12 



grown in wesLcrn Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and in the southeastern part 

 of Ohio. The mannfacturers working this grade of wool are obliged to use fine 

 foreign wool as a substitute for it, costing now in the grease about half the price 

 of washed domestic — the domestic shrinking about 40 per cent., and the foreign 

 about 65 per cent., in scouring. 



Hoping that the foregoing may be of some value, we are truly yours, 



TAFT, WEEDEN & 00. 

 Hon. I.SAAC Newton, 



Commissioner of Department of Agriculture. 



HOSPITAL GARDENINU. 



There is no one of our readers but will be pleased with the following com- 

 munication from the gardener in charge of the hospital garden at Chattanooga. 

 And many a heart will be touched by it, for it exhibits a trait of our soldiers so 

 purely American in its love of home, and of the flowers of home, significant of 

 the moral . beauties clustering ever around his heart, that the mother and the 

 sister, receiving the flower-seeds he sends home, will with delight read this 

 account of the place where they were grown. 



Headquarters Hospital Garden, 



Chattanooga, Tennessee, Dceember 29, 1S64. 



Dear Sir : I presume you have heard of our garden hei-e for the growth of 

 vegetables for the sick and wounded of the United States army. I have taken 

 tihe liberty of sending you our fiscal report, with a brief account of our proceed- 

 ings, believing they will be interesting to you and the community. 



The grounds comprised in the garden are cultivated by the permission of 

 i&eneral Thomas. They embrace one hundred and fifty acres, beautifully situ- 

 ated on the bank of the Tennessee river, about one mile from this city. In 

 addition to this land we have forty acres of grape vines, planted six feet square 

 in the Catawba variety, and trained to stakes. These were planted and owned 

 by a rebel of tiie name of Boyce, who went to the south upon the arrival of the 

 Union army. 



The garden and vineyard are worked by convalescent soldiers, and with 

 horses unfit for military duty, which we received from the government. With 

 a little exercise, and a variety of vegetable food, these men are soon able to 

 xeturn to their regiments, and others are received from the hospitals by order of 

 felie medical director. The enclosed list will show the variety and quantity of 

 Tsegctables grown. 



Gardening operations commenced in February, 1864, and teams run daily 

 from April to the close of the season, carrying fresh vegetables to the various 

 hospitals and headquarters, camps, &c. Many thousands of soldiers have par- 

 taken of the rich variety ©f our productions through the past season. By per- 

 mission of General Thomas these grounds, with an addition of thirty-five acres 

 ^apon Lookout mountain, are to be used next season for the same purposes, when 

 we hope to commence earlier mider more favorable circumstances, as buildings 

 have been erected for the men, horses, vegetables, seeds, roots, implements, &c. 

 All these have been built by our own men, when they could not be used to 

 advantage in the garden. 



Near the entrance of the grounds is an Indian mound of an oval shape, forty 

 by eighty-four feet on the top, and about twenty feet high. Upon this mound 



