Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1885 — SOUTHERN NOTES. [ARTICLE]

SOUTHERN NOTES.

The Cumberland Plateau. In my first letter I made brief note of the comparative progress of development North and South; also of the recent growth in the South of manufacturing interests. In this letter I shall sneak more particularly of the Cumberland Plateau. i wrote from Howard Springs, the home of Mr L. H. Bell, a native of the North, who came here sixteen years ago a confirmed invalid. He is improving the Springs with the design of making it a popular health resort, hoping thereby to afford to others suffering from disease the same marked benefits he has received. The - Springs contain a fortunate combination of-carbonic ac f d gas, iron, sulphur, magnesia, and other ingredients m such proportions as to give the water a wonderful curative value. The air of the plateau is pure, invigorating and free from malaria. There are many springs of pure, freestone water. The water of the swiftly running streams is clear and sparkling. There are no pools of standing water or stagnant ponds. The soil is a clayey loam, moderately mixed with sand, and this underlaid with sand stone.

The climate is mild and free from extremes of temperature throughout the year. The short winters have an average temperature of forty degrees. The summers are long and cool, the mercury rarely rising above 90, the nights being uniformly cool. The average temperature of the summers is 71: and for the year the average is 51 degrees. All these conditions combine to make this a remarkably healthy region Lung and throat afflictions quickly yb id to the beneficial influence of the climate. Among the natives these diseases are unknown. Diseases of the liver are relieved by residence here and resort to the waters of the Spring.

Farming and stock raising are the principal occupations of the people. The equable climate, the brief duration of the winter feeding time, the nature of the soil, the abundance of nutritious native grass-

es make this an exceptionally good stock country; and especially is it adapted to cattle and sheep, though other kinds of stock do exceedingly well. Cattle and sheep fatten upon the native grasses of the woodland ranges, always coming off the pastures in the late fall in prime condition for market or for wintering. The beef and mutton thus produced is of a most excellent quality, having a peculiar juiciness, and deliciously sweet, such as I have never found in the meat of other regions.— The plateau offers some advantages in the rearing of sheep that do not exist in oth; er portions of our country.— The low price of the lands, from two to six dollars per acre for unimproved lands; the wide range of free pasturage, affording subsistence at least eight months in the year, with no other care than salting; the dryness of the sand stone soil, insuring exemption from most of the diseases fatal to sheep; the equable cli— „ mate, so free from extremes, giving an evenness to length and quality of the fleece not found in the colder North or the hotter South; the nearness to good markets, securing a great saving in shipping rates, and consequently a better price than can be obtained by sneep raisers of the far West or Southwest; all these are among the considerations that make sheep raising in this country a desiraole and profitable occupation. Tame grasses succeed well; but little attention has been given to their cultivation by the natives who depended solely for pasturage upon the wild grass. Northern settlers have introduced clover, timothy, orchard grass, and blue grass with marked success, thus securing later fall and earlier spring pasturage than the native ranges provide, and materially shortening the feeding season. he small grains succeed well with proper cultivation and careful rotation of crops. Corn is not, as a rule, a successful crop, the snmmer nights being too cool to promote its growth, though with proper care, in fertilization, the Northern settlers here have always succeeded in raising enough for home consumption, and some of them sell a portion each year in market, high prices being always obtainable. All kinds of vegetables do well, the mellow soil, as well as the the climate, being especially adapted to their growth.

All the fruits of the temperate zone thrive here, the apples and grapes being of superior quality, the latter ripening much earlier than in the States north of the Ohio, coming earlier on the market, and securing tne best prices. The plateau is being settled by a thrifty class of northern people. Their ideas of pro gress, and their improved im plements are fast superseding the slip si od methods of the South. Although yet in the background there are signs of improvement on every hand. The natives are being brought to a sense of their condition. They see the need of improve| ment, and are ready to give & hearty welcome to aIT who come to improve and develop the resources of the country. As a result of the influx of northern people* prices of real estate are beginning to ad vance, yet there are thousands of acres of good land awaiting settlement that can he had at low prices,’

Unlixe the settlers of the tne combined advantages of a mild, though at the same time healthful climate, nearness to the Eastern markets, as well as markets at our doors, built up by manufacturing enterprise, low rates of transportation, giving larger and quick Jr returns for our shipments

of produce and live Btoek. Provided with all these advantages, and surrounded by so many favorable conditions, what we most need now, is more people of energy and enterprise, who will bring in improved stock and farming Implements, who will help infuse new life and healthy ambition into the natives; and who will hasten the development of this goodly laud, , A native northerner myself, recognizing all the advantages of northern civilization, and aorthem institutions, but knowing the changeable climate of the lake region, the tong distance to market of the western plains and the rigor of the climate, I can jommend the Cumberland plateau as a good place for a home to any seeking a new location. P. S. Cokkins. McMinnville, Tennessee.

