SOLON ROBINSON, 1845 465 



days ride I passed land that was not yet clear of timber, 

 that had been worn out and thrown out of use. This bot- 

 tom land would be more enduring. 



In this region of the state there is great difficulty in 

 getting wells, while streams and springs are few and 

 subject to dry up ; and though every body ought to have 

 cisterns and artificial ponds, yet every body has not, 

 and none that I have met with seem to be "fixed," but 

 are ready to sell out and hie away to Texas, or some 

 other place "further west." 



February 20th I travelled on a very broken and poorly 

 cultivated part of Madison and Hinds counties; passed 

 several "gone to Texas" plantations, the appearance of 

 which give the country a desolate look. 



Enquiring for Dr. Phillips, 1 I found that "a prophet 

 is not known in his own country," and that if a man 

 wishes to distinguish himself "among some folks," he 

 must turn politician, instead of becoming a writer for 

 agricultural papers. However, most that I inquired of 

 seemed to know that the Doctor lived somewhere, though 

 the exact where they could not tell, and for which latter 

 piece of ignorance I did not much blame them after I 

 knew myself, for a more out of the way place can't well 

 be thought of. Knowing that his post-office address was 

 "Edwards' Depot," I easily found that, but I cannot say 

 that the seven miles from there was so easy to find in the 

 night, or so pleasant to drive over; but perseverance 

 accomplished the task, and I found the Doctor and his 

 family so much more pleasant than the route to his place, 



1 Martin Wilson Philips, born June 17, 1806, Columbia, South 

 Carolina; died February 26, 1889. Southern planter, agricultural 

 editor, and writer. Made his plantation, "Log Hall," famous 

 through his agricultural experiments and writings. Editor of the 

 South-Western Farmer, Philips' Southern Farmer, and, for a short 

 time, of the Cultivator. Interested in education for women. Dic- 

 tionary of American Biography, 14:537-38; "Diary of a Missis- 

 sippi Planter, January 1, 1840, to April, 1863" (Franklin L. Riley, 

 ed.), in Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, 10:305- 

 481 (1909). 



