llississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 273 



From Mrs. Wikon's wc were driven througli bewildering fields of cabbage 

 and "truck," with here and there a time-worn relic of mort^il .strife in the 

 shape of earth-works and military defenses, to the cemetery, where, by the 

 aid of the landscape gardener and the artisan's chisel, much has been done 

 to beautify and adorn the inevitable place of " rest." 



The forenoon of the secoml day of our stay in Mobile was spent in a rail- 

 road excursion to the company's shops, situated some ten miles from the 

 city, where we were escorted through all the departments by Col. Gillespie. 

 On our return to the city the train stopped at Mr. Pritchard's place, noted for 

 its stud of tine horses and its race course. Several of tlic animals were 

 brought out and we were entertained by racing on the well prepared mile 

 track, after which we were lunched. 



Here the Society indulged in some toasts and a series of resolutions of 

 thanks to the L. tt X. and ^L &. O. Railroads, whose guests we had been for 

 days and who still had much in store for us. The afternoon was spent in a 

 boat excursion on Mobile Bay, which, taken all together, was perhaps the 

 most pleasant feature of the whole. At midn'ght of the 28th, the Indiana 

 delegation took leave of the party, and of many pleasant associations in the 

 South, for their Northern homes, via. the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 

 while the larger portion of the party remained tlie guests of the Mobile and 

 Ohio road to Cairo. 



I might with propriety here close this paper, already too long, but can not 

 forbear a brief reference to a few points of interest on the line of the Louis- 

 ville and Nashville Railroad. 



Birmingham, Alabama, is, just now, one of the most prosperous cities in 

 the South. Her chief industry is iron and iron manufacture. Some four- 

 teen years ago Northern enterprise discovered rich deposits of iron; coal and 

 limestone in close proximity, in this vicinity. A busy city of ten thousand 

 inhabitants has since sprung into existence. 



Southern Tennessee and Northern Alabama have many attractions for the 

 fruit-grower. The climate is delightful and the soil is much better than I 

 had expected to find. The great lack here, as it is in many otber places in this 

 world, is with the people. Their system of agriculture is poor, and as for 

 horticulture, that should be the leading interest in a region so bounteously 

 blessed in many respects, there is but little to be seen. A few neglected ai>- 

 ple and peach orchards, however, appear, as an index, both to nature's kind- 

 ness and man's neglect. The hill regions of Northern Tennessee anil Ken- 

 tucky were i)assed in the night, which fact will, of course, prevent an intel- 

 ligent mention here. The vicinity of Bowling Green, Ky., is growing into 

 notoriety as a small fruit region. Some intelligent, practical fruit-growers 

 are located here. 



TiiK EFFECTS of this trip South, :i^ide from its pleasant reminiscence, caw 

 not be other than good. Perhaps no single incident since the war lins been 

 productive of more real good in soothing the harsh feelings of sectional 

 strife, and planting more deeply the true olive branch of peace, than has this 