Mr. David A. Wells, of COll- - was up to 1871 a rank rrotectionist. So prominent was he by his arguments in favor of nigh tariff that a Republican administration sent lim on a Government mission of investigating the manufacturing industries ot Europe.— But in the performance of his luties a light ehined from the •conditions about him, showing rim that the protection laws ae had so earnestly espoused were burdensome to the work ng classes and the industries >f the United States. He was proselyted after the manner >f St. Paul, and has, since his return home twelve years ago, been a zealous worker for tar* ff reform* „ ,

In an address recently delivered by Mr. Wells before ike-Brooklyn Kevenue Reform Jlubon "IHie Absurdity ofitlie Protective Policy,” he made certain suggestions and arguments which not even Mr. Randall has the to ittack, fie was backed with official statistics showing that within Hhe last ten years, while the average wages of operatives an xfree trade Great Britain have increased 5 per ;ent., wagesiin the highly pro tected State of Massachusetts rave decreased 10 per cent. Be argued that an aggregate >f 15 per merit, repiesents mare than the savings of the most economical laborer. He holds that tbe British laborer gets as great an advantage from the present low price of food products as does his American brother, and even greater; yest Great Britain is a free trade country and America has protection. <'oal is protected by a! duty of seventymve cents a ton; yet how many coal miners get, seventy-five cents a ton for miningj or what• influence has protection on the price of coal? A railroad pool places the price of coal where it wishes. The highest average wages paid in this comntry are in industries which are least protected. Where is the equity in taxing the publie to make my business profitable? Grant hat wages are higher here ;than in England, and waive :he point as to whether a day’s nwages in America will purchase more than a day’s wages m England, does it prove that >rotection is better than free rade? If so. why is it that wages are higher in free trade England than in protection Germany? And why is it that n t hina 2 wher there has been l prohibitory tariff for the last 1,0000 years, the average wages ire six cents a das?

Peterson’s Magazine for Febiuary opens with a most bewitching steel* plate, entitlod “Dressed for the Charade," representing two oh ldreo.four years old, attired in fancy costume and singing a duet in keeping. Of all the charming engravings for which “Peterson" has become iamous, this is certainly one of the most • aing. Besides this, however, there wesome fifty other embellishments., including a very beautiful solorcd steel fashion-plate, double size, and a costly large-size colored pattern The literary contents, always superior, are better than ver this month We would cat! attention partieul-t ly i to J“ln the Cling.” “The Pickpocket ' and to the two novelets “ t in: Motherless Girl” ami “The Lost Ariadne Every lady ought to have this mug* zme. Now t is just the'time, with the opening vear, to subscribe for Nhe terms are out Twa Dollars u year, with great deductions to clubs and spleudid premiums for getting up the elubs. Specimens are -sent gratis, if wiitton for in good tai>h, so as to compare “Petlerson” with «tbe r magazines at the same price. Address CHAS J. P etersow* 306 C estnut St.. Philadelphia. Pa.

“The Novelist” s hoc laracteni sitetitle of a new paper just started in Tew York, by John It Alden, the “Literary Revoiuri mi-;." Tin- pniee. also.'is charjetcri-ti'-.,—<«n!v sl.u<) i. yeat. It is not intruded to eniur Soto competition with the hi;.'!. 'psl»*ed, but .low-character. story p a,p • rs which darken tlu- coin try 1i k - a .pestilence, but will be devo’ed almost entirely to high-class tic ion, such as find 9 plase and welcome in tbe'best ina aztnes of the day and the purest bomesof the land; malting the.paper an unrivaled (as to cost certainly) source of mental recreation for tbe weary, and of entertainment for 11. Duriog tbe year there are promised serial stories by Willinna ißlack, Mrs. Oliphaat, James Payn.iMugh Conway B. L.tFaqieon, and others— certainly a good variety, at well as (rood quantity forthe dollar. It is printed in large; type, and is a handsome paper. Forfrcc specimen conies add*essttfce publisher, John B. Aldeu, 393 Peaul street, New York.

The excursion to Kao- as under direction of T. H. Hiner- vdllsta.it[February 4th: next. For t. rther tuf.trmation. address Him ? Laruaid Delphi, lnd.

The Re* Ileury JJard In.tcher found food for thought tn his furrinen on a recent Sunday iu tne tailing snow lie said: ‘Consider the wt»ku3sß and tiltweakness and the power ol the snow Can anything be gentler? The child's hand catches it and subduneit Ere lie can see it it is gone 'i'fee babe can master that which masters Boys gather it; it is subuKssive All things seem stronger than the<snow, new born Yet, one night’s weaving and it covers the earth, through wide Jatitudes aud longitudes, wfth a garment: that all the looms of the have furnished One day mote and it sinks the fences undermath it, obliterates all j-oads. and levels the whole land as spade .and shovel and ten thousand dimes ten thousand engineers and workmen could not do it It .lavs its hand q-pon the roaring engine and blocks its wheels It •stands before the harbor and tetsdown a white daikness tvat baffles the .pilot and checks the home-returning ship It mounts the hills and mountains, and. gathering its army without sour.d of drum or trumpet, until the day .entries when it charges down, who can -withstand iis coining ik battle array? What power is this in rhe host of weakness? Ee (the thoughts good men—small, silent, gathering slowly at length are masters of time and of ages. If such he tbe.power ot God’s weakness, what must be the almisrhrtness of Cod, the 'l.imWor of His pu.vei ?