1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



259 



green foliage. Subsequently I saw many others 

 of the same species, some of them admirable 

 specimens. The evergreen Magnolias also 

 grow to a limited size here, alongside of most 

 of our Northern shrubs and trees. Beautiful 

 specimens of some of the dwarf forms of the 

 Arbor Vitse were met with, also examples of 

 several of the interesting variegated forms of 

 the Japanese Euonymus. A few of the residen- 

 ces of the wealthier inhabitants are surrounded 

 by neatly kept lawns, with trees and shrubbery 

 tastefully arranged ; but when compared with 

 what might be done in a climate so favorable, it 

 must be admitted that there is plenty of room 

 for improvement. 



During my stay I called on Dr. Samuel 

 Hape, who is one of the most enterprising nur- 

 serymen in this district, from whom I learned 

 tliat fruit growing was on the increase in Georgia. 

 In season peaches are abundant and cheap, and 

 large quantities are raised for export. Plums 

 also are somewhat grown, but are subject to be 

 attacked by the curculio much as they are with 

 ourselves, and the practice of jarring the trees 

 and collecting the insects seems to be too 

 troublesome an undertaking to find much favor 

 here. The doctor esteems the wild goose as a 

 valuable sort, as it is, he says, less liable to at- 

 tack from the curculio than the more highly 

 flavored varieties, and for the same reason he 

 speaks well of the Newman's, Decaradeuc's, 

 Harper's, Brill, and Hattie, all descended from 

 the Chickasaw Plum. 



Among the apples especially recommended 

 for market orchards here are many unfamiliar 

 sorts. For example, among the Winter varie- 

 ties are the Hockett's Sweet, Mangum, Nicka- 

 jack, Romanite, Shockley, Yates, Santa and 

 Black Warrior. Pears suffer much from blight, 

 and hence are not very extensively grown ; but 

 grapes and small fruits are generally cultivated 

 and usually give good returns ; figs also thrive 

 well in the open air in this section. With the 

 mild and genial climate which middle Georgia 

 enjoys, fruit culture of every sort should succeed. 

 The present condition of society, however, is 

 not very favorable to the development of indus- 

 trial interests of any sort. The dignity of labor 

 is much undervalued. By many of the whites 

 manual labor is looked upon as in some measure 

 degrading; and the negroes as a class are so 

 lazy that they do not care to exert themselves 

 unless their necessities drive them to it, and then 

 their wants are so few that an occasional trifling 



effort will furnish them with such subsistence 

 as will content them. These blacks are the 

 most jovial people one can meet with, always 

 light-hearted and merry, no matter how great 

 their poverty ; often without a cent in their 

 pockets and hardly knowing where their next 

 meal is to come from, nevertheless they are as 

 frolicksome as young lambs, and very much pre- 

 fer basking in the sunshine, standing around the 

 railway stations or steamboat wharves to en- 

 gaging in any active employment. 



A morning ramble with a friend brought us to 

 a part of the city where the "poor whites" ren- 

 dezvous, who raise small quantities of produce 

 in the mountainous parts of Georgia and the ad- 

 joining State of Tennessee, and bring their crops 

 here to market. Finding one of these remark- 

 ably slow looking people, who had just arrived 

 with a few bushels of apples in his wagon, we 

 ventured to interview him. We found that he 

 had left his home, some hundred miles distant, 

 eight days previous, with thirty bushels of ap- 

 ples. Some he had sold on the way at one dol- 

 lar per bushel, the others he expected to sell 

 here at seventj'-five to eighty cents. The varie- 

 ties he had were the Limbertwig, Abram and 

 Howard or Nickajack, all very good sorts, but 

 they had been poorly kept, and were not very 

 presentable. Having finished his marketing and 

 purchased his supplies, he would trudge his 

 weary way over bad roads for another eight days 

 before he could reach his distant home. These 

 poor creatures enjoy but few comforts, and many 

 of them seem to be less intelligent than the 

 negroes. 



We met with many kind friends during our 

 stay here •, found the Southern people extremely 

 hospitable, and we left Atlanta, taking with us 

 very pleasant recollections of our visit. 



An afternoon train brought us, about dusk, 

 to another thriving city, Macon, where we took 

 a sleeper on a night train for Brunswick, in the 

 southern extremity of Georgia. Daylight dis- 

 closed great changes in the character of the 

 vegetation, which now began to assume a tropical 

 aspect as we approached the land of flowers. 



DEFENSIVE HEDGES. 



BY J. M., PHILADELPHIA. 



The many ill-shaped Osage Orange hedges 

 which a few years ago were so common here- 

 abouts led many to believe the statement to be 

 true that in this country we had nothing to make 

 hedges with to be as perfect as the Hawthorn 



