FROM PHILADELPHIA 165 



and plant the seeds wherever they stay for any time. 

 And so these plums, not much bigger or better than 

 sloes, are called Indian Plums.* 



The land in this wilderness shows good spots only 

 here and there, in low places. The high land is dry 

 and owes its green appearance merely to the thick bush 

 growth ; there is no good grass and little pasture for 

 cattle, and were bush and forest once taken off, the soil 

 would grow thinner and thirstier. The woods still 

 showed all sorts of oaks, black and white walnuts, 

 elms, elders, sassafras, maples &c., but few pines. All 

 the dwellings are block-houses, so-called (houses of 

 squared timber) and stand mostly near streams or 

 brooks. The farms, unlike those less remote, are un- 

 fenced living far apart and the cattle keeping mostly 

 in the woods, people do not take the trouble to fence. 

 The first and most important crop of these mountain 

 people is corn, and then potatoes ; these supply the 

 necessary food for themselves and their cattle. What 

 else they need comes from hunting and the sale of 

 skins. These farmers, as they express it in their Eng- 

 lish-German machen es just so aus, make out pretty 

 well, which is to say, they do not get rich, have a 

 plenty to eat and drink, do little work, and pay no 

 taxes. 



We staid the night at Sebitz's, whose house is the 



* These Indian Plums thrive in low rich spots, where they 

 grow to a height of 5-6 ft. The leaves are spear-shaped, twice 

 as long as broad, sharply dented, and pointed. The fruit 

 grows single, is round like an egg, and at maturity reddish. 

 There are, however, several varieties of this native wild plum 

 Prunus sylvestris, fructu majori rubente Gron. ft. virg., 

 and Prunus americana, Marshall's Amer. Grove, p. 112. 



