For at other
times, when the settlers work is done, he
finds himself in a cultured society, within
easy reach Of all the real essentials
Of civilization, beginning with a library
OF 5000 volumes, and one Of the best
tennis courts in the states, don't you know.
Whoever Is ready, as Mr.. Emerson puts II,
10 place himself In primary relations with the
soil and nature, and TO take his part bravely
with his own hands in the manual labor Of
this world, will find at Rugby as favorable
conditions for his experiment as he Is likely
TO get in any part Of the world It Is not
claimed that the Board Of Aid lands have the
rich soil of tho Mississippi bottoms or the Hi
nois prairies, and neither does the deadly
malaria stalk around in tho darkness. There
Is, however, plenty of timber, a perfectly
healthful and delicious climate, cheap land,
convenient markets and easy access 10 one OF
the greatest railway lines OF the countryside
Queen a Crescent.
The culture OF the vine, which has been
quietly In progress for the past two yeara,
promises 10 be in the near future, the lead
ing Agricultural interest at Rugby. Madame
Hughsa, Mr.. Fisher. Mr.. Walton and DR..
Kemp have given special attention to this
matter, and have. demonstrated that the
coil Is wonderfully well suited 10 grape cul-
ture- DR.. Kemp, who has critically inves
tig-t=d the subject, has u vineyard Of JOO
plAnts IL tina condition, and loaded with
fralt, and Is convinced that this Is the so
luticu Of the question that often &c
cun TO tho Board OF Aid Land company
1What VII we do with itr'
At Wartburg, twenty miles south OF
Rugby, n louisiana gentleman, u successful
wine merchant in New Orleans and Mar
s~eilles, and thoroughly familiar with tho
Bordeaux and Champagne countries, has es-
t.Dlished very successful vineyards. His
productions compare most favorably with
the Fronch wines. The grapes in this region
ara singularly free from the "foxy" tang which
"a 80 unfavorable In the wines made from the
Ohio and California grapes, and which 70.
calls that win du Surchno which Brillat-
Savarin snys requires three men to drink Il
glass full, one man to drink and two friends
to stand on either sic and coax apd encour.
age him
DR.. Kemp, a man Ia Bontonlan, zen p~assant,J
Of wide attachments and careful scientific
training, Is confident that Old Hickory's pre-
dlction that the Cumberland plateau would
DO the garden spot Of Tennessee, y is sure to
be verified, and that 1t will be one day Il vast
vineyard Those know who are familiar
with the claret country that 1t is a stretch OF
land between the Landes and Palus, Il red
and-grny waste, where not even chickyeed
will grow, but TINT It furnishes tho influences
which produce grapes, yielding the most
generous and consummntely Favored wine
ever drank by man since Noah planted the
first vine slip. That tho desolnte wastes OF
Missionary Ridge should become the garden
plat OF Chattanooga is not more unlikely
than that We should ten years hence drink
"Yundilla" and Chateau Ellington" worth
half a sovereign q bottle, and made frass
grapes grown in Rugby vineyards.
Nowhere have the possibilities OF tho Cum
berland plateau been better demonstrated
than at Tre-Foresf farm. the property OF Mr..
Blackjack, at the ''Glades,n Mr.. Montgome-
ric Boyle's place, and at ~Kenmarc,r by the
Messrs Marshall. They hAve subdued tho
wilderness, and are being rewarded by fine
crops Of corn, wheat, rye, potatoes. and all
nmnil vegetables. Tho writer had the pleas
uro Of making the tour Of "a rye field at IRE
Forest farm, that had been p~ronounced~by n
native expert to be lit only to raise II cropot
g~rnsshoppers. The average stalks In that dcld
were full six feet high some ambitious spears
standing mp a foot or so above their
fellows. Tho substantial house at 1ro-
Forest faces the east, and commands
IA glorious view Of the Cumberland
range, stretching for leagues TO the south
wnrd. These blue hills are a source of
never-onding delight to the household and
TO visitors. We should perhaps except one
OF the young BlAcklocks, who, tired Of hear
ing tho praises OF the blue hills reiterated,
said; Mother, what can you see in those
hillsi They look to me Like a big giants
| Rrnve." Mr.. Dyer, Mrs. Hughes gardener,
las decidedly the model vegetable garden on
the plateau. Here are raised In perfection
peas, beans, tomatoes, English lettuce-the
heads sixteen inches high, bound up to bleach
the leaves, and make them as white and crisp
as celery; cabbAges as big as ~water-buckets,
u very thrifty plantation OF vines, and much
else calculated to give the lie to the theories
OF mon whose exhaustive knowledge OF agri.
culture is derived mainly from watering
hower-pots in Camden Place, London.
Ellington house, the residence OF Madame
Hughes, mother Of Tom Hughes, is a source
OF af~fectlonatc interest To even tho casunl
visitor OF Rugby. This venerable woman,
who has seon many things in many lands,
and slipped the win OF life far beyond the
years appointed by the psalmist, and whc
has 50 mastered the art OF growing old grace
fully as to make one fairly in love with age,
seems In this perfect climate 70 ave discov.
erod Ponce de Leon's fnbled fountain OF
youth. To SEQ her making the tour OF heI
rose garden, leaning on the ann Of her grind
daughter, Mr.. Hastings Hughes fairhaired
lassie: To sit beside her on her vine-shnded
porch and watch the new moon come up over
tho wooded hills, are pleasures to linger Ions
In the memory.