SOLON ROBINSON, 1845 469 



that this latter was used abundantly on the Yazoo river 

 for rail timber. It grows tall and straight. I visited 

 upon this place a heavy cane-brake. If it is thought 

 by any of my readers that cane only grows upon low, 

 wet land, let them think more correctly. All these hill- 

 sides were originally covered with an immense growth 

 of cane, now fast disappearing from the country. It 

 grows so thick upon the ground as to make it difficult 

 to penetrate. I was unable to learn the period of time 

 it requires to come to maturity, or whether there is any 

 certain time. A few years ago, I think in 1830, nearly 

 all the cane in this part of the country seeded. It then 

 dies. The seed bears a slight resemblance to oats, and is 

 about as nutritive. All kinds of stock are fond of young 

 cane, and it is by the constant cropping that it is so 

 rapidly destroyed. Its want of durability renders it of 

 little value, though it is often used to make drying scaf- 

 folds for cotton. But all scaffolds except folding ones, 

 are nothing but a makeshift. 



The next place that I shall take notice of, is that of 

 R. Y. Rogers, 1 five miles from Vicksburgh, and from 

 whom we met a most hearty welcome, and enjoyed a 

 pleasant night visit. Mr. Rogers is one of the best 

 farmers in the state — that is, upon a small scale, and 

 that he does not raise a pound of cotton, affects not the 

 truth of the assertion. For reduced by shipwrecks and 

 other misfortunes from an abundant competency, to one 

 pair of hands, he did not hesitate to use them. I ven- 

 ture to say that with his two or three negroes, and mar- 

 ket-cart, which carries every thing he raises to Vicks- 

 burgh market, he makes more clear cash than some 

 planters do with 200 or 300 negroes. It will be recol- 

 lected that 20 to 30 bushels of corn per acre is about the 

 average yield here; but Mr. Rogers has succeeded in 

 raising 90 bushels per acre on his steep side-hills. He 

 however turns his attention chiefly to marketable vege- 



1 R. Y. Rogers, contributor to the agricultural reports of the 

 Patent Office. 



